#that doesnt magically reverse the damage caused

[seeingfacesinplaces]

A big problem surrounding issues like this is poor judgement on womens part, and that’s not to say women have bad judgement but rather we’re cornered from all sides throughout life and told that our responsibility is to others, and later in life that translates to making poor decisions for yourself in favor of another (men mostly) and the scale is so broad from live-in maid, to “allowed” assault. I see it in the women around me everyday. They’ve been indoctrinated into thinking it’s something greater to serve.. I see it in GIRLS around me so young and already putting their safety or feelings in jeopardy just to appease some dude who’s clearly just in his mind training his dog to fetch. I get so angry because the real way to stop this is to talk to other women. but so rarely does a woman in such a situation want to accept her reality. I have girlfriends who are so intelligent and strong willed, talented, kind, fierce, who immediately crumble and make unsafe or ignorant choices at their loss for SOME GUY some stupid loser, and it’s like all clarity leaves the room. you talk to a women in that position whether she feels trapped by the shackles of time or deluded by the sparkly fantasy image of their future life and they will deny it to your face that they live like servants let alone slaves. it seems like a rarity that theyll listen to genuine concern and wishes for better. Sometimes it seems easy to blame men and send them away but thats not the way to change someones heart. It’s not the way to reverse the convoluted thinking thats been impressed on someone if you care about the women in your life you will talk to them. tell then you love them and how you feel they deserve more than what they think. and then tell them again and again and again. If they want you to leave and stop talking to them, tell them again and that you’ll always have room in your heart for someone who needs a friend a women in that position will not leave a man because he’s gone, the post above is evidence of just how much women will go through, you have to reach HER. Women are the catalyst to the change we need.

When I worked as a cleaner in people's homes I was almost aIways called because the woman of the house had fallen sick or gotten a severe injury and the man refused to clean anything. I'd come in and immediately see women in wheelchairs or wearing a cast, severely disabled after surgery, something like that. All of them in severe pain, all of them feeling overwhelmed by all the unattended chores that their husbands refused to do. Some women just felt like it was normal for them to call another woman to clean up after their man, convinced that he just didn't know how to or shouldn't have to because he's a man. Others were just tired of living in the ever growing filth. It was always the women who welcomed me into the house, explained where things were and what I should do. A lot of the men were simply napping all the time, locking themselves in their bedrooms, chilling in front of the TV or by the pool. One tried to plug in the iron for me and shaked his head saying "I just don't know how this thing works, sorry". That man had been married for at least 20 years to this poor woman with a broken foot. So for 20 years he had a maid ironing all his clothes for free. 20 fucking years. Imagine that, sisters, for 20 years someone irons your clothes, or cooks for you, cleans up after you. Imagine. The amount of selfishness and egotism one would need to be like "yeah, this person acts like my servant and I totally take advantage of it". Is that love? The love heterosexuals keep going on about? The love women can't live without? As I left, he told me not to unplug the iron because his wife was going to try to iron while sitting down since she has a broken foot and the clothes are piling up. And I was like... why don't you do it yourself??? But I didn't say anything because I needed a job. It was the situation for 90% of the clients I had. And seeing this exact same pattern every day, seeing how these women lived with those men, because that's the kind of job that really allows you to see people's intimate lives you know? Well it really comforted me and my choice not to date men. I'd go home and absolutely relish my celibacy.

[shmorp-mcdurgen]

something i love about your aus is how (almost) every character has a bad ending/fate for them

alt mark, alt thatcher, alt jonah, and alt cesar are doomed to an eternity of suffering. cesars mom was crucified, sarah got a chunk of concrete slammed into the back of her head, seth is all alone after finally getting close to people he considered his family.

prophet adam lives with crippling anxiety that the parasite will decide to come out and kill everyone he cares about, just like it did to jonah. thatcher's parasite breaks his bones, practically mangling him every time it comes out. evelin lost herself(?), becoming one with her parasite.

im not educated about the lab rats au so ill avoid commenting on it

guest mark is part of a house he hates, nobody listened when he said something was up with it, not even his own best friend. cesar is stuck all alone in the reflection of a mirror. guest jonah cant move at all, completely stuck in a wall. guest adam can move, but he cant ever leave.

