#does anyone else have a problem like this? lots of abusers use this framing technique ive been told

[starksurvivorthoughts]

Life can be really confusing when abusers use "progressive" language to get by. This is more personal to me bc my later abuser literally introduced me to concepts like sex positivity, feminism, and an especially warped view on "healing from trauma".

She really pressed my boundaries while she was molesting me and called my trauma responses (mostly really explosive mood swings, vomiting, shaking) "sexual healing" from my first experience. She would share loli/sho with me and directly compare me to it after fishing me for details of my other experience. I really thought I was living some cute uwu loli nymphette fantasy life.

I literally thought she was helping me. Now I can't trust anyone let alone myself. I have nightmares now about the things she shared with me. The last time I tried to have sex, we had to stop bc for just one moment it felt like her hands.

[scripttorture]

Can a parent who is a torturer teach his child to become a torturer since childhood, but not teaching it as torture, but the techniques involved, and well, violence and abuse. Is it normal that the child is not being abused himself?? Or would such a parent torture their child if they wanted the child to grow up to become a torturer and take their place one day.

Torturers ‘teach’ on the job. I’m not sure if it would be possible for them to teach these techniques without exposing someone to violence.

 And even if it was that isn’t what they do.

 They bring the people they want to ‘teach’ into the cells with them. They have potential-torturers witnessing torture (and encourage them to participate) from the first day.

 And here’s the thing: this makes sense. It makes sense because torture is functionally simple and because it applies social pressure to the potential-torturer. It makes it harder for them to refuse to torture and implies that they will be at risk of violence if they do.

 The scenario you’re suggesting fundamentally misunderstands torture and torturers. You’re assuming that this stuff is more complex then it is and that torturers are more patient, thoughtful and restrained then they are.

 All of those are common misconceptions that feed into torture apologia.

 It’s OK to be wrong. The important thing now is the next decision you make; where you go from here.

 Child torturers are rare. And while I have heard of cases where children were abusers or torturers I’ve never heard of a case where a parent tried to encourage their biological child to become a torturer.

 There’s quite a lot to unpack and explain there so bear with me while I break this down.

 Child torturers are rare because generally children are not put in positions of authority, and the torturer being in a position of authority is an essential part of the legal definition of torture. Children are not (usually) allowed to become police officers, soldiers, doctors, civil servants, teachers or any of the other professions torturers are drawn from.

 There are ethical reasons for that but there are also practical reasons for it. Children do not make good soldiers. They are typically weaker then adults, have more complex nutritional needs, have shorter attention spans, cope less well with sleep deprivation and are not as good at performing repetitive tasks without fault.

 They are harder to train as soldiers, less physically able to act as soldiers and harder to keep at a base standard of health in a warzone.

 I am not saying children are incapable of torture: I am saying that they are not given the opportunity.

 The cases that I’m aware of involving child torturers are uniformly child soldiers. Usually those children are kidnapped and enslaved. They are not the biological (or adopted) children of the other torturers.

 Sometimes these children are deliberately drawn from despised minority groups. For instance the Daesh use of kidnapped Yezidi boys on suicide missions was part of a wider campaign of genocide.

 Sometimes these children are encouraged to take part in torture as part of strategy to make these children feel like they can’t return home. They’re made to participate in violent criminal acts then told that they will never be forgiven by their society. This is part of how these groups coerce cooperation from their victims.

 So child torturers are rare and the children who are usually in a position where they could be classed as torturers are generally not valued by the groups using them.

 This makes me think that a valued, blood-related child would be less likely to be used as a torturer.

 There’s also the question of why a torturer would want their child to follow in their footsteps.

 Because torturers generally do not enjoy what they do. They report finding the experience distressing and exhausting.

 Some of them frame it as ‘necessary’ and genuinely seem to believe they were doing something helpful. (This is not true, torture does not work). Some of them frame it as a punishment their victims ‘deserved’. Some of them don’t really seem to have much justification at all, everyone else was doing it so they did too.

 But as a general rule torturers don’t report having a positive view of their own job. The typical relationship is more complex.

 They have an inflated sense of their own importance and the importance of their job. They often depict themselves as the ‘only ones doing the real work’ and talk/act as though they’re the most important part of the organisation they’re in.

 But they also report feeling consistently under-valued and overlooked by their organisations. They consistently describe a hugely stressful, pressurised working environment and an atmosphere of continued, unhealthy competition with everyone else.

 Torturers do not take enjoyment in their work. They report finding it physically exhausting, extremely stressful and the development of mental health problems associated with torture.

 They often feel as though they’re at risk of violence from their colleagues and superiors. And they’re not wrong. Looking over modern historical records of regimes like Soviet Russia show that torturers were regularly purged by the state. And the fracturing effect they have on organisations is sometimes enough for them to be attacked by other members of their organisation.

 When this doesn’t happen they burn out. They reach a point where their mental and physical health problems become so severe they can’t even pretend to do the job they were hired for. And then they’re dropped, or ‘encouraged’ to quit.

 They struggle to find any employment. Because by that point they typically have really severe mental illnesses and no useful skills. Plus the general aura of asshole that comes with an inflated sense of self importance and a tendency to lash out at anyone who doesn’t feed that ego. A lot of them end up dependant on other people.

 Basically- I don’t think any torturer would want someone they value to become a torturer.

 Even when torturers see their ‘work’ as essential they don’t see it as a good job. They’re acutely aware of the dangers and the toll it takes on them.

 If this character actually cares for their child at all they’d probably discourage them from being a torturer.

 I think that leaves two broad questions: ‘Do torturers abuse their families?’ and ‘Are torturers typically torture survivors themselves?’

 And neither of those questions have clear answers because of the lack of research on torturers.

 There are reports of torturers who abused their families. But there are so few reports by mental health professionals on torturers that it really is impossible to say if this is a trend. And there are also reports of torturers who never abused their families. Familial abuse by torturers could be in line with familial abuse in the general population.

 There is no evidence to suggest torturers are any more or less likely to abuse their families then anyone else.

 The second question is more complicated because of the assumptions underlying it: people who ask this generally seem to assume that someone who is tortured goes on to become a torturer and…. That isn’t exactly what we see these people reporting.

 Yes some torturers are also torture survivors. Because a lot of them are soldiers and sometimes captured soldiers are tortured.

The pattern I tend to see reported (this is anecdotal because of the lack of research on torturers-) is torturers getting captured after they’ve been torturers for a while. Either by their own side or an opposing side in the context of a conflict. Then they’re tortured.

 Or their area is invaded by an opposing side, they flee the conflict and get targeted with… exactly the same stuff everyone else fleeing the same situation is targeted with.

 The child soldiers I described earlier in the ask seem to be particularly vulnerable to torture and other ill treatment.

 We don’t have a way to measure how many torturers have also been tortured. By which I mean, no one has really done enough research to answer that question.

 The vast majority of torture survivors will never go on to become torturers, because they won’t be put in a position of authority. Mentally ill people are systematically barred from positions of authority in most places. And torture survivors seem to be particularly vulnerable to unemployment.

