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faithandfairies · 2 years

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Re-watching SVU

I’ve recently been re-watching Law & Order SVU episodes. Olivia is just as badass as I remember. She’s still my favorite character.

I think I stopped watching the show when I felt like they were slapping her around too much on it for no reason though. And I’m sure that her back already hurt from having to carry this show on it for so long.

I’ve also realized I like some characters more than I remember doing and others less. Like Munch, Fin, Captain Cragen, M.E. Warner, Huang. I like all of these characters a lot. I appreciate them even more now than I used to. And I genuinely missed the old dynamic after they left.

I remember liking Alex Cabot. She was my favorite A.D.A. But I haven’t re-watched enough older episodes with her in it to know if my opinion has changed or not.

I also like A.D.A. Barba.

I dislike Stabler now, which comes as a surprise to me. Don’t get me wrong, I was never really that invested in episodes that featured Stabler without Benson, but I always liked the Benson and Stabler dynamic. They had good chemistry and it was clear they loved each other. I remember really wanting them to get together back in the day. Now I’m really glad they didn’t. And I hope they never do.

You see, the thing I could never really put my finger on is that Stabler is an asshole. He’s just such an asshole. And frankly, Benson deserves better. Then again, she’s one of the few people he actually kind of listens to but she kind of enables him, so there’s that. I just don’t think they’re good for each other. They just enable each other to stay stunted emotionally and every other way you can think of.

I thought that Benson also had great chemistry with Cabot. It could be seen from space. And I can say this because I was able to see it at a time in my life where I didn’t even know the LGBTQ+ community was a thing. I don’t know if they would have made a good couple though. But they might have, two badass women kicking ass together and separately.

I say Benson deserves better than Stabler but I don’t even know if Benson could handle better. I love her character, she’s a strong, independent woman with a soft gooey center for a heart (sometimes). A badass. But she happens to be in a business where most of the men she meets are scum. And those who aren’t might be intimidated by her. I think she can also come off as aloof and untouchable. Like she doesn’t need anyone. And she doesn’t, but everyone deserves someone kind in their life who loves and respects and gets them that isn’t their kid.

Speaking of, I’m really glad they finally gave her a kid even though it took 84 years, because that was always a dream of hers and I always knew she’d be a good mom. And I wanted her to be happy. Still do.

They gave the decent guy for Benson bit a good try with Cassidy but she didn’t really let him in and he didn’t really know how to be with her. She didn’t really seem that fond of him to begin with anyway and they didn’t really have chemistry.

I thought she could have maybe made it work with Fin or Barba. They seemed mature and respectful enough. And both seemed genuinely fond of her and she of them. But I don’t think she let either of them in really either. And I don’t think either of them ever tried to woo her.

I just don’t know what her letting anyone other than that asshole Stabler in would look like. Not that she ever fully let Stabler in. Which I don’t blame her for because yikes. But he’s the one who got the closest.

Like, maybe someone that looked like Benson could snap them in two if she wanted to while still being a badass and a respectful sweetheart who saw right through her and gently coaxed her to let down her guard around them could work. You know, someone respectfully determined and patient and honest with Benson who got her to be honest with them. Or a burly, buff looking dude who worshipped the ground she walked on and had a gooey center for a heart. Maybe someone who knew how to read her and learned her by simply observing her, but not in a creepy stalkery way. I don’t know. Either way, I think they’d need to be a walking paradox. You know, someone who pleasantly surprised her in who they turned out to be. And had a good sense of humor maybe.

She seems okay on her own though. And again, she has her kid.

I also think it’s interesting how she’s evolved because of her kid. It’s obvious her loyalties are now with her kid over anything else. I think it’s something I didn’t appreciate when I first realized it as it happened years ago. But it’s where they should be. In the sense that she doesn’t want her kid to have to grow up without a mother, without her, after having already lost his biological mother. She is all Noah has. And it’s made her less reckless and therefore less stupidly heroic, a trait I actually enjoyed about her, than she used to be. There are things she did for the cause, for her job, to help the victims, that I don’t see her doing now, if she thinks it will put her own life in jeopardy unnecessarily. And while I didn’t use to appreciate it, I do now.

I’ve been watching snippets of Benson’s reunion with Stabler. I’m glad they brought him back regardless. She needed the closure. Whether it’s to talk about it, even though they were never that great at that to begin with, or just to get him out of her system or maybe he’s changed and become the kind of man she deserves. Although those sound like famous last words if I‘ve ever heard any.

EDIT: Wait, I just found out Benson was apparently with Tucker for a bit. That looked good. Like it actually worked. He’s the kind of guy that looks like Benson could break him in two if she really tried, but is also a badass yet really gentle with her.

Surprising. Refreshing.

#law & order svu #benson #olivia benson #munch #fin #tutuola #barba #cabot #alex #warner #wong #stabler #svu

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eyecicles · 5 years

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🌻 i know what i'm hoping for but everything you have to say about this series is interesting anyway so please, go off

Almost every single panel with Near in it is interesting in some way and mainly because of all the little details Obata adds to them. But what you’ll realise, if you do what I do, is that Near arranges his toys in a pretty particular manner. Not only does he own a lot of transformers and other toys that very clearly represent “good” (like his policemen) vs “evil” (the Grim Reaper), he also plays with them that way. It looks indeed very black-and-white, childish even - But the think is, his views are far from that. I think his views on justice and moral are pretty mature, especially when you compare them to other characters, haha.

