Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT strips 4381-4385 (Oct 26th to Oct 30th 2020)
Is it cold in here?:
Global Moderator Comment Anyone looking for the posts about racism, they still exist but are now in the Racism thread in DISCUSS.
Tova:
I think it would be fair to say that when Clinton becomes emotional, he becomes insensitive to the feelings and emotions of those around him. We saw that when we were introduced to him, and we've seen it this week. This is exacerbated by his inebriated state, obviously. He did at one point detect Elliot's unhappiness, but he was unable to think it through and believed Elliot's denial all too readily.
The future of their friendship (and potential future relationship) will lean heavily on how they are able to talk this out the next time they meet, when Clinton is sober and both have had time to process what has happened. Hey, to be honest, encouraging the shippers is not usually my bag, but honestly, I would not catastrophise yet. We're all here to get it right, not to be right at all times. If Clinton listens and learns from this, and apologises to Elliot, then I think Elliot will forgive him.
I think, by the way, that we could all stand to increase our emotional vocabulary. When we use terms that are overly-broad , when we use terms that would more aptly be used to describe much greater crimes, when we lack the emotional intelligence to accurately describe our reaction to an event, our discussions will inevitably generate more heat than light.
It's understandable when a character reminds you of someone who has done you significant harm to condemn them in the strongest possible terms -- and I don't say this because I know that's what's happening here (I don't) but because I've seen it before. But if you give yourself a day or so to process before posting, and endeavour to prefer the concrete and specific over abstract and hyperbolic, we will all enjoy greater mutual understanding.
I have learned to do this myself. In the past, I have angrily defended characters from angry criticism - in part, as someone else cannily observed, because I unconsciously deduced that the person would also hate me if my previous actions were put under the spotlight. Knowing this about myself, I can take action to counter that tendency.
--- Quote from: N.N. Marf on 31 Oct 2020, 00:26 ---Not forgiving myself---certainly not forgetting---is one of the ways I avoid repeating past mistakes.
--- End quote ---
We must have very different understandings of what self-forgiveness is, because I don't see how it is possible to truly learn from one's past mistakes without it.
Is it cold in here?:
What self-forgiveness means for me is changing blame into responsibility.
chris73:
This as pairing never worked for me, it just smacked of the author wanting to check another box.
Elliot is a low tech guy (bread making, sports, working out) and Clinton is all about AIs, not (presumably) into fitness or sports so they have nothing in common, Clinton hadn't even had any gay thoughts up until now (or has he and I missed it?)
The only way this seems plausible is that Elliot and Clinton are both so lonely and desperate they'll get off with anyone that'll have them
Tova:
I kinda agree with this; but on the other hand, I remarked recently that this pairing seemed inevitable, and I have not really changed my mind this week.
I mean, whither Clinton if this ship is torpedoed? How long have we been strung along with this Clinton/Elliot/Brun triangle? A couple of years?
During that time, it's been very clear that Jeph is only interested in portraying queer relationships and queer or AI storylines. So what will happen if Clinton decides he's not interested in guys after all? I can't think where Jeph would take an awkward white straight boy from there.
Clinton's journey has been pretty uneven. He started as a foil to Hannelore, quickly became a supporting actor to Claire's journey (who, like other QC characters who more recently have landed in a relationship, has been pretty well sidelined). Then became creepy again. Then became confident and heroic in what seemed to be the most heavy-handed on-the-nose bit of writing in the history of QC, not to put too fine a point on it (and which I now can't locate to save my life). And now he's back to being socially inept, any progress that he seemed to make in considering the welfare of someone other than himself seems to have been thrown out.
I wonder what lies in the future for QC. I wish Jeph would stop abandoning characters as soon as they make relationships - it's terribly self-limiting. I know I harp on this - sorry. Where are the Marten/Claire stories? Dora/Tai? Even Bubbles/Faye strips have been thin on the ground. And the May storyline, the one story that wasn't written to indulge the shippers, has magically resolved itself without May really having done much to earn it (other than finally accept charity, which I didn't find to be super satisfying because her hand was more or less forced - she's very much been a passive protagonist in that storyline).
There's always Hannelore's relationship with her mother, I guess - maybe that story will get back off the ground, who knows. But again, since it's clear that Hanners isn't interested in relationships, it seems inevitable she will remain on the sidelines as well.
And then there's also Roko's dissociative episodes, hanging there waiting for resolution (or not).
But I suspect that these are addressed at all, they will simply magically be resolved at some point like all the other interesting storylines we've seen.
*sigh*
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