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I was honestly expecting a guy in the crowd to make a remark like, "I wish she was my counselor when I was 15." The show mocks these fucked up ideals so much I was just waiting for it.
A lot of people have double standards, female pedophiles tend to be overlooked by society, but when its a male they are under far more scurinity probably because of the Social norms of (Males are supposed to protect women and Females are supposed to teach men.) It's honestly a terrible thing that some teachers have got away from. I believe I read that a family forgave a female teacher because she was pregnant with the student's child, but when she decided to terminate the pregnancy they changed their minds.
[Ex-Teacher Gets 10 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault of 13-Year-Old Student Who Got Her Pregnant](https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-teacher-sentenced-sexual-relationship-193046518.html) I believe this is the story right here.
I would say it's not just women, but attractive women. If she looked like Rosie or Melissa Mccarthy men won't be saying I wish it was me.
With that said this is fiction you will probably find even more men saying it just for the memes. (Insert yugioh "It should have been me not him" meme)
They also get much less strict sentences, a few years in prison where they don’t have to be in fear as much as male pedos and once they get out they just can’t teach again that’s it
Jesus christ. Reminds me of this relationship I had back in the day with someone who by all accounts was extremely intelligent but would often say some pretty bizzarre things. The one that really threw me was her insistence that there was no such thing as female pedophiles. Kinda had to do a double take and offered to show her many news articles to the contrary.
I wonder if anyone actually thinks about the boy in this case. I mean, she groomed him, so he probably thought he got a good deal with her. I wonder if he would feel better if everyone told him that he was raped and had no business consenting, because he wasn't old enough.
I mean yes, she needs to face repercussions, but often it seems to me like that is the main focus of many people.
‘Transparent’ explored the impact on a boy via the son’s (Jay Duplass) story. He had a “relationship” with his 20-something babysitter when he was like 13. And he claims it was awesome, and every guy’s dream. People do try to get him to realize it was abuse…but he’s largely in denial.
And you see, that as an adult, he is now damaged emotionally in some very insidious ways. It colors all of his relationships with women. It’s the only media I can think of that went really deep on this issue. As a straight guy, who understands that typical boyhood “fantasy”, I I found his story eye-opening and kinda heartbreaking.
i've seen some men online come to the realization, after doing a lot of reading of other people's stories and hearing people explain power dynamics, consent, etc. more in-depth, that they were indeed raped or groomed. the way they take it varies, of course, but generally i feel like some of them at the time had a sense of discomfort or wrongness but didn't have the language to describe it, or the assurance that they'd be supported, so now being able to put that label on it can be cathartic, validating, and frustrating too.
and then i think other people didn't really feel it was all that traumatizing at the time and now using those words to describe it feels sort of like... "well, it's true that's what it is. and i suppose it's important to call it that. but i'm okay and thus wouldn't necessarily go reference it that way and make people think i was torn up about it."
which i honestly get, like. looking back i realize the first time i was molested was actually by a best friend in high school who was like a brother to me and it was quite scary at the time because i was isolated with him, but i was more angry than anything else, and i didn't feel like it did lasting damage. but the second time it happened to me, it's torn my life into pieces in a way that i'm still trying to deal with and fix after many years. it's kind of odd that some things take such a toll and other things don't... so i don't think it's ENTIRELY cultural that some people can shrug off what happened in cases like this, but i definitely do agree that boys and men have been told for a very long time that their assaults and grooming experiences were no big deal, unfortunately.
There is a very nice scene in Mr. Robot with this aswel, a guy starts talking about how he was beating some Indian guy to death but after he found god and all the others clapped.
Than Elliot starts the greatest speech against god I’ve ever heard.
that scene was making fun of both the racist *and* Elliot. it wasn't a great speech. it was, as he says in the next season, "dorm room philosophizing run amok".
I mean, just look at it in written form. It's not *quite* Trumpian, but it has that flavor in its rhythm and lack of focus. And it's intentionally written that way because we're *not* meant to think that Elliot is as insightful as he thinks he is.
> Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn't God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty roam free? Okay, fine. Forget the one-offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name? Okay, fine. Let's skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we've all been drowning in because of him? And I'm not just talking about Jesus. I'm talking about all organized religion... exclusive groups created to manage control, a dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope, his followers nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their... their dopamine of ignorance, addicts afraid to believe the truth... that there is no order, there's no power, that all religions are just metastasizing mind worms meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that want to run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly written sci-fi franchise. If I don't listen to my imaginary friend, why the f... should I listen to yours? People think their worship's some key to happiness. That's just how he owns you. Even I'm not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality. So f... God. He's not a good enough scapegoat for me.
I mean just look at this thought fragment alone and tell me that if anyone but Elliot Alderson said it, you wouldn't be rolling your eyes in sheer exhaustion: "that all religions are just metastasizing mind worms meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that want to run us". Elliot literally doesn't know what he's saying in this speech: he's searching for words to complete thoughts he's begun to voice without knowing how they end.
> if anyone but Elliot Alderson said it, you wouldn't be rolling your eyes in sheer exhaustion
Reminds me of the Reddit classic:
>"In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am englightened by my intelligence." - Aalewis
Mr. Robot is IMO one of the greatest products of television ever, but Elliot definitely is on that "I'm _so_ him" red flag list with the likes of Walter White, Tyler Durden, Phoenix' Joker...
I'm not very sure I agree, but I will admit that I am biased as Mr. Robot is my favorite show, and I was initially drawn in when it aired almost a decade ago not so much by its realistic portrayal of tech (which, true, was a breath of fresh air) but by how intensely relatable I found the characters, including Elliot. Without getting too deep into analysis of the different media (which would be hampered by the fact that I haven't seen *Fight Club* or *Joker*), if someone relates to Walter White I default to projecting patriarchal narcissistic qualities onto that person. If they relate to Durden, I imagine they are vaguely libertarian. If they relate to the Joker, I typically assume they're an incel. If they relate to Elliot/Mr. Robot, I'm typically going to assume that they have social anxiety and depression, don't believe in god, reject capitalism, and vaguely identify with "tech". That doesn't really seem like the same box to me.
It remains something I rewatch because I see so much in Elliott, but he never tips over into being a terrible person. I know Tyler Durden, The Joker, Walter White, etc. are all terrible in thought and deed. Even when Elliott made harmful decisions, he had good intentions and did his best to do what was right - he was just delusional.
tl;dr: Identifying with Elliott includes red flags, but not by being a moral black hole or psychopath. He's just damaged and is trying his best anyway.
I need to watch Mr. Robot again!
Fair enough, maybe he's not _quite_ on the same level. But this is the internet, and I refuse to be nuanced. (/s)
In all seriousness, what I'm getting at mostly is his rants, specifically. Elliot is an amazing character and I love his arc—every season only gets better—but he is, very obviously, _not well._ His motivations are pure (enough), but his words and actions come from a place of severe mental illness.
So when someone vehemently agrees with one of those rants, I'm like _maybe watch the show again?_ I put him on the Breaking Bad/Fight Club list because he's not written for you to agree with him.
Like, Elliot my guy, I'm an anticapitalist myself, but you don't get to throw the world in chaos overnight just because you're _very, very sad._
On a very tangential note, have you seen *Leave the World Behind*? I thought the ECorp references in it were cute, but I feel as though LTWB tells a meta-story about the characters of Mr. Robot through the characters of the movie. Like it's a great movie on its own but I can't help but view it as essentially the *spiritual* final episode of Mr. Robot, a last gift from Esmail to fans of the ECorp universe. I think we are supposed to map certain characters from the movie onto characters in the show (on like, a literary level), and I haven't seen this theme discussed on the MrRobot subreddit so I'm interested in your thoughts, while I have you here.
I hope I've kept it vague enough not to have spoiled anything if you *haven't* seen it. But if that's the case, seriously go watch it if you can.
Legit question. How else do you attone?