And I recently realised that he makes an extremely interesting contrast to Mikami. Narrative wise, they largely are there to act in the stead of their respective “idols” (L and Light, but I use to term “idol” very loosely, since Near’s feelings about L are probably mixed), so it makes sense to compare them to each other. (Mikami was chosen by Light, which, I think, makes him very different from Misa who’s technically the second Kira like Near would be the second L)

Notice how there are superheroes in the background too. But Mikami has studied the law, he’s a prosecutor, and if you simply look at him and then Near, you’d think that his views about justice should be way more layered, mature, and complex than Near’s, who visually shows us what he thinks of Kira with this ugly finger puppet:

Which seems incredibly childish.

In truth, Mikami seems to be the one who’s emotionally stunted. His extreme views got more extreme as he got older, he’s mistrustful in an almost paranoid way, and he’s quick to write people off who disagree with him about his world views. Both he and Near are quite isolated also, but for very different reasons.

But even more interesting is what the Kira case represents for them; Light killed Near’s idol/role model and, in a way, his role in the story is about vengeance. Mikami’s role, though, is that of a devoted Kira worshiper; for him, Light represents a saviour, someone who will deliver the world from all evil.

And yet Near seems to not actually like L. Maybe he was disappointed in him, but whatever he thought of him; he still saw it has his duty to solve the case. Mikami, on the other hand, sees Light as a literal god, haha.

Their contrast is also in their appearances: Near looks very childlike, he wears something resembling a pyjama all the time, while Mikami looks very mature and proper, Near has white hair and a fair character design in general, while Mikami’s hair and general clothing style is dark, etc. I don’t think that was intentional, but it’s still nice.

Anyway, we don’t know for sure how Mikami died in the end, but I find the thought of Near using and killing Mikami very intriguing for that reason too; it would mean he used Mikami to get rid of both the heads that made “Kira” at the time. Light’s and Mikami’s similarities worked against them in the end, while Near, in my mind, gradually deviated from L. (There’s a lot to be said about Near in chapter 109 too, but that’s for another time)

Light and L were so in sync & different as they were similar, while Near’s and Mikami’s views of justice are like day and night. And now I should write something about Mello vs Kiyomi.

As I said, most of it was probably unintentionally written that way, but I’m a sucker for contrasting key characters (and, imo, Near and Mikami are the most interesting second arc characters).

#ask meme #anon #near #teru mikami #I'm sorry I just can't shut up today

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thedramafilesblog-blog · 6 years

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Appearing before The Dramacourt: 20th Century Boy and Girl Eps 29 to 32 (Final)

***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read The Rules section first for our reviewing and rating system***

Issues:

Whether Young Shim’s character developed at all.

Whether the sudden love line between Anthony and the Director was necessary.

Whether the Lawyer Boss is still super awkward.

Whether Ah Reum’s “break up” with Woo Sung made sense.

Whether Young Shim’s Mom should have got a divorce.

Whether Ji Won not going to meet the ex is the best way to deal with the ex.

Whether Jin Jin and Ji Won are #relationshipgoals

The Rule(s):

Not really. We think she had the least character development of the lot.

Not at all.

Yes!!

No. Why all this angst at the last minute?

Definitely.

100%! This is exactly how exes should be dealt with.

Absolutely!

Analysis:

RedRosette J: IT’S OVER!!!!!! Now I have to go back to hating Mondays. Ugh. But real talk: overall, I thought the drama did very well is definitely in my top five dramas of 2017. The only problems that I had in these last few episodes were with the side characters and not really Jin Jin and Ji Won. It just feels like the writer spent all this time creating the perfect main leads and then scrambled at the last minute to finish the side characters so it felt a bit messy and all over the place. The biggest plot point that I wanted wrapped up was Jin Jin and her sister Ho Sung making amends. We did get a scene with Jin Jin at Ho Sung’s and I think that was the first step in them rebuilding their relationship. Everything worked out well for the other smaller characters too like Mi Dal and Assistant Boy who got married (!!) and Jin Jin’s little brother Min Ho who got rid of his pink hair and got a real job (LOL!).

Jubiemon J: Overall, I did enjoy this drama a lot, mostly due to the girls’ strong friendship and the cuteness between Jin Jin and Jiwon! Jiwon and Jin Jin seriously are relationship goals. I haven’t seen such a mature couple in a Korean drama for a while, so their dynamics were refreshing!

Like RedRosette said, there are still a few issues with how things wrapped up for the other characters. The biggest mystery of all is related to Ho Sung and her husband. At the end of the day, I still don’t understand why the family was so against Ho Sung and her husband. I wished that that had been explored in a deeper level. I also really didn’t like how stunted Young Shim’s character turned out to be. She seemed to be growing as seen from her attempts at punctuality and her standing up for her mother. Then . . . she just showed that nothing had really changed in the last episode. She suggested that her mother get a divorce and then later get all mad at her mother for wanting to go through with it. Like what? How immature are you? You’re not a middle school student or some kid anywhere. You’re already 36…. -0-‘

Making amends like…

When you aren’t buying whatever scheme your friend is trying to sell…

Such cuties

Super adorbs ❤

RedRosette J: I only wish that Jin Jin’s parents hadn’t found out about Ji Won and Jin Jin through the news like everyone else. It would have been nicer if they had just told them (but Min Ho’s horrified reactions made up for it so I’m not all that mad about it). Dad’s reaction bugged me a little but then again, I guess it can be disturbing for a parent to find out their “pseudo-son” is seeing their daughter LOL! I’m glad we also got some explanation as to why Jin Jin and Ji Won lasted all of three seconds together back in high school! Spoiler: Dad caught them kissing in the elevator!!