spirit cesar literally got erased from existence by his best friend. shadow mark has to live with the guilt of that.

the characters lives get absolutely wrecked in ways that could never happen in reality but you write their reactions so realistically that it feels natural. their pain and grief and trauma are so realistic that its easy to have sympathy for them, even alt mark. alt mark is an absolute asshole but i think anyone would be if given his fate.

you can see how the characters got in the messes they did. its easy to be like "oh, theyre so dumb, i would never get myself in a mess like that" but you write the characters so realistically that it doesnt feel like a silly horror movie.

something that really stuck with me is the part in the alt au prologue fic where mark runs upstairs and quickly realizes he made a mistake just like so many characters in horror movies did. that detail made it feel so much more real.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THANK YOUUU I LOVE THIS ANALYSIS /GEN

AND YEAH. I want to make it clear that. these characters are. well. human. at least in how they act and react. No one is perfect, with even the most moral and understanding characters having flaws that can lead to bad things happening, or simply being doomed to begin with. Even the villains have motive, and aren't your typical cocky, one note evil bad guys who just want pain on people for no reason.

These characters get bad endings not because of who they are or just for fun. but because in that scenario. A good ending would be. bittersweet at best. And the most likely scenario, taking into consideration the characters and how they act can be. bad.

For example, the alt au has that ending because of the fact that Mark refuses to let go of the past. the bad ending is his fault, and not because he's a one note villain but because he's just. unable to come to terms with what he is and the circumstances of his "death."

The MP Au gets that ending due to Adam's lust for knowledge he shouldn't have, and he is suffering the consequences for it. Not only he drags himself into damnation, but everyone around him as well. All because he was too focused on his own goals to care about those around him.

The HSH au ends up there due to cruel circumstances. Home used Mark and Cesar's poor friendship to its advantage to make them drift apart, feeding off of their negative feelings towards each other. Were either of them in the wrong? no. but neither of them were in the right either.

The only au I can say has a pretty good ending is the lab au, where the patients eventually escape. but. it's not all sunshine and rainbows cause. the damage had already been done. they can't magically reverse the mutations or mental fuckery they've gone under. They're like that for the rest of their lives, but. they're free. Bittersweet, really.

But yeah, the point is. the MAIN goal with these characters is to be. realistic. No one has magic plot armor where no harm can be done to them, no one is the perfect person who can easily be framed as the hero, no one is necessarily absolute pure evil as they have their own motivations and in some cases believe what they're doing is right. They're people. And their actions lead to scenarios that sometimes lead to horrible endings. It all depends really.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Gale Reviews: Miraculous World: New York

(The following review contains spoilers, and if you would like to not be spoiled, I would recommend watching the episode before reading)

(I had to pause a LOT to get through this special)

-Oh s*** Cosmo bug and Astro Noir. That is so cool.

-Okay maybe its my audio, but their voices seem a bit deeper. No big, just something I noticed.

-Okay the yellow flower was cute. Good on you kitty.

- Also, side note. This is very nice animation. Very crisp.

- Marinette is moving on... kinda. Well, she is trying. Its not easy getting over someone you have a thing for. I guess that means Miracle Queen did happen and I will need to suck it up. But.... I am not moving on yet either.

- The puppet show was perfection. And honestly on par with what you would expect from middle school projects. (I almost thought it was the adults showing them and was like WTF)

-BACK THE F***. Madame Bustier is PREGNANT! PREGNANT?! I am so lost? What is the story!? Who is the father! Is she married? Is it artificial insemination! Is it the principal?

-Adrien so moved by Marinette’s outburst of Friendship. Marinette ‘Just a friend’ Dupain-Cheng is going the Tia Gardner method of friendship. Lol

-Marinette ready to fight and Gabriel just like ‘Yea sure whatever’ (Gabriel’s smile murders puppies)

- Kagami trying to cheer adrien up. If you love adrigami, get that juice. (That looked like a kiss kiss, but the angle seemed off, so I am not counting it that way.)

- Kitty Clicker is wonderful. This entire scene is gold.

