We sort of started this discussion at Chimeras' Othercon panel, but I wanted to keep it going so I figured I would send an ask. What do you think it would mean for our community to drop the focus on voluntary and involuntary identities? I agree that we fundamentally should, but a bunch of things immediately jump to mind.

Our community has spent years leaning heavily into the lines between voluntary and involuntary identities and taken special care to make massive distinctions between them, leaving little to no room for grey area. It's no bit surprise that alterhuman spaces have had actual, legitimate, longstanding issues of grilling and gatekeeping. Nonhumans with nuanced and complicated identities are forced to shove themselves into a box to fit into the community, and the ideas we have about certain identities needing to be involuntary are absolutely baked into many aspects of our community and its history.

At the same time, we have used this unjustified gatekeeping in part to protect the community from genuine threats and appropriation of our terminology. The way we have limited our concepts of who is allowed to identify in what ways is generally wrong and has no doubt harmed a subset of kin, but at the same time is understandable in the sense that it has a cause. Yes, this was an issue even before KFF, but KFF certainly don't make it easy to create space for genuine voluntary kin and other voluntary alterhumans.

How do we create the space for nuance and fluidity and complexity in these terms and identities after we have spent so long defensively creating rigid boundaries and restrictions regarding the ways people are allowed to identify? How do we address community gatekeeping while also protecting our community from the people who use our identities and terminology in bad faith?

I have a lot of ideas, but this is obviously a very complex topic that we can't just solve in a day. I was just curious to hear your thoughts, if you had any. Hopefully once our personal website is up one of our first essays will be about this issue. (Also, how is Page? /hj)

So I know we’ve been sitting on this ask for... -checks watch- ...almost two weeks now, but it’s genuinely because I just wasn’t sure how to answer it for a good long while, and I didn’t just want to throw out some haphazard, half-hearted answer to such important questions. So here’s our thoughts on the debacle.

Voluntary and involuntary is a focus I doubt we’ll ever see any of the alterhuman communities permanently drop, for several reasons.

The first and foremost being that, by the definition of the term “alterhuman,” defined here as “a subjective identity which is beyond the scope of what is traditionally considered ‘being human’,” both experiences at their most extremes technically fall underneath the label, rendering the distinction (to some) vitally important to helping understand and define their identity/identity labels. The difference between KFF as an alterhuman identity and forms of otherkinity as an alterhuman identity, for instance, as you mention.

And then there’s the societal factors to consider. People like nice, neat little boxes: people like to be able to compartmentalize their communities, with no overlap, with no spillage, with no complications or grey areas or nuance. It’s a fact of life that people often instinctively want to water down labels and identities into more easily digestible formations, though there are arguments around why people precisely do it. And, as you point out, that often means alterhumans and nonhumans with more complex or nuanced identities typically get shoved into one box or another that they may not perfectly fit into.

When we zero in on specifically the otherkin community, this becomes even more complicated given the community’s rife history: abusive p-shifter groups, the appropriation of language by roleplayers and fiction writers, zoophiles attempting to forcibly associate otherkinity with pro-bestiality movements, and the blatant general misinformation spread by laymen and academics alike, just to name a few relevant problems the community has faced and continues to face. The community is stubborn to a fault, largely because it’s had to be in order to survive. It holds to its preconceived notions and rigid boundaries like a dog with toy aggression to their favorite plush stegosaurus. Fittingly so, really.

So how do we take that stubbornness and change it to be more inclusive to our own? How could we, while still surviving all that onslaught and more? That’s the big question.

In regards to the larger alterhuman community, we’re blessed in the fact that it’s still such a young concept: it hasn’t quite yet had to face the “pathological anger” Religious Studies professor Joseph Laycock has described otherkin as bearing the brunt of. It’s still a community figuring itself out, with much of the anger you find related to it aimed at specific subsets of community within it, rather than at alterhumanity as a whole. And I think the fact that the alterhuman community is still metaphorically air-drying on a table means we have the opportunity to prevent anti-nuance and anti-complexity attitudes from taking hold in it. How we do that is another battle in itself-- I feel like the encouragement of inclusive dialogue, of open discussion intermingled with considerate or civil attitudes, within alterhuman-marketed spaces is a good starting point. I also think that the encouragement and legitimization of “alterhuman” as its own standalone term would be a positive force, where it functions as a broad, diverse identity label in addition to being an overarching, joining umbrella label. A label where someone doesn’t have to give details away of their identity if they don’t feel comfortable doing so, or shove themself into a box they may or may not actually feel they fit into. Something functionally similar to how many people use “queer,” if you will.

But that still leaves aside the issue of identity and terminological misuse, I am aware. And that is...an abstract thing to ward against, at absolute best. I think that the defining of our own spaces not only through our words but also through our actions would perhaps be the best thing we could do, realistically. The cultivation of websites, of group projects--books, zines, comics, pictures, forums, anything!--, of community-led conventions and meet-ups and howls and gatherings. Things which foster and build a community identity of sorts is the best defense against those who would try and distort that which makes us, us.

Zooming back in on the otherkin community, these answers change slightly, because--going back to the clay metaphor--the otherkin community has already metaphorically been glazed and baked (in the fires of hell). That history is cemented, the ways people have wronged it and continue to try and wrong it is cemented, the assumptions and attitudes are cemented.

With the otherkin community, I think that the burden of changing minds and pervasive attitudes falls a bit more onto the shoulders of “community leadership,” because of how the community functions and values both community experience and articulation. There’s a reason we don’t have a term comparable to “greymuzzle” in any of the other alterhuman communities, after all-- it’s a well-known and often aggravating quirk of the otherkin community, to hold certain individuals in such high esteem and put them on a pedestal because of their longevity and the things they’ve done and said. I hate to say that they have to set an example, but in the otherkin community that really is one of the best ways to advocate for change, or to push against those gatekeeping and grilling attitudes--by those who are largely well-respected putting forward ideas that have previously been mocked or disavowed, pushing debates on their legitimacy into community consciousness until it eventually trickles into community normalcy and foundation.

(This is, as you can imagine, a double-edged sword depending on how it’s used. But that’s a discussion for another day.)

That’s not to say that the ideas of creation and creativity with the goal of cultivating an inclusive community identity, like I suggested for the alterhuman community, is inapplicable to the otherkin community: but the otherkin community already has a long-term community identity, so it’d moreso be creation and creativity for the sake of formative inclusion. “History is always written by the winners” is a very, very literal phrase in its application to the otherkin community. Our community memory, for lack of a better way to put it, sucks from individual-to-individual. The future of the otherkin community, its eventual-history, is determined by its historians and creators of today: day-to-day arguments and discussions, unless deemed historically relevant by one archivist or another, disappear to the sands of time, and much more long-term recordings such as essays, websites, comics, etc., often go far beyond just its creators hands and get passed around and down for years, potentially. If you want a more nuanced and inclusive community, you have to dig up the clay for it, shovel by shovel, and bake it yourself, brick by brick, and eventually, with luck, or enough backing prestige, or just because those bricks are so astoundingly solid people can’t resist taking some to build their own foundations to nonhumanity, things will change. It will take time above all else, but once it’s there it will be impossible to remove, because people will just assume those bricks have always been there given enough years.

But those are just some of my thoughts and opinions on it. It’s an issue with so many layers of complexity to it, that there’s really no perfect answer out there that I can offer, and I know even what I’ve shared here has its flaws and drawbacks. I’m sure plenty of my followers also have additional thoughts on the subject, and I’d love to hear from other people what they think in the replies and reblogs.

(Also, Page is a very tired boi.)

hi, im new to reading actual comics and i just read the court of owls. this was the first time id ever seen bruce actually hit dick—does that happen a lot? i was honestly shocked at it. and bruce never apologized. im trying to understand why bruce would do that—why do you think? i dont think the comic was glorifying it at all but it was still there and im a little dumbfounded as to why the writers thought that was appropriate to put in there. what are your thoughts?

