#you're the adult in the situation

[restlesshush]

I do think that while overemphasis on the idea of Jack as a child (/refusal to engage with any other aspects of him as a character) is a significant factor in widespread failure to take him seriously, it is also not possible to have a complete picture of him without taking into account that he is a kid. Obviously his experiences are harrowing regardless, but the way he navigates them and his responds to them are inextricable from the fact he is very young, vulnerable and inexperienced.

While the show doesn’t have a clear answer as to exactly what human age Jack should be treated as corresponding to, but it does consistently use “kid” terminology around him, so I think it’s reasonable to treat this designation as meaningful even while still nebulous. We know he has the cognitive capacity presumably roughly equivalent to a human teenager, allowing him to participate in hunts etc, while also having a significant dearth of experience compared to humans of his physical age, so I think it’s fair to handle him as an extremely vulnerable young adult at most, for which “kid” is a reasonable shorthand. There is a significant emotional/psychological/maturity power imbalance between him and all of the adults he’s regularly interacting with, and a failure to take that into account makes things look very different.

This is especially interesting to me in the context of his relationships with tfw: the treatment he receives from them is specifically treatment he is processing through the lens of coming from his caregiver/parental figures. Obviously Dean’s treatment of him would be bad regardless, but the way that Jack responds to this with persistent approval seeking in the face of cruelty, and unquestioning forgiveness are not the responses of an adult to someone they’re on anything resembling an equal footing with. Him not holding anything against Dean long term shouldn’t be seen as the responses of a mature individual, and the ways in which it impacts him long term need to be seen in that light also.

Similarly, this does position him as someone in need to protection: not to imply he has no agency at all in his situation, but he is not equipped to recognise mistreatment and remove himself from situations where appropriate, or indeed just to see where too much is being asked of him and push back against that in any way. The responsibilities that he’s subjected to should be seen as a tragedy rather than a sign of maturity. A tragedy very much in keeping with the rest of the show, including how the other characters would behave, but still a tragedy first and foremost.

A lot of the failure in fandom to take Jack seriously as a character essentially boils down to not really engaging with him as being affected by the things that happened to him. Reducing him to a child and then ignoring everything else is the most common way that this happens, but ignoring the significance of the fact that he is a child can very much play into this also. He is very damaged by what happens to him during the show, and his extreme youth and emotional vulnerability are very important factors in how that plays out.

[waywardsunlight]

Rating the Owl House Single Parents because I can 10s don't have to be perfect they're just silly and good. Eda- 10/10. I know I should dock her points for several things but she really is a good mom. She tries her best to protect them and is willing to admit when she messes up. Camila- 10/10. "Who knew I had such a strong girl-" STFU I LOVE YOu. Camila's a good mom to her daughters. Perry- 10/10. His relationship with Gus isn't perfect but like. is it meant to be. I think that's ok. Darius (+ Eber) - 10/10. Hunter seems very happy with them. Evelyn- 10/10. Evelyn has good vibes. The only reference to her daughter other than her being pregnant is an image of them(?) burning a town down together. Splendid. Caleb- 10/10. Caleb gets points bc Philip survived and was generally happy. He probably was not a good parent to Philip in that. he was a child. and definitely was in survival mode. but they both lived and sometimes you need 10 points because of that. Belos- 0/10. Hunter and the Collector are very unhappy. Ik the Collector is only his child through Skype but like. he's a bad parent to both of them but especially Hunter. Also, I know he's not Vee's guardian but if you create somebody you should at least make sure they have some kind of quality of life my dude.

[solradguy]

come on grandpa its fine. let your inner dadguy out

Maybe I should........

[mstrchu]

big big shoes to fill

[da-proti-toku-grem]

why can't anyone understand that everyone is different and not everyone likes the same things and that it's completely okay AND normal for someone not to like going out and preferring to stay at home :/

[hajihiko]

I think the best part about sdr2 is that basically all of the ships make sense. Most people fit well with most people. They're all perfect for each other

Perfect timing I was just having polyam emotions

[agnisleftpec]

yknow, i think a lot of my annoyance with anti-aang discourse is that a lot of criticisms seem to act like they're marks against aang's character writing specifically, as opposed to the approach of the narrative as whole, which aang is uniquely representative of by being the main character. it just feels like some people are frustrated at the show for being reserved in its exploration of certain aspects of war, and they take that out on aang.

[aiming-for-phantoms]

Hot take but I just read a long post about someone being so upset and angry about the way the other people on empires treat Jimmy Solidarity (pranks, making fun of him, ect) and people in the replies were agreeing and talking about how distraught it makes them and all I can say is you should really stop watching his/others' Empires videos if its making you that upset because I can guarantee that its all in good fun and the man is having a perfectly okay time. He's having fun with his friends, they just like to rag on him. My friends like to rag on me too and it's totally fine, I enjoy it. You're projecting and you're, like, WAY too invested if it's upsetting you like that. You're turning him having fun with his friends into something it's not.

