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evil-diabolical-oops · 7 years

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Righteousness is for people who don’t know any better

Everyone knows Neil has an attitude problem, and that he says what he thinks. For example, in the first book when they take Neil to Eden’s:

“Drugs are stupid.“ "Ouch,” Andrew said with a cold smile. “That’s judgmental.” “I’m not going to apologize for thinking you’re being idiotic.” “Is your spine the spine of the righteous?” Andrew wondered. “Are you trying your best to step on my toes because you’re feeling the tragic weight of the holier than thou?” “Righteousness is for people who don’t know any better.”

What’s interesting about this is how (probably unintentionally) honest that last line is. Neil often doesn’t know any better, but that doesn’t stop him from running his mouth and meddling when he thinks he is right.

Neil lecturing Riko on friendship is one of the funniest things in the series, imo. Because not only does Neil roast Riko on live television:

“I thought friends were supposed to cheer each other on,” he said before Kathy could answer Riko. “Believing in him now is the least you could do after completely abandoning him last winter.”

But Neil spends most of the series freaked out about friendship, especially when it is applied to him:

“I’ve never had friends before. I don’t know how this works. I’m trying, but it’s going to take time.”

He doesn’t know anything about friendship, but there he is preaching to Riko. At least he added the caveat of that’s how he thought friends were supposed to behave?

Neil’s fight with Riko is just the beginning. Neil quickly moves on. He ultimately tries to repair things between Andrew and Aaron. Now Andrew is no stranger to meddling. He does it himself. It’s something he and Neil have in common. Where they differ is that Andrew tends to plan his (when he can be bothered to intervene). He made sure to get the permission of Matt’s mother before tempting Matt with drugs. He had a key ready to hand to Neil when they made their deal. He gets Neil a phone and then has Nicky text Neil until he is comfortable using it.

Both of them tend to be motivated into these actions by “righteous” reasons, and perhaps importantly they aren’t meddling for their own gain. Andrew wants Matt to handle his drug problem because it’s putting strain on Aaron. He wants Neil to stop running because he’s not going to survive that way. Meanwhile, Neil stands up to Riko to protect Kevin, and he interferes with Andrew and Aaron to unite the team.

Which is all to say, Andrew is on to Neil. While Neil makes his case to Andrew to let Aaron go in TKM:

“Let him go now if you ever want him to come back.” “Who asked you?” “You didn’t have to. I’m volunteering my opinion.”

Andrew has already faced the consequences of Neil interfering (at Nicky’s parents, with Drake) in these situations and Neil not knowing better, and that’s why he says:

“Don’t,” Andrew advised him. “Children should be seen and not heard.”

Neil is a child who doesn’t know what he is doing. To Andrew, he’s asking for something he doesn’t understand. But Neil doesn’t want to give up. He’s on a mission.

“Don’t dismiss me for lying to you then ignore me when I tell the truth.” “This is not truth,” Andrew said. “Truth is irrefutable and untainted by bias. Sunrise, Abram, death: these are truths. You cannot judge a problem with your obsession goggles on and call it truth. You aren’t fooling either of us.”

What I like about this exchange is how it is complicated by the fact that they are both right. Neil is being honest, he’s telling the truth as he believes it, and that’s not a luxury he’s had much of in his life. Worse, he’s sincere, but Andrew’s not impressed by Neil’s narrow focus, his “obsession goggles” that blind him to all of the facts except the ones he cares about, so he calls out Neil’s bias. And then Neil pushes too far:

“If you ask for half the truth, you’ll only get half the truth,” Neil said. “It’s your fault if you don’t like the answers I give you, not mine. But as long as we’re talking about obsession and Aaron’s life, what are you going to do about his trial? She’s going to be here for it, isn’t she? Cass, I mean,” Neil said, though he was sure Andrew knew who he was talking about. “You’re going to have to face her.” “Seen and not heard,” Andrew reminded him. He sounded bored, but Neil knew a warning when heard one. Neil let it slide and went back inside.

Bringing up Cass here is a strong reminder of Neil’s meddling and unintended consequences. Andrew has had enough and warns Neil off.

There’s one other exchange that I think is interesting in this light. It follows after Neil’s interview with the press in which he stated Edgar Allen should have Coach Moriyama step down. Andrew’s come to Neil’s room to get some to tell him Kevin won’t be at night practice.

“They don’t have a choice anymore. If the Ravens don’t let us run our course there will always be room for doubt and speculations. The Ravens can’t share their throne with what-ifs. They have to be supreme victors.“ Andrew gave that a moment to sink in before saying, "I’m undecided.” “About our chances this spring?” Neil asked. Andrew held his hands palm-up between them. “The thought that you’ve unintentionally conned them into this corner is intolerable, as it means you’re stupider than even I gave you credit for. If you did it knowingly, however, you’re cleverer than you’ve led me to believe. That means the Ravens aren’t the only ones you’re playing with. One of these is the lesser evil.”

Andrew can’t believe Neil’s been so successful at blundering on like he has, but to not believe Neil’s been blundering through it means that it’s intentional, that what happened with Drake might not have been the unintended consequences of Neil’s well-intentioned meddling as Andrew had assumed and instead is something a bit more sinister…

And even if Drake had been unintended, an accident in some other plan Neil had, it doesn’t mean Neil isn’t playing him.

“Not everything’s a con,” Neil said. Andrew didn’t answer, but Neil read his calm expression as disbelief. Neil considered defending himself and decided it a waste of energy. Andrew wouldn’t believe him anyway. “Which one is the lesser evil?” “I’m undecided,” Andrew said again.

It’s hard to know if Andrew is hedging here and doesn’t want to answer because he’d have to explain or because he thinks the likelihood of Neil actually being more clever than he thought is rather low or because he really is undecided.

Why would he be undecided if one option seems to clearly be the worst choice? Because Andrew is used to people letting him down. That’s easy. If Neil turns out to be genuine, the pipedream that seems an impossibility, well, that’s an emotional landmine.

“That’s helpful,” Neil muttered. “You could just ask.” “Why bother?” Andrew asked with a slight shrug. “I’ll figure it out eventually.”

And Andrew does figure it out on a hotel room floor in Baltimore. As it so happens, he can’t live without a righteous idiot who doesn’t know any better.

#the foxhole court #aftg #all for the game #tfc #neil josten #andreil #andrew minyard #tfc meta #oops tfc meta

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