Its shitty writing. That’s the ultimate answer. Every instance of Bruce’s kids ever has been an instance of shitty writing, because it never gets addressed or followed up on, and its not like there’s EVER a good reason to write a father hitting his kids unless you’re specifically centering the kids and trying to write a story of abuse and learning to recognize and accept that yes, this is actually happening to them now what do they do with that awareness and understanding....and let’s be frank, that’s not a story that DC has ever desired or intended to write with Bruce in the position of that father.

So flat out, no equivocation, every instance of Bruce hitting his kids ever, has been shitty, unacceptable writing, no matter the context or the follow-up, because the end takeaway at the heart of the matter is always, always, always, that whatever each writer’s actual intention when writing those scenes, they definitively did not ‘intend’ for it to be seen as abusive.

But that means jack shit in terms of whether what was actually shown on the page, was in fact abusive. Which has been the case, more than once, and with more than one of his kids.

So unfortunately, he has been physically violent with Dick on more than one occasion, in which there was no chance of it being spun as mind control or like, them fighting as equals because of some story position or whatever, where it was just definitively, a father hitting his son for his own emotional reasons or whatever. It happened after Jason’s death, it happened in the Court of Owls arc, it happened after Dick briefly died and was resuscitated in Forever Evil and Bruce was trying to get him to go undercover without anyone else knowing he’d survived yet. There have been a couple other times where the two of them have come to mutual blows in a fight that started as just a verbal argument, but I tend not to focus on those for a number of reasons but tbh, mostly just because its an uphill battle getting people to address even the times when its most clear that Bruce is without a doubt unjustified and dishing out abuse that is in no way reciprocated. There’s no real chance to even get around to the scenes that are complicated by additional layers.

And again to be clear, this kind of shit writing isn’t just limited to Dick. Bruce has been physically violent with Jason ever since he came back as the Red Hood in more than one altercation, with there being the flimsy justification in some of these stories that well, technically Jason is ‘the bad guy’ and Bruce is just doing what he has to in order to stop him....but with more than one instance of Bruce being overly violent with Jason in ways that he isn’t with even some of the worst criminals or villains in other stories, thus making it impossible to interpret as anything other than Bruce’s aggression being heightened by his emotional turmoil at Jason’s actions, the fact that he’s fighting his own son, Bruce’s own issues, etc, etc....

Which ultimately all just boils down to...Bruce is violent with Jason and to degrees that he isn’t with even his most notorious villains, and his own emotional state is the only explanation possible, which makes the over the top nature of Bruce’s violence in these scenes outright abuse, no matter the existence of the ‘well Jason technically was doing something that Bruce was trying to stop, it was more of a hero vs antihero thing rather than a father vs son thing’ attempt at spinning it otherwise. Notable and notorious instances of this are Bruce’s way of ‘finishing’ things in UTRH, RHATO #25, etc.

With Tim, the only real instance so far has been Batman #71, the King written bullshit I spoke of, and tbh I’m still so steamed at his attempt at justifying that, like, just read the latest issue to see the full story there because I refuse to even dignify that particular bit of abuse apologism with a paraphrasing.

And unfortunately, Bruce has definitely been written being emotionally abusive with all his kids at various points or another, with again the real culprit usually being dumbass fuckferrett writer assholes who wouldn’t know how to write a healthy parent/child interaction if your Higher Power of Choice directly appeared in their room, shining with benevolence and full-on “Do Not Test Me On This”  wattage, and then handing them a script that word for word laid out how to write out a healthy parent/child interaction for the scene they were beginning....like, they’d STILL find a way to fuck it up, that’s how bad these particular writers are at recognizing This Is A Good Action and This is A Bad Action, Bad, B-A-D, DON’T DO IT.

And the thing is, that’s not Bruce Wayne at his core characterization. I don’t believe it is anymore than even the most die-hard Bruce fan, which I most decidedly am not. I’m here for his kids, he can stay when he’s doting and on his best Dadly behavior, but he’s always on thin ice with me at this point and on his own, I’m usually just like meh, wouldn’t adopting an orphan right about now be a better use of your time?

But for sure, Bruce absolutely has been written as a good parent in canon as well, and has everything he needs character wise to constantly have that portrayal of him upheld and prioritized instead of his worse traits but like. We have definitely gotten Bad Dad Bruce in canon, and more frequently than any of us would like....which is where we usually turn to fandom, for fix-its.

And there’s lots of Good Dad Bruce Wayne in fanfics. Its even its own tag. And I have no problem with most of those fics in spirit, or the concept in general, I’m just very opinionated and knee-jerk about abuse apologism across the board, so I mean...if it were up to me, I’d much rather normalize tags like “Bruce Wayne Can Be A Good Dad” and “Bruce Wayne Can Be A Bad Dad.” I don’t generally like broad-sweeping declarations made about characters that no one person can ever ensure consistent characterization for, so no matter how understandable the intent, I object to the idea of Good Dad Bruce Wayne protection squads or tags on the basis of like...how easily that can lead straight into abuse apologism, with people making the claim “Bruce would never do what he did in canon story (x)....because Bruce is a Good Dad and good dads don’t do that.” Well no, they don’t. In theory. Cuz problem is in reality, supposedly good dads do things like that all the time, because nobody IMO is truly good or bad, they just do good or bad things and even a person with a track record of doing mostly good things can occasionally surprise people, even themselves, by doing something horrific.

 And like, when we’re talking about fictional characters I’m all for arguing that something was out of character because with fiction you CAN actually consider a writer’s intent and compare and contrast it with what’s on the page, like you CAN technically say well, the writer SAID in this interview here, that they did this because they were thinking x, y and z....and then you could feasibly point to the actual on the page depiction of that scene and say okay but look at x, y and z here...what we actually got clearly isn’t what they claim they were actually going for, so they fucked it up, it wasn’t even their own intention, so like....I argue that this was out of character and shouldn’t be given too much weight. 

You can’t do that in reality. Impact is what matters. The effect. Not the cause. The intent. No matter how uncharacteristic an up until that point  ‘good dad’ striking their kid is for them....they’re not a character. They’re a person. It CAN’T be out of character, its them that did it, their action that caused the effect of their kid being abused, with no take backs for that, no rewind that will ever undo whatever effect that has on the rest of their relationship from that day forward, or whether they even have one at all.

And people have trouble setting firm boundaries on what they will defend in fiction versus what they will defend or call out as indefensible in reality, it isn’t nearly as either or as a lot of people try and tell themselves it is, IMO....like, my stance tends to be that if you can’t even condemn a fictional character for doing a clearly abusive thing, how do you think you can definitively say you’re sure you’d be able to condemn a loved one for doing a clearly abusive thing? Y’know? Its not as easy to separate as people like to make it out to be, so I’m hugely against abuse apologism in fandom because I think a lot of times....the way we react to these things in terms of favorite fictional characters can potentially end up a training ground for how we react to these things in real life, if they end up happening at a later point.

So I’m very critical of Bruce in a lot of my posts, but its not because I don’t want him to be good for his kids or don’t think he can be written that way....and not even because I don’t get the thought process behind ‘well I don’t view his character as being capable of that when he’s written the ways that drew me to his character in the first place, and this kind of behavior isn’t what I’m here for, it isn’t escapism for me and it just depresses me so I choose not to interact with or acknowledge these specific parts of canon.’