 So I think torture survivors are unlikely to be put in a position where they could become torturers.

 But, yes torturers are sometimes put in a position where they might become torture victims. We don’t know how often this happens. My impression is that it’s no where near the majority, may be not even a particularly significant minority (though it seems to be more common in some specific areas/circumstances then others).

 Wrapping up: I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a torturer also be a torture survivor in this sort of narrative. I think that’s an incredibly complicated thing to try and handle and I don’t think you’ve got the knowledge base to do it justice yet. I also don’t think it adds anything to the characters as you’ve described them.

 There is no ‘safe’ way to expose someone to torture. Torturers do not try to protect the people they ‘train’, they throw them in at the deep end and encourage them to participate almost straight away.

 But torturers also don’t necessarily see their jobs as ‘good jobs’. They don’t describe it as a legacy they want to pass on.

 Why is it important that this child is actively taught? Could they be exposed to or witness torture in another context? Is it even important that the torturer is their parent? Using another influential adult character would allow the child to keep a more-or-less positive relationship with their parent. And it could make the conflict between child and parent about ‘You allowed this torturer access to me and they showed me awful, traumatising things’ rather then ‘You exposed me to traumatising things and you hurt me’.

 Does familial abuse add to this narrative? Because I’d argue that exposing a child to torture is abusive and it creates another layer of complexity. On top of torture, and the peculiar mindset of torturers, and the mental health problems torture causes in survivors, torturers and witnesses.

 Think about those questions. Go back to the sources page. Read O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work and the appendices to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Read Alleg’s The Question.

 And consider whether these elements actually help you to tell the story.

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[antis-delete-your-blogs-pls-thx]

Hi! Sorry to be bothering you, but I just want answers. So, I’m an anti, however recently I have begun to question anti ideology (especially considering how disgusting anti’s can be to pro-shippers), so I was wondering if you would be willing to explain why dark fiction is okay to consume? It’s alright if you don’t want to ^^

I'm always willing to explain! I'll try not to make this so long that you'll want to throw your device out the window, but chances are that's what's going to happen.

First off, thinking dark fiction is gross is okay and not what I'm against. I really don't like bloodplay, for example, and if someone asked me what I thought of that kink I'd say "bleh gross nty". It's the making judgements on people for not also finding it gross that I have an issue with. So if you "switched sides", so to speak, anyone who would expect you to magically like problematic shit is misunderstanding the point.

Anyway. To the real stuff! Psychology is a relatively new field, I admit, so there haven't been hundreds of years of official studies run on the effects of dark fiction on the human brain. But so far they show a correlation in increased aggressive behaviour in some people. So, definitely some people will not do well with it. However, this discounts some important other factors. Let's get into those:

Aggressive behaviour ≠ violent behaviour in psychological terms. There isn't any proof that aggressive behaviour transfers over to violent behaviour automatically, and in most cases we can safely assume it doesn't, because other things correlated with increased aggression (sleep deprivation, high temperatures, etc) happen often without violence. This makes a very small sliver of the population vulnerable to this risk factor. Good news! Risk factors can be mitigated with protective factors. This includes education, especially programs (called primary prevention programs) designed to promote communication, problem solving, and anger management. The basics of education are really up to parents and school faculty, not fanfiction authors. But tagging and trigger warnings are a good way to bridge that gap as much as we can, as labeling behaviour specifically with a "this is abuse" sticker in bold letters teaches people to recognise what abusive behaviour looks like. You can frame it romantically, but if you read the warning labels, which you always should, you can see through the romantic framing and into the true nature of the actions. For example, a Bakudeku fic labeled "unhealthy relationship", "abusive behaviour", "Bakugou has issues to work through", etc, acknowledges the nature of Bakugou's bullying. If there's fluff, it's still in a sense overwritten by the warning labels. And real life abusive relationships can have fluffy moments, too. Mine did. That's part of what makes them insidious, because you get used to the black and white "if they do bad things they can't also be shown to do good things, so if my abuser does good things, is that really a bad relationship?" kind of mentality that's common here. It is a bad relationship. Fluff doesn't discount abuse.

Next of course is that violent people can be attracted to violent media. So when antis draw causation from the correlation of aggression and media violence, they're not viewing the whole picture, which is vital in all statistical analyses.

Okay, you say. Right. But if we encourage problematic stuff, that means all fanfic will be problematic stuff, and that will normalise these awful things. Well, no. Not really. Underage tagged works (a tag that also includes teenager/teenager relationships) on AO3 are something like 1 percent of all works. That implies it's not going to be written about too often, and also shows that it doesn't have a great reach. The most popular fic of all time has, what, 600k hits? 600k people is a lot of people, but it's still not enough to normalise something as horrific as child abuse or rape. That's a societal moral. Changing something like that is a top-down process that requires A LOT of reach. And frankly, for the average person with the average moral compass, normalising that would be very, very difficult. People can definitely experience deindividuation and a sudden disregard for morals, but it doesn't usually come from the media they consume. It's usually a sense of freedom from reprimand and encouragement by a higher authority. And take again that it's only 1 percent of the fics on AO3, and therefore has halved traffic. It's not a significant threat.

Okay, but why would you want to write it in the first place? If it could be used to hurt someone else why even bother? A lot of things can be used to hurt someone else. It's about proportions. How much hurt vs how much good. Most predators are going to be using some other tool instead, so banning those fics and art that's disgusting doesn't make a significant dent in predation, and also limits the good effects that can happen (which include freedom from censorship, which is hugely important in maintaining a democracy). Another good effect is cope shipping and catharsis. Sure, this isn't always going to work. Hell, a lot of therepuetic techniques themselves don't work on everyone. But it's a legitimate method that, using the principles of exposure therapy, doesn't automatically mean retraumatisation. Whether the technique is helpful to a particular survivor should be up to them and their therapist. A random stranger on the internet doesn't know them well enough to make that kind of judgement.

And finally, even the most repulsive of fictional content doesn't depict things that have directly happened IRL. You can make fictional characters suffer and nobody IRL suffers instead. This is good for exploring things that can't be explored IRL. It can help curb impulses. When antis compare the suffering of fictional characters to real people, they're implying real people and fictional characters have equal rights. Real people always matter more than fictional ones. Fictional characters aren't people in the first place. No real person suffers as a direct result of dark fiction being written. Implying that the suffering they cause is equal trivialises the true gravity of real abuse. Real abuse always harms someone as a direct result. Always.

Anyway. Those are the most common discourse points. Hope that helped. Sorry it was long.

[miscellanasaurus]

MHA 235

Again sorry for the late updates and to anyone who follows me because of my random and often spontaneous Vrains reviews i am working on my review but at the same time life seems to be getting in the way so sorry about that but never mind that onto the yugioh vrains review.