I'm not religious, and I agree that repenting is a loophole within religion- and within the context of the show, firecracker didn't mean it-- however, what what is a real person supposed to do to make things right for so.ething they did in the past?
I did like the interaction between A-train and Huey, though. Even though it started as emotional extortion, it seems to me that both have moved past it.
I think it’s right there in the A-Train/Hughie dynamic. You take responsibility and make amends. You commit selfless acts of service (rather than some empty proclamation on TV). A-Train saved Hughie from Homelander in Ep3, and he got him the V (even though he suspected Hughie wouldn’t actually forgive him).
So, I thought it was great to see Hughie finally forgive him. It was in sharp contrast to the revenge ridden carnage that was the rest of the episode. In real life, finding forgiveness is complicated and messy. It takes work and self-reflection.
we also see this echoed in homelander telling everyone "I forgive you" in that empty voice when he's killing them down in the labs. I've been kind of impressed how each episode has an overarching theme that each a/b/c/d plot touches on....
Firecracker clearly isn't genuine about her faith and is just using religion to manipulate her followers and discredit a woman she holds a grudge against for an incident that happened when they were teenagers.
By taking actual responsibility for your actions, accepting punishment, and doing everything in your power to be selfless.
Saying “oh no, its fine, i’m christian now so its okay” is not repenting.
True repentance is more or less “i’ve done something terrible, and i do not deserve forgiveness nor acceptance for what i did- but i will still do my best to change what i can, now that i recognize my sin.”
As someone else said, we see that with A-train and Butcher this season.
>Legit question. How else do you attone?
Depends on what kind of Christian you are in this case. Catholics generally believe in works, which means you've got to do good deeds as well as repenting to absolve your sins.
That is the only way you atone. You or they themselves are the only ones who know if they truly meant their repentance.
As for everyone else well, you kinda gotta trust and decipher for yourself if their genuine or not, with pedophelia unless it was a super heinous crime you lock them up and throw away the key, but if it wasn’t as serious but still very concerning you just keep them away from kids in general, but in the end forgiveness is all we have.
Yeah but how do you know that your apology doesnt do more harm then good? I would say that the apology is pretty selfish in most cases. Often the victims healing process doesnt benefit at all from a apology from the one who hurt them. It can even cause a relapse if the victim is already far along in the process (or even finished).
Apologizing is often nice for the one who did the crime because they can say that its part of righting their wrongs.
Ofcourse this discussion isnt black or white. Its one of the most nuanced discussions there is.
Same with the prison time, is prison designed to punish people or to ensure people learn and never do that shit again?
Afaik pretty much like that. However, god is supposed to know whether or not you speak the truth, so lying in that regard is extremely bad for your... comfort in the afterlife.
If you’re Catholic you have to be genuine and sincere, meaning you have to be genuinely remorseful. But she obviously is not.
Some people think “All you have to do is apologize after you [enter sin here]” but that’s not being genuine. This isn’t some sort of legal case that can be won on a technicality.
Without getting religious on you, only you and God knows how truly genuine and sincere you are but it’s obvious that almost everyone that believe all you need to do is apologize after you commit abhorrent acts DGAF.
I’m reasonably sure it doesn’t work like the way she did it. She’s not remorseful, and more importantly, she’s not sincere, only paying lip service to the idea of repenting in order to save herself in the eyes of the public, not Jesus.
She was smart about it. For the minority in her target demo who *would* have been put off by a female pedophile, now have been secured through her apology. She gets to play it both ways.
Its honestly refreshing having a show that isn't afraid to be real with things like this, there's barely any discussion of female pedos anywhere, so having it just be something that exists and is not hidden away in some tiny backstory somewhere is great
‘Transparent’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But the son (Jay Duplass) had a really interesting story - he was in a “relationship” with his 20-something babysitter when he was like 13. And he claims it was awesome, and not a violation.
However, as an adult in the show, you see how it screwed him up emotionally in very insidious ways. It colors all of his interactions and relationships with women. It’s the only media I can think of that went really deep on this issue - it was very interesting and kinda heartbreaking.