My issues arise from the specific ways a lot of fans attempt to write around these instances of canon, in order to not have to factor it into Bruce’s character and their view and depiction of it...while often times failing to apply similarly transformative energy to the characters Bruce hurt in these instances of canon. And when that happens, its a problem, IMO....because you end up writing Good Dad Bruce Wayne....and his kids who are at times resentful or bitter or argumentative or wary...as they are shown at times to be in canon....largely BECAUSE of those moments in canon where he’s written at his worst and does fucked up things. But without acknowledging those parts of canon at all, AND without similarly rewriting the course of events in his KIDS’ lives as much as you do in Bruce’s himself.....the end result often ends up being that you have Good Dad Bruce Wayne and a bunch of stubborn brats that according to this narrative spin have no reason for being as resentful or bitter or argumentative or wary as they’re being here...since THEY’RE still being written according to their full, overall canon characterization, with no specific chunks chiseled out.

And then of course, my other major issue with abuse apologism in fandom arises from how often fans seem willing to tackle the possibility or instances of Bad Dad Bruce Wayne in order to write fix-it fics and headcanons and meta for the times he’s hurt Jason or Tim or Damian, etc.....but then selectively erase or ignore the instances he’s done similar shit to Dick...because so much of this fandom insists on this take that he’s specifically favored by Bruce and has received special treatment that justifies the others’ occasional resentment of him, and the resentment of their fans for him. So there’s this kinda thing where you end up with a lot of fandom ignoring or refusing to acknowledging some fairly pivotal canon events because Bruce Would Never Do That, He’s A Good Dad.....AND then on top of that you have a lot of the rest of fandom ignoring or refusing to acknowledge some equally pivotal canon events because Bruce Would Never Do That To Dick, He’s A Good Dad To Dick...Its Just Everyone Else He Fucks Up With.

And that kind of selective acknowledgment of abuse for reasons of personal character preference like...get under my skin, BIG TIME. *Shrugs*

Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth - MBTI Types

Preface

The following is an MBTI analysis on Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth, all personally typed using the cognitive functions. I don’t claim perfect accuracy, but I researched very extensively and analysed through various type perspectives, so these conclusions are made to the best of my ability. Fictional characters are generally harder to type than real people, because many different interpretations arise from their action. While the themes and narratives of this game are based on characterisation, Ace Attorney was not created around the characters per se. Writers like Takumi stated that they even tried to make Wright a “flat” malleable-protag character, so there is an ambiguous depth of motives in a majority of these characters. Therefore, you could probably make solid cases for these two being another type, and this alternate perspective is valuable because I may have missed certain details that another type could cover. My typing is done through determining each character’s “development path,” determining which major changes in their story are aligned with which function. This has lead me to conclude that Wright and Edgeworth’s character arcs are about “two idealists with differing approaches towards those very same ideals.” As another point, given that I’ve only played the Trilogy and writers will interpret characters differently for each game, this analysis will be typing these characters using evidence and arcs from the three games only. I may use some extra information from the Investigations/Gyakuten Kenji duo as well. With that said, massive post below the cut.

Contents

Phoenix Wright

MBTI Type Analysis

In-depth Function Notes

Miles Edgeworth

MBTI Type Analysis

In-depth Function Notes

Wright

INFP

Not the typing most would expect from him, but the evidence seems to lead towards this way. I had taken into account narrative elements alongside his character development to come to this conclusion.

Character Path

Wright from the get-go is a highly idealistic, principled individual, bordering on romanticism with a snarky twist. A lot of his motivations primarily come from deep feelings of what he wants for himself and others. For instance, the class trial left an impression due to it teaching him about what it means to be truly alone, so whenever he sees someone in a similar position (the defendants), Wright takes it upon himself to alleviate their suffering. The personal impact of this memory on him is further substantiated by the fact that both Larry and Edgeworth do not remember it well. He becomes a lawyer to save Edgeworth, whom he sees as being in great pain in spite of his cold, “Demon Prosecutor” persona. Wright is surprisingly protective of these deep emotions and motivations, as he does not reveal much about what he feels to others. Neither Larry nor Maya, his two closest friends at the time, know about his reasons for becoming an attorney until they confront him about it. These traits point to his introverted tendencies, namely an Fi dominant.

In order to give his emotions an outlet of expression, he relies on his extroverted functions to carry through. These are generally easier to spot in others, which can explain why he appears to be an extroverted person at first glance.

Much of his critical periods of character growth are related to learning how to utilise these extroverted functions better, due to overindulgence in his introverted ones. After getting Edgeworth acquitted on two murder cases, one of which is the DL-6 incident that scarred Edgeworth for much of his career. Wright expects him to know what to do next, because he “saved” him from his pain and suffering, but contrary to his expectations, Edgeworth leaves the country instead. This leads to some self-centred Fi indulgence, because Wright is not considering the external factors that would cause Edgeworth to act this way. Instead, he shuts Edgeworth out of his mind and continues to follow his ideal of “saving others,” getting aggressive whenever others, including his closest friends, try to pry into why he is avoiding the topic of Edgeworth. Wright decides that Edgeworth betrayed him and refuses to let go of his anger in spite of nearly a year passing, which is using Si to indulge in past feelings instead of utilising Ne to view a different perspective beyond his own Fi reaction. It is identifying these Fi-created moral beliefs that gives Wright strength to defend and save people in court, but when Edgeworth becomes the exception to being “saved,” instead of reconsidering the situation (Ne), he further indulges in his Fi emotions, making him prone to looping into Si. This eventually puts Wright in a position where he faces a confounding situation where saving one person will result in the unjustified death of another, leaving him feeling powerless and unable to help those closest to him (inferior Te fears). Thankfully, Edgeworth returns to a much dismayed Wright, and teaches him about the new insights he learned throughout the past year. Wright resists at first, exclaiming that Edgeworth “should never have returned from the dead” and continues on his way. However, after noticing how much Edgeworth is helping him, Wright reconsiders his perspective and comes to find how much he trusts Edgeworth to find the truth. This effectively enables Wright to understand about what is important to him as a lawyer, and how he can more effectively achieve his goals of saving others (clarify Fi and inferior Te development). Afterwards, T&T does not do as much to cognitively expand on Wright’s character, but it does absolve him of his past demons that he has struggled to find closure over.

Function Notes

NOTE: These function notes simply provides evidence and a more detailed description of the cognitive functions used by each character. They are not necessary for reading, since the basic information explained above will be redundant. [Move on to view Edgeworth’s MBTI Type.]

Though it may not appear to be, Wright is very much an introvert. INFPs are highly idealistic types who stick with their feelings and moral values to make decisions. As such, his use of introverted feeling (Fi) as a dominant function is a giveaway. He states that he became an attorney for two reasons: to stick up for people who have no one on their side and to save Edgeworth.

“ Edgeworth believed in me, and I believe in him. He’s in pain… And no one’s on his side. I’m the only one who knows the real Edgeworth. I’m the only one who can help him”. -1-4

His motivations comes primarily from within and are self-defined. He decides that he is the only one who believes in Edgeworth, and that is why he should save him. As for his overall attitude towards clients, he states, “I’ve been there before.” By using his own experience with feeling alone, he takes his client’s situation as his own suffering. Therefore, the reason Wright wants to defend people stems from Fi empathy, taking the feeling in as his own first, and then making a decision. Also take note how he processes the memory of the class trial. Fi is sensitive to experiences and emotions they feel, and will try to give a personal value to them so they are better able to clarify their morals and self-understanding. 

It is also seen how he likes to reflect on cases deeply moving to him, and oftentimes it results in him coming to some sort of personal judgement about humanity or himself. 

Another example on how Wright makes decisions based on how he feels is during the Engarde case in 2-4. As a lawyer, he is supposed to present his case using hard evidence and logical conclusions, so Fi has little room to be used in court, and he relies on his extroverted functions to pull him through, making him seem like one. Yet, when everything is at a loss, and he has to choose between Adrian and Maya’s lives, there is no need for evidence to make that decision.

In this situation, there aren’t external limitations upon his decision-making process, so Wright must decide based on how he would truly act. In this case, Wright shows a preference for deciding based on what’s in his heart than what is in his mind. His use of Fi as his dominant function is a very clearly shown based on the way he makes decisions.