Jubiemon J: I was really confused about the dad’s reaction to Jin Jin and Ji Won. In previous episodes, he seemed to have noticed something between them and was all supportive and what not. Then when he really confirmed that they were together, he even threw out Ji Won’s shoes and started going all aggressive at him. Okay . . . Jin Jin is already 36 years old; she’s no longer a baby. It’s not like Ji Won is some criminal . . .

*cringe*

Hugs solve all problems

When your family finds out you’re dating someone…

This is what horrified looks like

Dealing with scandals head on

Happy family 🙂

Issue 1: Whether Young Shim’s character developed at all

RedRosette J: Young Shim’s character was the least well written. Her mousy, pushover persona didn’t change at all throughout the show. It would have been nice to see some character growth with her because she needed to change to stand up to her father and to be better at work. Although there was some change in her relationship with her father, there really wasn’t any change in her attitude or behaviour. But then again, in real life, people don’t really change all that much and maybe that’s what she represents.

Jubiemon J: I sort of alluded to this issue in the beginning of this post, so the short answer here is this: No, she did not develop at all as a character. I have to mention it again. I really was irritated when she told her mom to have a divorce and then the next day when she found out her mom wanted one, she got all angry at her mom. Okay . . . you’re the one that pitched the idea so own up to it.

Girl, you need to change.

Issue 2: Whether the sudden love line between Anthony and the Director was necessary

RedRosette J: OMG where did this come from? This whole Anthony ❤ Director Lady was done for “jokes” because actress Kim So Yeon who played the Director Lady is Lee Sang Woo’s real life wife. What the hell? It wasn’t even funny or cute and tbh there was like zero chemistry between the two of them anyway. This Anthony story line would have been so much better if he had retired from acting gracefully, got a real job doing something much better, the manager girl found a real actor for her agency, and if he went and found a normal girl and called it a day. Either that or if I was the writer, I would have sent Anthony on a Eat, Pray, Love style “self-discovery” journey abroad and called it day. Anthony seriously needed to get his priorities straight. Ugh.

Jubiemon J: The last part was totally unnecessary. I think the writer wanted everyone to have his/her happy ending, but life isn’t like that. Not everyone needs to be in a relationship to be content, okay? Not everyone gets together at the same time period, all right? I also don’t think it was fitting that somehow Anthony had some happy ending. He, as a character, didn’t develop much either. Sure, he did try his best to act, but . . . there didn’t seem like a difference. He also still liked to play the hero. So ugh.

Issue 3: Whether the Lawyer Boss is still super awkward

RedRosette J: Every week I keep hoping for him not to be awkward, and every week he ends up becoming more awkward. I can’t. I’m done with him.

Jubiemon J: The awkwardness is born within him. That random “you can hold my hand” scene made me laugh so hard and cringe on his behalf.

Issue 4: Whether Ah Reum’s “break up” with Woo Sung made sense

RedRosette J: I really didn’t understand why Ah Reum wanted to break up with Woo Sung. It seemed like she was afraid of the person she was becoming in front of her potential in-laws but that hardly seems like a reason to break up. She talked about how she just wanted to married and didn’t really think about what marriage actually entails and then maybe I missed something but somehow all of that got resolved and there she was getting back together with him. Huh? And girl, you can’t be doing this to the poor guy. Breaking up and getting back together with him whenever you want; that’s some serious emotional mind games girl. Honestly, Ah Reum seriously needed to grow up. She was constantly behaving like a teenager and come to think of it, she didn’t really change much either.

Jubiemon J: I think Ah Reum just got cold feet with all the seriousness of what a marriage entails. Getting married doesn’t just mean marrying the guy; it’s about marrying the family too. I think she was also super worried that her own lifestyle would be changed and just wasn’t ready to face that. Her idea of marriage had always been this super idealized, albeit Disney version of this. Then when she met those sisters, reality sort of sunk in more and she probably got scared and thought everything would be better if she were single. I wished she had dealt with her fear better and talked to Woo Sung about her worries instead of running away from her fears. That made me feel like Ah Reum, as a character, had fallen flat.

Issue 5: Whether Young Shim’s Mom should have got a divorce

RedRosette J: Absolutely she should have got a divorce! She lived in actual fear in her own home! Young Shim’s Dad may not have hurt her physically, but he was emotionally abusive to her to the point where she was afraid to eat in her own home. What the hell? that’s not a good environment to be in. At the end, we do see Young Shim’s Mom fighting back by not responding to every demand the Dad makes but it hasn’t lessened his barking at her at all. Ideally, she should have actually gone through with the divorce. However, the reality is that for many women like Young Shim’s Mom, divorce would leave them with no real way of supporting themselves financially, so this means that many women like her end up staying in toxic relationships.

Jubiemon J: I think it’s hard to say whether or not she should have gotten a divorce because divorce is really a sensitive/personal topic. I, personally, don’t feel comfortable saying directly whether someone should have divorced/not in this case. I can see why she chose not to and I’ll list them here. First, her mother has no source of income and doesn’t seem to have much money saved in her own account, and so she is very dependent on her husband. Second, her mother doesn’t seem to be the type that is strong enough to just start living independently and to find any type of work by herself. Third, Young Shim showed that she was against this divorce, so the mother might have felt that and was influenced by Young Shim’s behaviour. Fourth, perhaps Young Shim’s mother is scared of being alone.

RedRosette J Aside: Also Young Shim giving advice to her Mom regarding her divorce in a professional capacity is a no-no because there’s a huge conflict of interest when it comes to family and is generally not recommended.

Get someone else to help.