We open up with Re-destro clarifying how shigaraki decayed his attack in the3 official translation  which should appease the padantic ass hats over on reddit as well telling us how re-destro`s been perfecting this technique since his childhood days which is something i hope horikoshi delve`s into wheather or not his family indoctrinated the beliefs of the MLA into Re-destro in much the same way AFO indoctrinated shigaraki or if he choose these beliefs of his own volition and his family disaproved or hell maybe they supported the beliefs too in short i want some backstory on RE-destro...also small detail but those heart palpatations shown in the second panel “Badump” “Badump” is most likely the downside to his stress based quirk and considering stress is one of the major causes of heart attacks i wouldnt be suprised if Re-Destro died or was significantly weakened because of this.

We also get a beutifull worded panal from horikoshi that really shows the extent of shigaraki`s drive for destruction also i love the pure malice in the face i and how its completly different from any of his other expressions and in this case the lack of detail really adds to the tension.

This panal also has me worried as from the beginning i was under the impression that this villain arc would develop shigaraki`s goal into his own ideology but considering that this was the prime oppurtunity i`m starting to have my doubts and though it wont bother me if shigaraki`s goal remains as pure chaotic destruction i have to wonder how that will effect the story as a whole all i know is that there has to be a skybeam if superhero movies have taught me anything its that theres always got to be a gigantic skybeam.

howvever again the official translation has it as “all i can do is destroy” making this even more tragic for shigaraki and i really just wanna give hima hug while he goes down this unhealthy self destructive path

 We flashback to shigaraki`s past and as many people seem to have theorized it Shigaraki did indeed want to be a hero when he was a child also its hard not to notice the resemblance to little deku horikoshi`s kinda laying it on a bit thick but it doesnt matter that much to me

what i also like is that horikoshi doesnt portray it as black and white you can understand the complexitie behind his father and how in his own way he`s trying to protect him by cutting his dreams of being a hero short, does that make what he did right? of course not its still borderline abuse, though not physical that comes later. as well as being selfish and narrow minded but i can still appreciate the complexitie behind the father also noticibly Tenko`s absent from any scenes that portray his family in a less ..well there`s no other word for it, dickish fashion .

There`s something heartbreaking about shigaraki being compared to all might especially considering how much he detestes him also this is the second time its mentioned tenko didnt have a quirk yet now if they went to test him or not thats unknown however i have mixed feelings about the idea of afo giving shigaraki the quirk asi`m not particularly fond of backstorys of people being forced into villlainy by manipulating the chessboard in such a fashion so far its tolerable as it seems tomura was going to grow into a vilain without AFO`s guidence though thats not the theme of him as a character, and its afo who simply gave him the ability to become a powerfull villain though no matter what direction horioshi takes the story in i`m sure he has a plan for how his story will progress.

*Small note its nice how as a child shigaraki took the people no one wanted and played with thim rather similier to the Leugue 

We also get the full details behind the office scene from chapter 227 and i`l raise my hands and say i did kinda blunder by suggesting that Hanna did actually want to become a house wife that was a mixture of weird scans and no energy. the idea of a hero sibling team with little tenko is adorable and i kinda wish we knew what the shimura quirk is it`l either be revealed in this arc by flashback or ,hopefully not, shigaraki gaining said quirk that or we have to wait for deku to unlock it.

Honestly these few panals are heartbreaking and though i enjoy the creative narrative that reminds me of earlier 80`s comics the way this scene plays out is utterly gripping this is the first time child abuse has been directly shown in this manga neither immplied or kept just out of frame its direct and raw.

Its heartbreaking to watch tenko endure this whilst everyone else looks on helplessly and it certainly adds some more nuance to deku and shigaraki`s little mall encounter and how his family is honestly a reflection of both hero sociaty as people just look on not bothering to do anything and is a genuine sociatal problem in japan as a whole if you want to considere this political commentary you can though i doubt horikoshis making this manga for that one purpose and its unlikely thats his purogative .

Honestly despite only being prominent in one chapter i already enjoy shigaraki`s dad as a character the conflict of emotions as no matter how you look at it nana chose her career over her child at whilst that might be for the better good, whole lot of it it did to, you can still understand the resentment he holds for her in a sense he`s Kota without a deku unable to let go of his resentment for being left behind

he even admits what he did was wrong and i feel this sums up shigaraki`s life  best the fact taht it wasnt a tragedy from beginning to end much like Dabi`s presumably is it started off bleak and then escalated to a full on nightmare as we end on this disturbing panal of shigaraki anjd his poor corgi  

all in all i enjoyed this chapter though to be honest i`d of preferred it if shigaraki could recall his backstory from the start of the seriese and have it leading up to this moment with a bunch of flashbacks scattered throughout as it adds such a complexity to him as a character but other wise i enjoyed it 

[hanzi83]

The Last Blog of the Decade (That you will read in your groupchats but will pretend you did not care enough because of lack of likes or retweets)

This blog was going to be about highlights of the decade, but I can only fit a few of that in my head and I am not good with keeping lists, especially in this era where someone as dumbed down as me, who didn’t know much outside of hip hop and wrestling, getting involved in partaking with pop culture, since I never really got into current events or pop culture when I was younger, and for a bit I had a pretty good grasp at it, but as we close the decade, I ended up not knowing so much because of the different mind frames I have been in, and this is what happens when you begin in this life dumbed down and going along with different narratives, because it was difficult to think for myself and never expecting to be here for that long, but then the fame bug interrupted that completely and give me a lust for life, because I had nothing going on for me and did not care because I did not fit in with this world, and I never wanted to pursue women because I never wanted to put my mental illness on them and have to deal with me daily. I adopted a misogynist personality because I was told in high school by women who were my friends that I was too nice and safe.

I ended last decade with my friendships distancing because I did not deliver enough in 2009 with the fame that people in my life had invested in, and by the beginning of 2010, it was evident most of those people were only staying by me and needed me closing out the last decade because I was supposed to be bigger, and all this time I thought it was just luck, but as this decade kicked off, I became somewhat of a conspiracy theorist, and even though I did not know much, I bought into western media narratives, and even though I was not smart enough to get into geopolitical shit, I knew that there was some good when Bush administration was called out, even if it was done in such a limited way, so when I discovered conspiracies, as an already dumbed down guy, I bought into the beginning of the alt right type of conspiracies, and then afterwards after realizing that the conspiracy world was also compromised, I had to take the brainwashing out through the latter part of the decade, and I used to be ignorant, and still am poisoned by those kind of ignorant tactics, because I feel when fighting the most racist type of people on social media, I have to stoop to their level, and because I spent most of my life thinking the ignorance was hilarious and the ultimate fuck you to these supposed do-gooders, I was gravitating more ignorance, hence how I got caught up on the stern show, and what is interesting I thought the ultimate fuck you was saying some social consciousness type of shit, but sprinkle a little harmless racism, misogyny and homophobia etc into the mix because you buy into that conservative leaning shit, because they call out neoliberals, who will say good talking points about being a decent human being, but since they are surrounded by corporate greed and fiscal oppression, you think anything they say is all wrong.

