#general distrust not unlike chil. ✨sociology✨

[fumifooms]

This is the incel Mickbell post 🎉 "Why do people see Mickbell as an incel?" you may ask, seeing some people around treat him like one, and there's no black or white answer, but: 

Incels are mostly characterized by insecurity and a persecution complex. It’s in the name even, involuntary celibate, which they wear as a badge, often even loudly and proudly. Some blame society and women entirely while some also largely blame themselves or the conditions of their birth with self-loathing, "I’m ugly no one would want me" etc etc, and both lash out at the world and self-isolate because of it. The incel community often serves as that desire for community and connection that lonely men who become incels crave and latch onto, becoming an echo chamber of miserable people enabling each other and agreeing about how much the world discriminates against them and hates their guts, fueling their hate targeted at everyone including themselves but offering some semblance of comradery. There’s mistrust of social systems often, a "I see through the matrix of society" sentiment, sigma males etc. To summarize with the help of wikipedia: The subculture's attitude can be characterized by resentment, hostility, sexual objectification, misogyny, misanthropy, self-pity and self-loathing, racism, sense of entitlement to sex, blaming of women and the sexually successful for their own situation (which is often seen as predetermined due to biological determinism, evolutionary genetics or a rigged game), rape culture and nihilism.

Of course Mickbell doesn't fit the mold quite that intensely and plainly, and Dungeon Meshi is a manga that largely avoids sexuality and romance, and yet- At its core being an incel is wanting to be loved and have a relationship but it turns you into some tar pit. With Mickbell, you can see several of these tendencies in him, but the key change is that women aren’t the target and sex isn’t in the picture. Resentment and hostility? Check. Objectification of the person he wants, entitlement? Check. Misanthropy? Well he sure doesn’t seem to think good of most people and the world. Self-loathing and self-pity? Check. Exhibit A and B and C and: 

Wanting to take away the rights of the person he craves attention and affection from because of his own insecurities that he’s undesirable and unlovable and that people could never choose him/want to stay. Your partner should be a possession that has no agency.

Believing that any interaction or interest outside of him is cheating or betrayal etc (not wanting Kuro to speak with Kabru or anyone without his monitoring)

Talking himself up as if superior because of entitlement/analysing his feelings would make everything crumble. Even as he puts his individual worth down he has to latch onto there being innate worth in him, something that makes him entitled to the attention and love he coerces out of Kuro, that makes it so he's owed it and deserved to take it- because he saved Kuro, because he's smarter than the people trying to trick them, etc. (for incels it's usually because they're a man or sigma or whatever)

He puts other people down (kabru) to prop himself up- everyone else is bad and dishonest but I'm a nice guy. Which combined with how isolating he is of himself and Kuro, he's literally doing a Mother Knows Best from Tangled routine, though he drinks his own koolaid about it too in most parts.

Mick implicitly called Rin a stuck up bitch because she didn’t laugh at his jokes. Saying she should smile to be cuter. He says she’s uncute and should want to be more charming, if Rin was a guy he would not be using the same language. (Flash misogyny analysis: with his sister and a lot of speculation, you could say he reflects chilchuck in this way, respects women as coworkers and people but still believes in gender roles and thinks of them as something to protect)

He's self-isolating by not trusting others and social systems/communities, like Kabru but especially the half-foot guild.

He has distrust in everything except self-hatred, because it’s supposedly the laws of the world. Of course they’ll leave him, no matter what they say or how devoted they currently are, of course everyone is out to get him- and if they say anything to countee this they'rexjust lying. It’s being possessive because of this.

Also don’t let them know just how genuinely important they are to you because that’d be showing vulnerability you can’t afford and giving them power and you have to keep the power in the relationship because otherwise you aren’t safe. He wants commitment onesidedly while still being able to be emotionally uncompromised on his end.

Like biggest takeaway is 1) he's insecure in his relationship because he doesn't think he's lovable enough for people to want to stay 2) that self-imposed pessimistic outlook of doom & fear of being alone fuels this whole behavior and he mistreat people because of it. Paranoid anxiety and self-pity and self-loathing, all that stuff. For more on Mickbell I'd link my analysis of him and- oh god oh wow oh no I tripped and my web weaving falls out and jippers this post slides out of my pocket excuse me......... Again, these things just show tendencies that are reminiscent, without really getting into the specifics of what makes incels this very specific movement. You absolutely do not need to consider him one, but hopefully this post explains well why some people see incel potential/vibes in him, so to speak. Sorry Mickbell