Issue 6: Whether Ji Won not going to meet the ex is the best way to deal with the ex

Jubiemon J: I am so happy that Ji Won didn’t go off to meet his ex and resolved this situation over the phone. I think Ji Won is one of the more developed characters in this drama. He realizes that he can’t keep dwelling on the past and to move on, he has to directly respond to his ex. The only thing that I wished he had done was to tell Jin Jin about his ex, instead of Jin Jin confronting him. Jin Jin was seriously super kind and open minded to not get mad at Ji Won for hiding this past of his.

RedRosette J: I agree. I really wish more drama male characters would make choices like Ji Won. It was enough to resolve his issue with the ex over the phone. All it required was an honest conversation and didn’t require a face o face meeting. Also, calling your ex under the pretense of returning old shoes? Really? Does she honestly think that Ji Won was born yesterday? What a snake! I also agree with Jubiemon that Ji Won should have told Jin Jin about the ex first. She’s already so open minded and accepting, its the least he could have done. And honestly how refreshing was it to see two drama characters talk about the ex in a mature, logical way instead of behaving like hormonal pre-teens?

That’s right. Don’t be meeting your snake of an ex!

Issue 7: Whether Jin Jin and Ji Won are #relationshipgoals

RedRosette J: These two have been by far my favourite kdrama couple of 2017. It’s rare to see a mature, loving relationship with two well written characters and these guys are definitely #relationshipgoals.

The feels…

Awwww

Cake Proposal: simple yet super romantic

When you wanted to go out but he takes you to your usual hangout…

Did it just get hot in here? *fans face*

#goals

Conclusion: Appeal Allowed.

Rating: 5 = KYAH! ❤ (We absolutely loved this drama and it will be sorely missed!)

File No: 20th-Century-Boy-and-Girl-EPS-29-to-32 (Final) Appearing before The Dramacourt: 20th Century Boy and Girl Eps 29 to 32 (Final) ***If this is your first time browsing The Drama Files, please read

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temporaklepticgalanty · 5 years

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Just For Fun - Least Stable Session*

The classes I'm using for this one are Knight, Page, Thief, Rogue, Maid, Heir, Bard, Prince, Seer, Mage, Witch, and Sylph. The aspects I'm using are Time, Space, Life, Doom, Heart, Mind, Breath, Blood, Light, Void, Rage, and Hope. The least possible stable session is 12 Bard Circus, Baby, but for the creativity let's say no double dipping. Buckle up, Homestuck.

Prince of Space is a very active class that destroys creativity, locations, distance, patience, and material form. Things are getting maximum alienist right out of the gate. The PoS has petulant rages that destroy all sensible anchors of setting, putting all the other players in an arbitrary surreal nightmare. No one is even likely to know about frog duties at all. Needless to say, this is almost certainly the deadest possible session — but all's fair when you play in the encroached Furthest Ring, now just the Horrifying Alien Void All Around Us.

Page of Time is an active class that has very little time, temporality, spontaneity, or endings, and through great effort, grows into power. Pages are people who really need to be pushed by externalities to actualize, which is going to be impossible in this session, for many wonderful reasons. When all they need is some time, a nascent Page is going to be too busy being overwhelmed. And sometimes being limitless is a hindrance ... like when physical laws have no more meaning.

Knight of Breath is a passive class that is utilized by direction, change, liberty and wind, usually for the benefit of others. And what does it mean for individuality to use you for itself? Well, you end up a bad puppet and a bad teammate both. A KoB is someone whose lack of attention and binding makes their frantic efforts too scattered to be effective. Without a strong influence to get them to give up on some things so that they can at least save some others, they just end up with their reach forever exceeding their grasp. And if you buy into this particular nonsensical fancanon, this embodiment of unmitigated ADHD is going to be juggling much too much to do proper frog recon.

Bard of Blood is a very passive class that uses connections, obligations, blood, and interconnectivity to destroy those things, and to destroy them in others. The BoB is a spiteful gossip, a bully, and a violent manipulator. Like the queen bee in a teen movie about cruel high schoolers, they are so stuck in their own heads that the only way to slow their toxicity enough that they can begin to see it would be a brave and shocking intervention — or getting hit by a bus. The unquestioned center of their social circle (because everyone is too genuinely afraid to question it) this sadistic predator will leave the session with plenty of tangled puppet strings and no actual leadership.

Thief of Light is a notably active class that takes knowledge, focus, insight, and luck all for themself. With apologies to any arachnid-themed candy corn extradimensional aliens out there, this has got to be the most selfish and bombastic blowhard in Paradox Space. If the ThoL doesn't learn to stop making everything all about me, me, me, they're going to spend a brutal and nasty life all alone, alone, alone. Teamwork is an impossible dream, potentially even as a matured, actualized person, except in the case of, say, a severely emotionally stunted Page of some sort to imprint codependently on. While they are still in the "making mistakes" part of "learning from their mistakes," they'll be hoarding any good fortune just when this hellscape session would be needing it to patch their flimsy foundations.

Witch of Void is an active class that changes secrets, obfuscation, unreality, and everything unknowable, sometimes in surprising and powerful ways. Who can say what they're even capable of? And after the Prince of Space leaves everything Voidy as hell, everything is going to rest on their narrow, hard to discern shoulders. A WoV hardly even knows anything about themself, as prone as they is to self-contradiction, so how are they supposed to know how to dig in deep and flip the right blackout switches for the identifiable to emerge? And how much juice could they even have in the tank, anyway? The way the events go is all going to turn on them.