The last several years I wrote in a journal on my computer, which my trolls and hackers have been able to access, so a lot of my thoughts were tests to see who in my life was partaking and also it has been hard to keep up with what my thoughts were because I can’t remember everything and all the inconsistent thoughts I had, whether I felt that way or if I just wanted to be a contrarian, or whether I interpret shit differently because I see the world in a different view, like people who sold their soul, but then created a new network, and I thought those same public figures would at some point would call out the system, but it seems like it is supposed to be the “people on the leftist side” who are supposed to be the baby faces, while everyone in the establishments have become the heels. The thing is I have become so conspiratorial that, I think we as humans are far more advanced, and that even death is something more, whether people are getting cloned, or people faking their death because we are at the end times of this earth, and people are fleeing the planet, whether you are a political figure, or a wealthy celebrity, or anyone associated with some type of royal blood. I am not saying I am right, but these delusional theories should be reason enough why I should not be allowed in this world.

I think what happened was how targeted I became during my tenure on the Stern Show, and instead of going to the next level, and when I didn’t and wanted to speak out on how people have to compromise themselves sexually or mentally, it doesn’t mean people don’t work hard whatsoever, but there are systemic fraternal rules that I feel exist, and even the conspiracy world has taken it to some next level, and it feels like we are getting closer to finding out about it, but it feels like it is done in an organized fashion, that you have to let traumatic shit to happen to you, and when those parties are going to get canceled, then when these people can profit off the story, then it will become important, so the last part of my Stern Show tenure was me acting like I contributed to more than they let on, and I was getting the airtime and abuse mentally, while it helped the people in my life get the systemic rewards, because all of us freaks on the Stern Show were taken advantage of by the show, and when you speak out, the paid trolls, will tell us how Howard gave us fame and we would not be known, which is completely true, but it does not give him or any person with power the right to abuse their powers.

For the majority of the decade, I had to endure threats of people wanting to kill me, hardcore racism, dismissing of any validity I had because I am a fucking mentally ill person who they prodded into attempting suicide or to harm someone else, and they would push me more and more so they could see how I react. People who would latch on to me from periscope app, who would find out I am famous, because I am so empty on the inside, that my only value is that I used to be famous, and these people will then try to latch on, and if things did not work out well, they would use the same techniques Howard used on me, where I am mentally ill and I am the one who is the problem.

There is too much in my clouded mind, so I decided to just type as I feel, even if it does not make much sense and it goes in a repetitive circle, in which I have expressed throughout the last decade in these blogs, and nothing ever gets accomplished because no matter how well I write down my mentality for people to understand how fucked up I am, the less response, while these people who watch me closely and target me will gossip via group chat and decide how to fuck with me, even if it is people in my life. I guess the latter part of this decade, they let me see my friends, who had already got what they needed, because they figured I was so fucked up from dealing with higher powers who are more evil, I would be crawling back to people in my life and just trust them, even though they are deeply into the establishment, but pretend they are not so if anything big happens to me, they can pretend they never had access to fucking industry people, or being able to partake in doing big things behind the scenes, while I just got the bare minimum of being able to interact with certain people on social media.

I cannot even do what I love, because if I did not kill myself on the time they wanted, they would fuck with my viewership so I could not reach a bigger audience because I was no longer on Stern, I feel Stern has put in effort, and people will say Howard is no longer relevant to the culture, and it is true, but it does not mean that isn’t by design and that people like him or Vince McMahon don’t have more systemic power than they lead on, because the criticism of both of them have been under the limited guise because every established boomer, has to be portrayed as an out of touch asshole, and even though they are evil and crazy, it does not mean they don’t have advanced intelligence.

I even try to show people who are not politically correct the shock jock type of humor is not the way to go, and not because I am PC or anything like that, but that ignorant shit is just as much propaganda as the neoliberal PC shit that analyzes the social and race issues within a certain narrative, and I am supposed to be more tolerant of people who lean right, and I can buy that working class people did actually believe Trump would change it for the better, but if people are still defending him or deflect blame onto others, which is valid, but if you can’t admit Trump is not anti establishment, even if they try to present it that way, and even when Trump is right about the corporate media, it is not because he is a truth  teller, it is because him saying it will label anyone who says that as a Trumpist, but these people want to be associated with systemic white supremacy and align with the oppressive powers but if people don’t like them because of that they are seen as the biggest victim, while they conflate neoliberalism with actual leftist shit, and I don’t agree with leftists on everything, probably most of the on surface shit to defend people being oppressed, but they are designed to be the good guys, just because people are funded on the low, does not mean people are bad, if evil is funded by the powers that be, I can believe people who are supposed to be neoliberal bad guys on the surface, could be playing the role while they know the world has to go more left.

I can talk to someone who is ignorant and has said ignorant things more than I can reason with someone powerful who has used their money to fiscally oppress which is far worse to me than someone jokingly saying a slur, even though it is not funny and you can discuss to change that person’s mind. People don’t do it necessarily because they are racist, but they are in the immature mindset of wanting to be edgy, and as someone who has mimicked people in the industry who have made livings doing that and incorporating into my life, because life was so boring that you wanted to make shit your show, so as a dumbed down guy I would take shit from movies or comedy shows and try to be shocking in my life, because there were always people to counter me, but I didn’t know I was partaking in propaganda.

I don’t know where this blog is going but I should have just taken some notes before so but that isn’t my style and it is probably why I will never amount to much in this world and all I will be known as some Stern Show reject, who did not become bigger, because I did not know what systemic initiations I would have to endure or do to someone, or what propaganda I would be knowingly putting out there, it is one thing when you are dumbed down and don’t have power to know what you are doing, but a lot of people with power and influence, knew what evils they were putting out when they did it, and when it became a time to change, they did but they had to make it seem like they are doing it because of the societal pressure, like there was never pressure to do all the ignorant shit and justify why using the N word was a freedom of speech issue, but it is amazing when someone supposedly becomes more liberal, that is when the sellout moment happens, like embracing right wing talking points was never a sellout moment whatsoever.

I didn’t go to the next level, and the people who prospered most behind my back, and still hold anger at me for being mad at them for this, will never admit any wrongdoing, and it feels like they need more help than I do, because they have been protected by a system where they can act entitled, to advanced knowledge, access to people in the industry and the amount of sexual favors done because that is how things are done behind the scenes, no matter how we tell ourselves that we are in better times because of bringing up social issues, but most people gate keep that shit by making it seem implying that someone had to do something sexual as putting them down and not respecting the work that was put in, but they are protecting the system that still forces people to do that shit. Maybe I could have partake and sold my soul for those kind of perks but I just wanted to be dead so I would never have to realize that I will never look people in the eye the same, and maybe  I am wrong, but it feels my friendships died and I don’t necessarily blame the but I blame the system for being this evil, and people having to kind of do some dirt because it what is required and then when it is a certain person’s turn to get in trouble, then we will know about it. I just resent the money and opportunities I have gotten people systemically will never admit it because Stern has made me such an outcast that, I will always be the bitter miserable person. And that is fine, but why should I be alive, people in my life don’t respect me and have hatred for me, and I will never be close with family members because of all this, so what am I living for? Why can’t I have euthanasia, I have talked to my therapist about it, I feel like I don’t need to be here. No woman likes me, and I don’t blame them, I am a piece of shit. I don’t even think my friends wives like me too much either. I feel like every social situation is done as a way to hide real shit and it is just to make it seem like I am invited but it is the bare minimum.