-  Gorrilla doesnt like planes, poor baby

- Plagg, you are a devious little s***. I love you so much. As a writer, his dialogue on how to convince adrien is so devilish its amazing. Using technicalities to tempt adrien.

-Lukanette shippers get your juice... even if it was still tainted a bit by Adrien inclusion. You still get a kiss.

- Okay, can we appreciate that Adrien is also having the same amount of trouble as Marinette moving on, but also include Guilt into the equation? I love this because you KNOW Chat noir is going to get an ear full later.

-Marinette has totally moved on from Adrien.... Oh my poor sweet little girl. You havent. You havent even a little. This ride is litterally the reverse of Startrain and its amazing. Alya is NOT helping. Also, give the person that drew Marinette’s Daydreams a f***ing raise. They earned it

-Marinette pulling herself OUT of the situation. Now adrien is slightly bummed out. Well i am sure that this is the last awkward experience with Adrien she will have. It isnt like the two of them will get lost in NY together... thats whats gonna happen isnt it?

-Marinette walking past all the couples sleeping together. JULROSE GET YOUR JUICE!!!

-Ah yes, nothing like watching the sunset with your good friend. Yes, you good pal, Adrien. Who is Just a friend. Wow, the realization that Marinette used the word friend in this movie more times then Adrien did in the entire series so far. (Or at the very least close)

- Adrien, STOP! Marinette is trying to move on from you! Stop making it so damn difficult for her. (I am not serious, i am eating this s*** up like Sushi)

-Nino confirms he loves Adrien. ADRINO COME GET YOUR JUICE! But yea, I feel alya and Nino’s pain. So they are going to help them both.

-Adrienette hugs. Yes, good.

-And thank goodness for Techno Pirate! Saving everyone from awkwardness by trying to bring down a plane... thats heading for NY...

-OH SWEET! BATMAN RIP OFF AND Captain Marvel rip off! And their sidekicks, Robin rip off and... Medusa girl? Okay Neat.

-Jokes aside, Majestia and Night Owl are boss as hell.

-Wow, I know that Ladybug and Chat noir got powerups now. But these United Heroes make their powers look so bland in comparison.

-Get rekt France!

-ADRIEN! DONT USE YOUR PHONE ON AN AIRPLANE! Well, unless he is using the in flight wifi, then he good.

-How come New York has a f*** ton of superheroes in this universe? America really gets all the cool stuff regardless of what fictional universe your in.

- Why are the superheroes so keen on watching over Marinette’s class? Do they know? Do they know Marinette and Adrien are there? Or is it like they just want to prevent an international incident. PLEASE LET IT BE THE LATER.

- I have only had Aeon for 15 seconds and I would violently murder anyone who harms her.

-Oh my Sabrina! GET YOURSELF AN AMERICAN BOY! ... And Chloé is going to ruin the fun. Oof tough break roomies.

-The entire class! I cant even! Not even a second after the door closes they out to party on the roof!

-Aeon, “See? They are made for eachother!”

- Damn, now that’s some guitar playing! Plus Her design is boss as heck. America really just has better versions of EVERYTHING.

-American boy basically snuck in to see Sabrina! GET IT GIRL!

-HOTDOG SUPERHERO! WITH MAGIC HOTDOGS!!!!!! BEST NEW YORK EVER!

-Nino and Alya be tag teaming this!

-Wow Zag, you stuffing me full of Adrinette goodness. Gorilla is a beautiful sunflower.

- Marinette and Adrien havent been in the US 24 hours and they already have two shippers of them. Also, what do doors have against them?

-Jess is Shipping it too hard. “Lets put them in danger!”

-Jess is having way too much fun with this.

-Hawkmoth akumatizing an actual Super villain. FINALLY!

- “Wouldn’t you rather have an Atomic Bomb?” I love Techno pirate.

-”Super Heroes should never use their powers for personal gain.”  Hmmm I wonder how this will back fire on everyone involved.

-”OH S*** HE STOLE THEIR CANNONS! BOOM GOES THE CANNONS!”

-Okay, I take back what I said, these heroes need some Miraculous asap.