Rogue of Heart is a notably passive class that takes identity, emotional fortitude, affection, and feelings, to give away to other people. Equal parts dependent and hidden behind façades, the RoH has trouble coping with their own personality, emotions, and desires. While an actualized Rogue of Heart could be helpful as counsel, they start out with a real lack of confidence or reflection regarding their aspect, and never quite gets to the feeling that what they grasp is best kept in their hands. The best they can be at the start is a non-factor. But who is always at their best? And can this chaos really use any more burdens?

Heir of Mind is a subtly passive class that is created and protected by choice, thoughts, logic, and justice. No one will ever be as single-minded about taking things into their own hands like this protofascist buffoon. It's ironically hard to say if they've ever made a decision for themself, because the narrow edge of Occam's Razor has been carving away at them before they're even sapient. Like a Batman Spock, they're more interesting as a foible than they are tolerable as an immature kid, and the absolute stuntedness of their reactive thinking is not going to be able to cope with this chaotic Medium. Not that they'll have the capacity to reflect like this, as pushed on by their dogmas to act, act, act right about now, now, now!

Mage of Life is an active class that experientially discovers and becomes knowledgeable about vitality, vivacity, progress, and biology. Honestly not a bad classpect in general, but considering Mages seem to learn about their aspect by ramming their face into the brick wall of its hard lessons, I'm not going to argue that trying to dive headfirst through Life is easy, swift, or necessarily productive. This (potentially charming) loser will be so occupied with the fits and starts of putting one foot in front of the other, that by the time they're really starting to limp along, everything and everyone will be nothing for nobody. The MoL is going to have to hope for a multimedia self-fulfilling DMRA paradox, because their talent for bloody-nosed endurance is just plain not enough.

Maid of Doom is a subtly active class that creates and protects rules, restrictions, decay, and the inescapable, like death itself. They have so much inherent doom, in fact, that one could even say they exemplify it. If the MoD even survives entry without getting double dead, which I would be shocked to hear, they'd be such a petty pedantic hardass, even petty pedantic hardasses think they should relax. This quality doesn't help with the Prince, Page, and Witch making everything as incomprehensible as possible, and they'd inevitably (isn't everything they do seemingly inevitable?) spin their wheels the whole time trying to impose their desperately needed order.

Seer of Hope is a passive class that intuitively discovers and becomes knowledgeable about hope, desire, benevolence, self-motivation, faith and fantasy, which sounds really nice until you remember Seers are giving out what they learn to this pack of losers. A Seer going solo is a Seer burning themselves out, and a SoH especially is an obsessive dreamer without peer. In a healthier session, the Seer would be a powerful asset; in this session, the Seer is at their best a bitter contrast and at worst a chainsaw in the hands of a naked drunk.

Sylph of Rage is a passive class that is readily changed by and restores skepticism, rebellion, excess, immediacy, and fury. They're going to have a turbulent rage-aholic phase, and it's going to be infectious. Given everything else blowing up around them, does it matter what they're capable of afterwards? And that's all there really is to say about the matter.

It's important, I think, to point out that there is the slimmest possible chance that, through some quirk of emergent factors, some unheard of miracle, that this group could in fact achieve their Ultimate Reward. If a miraculous string of ridiculous miracles goes off, everyone might even survive! But they won't. Because it won't. But like rubbernecks watching an accident, the horror would at least draw attention and generate interest, and schadenfreude is as old as people and still as alluring. And wouldn't it be satisfying to prove me (and themselves) wrong? Being unstable, after all, doesn't mean being unlikeable nor irredeemable.

#classpect #libro #long post #most series

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hellofastestnewsfan · 5 years

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John Kelly’s forthcoming departure as White House chief of staff is a reminder of an important but underpublicized distinction among those who have chosen to support or work for Donald Trump.The distinction is between those whom Trump has made bad, and those who have been revealed as bad through their association with this man. (There’s also a small “not yet bad” category, which I will get to later on.)

In the first category,“made bad,” are people who in other circumstances might have taken a harder, higher-minded path. They might have chosen to stand on principle, to take the long view, to seek out reasonable compromises, to defend the norms and values of American institutions—and, overall, to behave in a way they’d be happy to talk about later on. Many of these people have actually made those choices at previous times in their life.

The way Trump has made them bad is to put them in a corner where day-by-day they have to choose: Do they maintain their place within his organization, sheltered against his ridicule or wrath? Do they remain, even if it means accepting Trump’s lies, lying when necessary themselves, ignoring the standards they’d apply to any other leaders, and renouncing the policy goals they had defended through their previous careers? For today’s Republicans, those goals would include at least a lip-service interest in reducing deficits, a ferocious opposition to talk of trade wars and tariffs, at least a rhetorical reverence for the military, and an assumption that immigration was overall a plus for the United States. This is to say nothing of the modern GOP’s hair-trigger willingness to investigate possible conflicts of interest or abuses of executive power by the Clinton and Obama administrations.

[Peter Beinart: The “to be sure” conservatives ]

To stay connected to Trump, Republicans have had to turn their backs on their previous lives and values. In being pushed toward that choice, some people who in other circumstance would have been “good”—by their own lights, and the outside world’s—have been made bad.

The most heartbreaking illustration in this category is of course H. R. McMaster. When the original call came to serve as Trump’s national-security adviser, replacing the notorious Michael Flynn, McMaster likely felt honor-bound to accept. He was still an active-duty three-star Army general, and this was his new posting. He could accept, or he could retire and resign. No doubt he also felt that he could serve the nation by applying a buffer of experience and mature judgment to whatever Trump might have in mind.