Even with all the shit people have gotten because of me, they will hate me for having the audacity to still complain about it and guess what because of what Howard and his trolls have allegedly have done to me, and how much fear they put into me, but implying the government has me on lists and my platforms are crowded with the feds to shut me up for speaking out against shit, why would you want me here. This decade has been one of the worst, and even though I am thankful for the last 2 years being better than the earlier years and all the cool people I have become more friendly with, I fear that other people in my life will steal those connections like I feel they stole everything else from me, and I will never be able to get over it. It feels like because I am speaking out, they send certain people to be friends with me and try to latch on and because I am not one of these internet trolls who pay for people’s information and do background checks, I don’t know if it is people who have a deranged past or something more fucked up. This one guy who was doing a Stern Show type of shit and wanted me on his show got into a feud with me because I did not want part of his show, and it turns out he could potentially be a sex offender, and the fact that it was hidden from me when I was on his show, and I was the first to leave, it makes me pissed off. Now I have to be careful, who I interact with. The system clearly has him cosigned because this dude’s behavior has become a lot more dangerous and has been harassing and doxing other people trying to expose him, and the fact the system will not look into him, it is like they cosign people like this and when it is time for them to be sacrificed, they will then expose them.

Also on periscope, I personally believe, and anything I have said on here I have no proof of, but I feel the elites use periscope to peddle their sex trafficking, so I will talk to all sorts of people who are 18 and above and drop Howard Stern name, to see if they react and some of them have, but some of them don’t genuinely know, and they end up being cool, but I try to talk my shit whether is being over the top with my humor or just searching for an adventure, even though I have no desire to pursue anyone, I just have no contact that it makes me feel like a human being able to try to flirt, even though I am horrible at it, but I also name drop because I have no redeeming qualities so by showing I had some fame, it gives me the edge over other dudes, but it really doesn’t.

This blog was a fucking mess. I have not written in my journal in months and all I do is take in more information and I cannot remember who is who and which public figure is an athlete, a civil rights leader, a game of thrones character, a boardwalk empire character or some other shit, and even with events in the past, I cannot even remember anymore and my thoughts have been more scattered than usual. I don’t think I will be able to survive this next decade. I just want to be gone for good. I will always be this troubled human being no one will take seriously and quite honestly I cannot blame any of you. I am a piece of shit,

So let me just end this blog right now before I go to some next level with my theories and my deluded outlook in this life. Happy 2020, the last decade can go to hell and stay there. I hope I don’t last this decade and I can rest peacefully from this planet, or maybe I will have my DNA put into some other advanced clone and that guy will be more of a winner in life and you won’t know any better because you will assume the real me is dead.

To all the people in my past, and if you are reading this, and don’t worry I know you are but you won’t admit it and you might hate me even more, I am sorry our friendships did not work out and I feel left out of all the festivities and milestones that were achieved in this last decade, unless my dreams are some alternate realities and we actually did spend time with each other but the actual real life I am living is supposed to be the decoy, then I take it all back but that is a pretty big if, so I am going to assume that our friendships just became more distanced, and if I knew this is what my “fame” was going to bring, then I would have never even embraced being on the biggest radio show ever. It ruined everything, and I feel like I will never be able to get myself together, even though I have been a lot better the last few years than earlier in the decade when I completely lost it from all the secrecy that went a long with this exploitation. I am sure my trolls will show that they were watching me write this the whole time and post it on reddit before I even post it in my blog, to subtly show me they can hack my shit without a trace, like the last time they did that a couple of years ago.

[johnbattlesca]

Steve Austin (No, Not The Wrestler) Is Overcoming Adversity With Jiu-Jitsu

The Jiu-Jitsu Times believes in the concept that jiu-jitsu is for everyone and will profile several jiu-jitsu students and instructors who are training and using BJJ to overcome limitations and add to their lives.

Today the Jiu-Jitsu Times spoke with Steve Austin (yes, like the WWE wrestler), a BJJ instructor who does not have full use of his leg. The Jiu-jitsu Times asked Steve a few questions to get a glimpse into how he uses BJJ to deal with obstacles and improve his life.

Jiu-Jitsu Times: Steve, can you tell the Jiu-Jitsu Times’ readers a little about your background?

Steve Austin: First I would like to thank you for having me and taking the time for this. I have been following your page for some time now along with a lot of my students and always enjoy the content you guys share.

I am from the Philadelphia area and currently own a gym in Southampton, Pennsylvania, about thirty minutes north of Philly called Sion BJJ. I have been training jiu-jitsu for almost fifteen years now and have been involved in some form of martial arts for the past twenty years, ranging from Tae Kwon Do, Kempo, judo and MMA. When I was was introduced to jiu-jitsu, I immediately fell in love, and now I have been able to teach jiu-jitsu for around ten years.

When I first started training, there were not a lot schools in the area, so I traveled up to New York and New Jersey a few times a month to see my instructors from a few different schools over the years. Five years ago, I received my black belt from Alison “Jucao” Brites; and three years ago, I had the opportunity to open my own school, so I left the affiliation and started Sion.

Now I will do my best to make a long story short here. I became involved with martial arts due to being picked on as a kid because I was born with a handicap; a hip disease called Legg-Perthes. It is suppose to be a three-year process, but I was misdiagnosed as having Spina Bifida due to two reasons: one being the average age to develop Legg-Perthes is between eleven and thirteen-years-old, and I was only three when I started showing symptoms; the other reason being that the doctor who performed the surgery messed up horribly because he was abusing prescription drugs and passed out in the middle of the operation.

Used with permission of Steve Austin

I was left with life long side effects from this botched surgery. Damaged and severed nerves caused a chain reaction of other problems that I have to this day including losing seventy percent of the feeling in my right leg. But the most significant of these  problems is the fact that I now have to be inveterately catheterized. This also caused my second surgery to take place a few years later.

On top of the new problems, I still had my original hip issue. Legg-Perthes is a three-year process, with the first two years being in leg braces while the hip regrows correctly in place. I was in what was called an A frame brace made by a German orthopedic with my legs being spread at an eighty degree angle for almost four years. I was only able to take the braces off for one hour a day to wash up and change clothes.

Used with permission of Steven Austin.

During this time I was not allowed to walk around or stand up on my feet for any reason. While in these braces, I couldn’t do much. I wasn’t able to walk normally in them, so it was easier to crawl on the floor and move around on the ground than to try and use the walker. The way the braces were spread open I couldn’t fit through normal door ways, so I would have to angle myself around and through them. I was home schooled until I was able to be out of the braces for good.

At seven-years-old, I needed my second surgery. Half of my bowel was removed and used to enlarge my bladder since it was not growing properly. Though the surgery was technically a success, it became difficult and sometimes impossible to have control over my bowels, an issue that followed me into adulthood.