- Ladybug is 100% justified in being angry with Chat Noir. It is his fault.

-AEON!!!! NO!!!!!!! Okay, guess i have to kill that techno pirate, and Chat noir

-MAJESTIA IS F***ING PISSED! WRECK HIM MAJESTIA!

- Seems they really hammering it in that Chat noir f***ed up. They right though, but at least Ladybug isnt angry enough to agree that Chat noir should give up his miraculous to some rando. FLEEING FROM THE LAW!

-So lucky charm can only fix damage due to specific villains. It cant fix things when the villain is gone or they are out of range. I always knew it had limitations, but damn. Chat noir REALLY screwed the pooch on this one.

-Adrien no! Oh s***! He cant just... I mean.... He can but...

__________

-Gabriel stole the Eagle! The Kwami of Freedom. The irony is so delicious here.

- So night Owl and Sparrow are both chick with Masculine superhero appearances. Thats actually pretty damn smart, great way to keep people off their identity.

-Welp, i am depressed. Adrien doesnt have Plagg.

-EVEN THE PRESIDENT IS A SUPER HERO! AMAZING!

- So an akumatized person can USE A MIRACULOUS WHILE AKUMATIZED! WHAT THE F*** THATS AWESOME. Also why didnt catalyst do that?

-Gabriel actually getting adrien out of there while before s*** hits the fan. That is actually kind of a decent parenting move. Granted he is going to cause it, but appreciate it.

-Marinette the bike thief is back! And she is an international criminal!

- She tried so hard. Welp I am glad that Marinette is clearly over... actually no. This trip made that clear.

-Liberation, Wow. That is the most American power I have ever seen. I LOVE IT.

- Okay, so I never thought i would say this. maybe there is such a thing as too much freedom? Or at least Freedom that lets you impede on Other people’s freedoms.

- I know what Zag is up to, and it is working. I want a tv series Of Jess and Aeon. They are wonderful.

-So Majestia can casually move the moon. Yea, thats amazing and terrifying! I love her.

-Quantum masking! So there is a glamor effect! I knew it! So Aeon knows who ladybug and Chat noir are.

-DID I F***ING MENTION I WOULD MURDER FOR AEON!

-aeon will never see Tikki or plagg. Thats so sad.

-At least Adrien learned an important lesson.

-Cute LADYNOIR REUNION

-The was clever, using the keychain

- Eagle jess is epic.

-and Majestia can catch missles. Considering she can move the moon. Not surprising.

-OH DAMN, Night owl and Sparrow are LEGACY HEROES! Thats like the Phantom, Or like Jojo.

-That was sweet of Marinette and the class.

-Oh so the guardian of those miraculous came back to claim it.

-But now sounds like the set up for a new series.

____________________________________________________________________

Overall, I did greatly enjoy this movie. Though there were times i wanted to know more, and times I wanted to know less. I know this takes place sometime during season 4, but the exact time is vague. It did tell a really cool story. It felt like a three episode saga combined into one. It was kind of interesting. And damn the drama was higher.

I give it a 7.5/10.

I would rate it up there with my favorite ML episodes.

[ilikelookingatthings]

Is Adrien cursed?

So...anyone feeling like Adrien is cursed because everytime he tries to do something based on his feelings he is punished for it? and I don’t mean the romantic ones.

The dude wanted to experience a birthday party for once in his life. It got his best friend banned from the house, akumatized, al the adults kidnapped. and he tried experiencing the party a little longer instead of transforming and realized that was selfish because his best friend was a akuma and everyone was held hostage.

He wants to sped time with his dad on the first christmas without his mom and he understandably gets upset and runs off. He stops himself from catacysming a tre instead hitting a poster. they got stuck out in the cold and plagg was cheeseless. but then just when he hit some luck. talking to a kind old santa claus who helped inspire him about his problems who gave him a ride home. it turned out his dad was a dick to the santa, Ladybug had jumped to conclusions and refused to listen to him that the santa wasnt a akuma and attacked the kind man on adrien’s behalf. which then caused that kid ma to become a akuma.

though a positive was everyone who was trouble was allowed to stay over and his dad had a real talk with him.