There are two significant moments shown in the game in which Wright overindulges his Fi and fails to make any progress as a result. The most raw example is when he is the defendant to Mia’s second case and learns that his beloved Dahlia is the true culprit. Regardless of the facts, Wright is quick to protect her from this accusation. He does not care when others are put up with his irrationality; it’s only his own personal belief in her that drives him to action. This results in unhealthy exhibition of his inferior Te, in which he continues to stubbornly insist that “his Dollie” would never act in that way. He lies to make the court to act in line with his beliefs, obviously to no avail. When decisive evidence is presented to incriminate her, Wright goes as far as to hit Mia, his own attorney, and eating it to keep Dahlia from being convicted, regressing into aggression, an unhealthy use of Te assertiveness to propel an illogical “fact” (forcing Fi feelings of right/wrong as the facts). Fortunately, Mia is able to find another way to convict Dahlia, and this leaves Wright feeling heartbroken upon learning the true cruel side of “Dollie.” In spite of this, Wright does not give up on his moral value of believing in the best of others. He decides that the Dahlia on the stand is not the same as the Dollie he knows, and is able to escape an Te grip by further focusing his efforts completely to studying harder so he can save Edgeworth, whom he clearly states he believes in, thus getting back in touch with his Fi values. Unfortunately, he does not come away from the experience unscathed. It’s noted that Wright develops a more cynical, pessimistic attitude afterwards and will use sardonic remarks to express this.

What hurts Wright even more, however, is his internal struggle throughout JFA after Edgeworth “chooses death.” After spending much of his college life studying law in order to “save Edgeworth” and freeing him from his fear that he killed his own father, the confused, lost prosecutor disappears instead. This makes Wright feel “betrayed,” when in actuality what happened is Edgeworth not meeting his ideal image of him. As an Fi dominant, Wright wants to believe in the best of others, and so he expects Edgeworth to understand what he must do to move on from his “Demon Prosecutor” past. Part of this is because he hates betrayal thanks to Dahlia Hawthorne, but it is also true that Wright deeply feels that his role as an attorney is to save people who are suffering, which he outright states in 2-4. Because he couldn’t “save” Edgeworth, the dominant Fi feels violated and this brings out his darker inferior Te side. Once again, Wright lashes out against his closest friends whenever they bring up Edgeworth, and he coldly declares “all prosecutors are heartless,” which is an Fi-Te misalignment accepting (unhealthy) feelings as a fact. The inferior function in all types is bought out in times of great stress and turmoil, and during Wright’s lowest points, it is inferior Te that turns him uncharacteristically aggressive and out-of-touch with his sensitive nature.

In order to prevent himself from being too self-indulgent, what Wright needs is to step out and reimagine other possibilities and ideas, which is the role of auxiliary Ne. He utilises this in court well when a situation looks bleak until he reassesses the perspective the court has been using and “turns it around.” However, it is notable that outside of court, where it isn’t a pressing requirement to use extroverted functions, Wright can be somewhat reserved in judgement and action. Oftentimes, when he must take a client who isn’t personally related to him, he is reluctant to do so until Maya pushes him to interview them.

His most defining moment of aux. Ne development is when Edgeworth returns in JFA. He finds Wright being unable to find closure over his feelings of hurt and betrayal, alongside struggling in a moral dilemma of saving Maya or preventing an innocent from being charged. Edgeworth inspires Wright once again, offering help in the search and teaching him about the ultimate “truth” he learned while away. So, for the first time in his life, Wright forgives a person who committed a major wrong against him. He takes Edgeworth’s words to heart and uses this new idea to become more sure about his morals and principles as a lawyer.

His lowest points in his career have been addressed and explained through unhealthy use of Si, but tertiary Si is also of great help in keeping Wright in balance. He can be somewhat scattered, but while investigating for his cases, Wright has a decent eye for details and fact recall, sometimes comparing items or words of others to things he has heard before. This function in INFPs is used to keep them grounded on reality as well. Because this type can sometimes be prone to “daydreaming” or spacing out thanks to Ne. Tertiary Si allows for this type to figure out which ideas are appropriate now and which ones may not be in line with their wants. One can observe this type of behaviour in Wright when taking note of the comments he makes regarding his office. He often talks about wanting to clean up to keep things neat, occasionally scolds himself internally for getting distracted, and oftentimes acts quite self-aware and proper while dealing with clients. However, tertiary Si has an obsessive undercurrent because it does not have the same level of stability as it would in a dominant or auxiliary position. Wright is known to be fussy when it comes to cleaning the toilet, continuously scrubbing it until it “sparkles” even when Maya repeatedly tells him it’s fine, and in case 2-1, is said to meticulously rub at a cell phone because of a few dirt specks on the keys. On the other hand, he can be quite careless and overlook certain details.

Edgeworth

INTJ

He’s an archetypal INTJ. From his main struggle to small character quirks, each is reflective of an INTJ overcoming his internal conflict to ultimately become an inspiring figure, dedicated to his self-defined truth.

Character Path

He’s rational, sure and proud of his path in life. He makes sure to colour his actions with meaning and settles for nothing short of his ideals. He’s in pain, despising all criminals to make up for his own crime. He never fails to get a guilty verdict but at the cost of his moral integrity. Edgeworth is quite the complex character, the supposed “true protagonist” of Ace Attorney. Due to his traumatic experience as a child, it’s important to consider the fact that Edgeworth may have PTSD, which can make it harder to distinguish between cognitive behaviour or those affected by his psychological trauma. However, at his very core, Edgeworth is a person who aspires to achieve large ambitions in order to give his life a sense of driven purpose. In fact, it is so much so that Edgeworth has a tendency to build and define his entire identity around these ideals of who he wants to be. For an Ni-dom, this is how they best function if they can see the positive impact these ideals have on the world, but it can also lead to their most self-destructive behaviour as well.

Early on, Edgeworth expressly desires a “perfect record,” ruthless in his tactics, but after 1-4, it is revealed that his techniques are a product of not only his upbringing with von Karma, but also an attempt to shut off his emotions after his trauma. Although blocking off emotional pain is a common defense-mechanism after facing traumatic experiences, with tertiary Fi, these attempts are amplified since auxiliary Te is more likely to perceive emotions as a weakness. Edgeworth sees his emotions as “unnecessary,” yet his actions are ironically driven by feelings of insecurity and doubt. These point to Ni-Fi loop-prone tendencies, in which he attempts to justify his current path with poor moral reasoning (nobody is truly innocent, so I must get everybody “guilty”) instead of utilising his Te to correct faulty thinking. At the same time, Edgeworth also uses auxiliary Te to compensate for a lack of a meaningful Ni purpose. Under von Karma’s teachings, Edgeworth does decide to become the perfect prosecutor who puts every criminal to justice (at the expense of innocent lives), building a perfect record and seeing himself as a person who fights crime, but he is simply getting recorded results that mean nothing in the end. When he loses to Wright in 1-3, the reality of this fact starts to weigh down on him, bringing out inferior Se conflict. Everything Edgeworth has done revolves around this vision of himself being a “perfect prosecutor,” but when it becomes evident that this image is meaningless, he has no idea how to proceed in his life. Feeling “unease and uncertainty,” Edgeworth attempts to gain some semblance of control through Se, angrily telling Wright to stay away from him, deluding himself into sticking with his path, so he doesn’t have to face his problems. During 1-4, after being arrested for murder, Edgeworth eventually acknowledges and communicates his feelings of pain to Wright but has no idea how to proceed after getting an acquittal. He starts to get in touch with his tertiary Fi, recognising his actions are not in-line with his morals, but he uses it defensively as well, insisting that everyone is turning against him when he’s just trying to help instead of taking action to correct them (in 1-5).