But as the months went on, before his inevitable and humiliating departure, McMaster had to say goodbye to many of the values that had defined him. In the Army, he had been known for his independence, and his insistence on the need for the professional officer corps to defend its professional values and integrity. Most of today’s career U.S. soldiers have read McMaster’s seminal 1990s book, Dereliction of Duty, written when he was a young instructor at West Point. In it, he argued that part of the tragedy of Vietnam could be traced to ethical failures by the generals and admirals of that era. They knew that President Lyndon B. Johnson’s policy was based on falsehoods and headed for disaster. But they did not stand up to it, or him—even as their troops headed for disaster in the jungle. They should have been more willing to risk their careers to defend their institution, was McMaster’s judgment in the book.

Some young West Point instructor of the future will write about the military relations of this era, and will have to examine the way McMaster accommodated himself to Trump’s fantasized view of the world (for instance, in this op-ed), only to lose in the end both his position and much of his previous identity.

[Conor Friedersdorf: Republicans must choose between Trump and the rule of law]

Sean Spicer? In his previous press-relations roles, he had been known as a staunch defender of Republican arguments, but not as a liar. By the time he was forced out of his service to Trump, the fantasies he delivered from the podium had immortalized him as “Spicey” on Saturday Night Live.

Rex Tillerson? Two years ago, he was a titan of world industry, who ended up part of Trump’s team precisely because the likes of Condoleezza Rice and Robert Gates had been so impressed by his sophistication and skills. Rob Porter? (Remember him? Though in his case a public role brought attention to apparently long-standing private behavior.) Or Mick Mulvaney, who built his Tea Party career inveighing against deficits and now is the budget director presiding over a record fiscal hemorrhage?

A harder case: Senator Lindsey Graham. Graham has long been a partisan, but one known for his candor and flashes of self-awareness. Something happened over the past year to make him a parody of the “if Trump says two plus two is five, it’s five” down-the-line loyalist. This may help him in his next South Carolina primary. It has forever separated him from his role model, John McCain. (McCain had his own contradictions, but wouldn’t fully swallow his self-respect out of fear of Trump.)

An easier case: most of the Republican congressional establishment. Paul Ryan came to Congress as an ostentatiously “wonkish” budget expert. He has blandly presided over unprecedented splurges of boom-time deficit spending and expansions of unchecked executive power.

There is no point in listing all the other Republicans who have talked about accountability, constitutional balance, personal probity, and fiscal restraint but now have entirely forgotten those concepts—and that they, especially as senators, have an important check-and-balance responsibility. They know who they are, and they’ll be remembered. (Voters of Maine remember Margaret Chase Smith, a Republican who was the first woman to represent her state in the U.S. Senate—and for most of her career the only woman in the Senate— for her brave early stand against Joe McCarthy in the 1950s. I suspect they’ll remember Senator Susan Collins, also a Republican from Maine, less admiringly.)

[James Fallows: The greatest disappointment of the Trump presidency]

As for the other category, those “revealed as bad”: These are individual counterparts to the effect of a demagogic leader on the population as a whole. Every society has always included its hateful and even violent factions. The best leaders try to mute and discourage those impulses; the worst leaders egg them on.

But how people behave, when they think that all the normal constraints are off, reveals a lot about them. And the people who have revealed themselves this way under Trump include former EPA administrator Scott Pruitt, whose rule-breaking and corruption sufficed to remove him from the Cabinet; Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who seems to be on his way out; a handful of other Cabinet members and officials; Sarah Huckabee Sanders, with her disregard for a norm that even her Watergate-era predecessor Ron Ziegler observed (namely, that a press secretary should try not to lie unless really necessary, or useful); the extended Trump family, notably through the combined sense of entitled and self-regard with which Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump have approached the world; Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort; and … John Kelly.

Two years ago, Kelly was a widely esteemed four-star Marine Corps general, a former head of the U.S. Southern Command, and all the more respected for the stoicism with which his family bore the tragedy of their son’s death in combat in Afghanistan.

Now Kelly has endured nearly a year of dismissive leaks from inside the White House, as the object of rumorology about when exactly Trump would cut him loose. Worse, he has revealed himself as emotionally in sync with the angriest and most Bannon-esque parts of Trump’s approach to the world—a reflection more of the part of Boston in which he was raised in the Fifties and Sixties than of the fully integrated and inclusive modern military in which he spent the first 40 years of his career.

[Read: Trump can never go too far for Republicans]

When Frederica Wilson—a congresswoman from Florida who is black—criticized Trump for his response to the family of a constituent who had died in combat, Kelly dismissed her as an “empty barrel that makes the most noise.” In his six months as Trump’s first secretary of Homeland Security, he enforced with extra gusto anti-immigrant roundups by ICE. When protests began about the policy of separating children from their parents at the border, he said on NPR that “the children will be taken care of—put into foster care or whatever.” The “whatever,” including “misplacing” children and the detention camps where others were put, is to the country’s lasting shame. Kelly also said this past summer that “a big name of the game is deterrence,” to keep families from trying to cross the border. Taking children from their parents “would be a tough deterrent,” Kelly said on CNN. Kelly would not have revealed these and other parts of himself in public had he not crossed paths with Donald Trump.

I’ve realized that as I’ve read the news over the months, I’ve subconsciously been making the classifications: Who has been turned into something worse by Donald Trump? Who was that way all along? (How would Rudy Giuliani fit into this model? Alan Dershowitz, in his new role as Trump stalwart? Mike Pence?) I’ll keep applying this filter, and also thinking about the dwindling ranks of exceptions. The main one, of course, is James Mattis, the secretary of defense. He seemed to take a big step in the wrong direction when he approved the political stunt of deploying troops to the southern border, before the election, to fend off “the caravan.” But otherwise he’s mostly been sure-footed, and is the one senior Trump official whose personal and professional reputation is not yet in tatters, compared with the pre-Trump years.