His outing with his friends are often canceled last minute by his dad like in glacatiour.

He invited nino out to the wax musuem.both alya and mari tag along but alya and nino ditch adrien and mari ran from adrien and adrien doesnt know what he did wrong and his friends aren’t helping. then he tries a trick to cheer mari up likewhat plagg does and ended up embarrassing mari even if mari tried to fib her way out of that. and he opens up on a rare occasion about the girl he likes who doesnt like his jokes to marinette and mari isobviously distressed again and leaves.

Adrien wants to see his mom’s movie and his dad canceled. yet due to a perfume add he was tracked down by fans. he got his friend mari embarrassed because she was helping hi in pajamas. and he was almost died jumping off a building.

He trieds the advice of changing targets before he was ready with kagami before and we know he ended up asking his crush for help and is helping push her toward luka.

He tries to be mature and understanding of his dad’s happyness if nathalie and gabriel are a couple by giving his blessig and it made his dad made and we know it distracted his dad from telling him about the mom.

Adrien takes the kwami book for research. It gets stolen by lila. then ladybug. he tried to deal with lila as a civilian because he had a idea but ladybug escalated the situation. hhen when he tranformed into chat to do his job ladybug got convinced he was kidnapped and almost doomed paris over a illusion him. all because he wanted to talk super heros with the new girl. and then ladybug is the one who tkes the book to master fu and finds out all this context whie he’s left in the dark(probaby to not risk they figuring out eachothers identities due to the book). but he was taken out of school for a while.

He joins a gamer tournament. Max gets akumatized and adrien gives up his place in the tournament when mari tried giving her to max because adrien admired mari’s skills. even though as talented as mari was she only joined bcause she wanted to have a excuse to train with adrien one on one.

He tried to tactically and in a unofenvive manner get theo to think  chat and ladybug were a thing to give up on ladybug out of jealousy(which was wrong becaus ladybug and chat aren’t a thing and it was lying and not chat’s jjob to turn people away). but you have to admit that chat’s way of dealing with it had tact especially compared to certain tactics other jealous people use. but then he dealt with everyone believing he could be a criminal and he couldnt handle a akuma by himself at all aand then ladybug saying the real chat wouldnt love her. proof ladybug hadn’t been taking any of his flrting seriously(and I like this episode alot because he did wrong and got karma but I do think it fits into the catagory).

He snuck out with kagami in desperada to have fun and tried to liv up to being chosen by ladybug as adrien. but it resulted him stuck in a loop for more than 1000 tries. failing to save her til he gave up. and her having very different reactions to his jokes.

He has terrible timing trying to stand up for his right to have emotions and that he desereves better treatment and should be let in on more things. things that are progress that he doesnt get to do often as adrien. but has really bad timing during akuma attacks as chat. like in glacatiour, or siren ect.

dude has fun modeling his talent friend’s hat? he gets turned into a gold statue and plagg makes up a lie that makes chat sound incompetant for why plagg wasnt with chat to ladybug.

Adrien trries dancing with marinette at chloe’s party one time and it gets chloe angry enough to lash out at her butler, cause a akuma. and he almost catacylsms ladybug.

Chat tried to confess to ladybug in darkcupid. he gets hit with a arrow, says mean stuff to her, almost cataclysms her. doesnt get to confess and he doesnt even find out he was kissed until ages later from a interviewer.

He tries to be understanding to his cousin but his cousin blamed him for not going to the funeral when it ws gabriel who didn’t let him go. and Felix deletes the nice videos hat adrien never gets to see, and then pretends to be him and is cruel enough to his friends it caused  a few of themto lose complete faith in him. and three got akumatized. and his cousin messed with ladybug and tried to make a deal with hawkmoth.

Adrien tried to be understand toward new girl lila and thats backfired ALOT.

He wants to make a relationship work in chat blanc after finding out ladybug is mari and she likes him and it resulted in his dad bullying mari into breaking up with him, his identity being found out when she almost got akumatized. and he accidentally destroyed the world when he was conflicted about helping his dad save his mom or taking down his dad who went too far to save the mom and lost himself. and he was stuck alone for ages and then wiped from time.

tris watching a race with friends he gets absorbed by timetagger.