This leads to Se grip-like behaviours, in which he becomes uncharacteristically reactionary and explosive, only for these impulses to result in failure later on. For instance, Edgeworth had a “temper tantrum” when Meekins attempted to deliver some files and decided those files were irrelevant to the case without any basis (but they turned out to be a key point and resulted in Edgeworth getting reprimanded by Chief Gant). His lower functions acting up is the result of Edgeworth lacking proper dominant Ni functioning. All of his identity was built around false standards of success, ignoring the fact that they are neither realistic nor purposeful.

Eventually, Edgeworth realises something is missing from this delusional conception, causing his carefully-built identity to fall apart. He then tells Wright that something in him has died. Unable to find a clear path for him to pursue due to feeling like he lost everything, inferior Se demands action in order to regain control over his life. Therefore, Edgeworth decides to “choose death” in order to rediscover the true meaning of his life and career. During this time of isolation, he comes to realise “in a moment of clarity” that it is the trust Wright has in his clients that allows for him to determine the truth. Edgeworth concludes that, in order to uncover the truth, there needs to be a trust in a partner or team, and draws the connection to his and Wright’s working relationship. Thus, Edgeworth’s “Great Revival” begins. He rebuilds his sense of identity and makes it his sole mission in life to uncover the truth, no matter how difficult it may be, thus getting in touch with dom Ni.

In JFA, his return home results in meeting with a broken, distraught Wright. Edgeworth realises what Wright needs is to understand the nature of trust, and where he must place that trust in order to draw out the best outcome for this high-stakes case. Throughout this case, Edgeworth’s dominant Ni shines through in the way he is perceptive about how events will take place and what Wright needs to understand in order to become a better lawyer. His newfound idealism motivates him to uncover the truth so that he may build a better world and achieve tangible progress (refining Te-Fi values in order to effectively and realistically actualise Ni visions, satisfying inferior Se needs). Although Edgeworth is sufficiently developed by the end of JFA, T&T shows further evidence of dominant Ni usage. He is quick to identify Iris, Wright, and Maya’s deeply-rooted personal struggles even without clear evidence and immediately knows the best way to resolve those issues.

Function Notes

NOTE: These function notes simply provides evidence and a more detailed description of the cognitive functions used by each character. They are not necessary for reading, since the basic information explained above will be redundant. [Go back to view Wright’s MBTI Type.]

Ni dominants want to lead their lives independently, yet also be guided by a self-conceived overarching “truth” about the world. This truth is found by their passive observation of underlying meaning and patterns in the environment around them. However, because this process is usually unconscious, it can be hard to easily spot Ni at work. In fiction, Ni would translate into a character who is perhaps driven and ambitious towards a fuzzy “vision” of what they seek to achieve, with a penchant for thinking in abstract concepts to predict future outcomes. They look for the big picture of situations and are therefore perceptive in figuring out people and systems alike. With Edgeworth, his “Ni visions” can be observed by how he tends to build up his identity around a single concept. In the first game, he mistakenly identifies himself with the “perfect prosecutor” image, trying to get every defendant convicted no matter the method. When Wright destroys his record, Edgeworth is completely lost. Infamously, he declares that thanks to Wright, he is “saddled with unnecessary feelings… unease and uncertainty” that get in his way. If there is anything that makes or breaks an Ni dominant, it is their level of certainty in their ideas of future developments, supported or thwarted by facing the reality of the situation. Edgeworth has essentially built up his entire sense of self around the concept of a “perfect win record,” and uses poor moral reasoning to justify it (nobody is truly innocent, I hate criminals after DL-6, this is my own punishment), resisting correcting a faulty belief by using tertiary Fi to stick with his unrealistic worldview, only to become less confident in himself.

When Edgeworth returns in JFA, it is his turn to guide Wright away from his faulty thinking. He does so rather cryptically, speaking with words that convey a refreshing idealism yet not giving away exactly what he is thinking.

“The answer to that… is something you will find out on your own. I have faith you will see it before the verdict is read tomorrow. But if you can’t, then you will be powerless to change the ending of this story.” -2-4

He is talking about the truth he found, of course, and it is one that he sticks with valiantly. One could even see how he has a bit of a “blind faith” towards pursuing that perfect truth.

“But we will always eventually reach that single truth. This I promise you.” -2-4

So, ultimately, Edgeworth comes back from a journey of self-discovery and reveals that he has found a refined, more honourable outlook for himself. It is one that he proudly, confidently rebuilds his self-concept around, seeing himself as a person who will carry with him the dedication to reveal the ultimate truth. No matter his role- be it a prosecutor, a stand-in defence attorney, or an investigator- this ultimate vision of what he is truly aiming for is unchanging.

Another thing this type does is look at things for underlying meaning, extracting symbols from the ordinary. Edgeworth has a tendency to talk in more abstract metaphors and is quite proud of his profound insights, which points to an Ni style of thinking.

There have also been times when the player has had access to some of Edgeworth’s hobbies out of work, namely his chessboard and the Steel Samurai. It’s interesting to take note of what makes him so interested in such things. For the chessboard, he has one custom-made to represent his courtroom battles with Wright, and when talking to witnesses, he tends to visualise his conversations as a chess match, symbolically representing his strategic style in and out of court. As for the Steel Samurai, Edgeworth gleans meaningful messages out of the pop-culture program, and it’s implied that the show feeds his interests in the concept of justice vs. injustice.

Furthermore, in case 3-5, when Edgeworth defends Iris in Wright’s stead, Franziska points out that he “looks like Phoenix Wright when he is cornered.” He then thinks:

Because right now, I am Phoenix Wright, and I am indeed cornered…!

Note that Edgeworth does not say “I am like Phoenix Wright” or that he must be like Phoenix Wright, he is saying he is Phoenix Wright. The name “Phoenix Wright” has, in Edgeworth’s eyes, transcended the man himself and becomes a symbol of everything a defence attorney must stand for. Ni users have this tendency to abstractly view physical things, adding a layer of symbolism to it so that their perceptions are less about the object itself and more about its underlying meaning.

Also, in spite of his social awkwardness, he is quite perceptive at reading other’s underlying motives. He reads Wright very well, but is also able to pinpoint the motives of people he just met, such as Iris. In 3-5, although he does not know Maya well due to his absence, Edgeworth is the first person to realise the real reason why she is so cheerful after all the tragedy that happened to her. Not even Wright could figure it out until Edgeworth gave him a hint in the right direction.

So, with an eye for observing underlying meanings and a focus on personal visions, Edgeworth is dominantly an Ni user.

Yet, Edgeworth has his lowest points, in which he isn’t able to find a meaningful vision to pursue. When this happens in the first game, the inferior function Se can be seen making way to the surface. When Wright defeats Edgeworth in court, his self-concept of being the “perfect prosecutor” is taken away from him. After this point, Edgeworth’s actions gradually become more “extreme,” getting angry and even explosive, especially towards Wright (shouting at him to leave in 1-4, deciding he can’t become a prosecutor due to not knowing what it means for him anymore in 1-5), which points to inferior Se rising in place of broken Ni. What Ni dominants need to feel confident in themselves is assurance that their actions and ideals are meaningful to them, so they tend to have very lofty goals that gives them self-fulfilment. If that goal is unrealistic, it gets to a point where being unable to get closer to realising that goal results in feeling a lack of purpose in what they want. In Edgeworth’s case, that road to the perfect prosecutor is blocked off, so he feels as if he lost everything. This eventually leads to him realising just how devoid of inner-purpose he is, so he “chooses death.”