Once the braces were off, I no longer looked like I had any health issues, but that was far from reality. My entire academic journey was a constant battle to not only fit in, but defend myself from other kids making fun of me verbally and physically bullying me. At first I took it, and then over the years it started getting to me and I would finally start resorting to violence and getting into a lot of fights. So, being a fragile child already, I figured I really needed to learn to defend myself and started looking for a place to train. Having seven major surgeries before I even hit my twenties made this very difficult to do. I had to take time off due to two knee surgeries by the age of sixteen, making it by then four times I would have to learn how to walk again since I was born.

Teenage years were full of anger and depression, and almost destroyed me due to the bad choices I was making in life. There were a few times that I gave up mentally but somehow I persisted. Barely surviving my teenage years, I was twenty when I found jiu-jitsu, and it changed everything for me and introduced me to a life worth being proud of. Never being able to play sports as a kid really got to me because I always wanted to do more than I was physically able to. All I wanted to do so badly was go out for the wresting team in middle school since moving around on the ground was so natural for me, but now as an adult I have the final say and I choose jiu-jitsu every day!

Jiu-Jitsu Times: What physical obstacles did you have to overcome to train BJJ? Which adaptations did you have to make to your BJJ game given your specific conditions? What is your game like?

Steve Austin: To this day, I think I like to pretend I don’t have any limitations by still training hard and competing here and there; but the reality is, I have to be careful with what I am really capable of doing. I don’t have a lot of flexibility in my hips or back but I have a different kind of strength that developed from my childhood, and it had a huge effect on my guard, making it stronger in a unique way.

Used with permission of Steve Austin.

  Having to move around on the ground the way I did turned out to be a game changer for me since I was so trained in basic body movements that we all have to learn in our first day of a BJJ class. Still, I have to be mindful that I can get hurt a lot easier than most so it limits me on how much competing I can do. I have to be careful with my knees and back, so at times I will train to protect them instead of just jumping into any position. I had to learn that the hard way over the years.

Luckily enough, I haven’t had too many major injuries from training BJJ, but they have happened. Making adaptions is really what jiu-jitsu is about, so my game is always still developing and I just have to be realistic with what techniques I can play with and what ones I can’t. I think I was forced early on to learn “old man jiu-jitsu” but I love it all and I will play with advanced stuff, but keep a reality check ready to go when needed.

Being a smaller guy, my bottom guard game developed faster than my top game, but I am still learning and my game is always changing depending on what I am working on at the moment. Sometimes I will work on one area for months collecting data and figuring out every little detail I can and then just move on to the next area. Injuries sometimes cause this or I am just fascinated with something and play it until I’m bored.

Jiu-Jitsu Times: How do you feel BJJ has been a positive force in your life? What have you learned from training jiu-jitsu that you have applied to your life off of the mats?

Steve Austin: Finding BJJ has changed everything for me on and off the mats in every way, but I think the biggest thing it has given me is peace of mind. Since I have been training and having this outlet to free myself from the mind and the rest of the world while on the mats, nothing else matters at that moment; it changes everything on how I perceive the outside world when I am not on them.

Used with permission of Steve Austin.

I was always ashamed and embarrassed of my health issues growing up, and I had to learn to accept myself for who and what I am. Now, if anyone ever has a problem with that, I have no issue with feeling confident enough to enlighten that person on what its like having these medical setbacks in my life and try to allow them to imagine for even a moment what its like to walk in my shoes. I never had that kind of confidence in myself growing up to openly talk about any of my medical issues the way I can now. Also knowing no matter what happens I know this person can never hurt me physically or emotionally more than what I have already gone through in my life on and off the mats. So now verbally there is nothing they can say that can compare in any shape or form to break me.

Now being the one who students are coming to for information has made me realize how much I love seeing someone else grow from BJJ with my help. Watching a student become what they were meant to be in life and living it to the fullest is a feeling unlike any other. Being involved in BJJ has fed all my basic human needs and more, and I am forever grateful for it.

Jiu-Jitsu Times: Do you have any words of advice for other BJJ students who are facing obstacles of their own in their BJJ training?

Steve Austin: One of the biggest obstacles I see students face is sticking with jiu-jitsu. Life sidelines people; family, careers, etc. Its always a shame seeing students leave because they could no longer put the time into their training, but it’s a bigger shame seeing people feel like they can’t take some time for themselves. When students are on my mats, they are truly having fun. We have this shared love of jiu-jitsu, and not only as a respect for the sport, but the camaraderie juxtaposed to it as well. For a lot of my students, it’s their one, or at least favorite thing that they do for themselves mentally and physically. And I don’t think I’m alone when I say that the better we treat ourselves, the better partners, parents, employers, and people we end up being.

Another derailment students face is their own progression. As fun as jiu-jitsu is, it’s no secret that it’s a hell of a lot of work, especially in those first few years. It’s understandable that some people may get discouraged if they lack the necessary patience to understand that jiu-jitsu is a lifelong ladder we climb. We have the opportunity to learn so much about ourselves on the mats training and what it all really comes down to is one thing: if you can take it, you can make it. If I just don’t quit and keep going, the rewards will come, whether it be weight loss, self-improvement mentally or physically, or even making black belt one day. I have learned that the only time we really fail is the moment we give up trying to achieve that goal. Failure and suffering are part of any success no matter how you define it.

If you love jiu-jitsu the way I do, you will always find a way to be a part of this humble world and culture that has been created no matter what life puts in your way. Jiu-jitsu has brought so much happiness into my life along with some of the most amazing people and has taken me to extraordinary places around the world. Take every opportunity to learn and share with each other and never forget we always have people below us, on our level, and above us to learn from. We need all of these types of partners in order to grow in anything we do in life. There will always be times we want to quit at something, but for me, my biggest fear is to look back and say I didn’t try hard enough or not at all to reach my goals, so that pushes me every day to do better than the last. I truly attribute much of my personal philosophy to my involvement in jiu-jitsu and aspire to share my experiences with the hopes of inspiring others for the rest of my life.