He snuck on a trip to go to a fieldtrip to London with his friends. a akuma snuck on and got everyone sent to space which would get his dad even more over protective.

Adrien and kagami and mari had a good time together and he wanted to hang with them as friend together with some icecream. Not realizing Mari would over think the icecream part and try to put them together when she wasnt ready to. enough that she got distracted by them and lead hawkmoth to fu unintentionally. if adrien and kagami hadn’t been close mari wouldn’t have been distracted so the guardian wouldn’t have left. and he had been encouraged to try to movie on and find someone actually interested.

like the dude’s dad is a villian and his mom is in a magical coma and his side job is stoppng his dad from finding a way to wake her up.

gets a party with just the boys at the house and a whole bunch of stuff happened.

Biggest situation was the new york special. Adrien only wanted to spend a few days with his friends on this trip in New York. He agrees to watch over Paris while ladybug is gone just to find out he can go on the trip. He was honestly considering not going because he didn’t want ti disapoint ladybug until plagg convinced him that adrien could go. all he’d have to do is watch the app and fly to Paris while notifying her. Plagg didn’t even convince adrien to just tell her and that she wouldnt be disappointed.

then Mari doesn’t want to sit next to him despite him being excited to hang with her. He gets trapped so it unable to go to Paris in time. Ladybug told him that she can’t trust him anymore due to him leaving Paris. this got him distracted enough he was thrown and catacsymed a girl. the adults rip into him telling him he doesn’t deserve the miraculous. Him leaving and not notifying ladybug meant the damage in Paris couldn’t be reversed. and he gave up his miraculous.. and was then told he had to go back to Paris by his dad.

Like the dude just wanted to go to New York with his friends but it felt like alot of bad stuff happened because he went and he felt shamed or selfish for wanting to go when you consider everything that happened.

Like its just really interesting though process to think about.

makes me think of how when adrien helped fu in origins he was caught and taken from the school

[loopy777]

If you were told to rewrite the history of republic city, so that it started off well under aangs rule, only to go to hell once he died, how would you have done it? Cause that seems to be what happened, but as youve noted, with the info from the comics, the problems were there from the start, but apparently werent too big an issue in aangs reign, which doesnt really make that much sense with the whole class divide dominating from the beginning

To start, let’s list what I see as the main root problems with Republic City

Lack of spirituality (defined by not being in harmony with nature/people)

Unemployment/homelessness

No social advancement

Now, yes, there are more problems that we see in LoK (the resentment between Benders and NonBenders is a big one), but I think those problems stem from these three. People are mean to each other and destructive because of the lack of spirituality. Crime is the only solution to lack of legitimate income. But when even top-performing star Probenders can’t make enough to pay rent, that’s a rigged system in play.

Now, there are whole areas of academia that are about exploring where these things come from, and I’m a Computer Scientist, not a Social Scientist, so I’m going to reduce the probable causes to something easily digestible and that jives with the themes of the Avatar setting and storytelling.

I think two economic points up there can be attributed to a wealthy upper class that toed the line while Aang and his friends were in power, playing nice and maintaining a functional Trickle Down economy and reinvesting in the city. But as soon as Aang died and Sokka retired to the South Pole and Toph wandered into Foggy Swamp, the rich went full Robber Baron on the city. While the cat’s away, the mice did everything they could to maximize profits, even at the cost of human lives, and actively worked to destroy all avenues of advancement. Can’t have the peasants getting ideas into their heads, after all.

I do think Aang likely foresaw this happening, not being naive enough to believe that those Robber Barons were as nice as they wanted him to think, but he underestimated the next generation’s ability to fight against them. And, because those future Robber Barons had played nice during his life, he didn’t have the political capital to get laws in place that would force their future compliance.

So we were left with Tenzin and Lin -- both of whom are morons when it comes to figuring out who to trust and persuading people around to their point of view -- to actively manage the Robber Barons. Naturally, things went to Hell in handbasket.