“That’s why I left the prosecutor’s office. I felt that I couldn’t stand in a court of law until I knew what a prosecutor really was. And now, Wright… it’s your turn.” -2-4

Nothing scares an Ni-dominant more than not knowing the best decisions to strive for, so at their worst, they will revert to taking extreme action in order to find it. Sometimes, this can also result in misinterpreting the reality of a situation, looking for a future outcome or underlying meaning when there is none. Edgeworth fixates on one such outcome after the trial in 1-5, and in an attempt to prevent his supposed premonition from happening, he resorts to doing something to prevent it due to inferior Se, unintentionally giving Wright grief in the process.

In his lowest points in life, Edgeworth fails to find a meaningful direction for himself. This in turn leads to the extreme, highly reactive behaviour perpetuated by inferior Se. This is only resolved once he finds prevailing truth for himself, one which he continuously strives for no matter his role.

However idealistically Edgeworth may believe in his truth, he is not exactly the classic romantic in his pursuit of it. Thanks to his upbringing in the von Karma household, Edgeworth has had many an opportune to finely hone his use of auxiliary Te. It helps bring him utilise the objective facts of a situation, to work within a structured system, and efficiently set goals. Sometimes, however, overuse of auxiliary Te can result in Edgeworth having an absolutist or adopting a “the ends justifies the means” mindset.

In this case, tertiary Fi steps in to help the strict Te see the moral complexities and shades of grey. Edgeworth can be surprisingly empathetic at times, by offering to cover other’s expenses or providing valuable advice. As a matter of fact, a majority of Edgeworth’s character development during the first game focuses primarily on tertiary Fi. Because he is haunted by the traumas of the DL-6 incident, and also the fact that he was raised under the strict, “perfect prosecutor” teachings of Manfred von Karma, Edgeworth turns to reaping Te accomplishments to make up for his inability to find a more personal life purpose. This makes him appear cold, ruthless, and rubs Wright (a feeling type by contrast) the wrong way, but in actuality these attempts to build a “perfect record” are caused by emotional turmoil and a hatred of criminals (lower Fi). When Edgeworth decides to aid the defence by keeping Vasquez on the stand in 1-3, it is at this point that Edgeworth realises he trusts in Wright’s judgement, so he can't let an innocent person get declared guilty when the true culprit is right there. This way, Edgeworth is getting in touch with his sense of morality which overuse of Te tries to override. In 1-4 and 1-5, Edgeworth gradually exposes his more emotionally warm side and rediscovers his moral beliefs that he’s attempted to bury.

An Ni-Fi loop dynamic oftentimes consists of a “self-centred paranoia.” They observe things from a “this impacts me me me” perspective, while lower Fi makes them feel insecure, so they often assume others are out to get them for no apparent reason.

So you’ve come to laugh at the fallen attorney? Go on, laugh! Laugh! Why aren’t you laughing?! -1-4 ~ It seems everything in this case is designed to cast doubt on me. -1-5

As a result of this self-centred focus, Ni-Fi in a loop also tends to blame themselves for a negative situation out of their control, shifting the impact of said situation solely to their own. This may then lead inferior Se to act up. They feel completely convinced that their view is the only correct outcome, and this can result in extreme or reckless action to fix it.

Concluding Notes

So, I have gone over the main character developmental arcs and explained each major portion using MBTI theory. With Wright, he ultimately wants to follow his core values and emotions, being dominant Fi. What he needs to learn to do is have a good handle on the details of each case to defend his client (tert. Si), but also learn to adopt and utilise new perspectives (aux. Ne) in order to best accomplish his goals (inf. Te). Edgeworth, the tragic character, loses his father in the DL-6 incident, and as a result is taken into a household that teaches him faulty concepts of success, in which his dominant Ni deludes him into feeding his aux. Te desires. However, this is not who he truly is, and by becoming aware of his moral fallacies (tert. Fi), he rediscovers a more meaningful life purpose and identity for himself in order to truly make real progress in the world (inf. Se).

Mutant X [TV] (2001-2004)

S01E19 “Nothing to Fear”

[spoilers]

Sci-fi/action

Tom McCamus plays a main role in season 1

Nothing to fear is a shortened version of the often misquoted “there is nothing to fear except fear itself”. The actual quote, which comes from Franklin D Roosevelt’s inaugural address:

“So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is…fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

Apart from proliferating an incorrect quote, the episode title is apt. The episode deals with fear, which is always a good device to show different sides to characters. This is also probably my favourite episode of Mutant X. I like the dark tone coupled with the physical darkness of the sets, the fact that it’s not a typical episode, and of course that Tom is in a lot more scenes than usual. I have to admit that my motivation to write about the rest of the series will most likely wane after this one. It’s all downhill from here.

The episode opens with a chase through a warehouse. Abandoned warehouses that are easy to get into are so commonplace on TV. Shalimar and Brennan are trying to help New Mutant Henry Voight (Louis Ferreira) escape from the GSA. Henry uses his powers on Shalimar by pulling some sort of glowing thing out of her head. Brennan rescues her but she is in a lot of pain.

Back at the lab, Shalimar dons the Lab Underwear and Adam does a scan on her. Shalimar thinks he just used his powers to get inside her head, but Adam tells Emma to keep an eye on her.

Mason visits Henry in the abandoned train car that he seems to have made into his home. There are torn out photographs of a woman hanging from the ceiling, in an interesting if unhinged idea of decor. It’s irregular that Mason doesn’t send an agent out to visit Henry, or call him in to Genomex, but it’s nice to see a change of location. Mason wants some information from Mutant X but is concerned that Henry just wants to torture them. Mason leaves him a (now hilariously outdated) cell phone.

Back at Sanctuary, Brennan covers up a napping Shalimar and kisses her on the head. I love the use of lighting in this episode. Everything is subtly or dramatically darker.

Jesse looks into Henry’s background. They know only that he is an unspecified psionic and that his wife died in service of the GSA.

Shalimar gets up and Emma catches her turning off the alarms. She tries to stop her but Shalimar hits her. The GSA break in in their best operation we have ever seen, both in numbers and in organisation. They grab Emma, and then drag Jesse and Brennan out of their bedrooms. It bothers me a little that Adam has built this immense building inside a mountain, but makes his team sleep in tiny rooms with slatted sliding doors. Is he violently opposed to privacy or something?

Adam tries to fight them off but they grab him too. Shalimar just watches all of this happen, looking horrified at herself but not making a move to intervene. Mason approaches her and tells her her team will never forgive her. She grabs hold of him and threatens to kill him, but he tells he that Henry is the one in control. And now it’s clear that this is all a fake scenario inside her head that Henry has created. She fights off dozens of GS Agents but is finally captured in a neck restraint.

Brennan finds her and Adam looks at her and finds that she is in a coma. Emma wants to help her but Adam warns against it. It’s unusually dark in the lab, giving it a sinister, X-Files vibe.

Shalimar is restrained at the GSA. Mason taunts her about betraying her team and shows her Emma being tortured. He wants information about the New Mutant underground in exchange for her freedom.

Mason visits Henry again. When he enquires about his progress, Henry uses his powers on him to show him what he has put into Shalimar’s mind. Mason is angry at being touched but compliments Henry on his impression of him. He again warns Henry against torturing her too much. I prefer the episodes where we see a more human and reasonable side to Mason. It’s much more interesting to believe that he thinks he doing the best he can to protect humanity (with a few casualties of course) than believing he is just a heartless tyrant. We see both extremes in different episodes. Perhaps he is a good actor and either the cold and uncaring or the considerate sides to him are fake. Even though I would like to know more about Mason as a character, the mystery works for him.

Mason can’t help but walk into the photographs on strings in Henry’s squat, and he asks who the woman is. Henry has to tell him that she worked for the GSA but he doesn’t remember her.

Back in Shalimar’s/Henry’s dreamland, Mason is frightening Shalimar with a flamethrower. This is the first time we actually see Mason wearing something other than a pinstriped suit. Shalimar suffers a burn in real life. While this isn’t realistic, it illustrates a true concept. Mental and emotional pain has real negative effects on the body. Research has shown for instance that a “broken heart” actually weakens heart tissue.

