Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT: 2776-2780 (25-29 August 2014) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread
quix0te:
--- Quote from: Coffee_Kaioken on 24 Aug 2014, 19:00 ---Then again, cutting the guy off completely might be kinda harsh. I mean, some of Sven's actions haven't exactly been smart but he's not a completely abusive jackass or something.
--- End quote ---
Pretty much what I was thinking. In the hierarchy of people to get out of your life, he strikes me as kind of low. He's not really a user. He's usually pretty honest about what he's about. He's not mean-spirited and doesn't have a substance abuse issue. He seems like a pretty strong candidate for 'tough love'. "Sven, I'm your sister and I love you, but this behavior makes me not want to be around you, or acknowledge you as my brother. This is not what love is. Also, Faye could actually murder you and I need her at CoD"
'Cutting someone out' is usually reserved for people that have established a predatory relationship with you or others. As presented, he seems rather gormless.
quix0te:
--- Quote from: Orkboy on 25 Aug 2014, 11:47 ---If Dora had started hitting Sven with a broom handle or something while yelling at him, everyone here would be cool with it. BUT! because she's instead decided to distance herself from him, avoid the implied ultra-violence most of us were expecting, and just not wade into the shitstorm, about 50% of the readers have decided that she is the Wicked Witch of the Coffeehouse. I'm more interested in what this tells me about the readers than what this tells me about the characters.
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I don't know about broom handles, but getting angry and yelling at him is a form of engagement, which might goad him to re-examine and re-evaluate. Breaking off contact precludes the possibility that she can help him move in a more positive direction, albeit with words, kicks, or cartoonish brooms and skillets. What he did is kind of a dopey move, but he's already gotten some suffering for it. I'm not opposed to more, but in my experience isolation does NOT lead to personal growth as well as somebody poking you in the butt and saying "Cut that crap out!"
sitnspin:
She is under no obligation to help him stop being a selfish immature brat. Especially at the expense of her own mental health. If she truly believes that having him in her life causes her mental harm, then cutting him off is the right move. Sven is a grown man, it's not his younger sister's job to make him act like one.
Is Sven the cause of all her problems? Of course not, but their relationship is a source of mental and emotional strain for her, even if it is just because of her perception of it. If having him around hampers her health and recovery, then being away from him, even is just temporarily, is a smart move.
Near Lurker:
--- Quote from: Orkboy on 25 Aug 2014, 11:47 ---If Dora had started hitting Sven with a broom handle or something while yelling at him, everyone here would be cool with it. BUT! because she's instead decided to distance herself from him, avoid the implied ultra-violence most of us were expecting, and just not wade into the shitstorm, about 50% of the readers have decided that she is the Wicked Witch of the Coffeehouse. I'm more interested in what this tells me about the readers than what this tells me about the characters.
--- End quote ---
Of course.
One is an act of reciprocation - it serves to balance the scales. It's almost a friendly gesture, really.
One is an act of destruction.
themacnut:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 25 Aug 2014, 17:51 ---She is under no obligation to help him stop being a selfish immature brat. Especially at the expense of her own mental health. If she truly believes that having him in her life causes her mental harm, then cutting him off is the right move. Sven is a grown man, it's not his younger sister's job to make him act like one.
--- End quote ---
I'm with sitnspin here - no adult is under any obligation to help another adult "straighten up and fly right", so to speak. It's hard enough doing that with one's own kids! If the other adult's refusal to straighten up causes grave problems in the first adult's life, the first adult is entirely within their rights to distance themselves fron the other adult's problems, no matter the relationship between them.
It's one of the benefits of being an adult that you can choose who you want to associate with. Or not associate with, in this case.
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