(It’s a long falloff to second place, which may be occupied by Nikki Haley. She hopped off a foundering vessel just before it went down, with minimal lasting damage to herself.)

Of course, there is one person who has revealed the most about who he really is. It should not come as a surprise—the evidence was there all along—but he’s brought a lot of others down with him.

from The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2C0zilc

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f4liveblogarchives · 6 years

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Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #99

Sun March 18 2018 [22:47:17] <Wackd> I want to appreciate three things about this. One: Ben is practicing skiing by standing stationary in skis in front of a mirror. Two: Ben intends to go skiing without even the pretense of winter wear. Three: Reed is surprised by this display, which means we have no idea where the massive Kirby skis came from.

[22:48:53] <Wackd> Unfortunately, it looks like it'll be a while before we see Ben ski for real, because he needs to cancel on Alicia. [22:49:20] <Wackd> Johnny, who I a few issues back was praising for being somehow the most emotionally mature member of the team, is now going to attack the Inhumans by himself to get Crystal back. [22:50:13] <Wackd> I will remind you that, uh, Crystal was not actually abducted by the Inhumans. (I mean, I suspect Kirby's art meant to communicate she was--Medusa hair-grabs her--but her dialogue suggests otherwise.) [22:50:33] <Duraz> at first I was going to suggest that Reed made the skis, but he seems as confused as everyone else [22:50:39] <maxwellelvis> Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone? [22:50:57] <Wackd> Anyway, Reed and Sue have to cancel their quiet day in with the baby, and now the three of them are going to go save Johnny from himself. [22:52:19] <Wackd> Johnny, meanwhile, is exhausted from flying all the way to the Inhumans' hideout, and decides to take refuge in...a cave in the Himalayas. [22:52:46] <Duraz> uh [22:52:49] <Wackd> We saw him fly over plenty of places where he coulda just, y'know, booked a hotel room, but okay Johnny. You do you. [22:52:58] <Duraz> WHERE are the Inhumans? [22:53:20] <Wackd> Johnny identifies the Eiffel Tower as the halfway mark between NYC and the Inhumans. [22:54:22] <Duraz> good heavens [22:54:28] <Duraz> I always thought that they were just below NY [22:54:40] <maxwellelvis> That's the Morlocks [22:55:01] <Wackd> Okay, so the Inhumans are 3.6k miles to the East of the Eiffel Tower. [22:55:28] <maxwellelvis> Normally the Inhumans live on the Moon, unless that's not been established yet. [22:58:50] <Wackd> This is me very roughly ballparking it, but it looks like the Inhumans are somewhere around Kazakhstan ? [22:59:24] <Duraz> never would have called that [22:59:39] <Wackd> I mean, it's up for debate if Stan and Jack know that. [22:59:52] <Wackd> It's just me roughing out what's 3.6k miles to the east of France. [23:00:27] <maxwellelvis> Johnny, if you see a man with a mustache and a bad suit giving you a thumbs up, you're going in the right direction [23:00:39] <Duraz> sounds pretty remote in any case [23:00:48] <Duraz> like from anywhere in whatever country it is [23:04:21] <Wackd> So, if we take Johnny at his word that France is halfway between NYC and Inhuman territory for a one-way trip of 7,200 miles, Johnny has now overshot by 2,500 miles.

[23:04:58] <maxwellelvis> Oh yeah, I forgot he was in the Himalayas [23:05:05] <Duraz> he must be bad at math [23:05:21] <Duraz> he could probably have taken a plane? [23:05:59] <Wackd> Yeah, he's probably bad at math. Or rather the writers are. [23:06:10] <Duraz> good distinction [23:06:11] <Wackd> Because the alternative is that he seriously missed his stop. [23:06:22] <Duraz> or Marvel Earth has wonky geography due to all the fictitious locations [23:07:01] <Wackd> I'm sure some supervillain tried to move the Himalayas at some point and maybe partially succeeded. [23:07:29] <Duraz> we have stuff going down in the Himalayas in our comics universe! [23:07:36] <Wackd> So, as Johnny falls asleep in a cave, which was a totally necessary thing for him to do, he is attacked by a monster who proclaims him an "outsider". [23:08:30] <Wackd> Johnny starts to attack with his flame, which confuses the monster, who then decides that he's NOT an outsider after all. [23:08:46] <Wackd> MONSTER: Are you mad? Why do you so savagely attack your fellow Inhumans? [23:09:02] <Wackd> JOHNNY (thinking): Inhumans?! Then--I've *already* reached my goal! [23:09:38] <Wackd> Okay, okay. Hang the fuck on. [23:09:38] <maxwellelvis> *Always Sunny music* Johnny Finds The Wrong Inhumans [23:09:58] <Wackd> So it's not that Johnny fucking. Is bad at math. Or missed his stop. [23:10:15] <Wackd> It's that his plan, evidently, was to fly around until he stumbled upon them. [23:10:48] <Wackd> He's just an idiot. [23:11:17] <Wackd> JOHNNY: Even though she went of her own free will--we belong to each other--and no one will keep us apart! [23:11:41] <Wackd> Okay, so we ARE remembering that Crystal left of her own volition, and the entire point of this story is that Johnny is a stupid jerk. Got it. [23:13:23] <Wackd> Case in point--he spends two pages wrecking all the Inhumans' shit, and THEN demands that they hold their fire and demands an audience with the royal family, which they have to grant him by law. [23:13:33] <Wackd> Coulda led with that, Johnny. [23:14:01] <Duraz> thanks for reminding us, story [23:14:49] <Wackd> Johnny storms into the Inhuman throne room where he claims the royal family is "waiting to take him on" and that Crystal has been "brainwashed". [23:15:26] <Wackd> Meanwhile none of them actually attack him until he starts shit. [23:16:24] <maxwellelvis> Any time the others want to show up and tackle him would be fine by me. [23:17:06] <Wackd> It goes well for him for a bit, until he threatens to burn the entire palace down, at which point Medusa reveals that they've been going easy on him because he's Crystal's boyfriend and guess what? If he's gonna be THAT big of a jerk then fuck that. [23:18:03] <maxwellelvis> Cut to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvJeATp31dw [23:18:04] <maxwellelvis> Please? [23:19:31] <Wackd> Before they can really give him the business, though, Crystal decides, you know what? Actually, she DOES want to take sides here. [23:19:58] <Wackd> And the side she's choosing is that Johnny is a "poor blind fool" for thinking that she had no hand in this decision. [23:20:40] <Wackd> Johnny, for some reason, thinks this means that Crystal never really cared about him. [23:20:52] <Wackd> So Crystal fucking blasts him. [23:22:10] <Wackd> Actually this whole page is fucking awesome so I'm screencapping it.