Emma ignores Adam’s warning and enters Shalimar’s nightmare and tells her it isn’t real. Henry notices this, and through Mason, tells her that her friends can’t help her.

Brennan and Jesse try to track Henry’s whereabouts and decide to check out a train yard. As is often the case on this show, (for probably time constraint reasons) the first place they decide to look happens to be exactly where the person they are looking for is. They conveniently wander into the right train car and start snooping about while talking loudly. Jesse wonders who Henry’s wife was fighting when she died, and neither of them remember her. But he posits that Henry thinks it was them and blames them. It’s odd that none of them remember Henry’s wife. We don’t learn what her mutant power was, so perhaps it was something about disrupting memory?

Henry gets Jesse with his power. Brennan runs after him but he escapes. Brennan warns Jesse not to go to sleep. And I’m suddenly struck by the fact that this episode may be heavily influenced by Nightmare on Elm Street. Which I have never seen, but thanks to The Simpsons and other parodies, I do not need to.

Jesse mentions he isn’t afraid of anything except for being buried alive. Meanwhile Brennan realises that Henry also got him with his power.

Emma tries to keep Jesse walking about so he doesn’t fall asleep, but he eventually lies down. As he is drifting off, Adam aggressively reminds him that whatever he sees isn’t real.

Jesse finds himself trapped in a stasis pod. But fully clothed and conscious. He panics but tells himself it isn’t real. Mason appears and tells him that it is real then walks away. Jesse panics even more and Mason offers him freedom in exchange for information. When Jesse doesn’t offer any Mason tells him that Shalimar was no use either, and hints that she is dead.

Adam says he is going to give Brennan some more fenaproxen, which I assume is a made up drug name. There is a drug of that name made by one Chinese company but it appears to be an antidepressant. It didn’t work on Jesse, so perhaps Adam was clutching at straws. He completely missed the obvious solution of making coffee.

Brennan denies having any fears but then admits to being afraid of his powers being used against him. Which is exactly what Henry does. Brennan tries to reason with him and tells him that the GSA falsified reports about his wife.

Emma looks at a photo of Henry’s wife and from that has the idea to go into the dream and talk to him. Adam tells he it’s too dangerous and says he should go. Of course he has some technological nonsense that will replicate Emma’s power. I don’t know why he thinks it’s too dangerous for Emma to go in. He says because she’s a psionic, but wouldn’t that mean that she has more control, not less? It isn’t as if he has been able to get any of the rest of the team (of non psionics) out of there.

Mason visits Henry again. Henry tells him to be patient, and then falls asleep. He finds himself in the dream version of Genomex. Somehow Emma has lured him there by listening to a Vivaldi piece that his wife played. Henry takes control of Brennan and uses his powers on her through him.

Emma falls asleep and finds herself in dreamworld Genomex, blind.

Henry calls Mason and tells him that he blames him as well as Mutant X for his wife’s death. He pulls Mason into the dreamscape. And his fear turns out to be very 1984. He is in a cage full of rats. Significantly less scary than the ordeal of Winston Smith, but Mason is vulnerable to anything carrying disease.

Adam uses his EDD to flash lights on him and move into the dreamworld. Henry says he isn’t going to let her go. Adam tells him the GSA reports were falsified and that his wife is actually alive, in section 9, a highly secure storage facility.

Adam takes Henry to talk to Mason. Mason wonders if he is real or a horrible figment of his imagination. I think this line is telling about what happened in the past. Mason must believe Adam did something terrible to him and had nightmares about him as a result. Adam makes him tell Henry what a section 9 is. Mason eventually tells him that section 9 is stasis and that she is alive, but still remembers nothing about her. Which means there must actually be more of a management structure at Genomex than I suspected.

At Sanctuary, the Mutant X team start to wake up. Mason is in a bad state, he awakes on a bed in the lab with lots of wires attached to him. He instructs a doctor to release Henry’s wife from stasis and make sure he finds her. Adam wakes up last. They assume Henry is going to get his wife back and decide to let them go off on their own.

New York Cops Beat Protesters for Crime of Being There

Peaceful protests in New York took a dark turn late Thursday as graphic video emerged of an elderly man being knocked to the ground by police in Buffalo and protesters in New York City were confronted with swarms of police officers using heavy-handed tactics to enforce a statewide 8 p.m. curfew. The shocking incident in Niagara Square occurred outside City Hall, where video posted by local media shows the man approaching police as they attempt to clear the square only to be violently shoved. He then falls backwards and slams his head into the ground, left seemingly unconscious as protesters can be heard screaming “he’s bleeding out of his ear.”  Buffalo police later released a statement saying they had arrested four people and that a fifth person was arrested during a skirmish with other protesters.Cops claimed in the statement “during that skirmish involving protesters, one person was injured when he tripped & fell.”  Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood initially told The Daily Beast authorities were “looking into” the shoving incident, though he said he hadn’t seen the video. Moments later, he ordered the immediate suspension of the two officers involved. Mayor Byron Brown issued a statement saying he was “deeply disturbed” by the video after “two Buffalo Police officers knocked down a 75-year-old man,” leaving him in stable but serious condition. He said the officers involved had already been suspended without pay.  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was also quick to condemn the incident, which he called “wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.” Hours earlier, Cuomo had flat out denied that police officers in New York City were guilty of using excessive force, calling it “incendiary rhetoric” to suggest otherwise, despite numerous videos capturing heavy-handed tactics. Even as Cuomo condemned the Buffalo violence late Thursday, large groups of cops in the Bronx and Brooklyn were captured on video enforcing the curfew with force, using batons on protesters who had been demonstrating peacefully. The crackdown came after city leaders had spent much of the day defending the NYPD against accusations of excessive force. After a spate of videos went viral showing police officers apparently using brutal tactics against protesters earlier this week—in one instance driving into a crowd, in another striking protesters with batons even as they walked away—both Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea on Thursday praised police officers for their “restraint” during the unrest. Shea pleaded for an end to violence against cops and vowed to “hold police officers accountable” for excessive force, saying some would “probably” face suspension. Protesters told The Daily Beast it was “delusional” for Cuomo to claim police haven’t been using excessive force in recent protests. “I think it’s delusional, I think it’s willful ignorance and I think it’s dangerous,” Derek Ingram told The Daily Beast. “Black bodies have been vilified for so long that I think statements like that, with how violent police are, make it even more dangerous. It’s scary.”“Police brutality is so ingrained in our culture, a statement like that isn’t going to do anything. It has to take fundamental re-training of police. And I don’t think a mere statement is going to change that,” he said. Other protesters said the NYPD was responding to the protests against police brutality with more police brutality. “I don’t know what Cuomo has been watching, but I’ve seen police officers, they’re not agitated, and they’re using the same kind of force that got us here in the first place,” Richard Edwards said. “We hear from commissioners in the past over and over, what they say on a public platform and what happens in reality are two different things,” he said. Cops were not just aggressive with protesters—credentialed members of the media were also targeted. Brooklyn Paper reporter Ben Verde, who was reporting from a protest in Williamsburg that turned ugly when cops charged at protesters, tweeted that police told him “I don’t care, go home” when he held up his NYPD press credentials. Media are considered essential workers and are exempt from the curfew. Verde said a senior officer threatened to take his press pass if he didn’t leave. NYPD spokesperson Sergeant Mary Frances O’Donnell told The Daily Beast late Thursday that the department would “look into” Verde’s account but offered nothing further. Verde told The Daily Beast he’s been covering the protests all week but this is the first time he has had a run in with cops. “It was clear that not only were they trying to clear the streets they were trying to clear cameras from the streets,” he said. That incident is just the latest in a series of hostile and ugly encounters members of the media have encountered with the NYPD in the course of their reporting since protests kicked off. A HuffPo reporter was arrested and later released while covering protests Saturday, while on Tuesday a team from the Associated Press were harassed and threatened by cops.Despite the flare-ups of violence in New York, protests in other cities took on a calmer tone in their sixth day. In Washington, D.C., a determined crowd of protesters gathered outside the White House. The heavy military and law enforcement presence that’s come to define the protests in the nation’s capital was on display, as military vehicles manned by National Guard personnel hemmed in the crowds and were stationed in corners around downtown Washington. Despite those surroundings, demonstrators described a positive and uplifting—not menacing— vibe to the day’s proceedings. “This is love,” said Mikey Dee, a 33-year old man who brought his daughter to the protests. “This is a mark in history.”“Clearly, it’s making a difference,” said Mangus Wilson, a 32-year old DC area resident who was passing out bottles of water. But he said he, and others, would keep showing up every day. “There’s no end in sight—it’s like corona.”As a crowd gathered on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, apocalyptic thunderstorm clouds moved in at a rapid clip around 8 p.m. When intense wind, rain and lightning hit, most protesters dispersed but a determined crew remained outside the White House until the rain passed, wearing ponchos and staring into police floodlights. Joe, a 42-year-old protester from New York wearing a soaked white shirt with the words “no peace” written on it, was taking a break from shouting chants in the corner. “It’d take a hurricane to stop us,” he said. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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TikTok Users Are Inventing Wild Theories to Explain Its Mysterious Algorithm

