The Walking Dead- #TeamNegan

[Pinky]

Several people have asked if I'll go back to the live tweet review. Apologies, I know that was fun, but maybe not this season.

I am, however, having thoughts...

[Pinky]

My #TeamNegan Thoughts

Originally posted on 10-24-16.

This is an intense write-up, and you are responsible for closing this page if you trigger easily. I'll give you a chance to close this real quick without glancing by sharing my hottest tweet last night, over 4000 impressions in 30 seconds flat, far outstripping my other tweets, which really surprised me since I was low-level tweeting.

My second hottest, so you can't just glance down and peek at your triggers before closing this page, was this one, ripping a fast 1300 impressions in about 30 seconds flat.

Most of the rest of my tweet impressions ranged from 80-300.

SHUT THIS PAGE NOW IF YOU TRIGGER EASILY.

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I would like to remind the queasier Walking Dead fans that there are Negans all over the world right now actually doing that, and this has been going on for thousands of years. Your job in this human race is to SURVIVE. Slavers and purveyors of every atrocity have beset our history right and left, and we are not only still here, but so prolifically overrunning the planet that those of us at the top have to stay inebriated trying to forget we have it so good while we wallow around thinking life sucks and is unfair.

I'm #TeamNegan because that is reality. Hard, cold, cruel, and not fair. I'm not saying he's good, but he's a challenge, and if you ever find yourself up against someone that cold and brutal (and many do all over the world DAILY), you are still in control of how you respond, what you believe, how you play it, who you protect, how you prioritize your actions, and most of all, how you forgive yourself for not being strong enough to stop the cruelty.

We like to blame victims in mainstream America. Take a good long look at these victims.

This is why I am pro offing the cruelty without negotiation, without talking, without considerations. I have seen cruelty. That kind of cruelty is broken and there's no fixing it, no bargaining with it, no winning over it any other way.

Define what cruelty is. Study cruelty. Recognize that cruelty destroys ALL of us, even at a distance, from the lowest crime lord to the highest dictator.

You guys really do need to know that being hit that hard even just once on the head is so stunning to the brain that the rest from there on out is a blur and conscious attempts at anything is nearly impossible. Lesser impacts knock people out, less damage screws people up for life, so for anyone to remain defiant after that first blow is all fiction. The shock to the brain is so immediate that the rest is practically not even suffering.

Also, I've seen brains stomped out. Doesn't take that much to make a mess.

One thing they got right was the twitching, but there would've been a lot more of it, plus some contorting.

I know this isn't comforting after what we saw last night. What you got was like a roller coaster ride through a spook house, shocking images pulsing into your brains inducing emotional reactions. I'm dead inside. Not a single bit of that bothered me. I've seen the real thing and that wasn't real.

If I were a dictator, I wouldn't be a shock jock. I'd club the base of the skull at the top of the spine at a hard fast angle and simply just stop a person. A body will go completely limp that way, no weird twitching and contorting. People would think I was real nice compared to Negan. I also wouldn't preface it with long drawn out word games. Using terror to break people is inefficient. You wind up with wild cards. I'm really hoping the writers plug into that.

Anyone wanting revenge on Negan- he's already been broken. Something is really wrong with a person who can do that and enjoy it so much, and relish other people being psychologically damaged by it. There is no revenge you could ever do that would make a person like that repentant or beg for mercy. There's no getting even with someone who's already so broken that they can turn all that off. If I had a go at Negan I'd simply make a solid cut and just watch it all drain out. No words. No smiles or gloating, no winning. Just simply make him stop with a minute or two of consciousness before brain death started setting in, so he could feel himself dying. He probably wouldn't even fight it, assuming he's tied down. He'd think he's winning for not going through equal recompense, but does that even matter? Just make him be gone.

Getting worked up about scary stuff will be your downfall if you are ever caught in a bad situation. Becoming so afraid that you can't move or think is bad. Survival is priority over everything else, by any means. If that group had blankly started back at Negan without reacting he'd have gotten pissed off because they'd be ruining his game. Rick going into shock like that is a real thing, that is happening to people all over the world right now in very dark places. You need to see it so you can start thinking NOW how you will survive if you're ever up against that kind of cruelty.