The last bit, the lack of Spirituality, is something I think Aang saw even as kid during the AtLA story that he was never able to do anything about. Just look at how Sokka was ever ready to dismiss supernatural occurrences, despite having witnessed “Avatar Stuff.” I think the world’s overall spirituality was damaged by the Hundred Years War, and Aang just never got a grip on how to reverse the trend because he himself only doubted his beliefs once and in response an immortal turtle from a forgotten age showed up to teach him a new magic power. So he saw the urban nature of Republic City sapping the denizens’ oneness with nature and ability to connect to each other, but struggled with solutions. He probably figured that sticking Air Temple Island right there might help, but with Tenzin in charge, that idea probably didn’t survive for a week after Aang’s death.

Also, if the Order of the White Lotus was actively involved in shaping the world, that’s a major problem right there. Those guys, by LoK, were nothing but a bunch of pompous elitists with poor Gung Fu who were looking to create a global police state as soon as they had enough members. I don’t think we saw a single one of them with any spiritual sensitivity whatsoever.

For that, I blame Iroh pushing the Order to rise up as a military power. Once you go down that road, you can’t go back again, and in time the tea-loving philosophers were all replaced by Military Commanders who pretend they aren’t a military organization.

Seriously, slush those OWL people. They’re the worst. I’m totally with Korra in her resentment of them.

[tuthillscopes-blog]

Alternative Facts: A Psychiatrists Guide To Twisted Relationships To Truth

check it out @ https://tuthillscopes.com/alternative-facts-a-psychiatrists-guide-to-twisted-relationships-to-truth/

Alternative Facts: A Psychiatrists Guide To Twisted Relationships To Truth

The saying alternative facts has lately made this news inside a political context, but psychiatrists much like me happen to be thoroughly knowledgeable about the idea indeed, we hear many forms of alternate reality expressed nearly every day.

Many of us have to parse perceived from actual reality every single day, in nearly every facet of our way of life. So exactly how should we straighten out claims and beliefs that strike many people as odd, unfounded, fantastical or simply plain delusional?

Untruths arent always lies

First, we have to create a distinction frequently emphasized by ethicists and philosophers: that from a lie along with a falsehood. Thus, somebody that deliberately misrepresents what he or she knows to be true is laying typically, to secure some personal advantage. In comparison, somebody that voices a mistaken claim with no intent to trick isn’t laying. That individual should be not aware from the details, or may won’t believe the very best available evidence. Instead of laying, hes stating a falsehood.

Many people who voice falsehoods appear not capable of distinguishing real from unreal, or truth from fiction, yet are sincerely convinced their worldview is completely correct. Which is our entree in to the psychological literature.

In clinical psychiatry, we have seen patients having a broad spectrum of ideas that lots of people would find eccentric, exaggerated or blatantly at odds with reality. The clinicians job is, first, to pay attention empathically and then try to understand these beliefs in the patients perspective, carefully considering the individuals cultural, ethnic and non secular background.

Sometimes, clinicians could be extremely mistaken within their first impressions. A friend of mine once described a seriously irritated patient who had been hospitalized while he was adamant he had been stalked and harassed through the FBI. A couple of days into his hospitalization, FBI agents demonstrated on the system to arrest the individual. Because the old joke goes, simply because youre paranoid doesnt mean they arent once you!

IMG 2 TT

As strongly as she believes, it doesnt allow it to be true. Talking image via www.shutterstock.com.

When what you consider is wrong

We are able to consider distortions of reality as falling along a continuum, varying from mild to severe, depending on how rigidly the idea takes place and just how impervious it’s to factual information. Around the milder finish, we’ve what psychiatrists call over-valued ideas. They are very strongly held convictions which are at odds using what many people within the persons culture believe, but which aren’t bizarre, incomprehensive or patently impossible. A amorously held thought that vaccinations cause autism might become qualified as an over-valued idea: it is not scientifically correct, nevertheless its not absolutely past the arena of possibility.

Around the severe end of the continuum are delusions. They are strongly held, completely inflexible beliefs that aren’t altered whatsoever by factual information, and that are clearly false or impossible. Importantly, delusions aren’t described through the persons culture, faith or ethnicity. Someone who inflexibly believes that Vladimir Putin has personally implanted an electrode in the brain to be able to control his ideas would become qualified as delusional. Once the patient expresses this belief, they’re not laying or attempting to trick the listener. It’s a sincerely held belief, but nonetheless a falsehood.