[23:24:08] <Wackd> Okay, so, here's where Johnny SERIOUSLY goes overboard and, like, jesus fucking christ. [23:24:19] <Wackd> I think he might have actually ceased to be remotely sympathetic. [23:24:47] <Wackd> Johnny's decided he's gonna burn the entire Inhuman village down. [23:25:09] <Wackd> And we see him ACTUALLY ABOUT TO DO IT before the other three show up to stop him. [23:25:18] <maxwellelvis> I was worried you were going to say he's charging up to do that supernova thing. [23:25:35] <maxwellelvis> REED! Thank you for introducing me to a new experience -- being glad to see you. [23:26:19] <Wackd> Johnny is angered even further and starts trying to set fire to Reed and Ben, only being prevented from doing so by one of Sue's force fields. [23:26:36] <Duraz> jeez [23:26:49] <Duraz> also, good to see her nullifying one teammate to protect two more [23:26:57] <Duraz> better showing than I'd expect them to give her [23:27:04] <maxwellelvis> And her brother no less. [23:27:42] <Wackd> SUE: What's happened to you? How can you love Crystal when you act like a spoiled child, willing to harm anyone who gets in your way? [23:27:57] <maxwellelvis> I can't see what you're seeing so for a moment I was genuinely worried he was about to attack Sue next. [23:28:07] <Wackd> He doesn't, thank god. [23:28:19] <Wackd> Sue manages to talk him down with her little speech. [23:28:26] <maxwellelvis> Good. He's at least THAT in control. [23:29:01] <maxwellelvis> But GEEZE. This little stunt, I wouldn't blame BB and Medusa if they pretty much severed ALL ties with the FF over this. [23:30:01] <Wackd> And with Johnny calm, Crystal can finally explain that Black Bolt had an ailment that basically required her to be on call as a human defibrulator until medicine could be procured. [23:31:32] <Wackd> So this is completely fucking unearned.

[23:32:26] <Wackd> Johnny wasn't just handling a long-distance relationship poorly. He took a perfectly reasonable leave of absence personally, never found out why it happened, accused his girlfriend of being brainwashed, attacked her family, and was about to nuke her home. [23:32:51] <Wackd> But yeah, no, they're cool, I guess. [23:32:51] <maxwellelvis> And then attacked HIS family. [23:33:31] <Wackd> Man actually how many fucking times has Johnny seen his sister, brother-in-law, and best friend almost die? [23:33:55] <Wackd> Add this to what is apparently becoming a LIST of characters reacting with no sympathy to situations they themselves are in all the dang time. [23:35:21] <Wackd> Oh hey, here's a nice touch I noticed, in case a given reader was inclined to take Johnny's side and believe that Crystal never cared about him. Instead of her default outfit, she spends this entire story in her Fantastic Four duds. [23:35:33] <Wackd> That'd be sweet if Johnny deserved such a show of devotion. [23:38:02] <Maxwell_Elvis> Man, if only there was some way to have her return it as a symbol that it's over between her and Johnny that wouldn't be impossible to happen in real time. [23:38:30] <Maxwell_Elvis> Because that's probably one thing that'd happen if this were me writing it. [23:39:26] <Maxwell_Elvis> Then the thing about the Inhumans and Fantastic Four's relationship becoming very strained, and they certainly won't welcome them any time soon, not so long as Johnny Storm is among them [23:39:53] <Duraz> it is revealed that they broke up, and, say, Spider-Man is all, "Aren't you upset?" "No, I really earned that." [23:40:46] <Wackd> It'd be nice to have at least a moment on-par with the one where Spidey remembers the time he got all Randian. [23:40:52] <Wackd> "God I hate myself." [23:41:34] <Maxwell_Elvis> and either on the flight back to New York or after, Johnny would probably earn an earful from Reed and Sue and maybe Ben for pulling this stupid stunt. [23:41:52] <Maxwell_Elvis> Just make it clear that he's WAY In the dog house for this. [23:42:16] <Wackd> Well, it looks like we won't have time for that, because guess what issue opens with Reed, Sue, Johnny, Ben, and Crystal's ship being shot down as they leave Inhuman territory? [23:42:26] <Wackd> That's right, it's FANTASTIC FOUR VOL 1 NO 100 [23:43:14] <Duraz> no rest for the stupid

#1970 #Stan Lee #Jack Kirby #The Main Book

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