Personally, being ordered to cut off my kid's arm (which I'd actually be able to do, hate me all you want) I'd have whirled around with that hatchet on Negan's throat so fast and then claimed lordship, to hell with the bloody battle, just let people start scattering. Kill the head vampire, right? Who knows what could have happened. Negan actually kept positioning himself for Rick to make an easy kill, did you notice that? [I]And Rick could not kill him. That is my biggest complaint with so much of this show, that victims are too timid to kill their abusers, but I have to remember I grew up really differently than a lot of people. When we go into reflections on how people could ever support Hitler, you guys just watch this show and see how easy it is to intimidate people into allowing abuse to continue, and even stepping up to assist with and enforce the abuse. These were probably all decent people before the apocalypse. Think NOW about what you already close your eyes to all around you, because believe me, we are all surrounded by a culture of abuse that is perpetuated by drugs, sex, and entertainment. Slick a palm, you can't trust[I]anyone. Use this show to really start looking around you, ok? Open your eyes.

I could go on, but I see no point in it. I saw a lot of shock on the twitters last night, people swearing off the show- [I]what did you expect? This stuff isn't cute. Just because there are toys promoting the show doesn't make it a fun little cartoon.

As you walk away from this post or the show itself, keep one thing in mind- there are people in real life going through real stuff like this every day somewhere in this world, and yes, even here in the U.S.A. There are people disappearing, being taken hostage, being forced into a variety of slaveries, and some of them are doing everything in their power to survive.

If you are not aware that human trafficking is one of the biggest international commerce trades in the world, you live in a pretty nice bubble. Never relax your vigilance. Keep eyes and ears on your loved ones at all times. Never take safety for granted.

The real life Negans out there watching that show last night probably laughed their heads off. Yeah, didn't even think of that, did you?

[Pinky]

surviving fandoms

Originally posted at 10-25-16.

I'm going to keep watching The Walking Dead. It's just now getting good. In fact, I can now honestly finally say I respect what they're doing with this show. Watching Rick breaking from his internal point of view, reality blowing apart, not knowing which fear was real or imagined, all his emotional connections blowing apart until he was alone with only death- I hope that ep wins awards galore.

THAT is PTSD, guys. That is exactly what happens to people who go through moments of super anxiety not knowing what to believe or hang onto, moments when you can't make decisions because you can't even trust your own brain to keep giving you stuff to hang onto. Not all of us are in an apocalypse like that, but when you're driving on a highway and have to remind yourself to check whether you're really driving because you can't tell...

That scene was an art form that I thought was exceptionally well done. You need to pick up on what happened in that scene so you will understand Rick's point of view going forward. You might not like a few things Rick does in future. He might be a mess and fall off the hero pedestal. He might wind up a wild dog killing everyone. Or he might wind up psycho enough to take out Negan. But for awhile he might be a very weak unlikable character. Are you a fair weather fan?

Allowing ourselves to be too overwhelmed by our emotions to handle something and shutting down is turning our back on dealing with stuff. I had to learn at a young age to shut those emotions off, or set them aside for later. Human brains are fantastic for survival if we learn how to use our emotions as tools. It's good to process through them, but if they are in the way in time of crisis, especially if freezing up costs you or someone else harm, the best way (for me) to deal with that is step into role playing and then look at what happened later. It's really hard, but if that's the only way you can escape a difficult situation, like domestic abuse or surviving abduction or something, then that's what you do.

Whining about a TV show focusing entirely on how an apocalypse shreds us emotionally for not playing fair showing us something gruesome that hurts our emotions is a little bit antithetical to being a fan. I've been through fandoms full of the staunchest fans booing and hissing because something didn't go their way and they want it refilmed, and some even spend years making life projects out of how unfair a television show was. [I]Seriously not kidding. I watched a lot of people shut down years of friendships over political side taking nonsense the last couple of months. Well, that's how fandoms are, too. It's cool if you don't want to watch a TV show, but going on and on about how unfair something is and you're not going to watch any more is kinda silly. Just stop watching it and move on.It's just a TV show.

The really interesting thing is watching some of the fans go through what Rick did, just bust apart and say [I]no mas. Fans mirroring the scene. That is an incredible amount of power to give a TV show over your life.

Just saying.

From me to you guys. Hang in there. It might be worth watching Rick come back and eat Negan.