Falsehoods of numerous kinds could be voiced by individuals with assorted neuropsychiatric disorders, but additionally by individuals who’re perfectly normal. Within the plethora of normal falsehood are extremely-known as false memories, which a lot of us experience quite frequently. For instance, you’re very sure you sent that check towards the electric company, however, you won’t ever did.

As social researcher Julia Shaw observes, false recollections have the same properties as any other memories, and therefore are indistinguishable from recollections of occasions that really happened. Then when you insist for your spouse, Obviously I compensated that utility bill! you aren’t laying you’re just fooled from your own brain.

An infinitely more serious kind of false memory involves a process called confabulation: the spontaneous manufacture of false recollections, frequently of the very detailed nature. Some confabulated recollections are mundane others, quite bizarre. For instance, the individual may insist and sincerely believe he had eggs Benedict in the Ritz in the morning, even if this clearly wasnt the situation. Or, the individual may insist she was kidnapped by terrorists and offer a reasonably elaborate account from the (imaginary) ordeal. Confabulation is generally seen poor severe brain damage, for example may consume a stroke or even the rupture of the circulation system within the brain.

Laying like a default

Finally, there’s falsification that lots of people would call pathological laying, and which matches through the extravagant scientific name of pseudologia fantastica (PF). Writing within the Psychological Annals, Drs. Rama Rao Gogeneni and Thomas Newmark list the following features of PF:

Reasonable inclination to lie, frequently like a defensive make an effort to avoid effects. The individual can experience a higher out of this imaginative story-telling.

The lies are very dazzling or fantastical, though they might contain truthful elements. Frequently, the lies may capture considerable public attention.

The lies have a tendency to present the individual inside a positive light, and could be a manifestation of the underlying character trait, for example pathological narcissism. However, the is based on PF usually exceed the greater believable tales of persons with narcissistic traits.

Even though the precise cause or reasons for PF aren’t known, some data suggest abnormalities in the white matter of the brain bundles of nerve fibers encircled by an insulating sheath known as myelin. However, the psychoanalyst Helene Deutsch contended that PF stems from psychological factors, like the have to enhance yourself-esteem, secure the admiration of others in order to portray yourself as whether hero or perhaps a victim.

So what about details anyway?

Obviously, all this presumes something similar to a consensus on which constitutes reality and details which almost everyone has a desire for creating the reality. However this presumption is searching more and more doubtful, in the middle of what’s become referred to as post-truth era. Charles Lewis, the founding father of the middle for Public Integrity, described ours like a period by which up is lower and lower expires and things are under consideration and nothing is real.

IMG 3 TT

Are lies becoming our rose-colored glasses? Christian Bucad, CC BY-NC-ND

Much more worrisome, everyone appears with an appetite for falsehood. As author Adam Kirsch lately contended, more and more, people seem to want to be lied to. The lie, Kirsch argues, is seductive: It enables the liar and the audience to cooperate in altering the character of reality itself, in a manner that can be displayed almost magical.

So when this magical transformation of reality occurs, whether inside a political or scientific context, it might be very difficult to reverse. Because the author Jonathan Quick place it, Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it.

Psychiatrists aren’t capable of discuss the mental health of politicians they haven’t yet personally evaluated or around the nature of falsehoods sometimes voiced by our political leaders. Indeed, the Goldwater Rule prohibits us from doing this. Nonetheless, psychiatrists are acutely conscious of the all-too-human have to avoid or distort uncomfortable facts. Many may likely nod in complete agreement by having an observation frequently related to the psychoanalyst Carl Jung: People cannot stand too much reality.

Ronald W. Pies, Professor of Psychiatry, Lecturer on Bioethics &amp Humanities at SUNY Upstate Medical College and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts College Med school, Tufts University

This short article was initially printed on The Conversation. Browse the original article.

Find out more: http://www.iflscience.com/brain/alternative-facts-a-psychiatrists-guide-to-twisted-relationships-to-truth/