Stop using his videos to make yourself miserable :| Go watch something else instead of being self destructive and then whining about it online when there's not even anything wrong or mean really happening :| I'm so serious when I say that this is chronically online behavior and you need to go talk to a professional because that is Not Normal.

[nodsgay]

bro grant made me so fucking sad this episode

[anxiety-problem]

Friendly reminder that proship isn't short for problematic fiction. It's simply just pro ship. Another term would be profiction. It isn't about liking certain uncomfortable topics. It's about not harassing people who write or create such fictional content. Don't Like, Don't Read. Ship And Let Ship. Read And Let Read. Write And Let Write. Proship/Profic is the default mindset. Most content creators are proship as it is the mature stance to have. Many proshippers are disgusted by certain topics in fiction; they are just not an ass about it. They ignore/block what they don't like and move on. Proshippers understand that someone's fictional work is not a mirror into their morals or who they are as a person. Proshippers know that someone can write a very disturbing disgusting piece of fiction and not condone any of it. Antis have attempted to hijack the term 'proship' to mean something else entirely in order to justify harassing content creators just for creating fiction they feel uncomfortable with. Antis are typically young, mostly teens with some in their 20s. Thankfully many antis grow out of this and become proship/profic as their understanding of the nuances of fiction and the real world develops.

Why don't you say this to me off anon if you're so sure about it. Coward.

[custer-mp3]

and actually as someone that divorced out of the military due to spousal abuse i'm allowed more than anyone to waffle on whether or not i hate/have any sympathy for mfs who even signed on in the first place cuz while i understand recruiters will lie to your face & promise you the moon & the us military seems like the only ticket to a good life for a lot of ppl you do not even consider OR MUCH LESS TAKE take that fucking option period unless you are already ok in your heart on a primal level with the concept of having to intentionally end another human's life

and then you go through the psychological horror factory designed to condition any innate morality or questioning or reason or REGARD FOR OTHER HUMANS out of you and mfs wonder why there's such incidence of addiction/suicide/MH issues/abuse/assault amongst current and former service members. nah fam

[wikipedie]

I love this scene so much and I'm so glad it exists, because it's an excellent and quite poignant lesson on boundaries, consent, and the breaking of boundaries. Also a good way to show how important 'No means no' is even in situations which are non-sexual.

Your boundaries and people's boundaries are important exactly as they are and they do not require justification. (I said no and I do not need to explain my reasoning to you.) They do not require the approval of the other people for them to be enforced. And they need to be enforced, especially to people who would find as many excuses as possible to break them.

"I know you said no, but then I remembered that if you needed my help, I would give it to you." --what it's implied--> 'I can go over your boundaries and explicit no if they're something that I personally would have no trouble doing for you.' (or maybe even 'I'm a good person who would help you, so you are required to help me in return.')

'But it's your free period and your kids don't need this bathroom right now' --what it's implied --> 'I can go over your boundaries and explicit no if it's something that I believe is reasonable.'

When in truth, no means no. Nobody has any right for any reason to go over our explicit boundaries, and however reasonable they might feel, we have a right to be angry. We deserve to have our opinions taken into consideration, we deserve to have give our consent in all situations and we deserve to be asked if we would be willing to consider new information (that might or might not change our boundaries. We are not required to just because there's new information)

Thank you Ms. Howard and thank you Abbott Elementary for your short lesson on boundaries and consent.

[akayv]

Like there's a lot of shit to be said about social workers, that's absolutely true. And I think the main reason I have never had much issue with my own job is because I follow one of the most important tenants of our line work - You're there to advocate for what they want, not what you think they should do.

[meownotgood]

i remember it being hinted in the manga that aki went to public school, what would student aki be like? 🤔

yes!! I'm glad you noticed that detail!!! when aki says, "you learn that in school," to denji... and seems really shocked when he finds out denji never went to school... which implies that he did......

I think aki probably went to school for the bare necessities, considering he became a devil hunter when he was a teenager. he split his focus between studying and training, working under kishibe, where he learned self-defense and sword fighting. he worked as hard as possible on his studies to make sure he'd graduate early and be able to become a devil hunter in no time.

he would definitely be seen as a hard working student, even if he doesn't get any of the top scores. his teachers like him because he's quiet. but he's a little rude, closed off and hard to approach. kids would assume he was a loner because they never saw him hanging out or walking home with anyone. they passed around rumors about him being an orphan, about how his family died in the gun devil attack.

even though there were many others like him, it made him feel like an outcast. but it also just pushed him to work himself even harder.