#they don't really allow themselves to think beyond make decision/keep going/survive

[attackmybutt]

So we all know how all the companions have been traumatized on way or the other and throughout the story they begin to heal, learn to cope and move past of all the trauma, and that Tav comparatively speaking is the more normal one of the group.

But, if we think about it, at the end of the game if Tav survived, they came out of it traumatized and never once throughout the game was Tav ever allowed (or allowed themself) to process what they just went through.

[ganymedesclock]

What do you think about the idea that the humans are provided for and happy as long as they don't question anything paralleling the Homeworld gems vs Rose? Because I don't like it and I'm not sure why

I think the issue I have with saying it’s a direct parallel is it implies that Homeworld’s population is both completely removed from the actions of the empire, thus saying everything is the Diamonds’ fault and only the Diamonds’ fault, and it also suggests that the entirety of Homeworld is not a society as much as it is only four-now-three active members shepherding around people who are content to never make any decisions for themselves and never question anything they’re told.

This doesn’t add up because we see Gems across the board making independent judgment calls. You can’t say Peridot never would’ve questioned YD if she hadn’t experienced Earth first when not only does Jasper also second-guess YD within literally her first scene (remember, Jasper doesn’t care about the Cluster and would rather capture Rose personally even when that isn’t what she was ordered to do) and when the Crystal Gems up until that point trusted Peridot about as far as they could throw her with very little opening up- and as soon as she did something they didn’t like they did things like tie her to a fence or destroy Peribot. There’s arguing with someone and then there’s using your superior control of the situation to punish someone for them doing something you don’t like. 

(Compare how, when Peridot hurt Amethyst’s feelings, Amethyst just avoided her for a while. Compare that to how when Peridot hurt Garnet’s feelings, and Garnet tied her to a fence for the rest of the day. Consider in both cases Peridot literally had no idea what she’d said was hurtful or why it would be until someone explained it to her, meaning that it wasn’t even meaningful feedback besides “if you say things that Garnet doesn’t like, she will punish you, and you have no way of knowing what kind of statements Garnet doesn’t like.”)

So where exactly is this cornucopia of individual choice that Peridot was permitted to sample from before she challenged YD? If anything, Peridot anticipated way more autonomy than she got. Even on the subject of the enhancers- the Crystal Gems repeatedly made zero effort to retrieve them or even tell Peridot where they were, but comparatively, YD doesn’t remark on their absence- meaning that on Homeworld’s end, Peridot would of course have the choice to use and wear her enhancers or not, and that’s her business.

Homeworld is also way more hands-off with its Gems than it is with the humans. The zoo humans are confined to a very specific area and have to always follow the routine- they’re literally all rigged with communicators to constantly provide this feedback.

Comparatively, the Ruby Squad was given a ship and turned loose in the blue looking for Jasper, and they were okay 1. not bringing Jasper back when “Jasper” said she would rather stay put, 2. independently determining how to proceed when encountering what they believed were locals. So suggesting the zoo is a model of how Homeworld treats its populace isn’t supported by canon. They don’t have anything comparable to the communicator earrings to even achieve that kind of closeness and monitoring. If anything, it’s incredibly difficult for off-planet Homeworlders to contact their superiors. 

Sure, we haven’t seen Homeworld itself. As a result, it’s entirely possible individuals on Homeworld itself are under way more scrutiny, but I doubt it- because then would they just cut all of that as soon as someone leaves the planet?

Now- is there something to be said for the fact that well-meaning people can offer you some of what you need, but not all of it, creating a flawed relationship, and this is very likely how the Diamonds are, even with their populace? Absolutely.

Because the thing is, we know at this point the Diamonds are not the perfect beings they’re billed as. They’re flawed people. They have issues and biases. And that doesn’t mean they’re rotten people, but it means that just like Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl for all their good intentions have endangered and hurt Steven on many occasions, it means that the Diamonds’ good intentions for Homeworld, and for the zoo humans, is not enough.

It’s not enough just to care. It’s not enough to say “I’ll protect you, I’ll give you enhancers, I’ll find more resources so you can keep going”. There’s a break in understanding about what it is that people really need.

And some of that can be: sometimes, people need to experience bad things. They need the dignity of choice that includes being able to face the consequences of their own actions. 

I’ve said before I think cathartic release- the act of letting out bad feelings is a major thematic element in Steven Universe and I think one of the major dysfunctions at least between Yellow Diamond and her populace at this point is YD doesn’t ever want to admit she feels bad. She doesn’t want to own up to her own bad feelings or others, and it doesn’t come from rage, I think.

I think that YD, like Steven, wants to be happy and wants to see others as happy. But part of the stress of her position, of being visible the way she is, of being special, chosen, a Diamond, is that she has an incredibly unrealistic expectation that she has to always be okay. So she’s sitting on the positively massive weight of everything she lost during the war and she can’t so much as look anything that reminds her of it in the eye because she’s so busy trying not to feel bad that she’s basically lost the means to feel good.

And if she can’t even manage her own feelings this way… we see easily how someone like Jasper hasn’t been able to move on after five thousand years. Because even if YD may have tried to take her in, make her feel like “less of a failure” in Jasper’s words… they can’t really sit down and have a meaningful talk about Earth because YD doesn’t want to think about Earth, and she’s probably very sure the root of all Jasper’s troubles is thinking about Earth.

And even people who weren’t there, like Peridot… there’s so much to this situation that Peridot doesn’t know and not having that information is a problem. It means that Peridot’s good intentions, her desire to fix the situation, help Homeworld move on- falls short because just like the Crystal Gems keep not telling Steven things because it’s uncomfortable, because they think it’s better he doesn’t know- and the younger generation is promptly hobbled in their attempts to move forward and solve problems because they aren’t being allowed to know their own history.

They need to talk about the war. They need to talk about what happened. Because the past is well beyond growing legs at this point- it’s actively tearing them to pieces and the only way they’re going to survive is if someone breaks the silence. And it’s happening, but it’s happening slowly.

So part of that, yeah, is comparable to the Zoo humans who have no idea how to deal with rejection or being upset because they were never really given the opportunity to experience this stuff before and learn how to cope. But it’s more complicated with Gems like Peridot- because the thing is, not talking about it doesn’t actually successfully keep them from these problems.

I mean… YD literally delivered Peridot onto Earth itself to check on her means of revenge. The fact that Peridot didn’t know who the Crystal Gems were is a pretty significant oversight to make and it could’ve cost Peridot her life if Garnet had gone for the kill instead of bubbling her in Catch And Release.

TL;DR: I think some of the implications behind the zoo humans is also relevant for Homeworld at large, but I would really, really hesitate to say they’re a 1-1 parallel because I think that really, vastly under-sells the role the Gems themselves play in their situation and how much power they have as individuals.