The post Steve Austin (No, Not The Wrestler) Is Overcoming Adversity With Jiu-Jitsu appeared first on The Jiu-Jitsu Times.

from The Jiu-Jitsu Times https://www.jiujitsutimes.com/steve-austin-no-not-wrestler-overcoming-adversity-jiu-jitsu/

from John Battles' Blog https://johnbattlesca.wordpress.com/2017/02/17/steve-austin-no-not-the-wrestler-is-overcoming-adversity-with-jiu-jitsu/

[scripttorture]

This is a two part question. The first part will cover details concerning the character and situation, which I was wondering if either or both could highlight torture as okay. The second part will take the character and situation and give a scenario so I could check for accuracy. So the character I’m asking for tortures people, they do it regularly, and for fun, as if they get more stressed out they’ll pick up a few more victims to torture. (I’m wondering if there’s a max amount of people (1/17) someone could handle torturing in a certain amount of time?) When talking about it with others, they’ll claim it makes them feel better (more stable really) and that they need to do it. They’ve been hurting and killing people since they were a kid (about eight or ten, due to jealously and neglect), their parents don’t really care what they do and they’re allowed to make whatever decisions they want, so torture is pretty engrained in their lifestyle. This character is highly apathetic (2/17) and doesn’t care for people. They mainly torture people because they like the power it gives them over people especially because they hate feeling weak in any sense, and they also like causing people pain and watching them bleed. They do understand and state at some points that what they do is unforgivable, but they show no remorse or regret over torturing and killing people, it’s almost like a high to them. I’m not overly sure what type of effects torturing people would have (3/17) on said character, except that it’ll make them feel more apathetic and desensitized and maybe even unstable and feeling like they need to do it more often. They also like consuming the victim, though sometimes the victim doesn’t last longer than a few months because they really bloody and cruel procedures. I’m not sure how long a victim would last, they have a doctor on scene and have medical knowledge so they can keep someone from dying right away, and I’m also not overly sure on how (4/17) popular overly cruel techniques are. They aren’t affiliated with a government or anything, but they have a very wealthy backing making it really easy for them to do as they wish. They also don’t do sexual things to their victims, they prefer to keep that sort of thing separate and are more about seeing how nicely people can get taken apart. (I was wondering then if slowly killing people counts as torture actually as sometimes it can take several months. Nearly all of their victims die, (5/17) the longest never lasting more than a year. I was also wondering what type of torture methods they would really enjoy.) When they want to mix something up, they’ll use something like stress positions, but it’s not as fun because it’s less hands on, though they may leave someone like that while they go off to do something else. Most everyone turns a blind eye if they’re aware of what this character is doing, because if they don’t they could easily end up being the character’s next victim. (6/17) Sometimes the character will make people watch or even participate, (what type of effects could that have on someone, especially if it’s someone that’s really not prone to doing it in the first place?) I am worried about people turning a blind eye as coming off as writing off torture as okay, even though the main character states that it is not okay, and that they are a horrible person for doing it, especially since it’s at the expense of other people’s lives to do such a thing. (7/17)

OK so my game plan with this one, since it is so long is to post it as two separate questions that I’m going to try to post one after the other. This is the longest ask I’ve ever gotten and I really want to thank the asker for being so patient because it’s taken me a very long time.

It is also very very long so I��m putting it under a cut. :)

I don’t think this part comes across as condoning torture. But I don’t think it’s quite there in terms of realism. I’m going to go through it and highlight the differences between your scenario and reality, with a couple of suggestions for how to incorporate or work around some of them. I’m also going to try and answer the other questions peppered through this about the effects of torture on torturers and witnesses, types of torture that might work and time frames/physical limitations.

There’s a lot to cover so this is going to get long.

So the first thing that’s coming to mind is that this sort of set isn’t how legally defined torture happens in reality. And I think it’d be useful for me to outline the differences now because all the research I have on torturers is from legally defined torturers who operate in these ways. The same things might not apply to your character.

For starters organisations that torture actively screen out people who seem to want to torture. Anyone with marked sadistic tendencies usually isn’t let in. Neither is anyone with a noticeable mental illness. These organisations see people like that as a risk. They see them as disruptive and disobedient. So they screen them out and then pressure the people they’ve let in to torture.

The second major difference I’m seeing is time frames. Legally defined torturers are usually spending a substantial period of every day torturing. They don’t have a break from violence. It is almost constant in their daily lives for…..years. Abusers and a lot of violent criminals on the other hand are not usually committing violent acts for such a prolonged period, every day for years on end.

And that probably makes a difference to the effects on mental health for both groups.

There’s also the general set up- So the way he’s picking up victims at random and the scale of it with multiple victims at a time is very in keeping with the sorts of scenarios common in legally defined torture. But I’m not sure how sustainable that is with one torturer. The kind of organisation that I’d expect to operate in this general way would have hundreds, possibly thousands of members. You’re talking an entire army camp, the police force for a whole city, a massive hospital. The kind of place that would have dedicated on site cleaners and cooks, a host of ordinary members and probably at least half a dozen torturers if not more.

Generally legally defined torturers concentrate intensely on one victim for a period of about 2-3 days after they’re brought in and to a lesser extent for the next 1-2 weeks. After that they tend to loose interest and leave the victim alone for longer periods. That doesn’t seem to be what you’re going for. The impression I get is that this character is keeping up that first day intensity for multiple victims at a time over a prolonged period- until the victim dies. And well that’s just not physically possible for one person. It’s too physically exhausting and time consuming to keep up that long.

The differences for that last point are the easiest to change in the narrative.

I think there a couple of ways you could go with it- The one that seems most true to the scenario you’ve outlined is to shorten the lifespan of the victims and have this happening in spurts. Which I think is more in keeping with the behaviour of studied serial killers. (I am not an expert on serial killers and most of the reading I did on them was when I was around 12. Even if those sources were good sources they’d be outdated at this point).

Essentially rather than have the character constantly have victims that they’re devoting a lot of time to- have these kidnappings happen in short bursts. So the character kidnaps say, a maximum of 5 people at a time (I think 3 is a more realistic number) and spends anywhere from a week to three weeks torturing them to death one after another. The character then goes into a ‘rest’ period where he doesn’t go after anyone for a month or more.  

The victim characters might be captive for a month, possibly longer if he takes breaks between victims or goes into a rest period before murdering all his captives. But they won’t be continuously tortured for that period of time.

This scenario would depend on other people doing the hard work of actually keeping these victims alive; ie feeding them, cleaning the areas they’re kept in. This means a support staff of somewhere between 3-10 people. I’d suggest going for a higher number.

Characterising techniques that are more likely to be lethal as ‘worse’ or ‘crueler’ really isn’t a good idea. Torture is torture and everyone experiences pain differently. Trying to rank things as better or worse does victims a disservice and it’s often used to dismiss the experiences of survivors who don’t have obvious physical scars. That’s the majority of torture survivors.

I class torturous execution methods as torture. Whether the law does depends on the broader context and motivation of the murder. Legally speaking torture is something done by an organisation. In most places that means government bodies or armed groups holding territory but in some countries the definition includes certain large organised criminal groups. The motive is also defined as; for information, to force a confession, to intimidate the victim, to intimidate other groups or as punishment for something the victim/other groups have done.

This character isn’t acting on behalf of his government or a larger organisation. He also doesn’t seem to fit most of the defined motivations, though an argument might be made for intimidation. Legally speaking in our world he isn’t a torturer. If you want your world to have a different legal definition I don’t think there’s a problem with that but you should think carefully about how you end up defining it and who gets cut out.

Scarring tortures aren’t necessarily more painful or more likely to be lethal. I’m interpreting this ask as- talking about things like vivisection or breaking on the wheel. Things that are lethal but may take a long time to actually kill.