Probably half of the videos I see on TikTok include one of the following hashtags: #fyp, #foryou, or #foryoupage.

The hashtaggers’ theory is that if they use these tags in their captions, their posts are more likely to surface on more people’s For You pages. The For You page is TikTok’s recommendation feed, which is personalized to each user based on how that user interacts with videos on TikTok, according to the company.

There’s absolutely no proof that using these hashtags does anything, but it seems like they do. Because so many people use these hashtags, it looks like they actually get videos on people’s For You pages. Also, the top Google search result for “How to get on TikTok For You page” is a link to a blog that promotes this very method. (The blog provides other possible but unverified tips, like using high-quality footage, and using trending footage and trending hashtags.)

No one outside TikTok knows how its For You page algorithm works (like many social media recommendation algorithms, it’s likely the company itself doesn’t know all of its quirks). The company has repeatedly declined to answer Motherboard’s specific questions about it, including questions asked for this article.

TikTok users, without verifiable information from TikTok, are aggressively postulating their theories about how the For You page actually works on the platform. Speculation about the For You page has become prevalent that it’s practically adopted status as a meme on the platform. If users aren’t theorizing about it, then they’re making irreverent jokes about it.

One of the most popular theories on TikTok about how the For You page works is the “batch” theory. The idea is that TikTok shows each post to a small batch of users. The ratio of likes-to-views, or engagement-to-views, determines whether that post get released to a larger batch of users, and so on with each batch. Videos promoting these theories have gotten 46k and 17k likes, respectively.

Some users have tried to test this theory by asking users to comment how many likes the video had when they saw it. The thinking goes that if like counts increase in spurts, it’s possible that videos are shown in batches. But the results from this “test” are inconclusive. There’s absolutely no way to prove this theory without confirmation from TikTok.

According to the TikTok listing in the iOS App Store, a user’s For You page is based on an unclear mix of engagement metrics.

“A personalized video feed specifically for you based on what you watch, like, and share,” the page reads. “TikTok will quickly adapt to your taste to offer the most relevant, interesting, fun, quirky, head-turning videos that you’ll never want to stop watching.”

We don’t know which engagement metrics—likes re-watches, likes, or shares—have a more sizable influence on people’s For You pages than other metrics. (For instance, we don’t know if likes matter more than re-watches.)

Do you work at TikTok and have a tip about how For You recommendations work? Contact Caroline Haskins securely via email at [email protected] or via Signal at +1 785-813-1084.

Becca Lewis, a digital culture researcher at the non-profit research organization Data and Society, told Motherboard in a phone call that when platforms aren’t transparent about how content gets algorithmically surfaced, people start to look for patterns explaining why some things are seen and some things are not.

“It’s incredibly difficult to tell whether their observations are accurate or not, because it’s difficult from the outside to see what’s happening,” Lewis said. “That is one unintended consequence of these platforms keeping their algorithms so under wraps. You start to get these folk stories or urban legends about how these things work.”

Lewis added that there can be unintended consequences when platforms don’t provide information about their platforms to users. “I think the lack of transparency around algorithmic surfacing of content can lead to a culture of distrust and even a conspiratorial culture,” Lewis said.

There are many more theories about how TikTok’s For You page works, some of which are less sensible than others. For instance, one user proposed that TikTok assigns a score to accounts based on how much engagement their first five posts get, and TikTok uses that score to determine how often future posts get surfaced on the For You page. There’s no evidence that this is true. From TikTok’s perspective, this theory also doesn’t make sense because it would dissuades people from staying on the platform, and experimenting with content creation, on a long-term basis.

Other users have theorized that TikTok has no intelligent algorithm and just surfaces content randomly to each user. This user says that even when her views have a good “interaction per view” ratio—or, the ratio of likes, comments, and shares to total views—her videos still top off with very few views.

Some people see the opacity of the For You page algorithm as a call to action. For instance, one user asks his viewers if they also tap TikTok’s “share” button in order to try and make other people’s videos go viral on the app. The thinking is that by tapping share—even if users don’t actually share the video with a friend—users improve the engagement metrics of another video. It goes a step further than simply liking a video.

Another user told her viewers that TikTok users have a “duty” to like videos with only a handful of likes. She argues that the “batch” theory is correct, meaning that videos with high view-counts are distributed to more people’s For You Pages. For this reason, she says, it’s very difficult for videos with a small view count to get over the hump and reach a larger group of users.

“If you scroll past these little TikToks with like five likes, they’re probably going to die soon,” she says, with ironic melodrama. “So in conclusion, it is your civic duty as a member of the TikTok community to like and comment on this video, because if you don’t do it, no one else will.”

Doing this would surely affect one’s own For You page. However, it’s unclear how much it would affect other people’s For You pages.

Of course, TikTok isn’t the only platform with a secret content-surfacing algorithm. Becca Lewis said that often, tech companies will keep these algorithms secret because it’s expensive proprietary information, and more public information can empower media manipulators.

For example, if everyone had a list of attributes that move tweets to the top of people’s Twitter home feeds, everyone would just use those attributes.

“Since the early days of Google, for example, there’s always been a cat and mouse game where Google specifically tries to keep their search algorithm under wraps to a certain degree so it doesn’t get manipulated,” Lewis said. “But at the same time, you have people who want to appear highly in searches, and so there’s been the entire industry of search engine optimization that has emerged out of that.”

Some tech employees have resisted the principle of secrecy. YouTube’s union, for instance, is demanding more transparency about how the company operates. However, platforms like YouTube or TikTok don’t have an incentive to be transparent because maximizing engagement is a core part of their business models. Engagement often means people spend more time on a platform, and therefore, more time engaging with ads that make the company money. When platforms aren’t clear about what maximizes engagement, this money-making model stays safe.

And of course, all major algorithmically-powered feeds look different to each user because they’re influenced by how people behave. Twitter home pages, Facebook News Feeds, and Instagram home feeds display content in personalized orders, depending on how each user has behaved on the platform before. This isn’t unique to TikTok.

On one hand, there’s a positive side to personalized feeds. Users are more likely to see stuff that they want to see. But personalized feeds can also create echo chambers of content that don’t just subconsciously construct people’s own realities, but push them toward more radical content.

In any case, when users ask “why does this video have 43 likes and my video has zero,” they aren’t unjustified.

TikTok Users Are Inventing Wild Theories to Explain Its Mysterious Algorithm syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/