Given that context and the stipulation for ‘hands on’ violence I can suggest a couple of things. Given the length of the ask I think I’m going to have be brief here though:

Breaking on the wheel: systematically breaking the bones in major limbs working inwards from the extremities

Disembowelling: cutting through the skin and muscle to expose the gut and leaving it exposed

Flaying: removal of large portions of skin

Immolation: burning the majority of the body

Vivisection: dissection while the victim is alive and conscious

Repeated cutting using hundred of shallow injuries

There are a great many other forms of torturous executions. I’ve stuck to things that can leave the victim alive for days afterwards even though they can’t be saved (without magic or sci fi tech). I’ve also stuck with things that…. keep the torturer physically close to the victim and can take an extended period of time.

This would have a profound and traumatising effect on witnesses. The research we have suggests that witnessing these kinds of acts can radicalise people. Someone who was willing to ‘compromise’ and work with the character before could very quickly become strongly opposed to them. It encourages dissent and outright attacks.

If the ‘staff’ here are allowed to leave then there’d be a very high staff turnover. People would leave in droves. And a lot of those people might go on to form a base of dissent in society generally.

If they can’t- then the staff are all going to start showing symptoms of trauma. Spacing these attacks out the way I’ve suggested- it would probably take longer then it would for real world torturers. But I’d say that within three months all of them would have a noticeable mental health problem.

The list of common symptoms is over here.

You’ve got multiple characters so I’d suggest picking a range of different symptoms. These symptoms would impact on their ‘work’ as well as their health. I think self harm and suicide among the staff would be common. If they’re forced to remain then I think active confrontational resistance would be too, especially if a significant portion of them are suicidal or self harming.

Regardless of whether the staff are free to leave or not I think most characters staying in this situation, with direct contact with victims, for a significant period of time (a month) is likely to have some sort of mental health problem. Characters at a greater remove, ie those that don’t see victims, may have a little longer but I think even then they’re likely to be traumatised quite quickly.

As for the character himself-

Honestly this is not how I’d characterise a torturer. It sounds much closer to a person ordering torture without witnessing it. It sounds like torturing divorced from the trauma it induces.

It isn't the insistence that this is 'helping' him. Or the way he's doubling down on the subject of violence. It's the apathy.

None of the symptoms classically associated with torture cause apathy. The idea here seems to be that he’s doing bad things because he doesn’t or can’t care about people. Which seems to be leaning in to the idea that torturers hurt people because they’re mentally ill rather than torture causing their mental illnesses.

We’re pretty sure that the reality is that way round for a couple of reasons. Firstly, most organisations that torture actively screen out mentally ill people. Secondly we know that witnessing violence can be traumatising and repeatedly witnessing it increases the chances of developing a mental illness. That’s from studies of people with PTSD and studies of survivors from wars, genocide and famine. Thirdly the anecdotal accounts of both torturers and their relatives/friends back up the idea that most of them were healthy before they started torturing and became severely mentally ill afterwards.

I’m not sure how much the differences between legally defined torturers and your character would affect this but- If this story was happening over years then even on the somewhat slower time frame I’ve suggested I think this character would be ill. I think the chances are he’d be traumatised and would be prone to exactly the same symptoms as his victims.

Showing that means changes but I think you’ve got space to decide how big those changes are.

You could keep the character exactly as he is but rather than have him torture people directly have him coerce others into doing the actual torturing. I think that could fit with your scenario generally pretty well. It could help explain why their hasn’t been some sort of uprising against him: he’s shifting the blame on to others and silencing people by making them culpable too. It also fits with the social position you’ve given him and the implied need for control over others.

I think it fits with the idea of him ‘taking people apart’ as well. For instance say he picks out someone he wants to pressure into torturing a victim and the target is a family man. So the character uses the target’s family as part of that coercion process ‘Do exactly what I tell you and I’ll never go near your family. But if you don’t your children will go missing.’ If the character has done something like this before he’ll know there’s a high chance his target will be traumatised and develop a severe mental illness. Coupled with guilt and a lack of explanation the sudden change could easily destroy someone’s family life.

Another possibility is modifying the character.

There are a couple of ways you could take that. One is using an outside perspective of this character, having the character say that they get a ‘high’ from this abuse, that they ‘need’ it and that they’re ‘apathetic’. At the same time show that the character is…. not apathetic and not getting high from a traumatising and physically exhausting campaign of sustained abuse.

Pick some symptoms out and show those symptoms. While you have the character saying something completely different and possibly having other characters believe those statements.

It would be perfectly in keeping with the behaviour of torturers for your character to….put forward an explanation for their actions that’s at odds with what they actually do.

You could also try to select a symptom set that makes the character appear apathetic or unemotional to other people. In some people depression and suicidal ideation can appear this way to others, but I think it’s important to stress that this isn’t actually apathy and it doesn’t make people violent. It also wouldn’t get better with exposure to violence.

I think if you choose to use that approach then you’d need to be pretty careful about how you handled showing these mental health problems. I’d strongly recommend having good characters with similar mental health issues and symptoms to balance things out.  

I think it’s especially important that you disconnect the character’s abuse from any abuse or neglect they suffered as a child. That’s a really poisonous trope, telling survivors of child abuse that’s it’s going to turn them into abusers. Honestly I think the best thing to do there is to get rid of it. Have their parents distant if you like. Have the relationship be bad. But don’t fall into that trope. It’s really bad for survivors.

OK- what have missed?

I don’t see anything unrealistic about the character consuming bits of their victims. Though uh you may want to look up prion diseases because I think they’re more common among people who routinely engage in cannibalism. (Fun Fact: Russian makes a linguistic distinction between cannibalism of bodies that were already dead and murdering someone to eat them.)

I also don’t think there’s a problem with your character having no remorse for their crimes. This is anecdotal but- when torturers do express remorse it seems to be entirely in the context of negative effects their actions have had on them and their life, rather than any appreciation of what the victims went through. They lack insight into their crimes.

So having the character carry on with no regret, regard the victims as worthless or only really good for the torturer’s gratification- that’s possible and I don’t think there are any problems with making that choice here.

Wrapping this part of the question up- So far as I can tell your main concern is unfounded. I don’t think this is showing torture as ‘OK’ in any sense.

It’s also not that unusual for people generally not to combat a high ranking individual who tortures. The witnesses, victims and the relatives of victims are all likely to oppose this individual. But people who are not directly affect by torture in this society may well view it as too much of a risk. People at higher levels of society may consider themselves ‘safe’ from the abuse, think that it doesn’t matter if ‘commoners’ are hurt and materially profit from the torturer remaining in the high social position he occupies.

But there are areas where this significantly departs from the reality of torture. And some of those departures come with some unfortunate implications.

I strongly recommend changing some of the central aspects of the torturer so that this doesn’t suggest mental illness drives people to violent behaviour.

The suggestions for changing the set up; I don’t think there are any unfortunate implications tied up with the way you’re picturing things now. It’s about trying to figure out what’s practical for the sort of setting you’re aiming for. Similarly I don’t think there are unfortunate implications in the way you’re dealing with witnesses and coerced ‘helpers’ now, but appreciating the symptoms they’re likely to have and the effect it’s likely to have is more realistic and I think it adds to your story.

I hope this helps. :) I’ll get the next part up as soon as I can.

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