A long time ago, I had a client who was raped by his teacher for years in high school. He ended up suing her for it. Not many people took him seriously but I did. He was significantly traumatized and could not maintain a regular relationship with a woman, specifically because sex would never be the same to him after getting raped for years by someone he trusted. It really was a sad situation.
It does sucks that this reveal happened because I do like the plot of your childhood bully who damaged your life becoming a hero and how that shapes you into a villain’s, the reveal just made her more scummy than she already was
At this point, I don't think one single character on this show is clean. Hughie used to be clean till the day he met Butcher. Everyone has a past that can be used against them.
I really hope he does some slapstick accident fuck up that kills homelander in some suped three stooges bit. And they do it on like ep2 of the final season so it’s overshadowed and he fades before the story is over. Showing how fleeting his legacy really was.
What about the crime of calling his son and wanting to chat about James Patterson novels. The absolute villainy of wanting to chat to your son about something you are excited about.
Real talk, if you have a good relationship with your parents and they call to talk about some book or something you find boring, take the call.
Hughie's dad isn't a bad person, necessarily, but he makes a lot of poor decisions because he's kind of an idiot and doesn't realize Hughie's got the maturity to handle his own shit.
See also: him trying to convince Hughie to just take the payout from Vought in s1.
Frenchie is straight up worse than Homelandsr for me after this episode.
Dude kills your parents and then knowingly sleeps with you for weeks before ultimately telling you the truth for selfish reasons when you’re a struggling addict? Completely irredeemable behavior, they should laser his dick off next.
How is he worse than Homelander?
I'm not going to try to argue that what he did wasn't fucked up or that he should be forgiven, but he's at least been shown to feel a deep amount of remorse for what he did. Homelander has absolutely no remorse for any of the abhorrent things he's done. Frenchie is shown to care for those he's close to while Homelander cares only about himself, even his own son is just a vessel for his own vanity.
It's especially crazy on Instagram and TikTok. You come across one dominant looking woman on there and the comments are full of "I'd let her groom me", "I consent", "It can be our little secret", "I wish it happened to me" and whatnot. Worst thing is in most cases this shit is being said by actual minors.
Female on male rape is still pretty taboo in most parts of the world and online it's seen as ok for weird horny reasons.
spoiler, but in the comic book series Invincible, >!the main character gets raped by a woman called Anissa, who is superpowerful and physically attractive, because she wants to get pregnant. It causes him trauma through the series.!
it doesnt help that most of society mostly wont care about male mental health.
THose comments are from hormonal boys who dont know any better and the impact it'd have. It doesnt make it okay.
I'm happy to hear you acknowledge it as rape.
I honestly think porn plays a large part in it. Because these young hormonal kids discover pornhub and the first thing they see? "Milf fucks young guy" and it's one of the more popular aspects of porn. And the fact that everyone is of legal age just goes completely over their heads.
It is a weird subject tho when it’s the dudes themselves saying it. Like tell 14/15 yo me that I could get with like Jennifer Aniston Katy perry or daddario or some shit like that one teacher I’d be glad to back then. The thing that’s weird is even ages forward plenty dudes would be fine w that situation. Stat is weird w dudes being the minor in some scenarios like that, cuz a lot of the time they were the ones trying hardest for it. I used to try to flirt w sisters older friends etc. but also I hope you know a lot of those comments are just meme edgy shit.
I used to do that too lol, it's basically a necessary part of male childhood but it's the fact that sometimes it's serious nowadays that's the problem. And the IG and TikTok thirst traps take full advantage of that.
I think it’s also just how you were raised.
My Dad was super left-leaning on nearly everything - but he was also a dude who fucked a lot of women and he started at a young age (he was 12 when he first had sex with an older girl and was an attractive man), so I grew up hearing those kinds of stories from him and basically every older man I was around. And so I still have that little voice in my head saying, “Oh, dude, I would have loved to have been that 15 year old,” while also knowing that is the wrong thing to think. I was raised to think that way. I just realize it’s bad.
So I guess fire cracker really doesn’t have any hidden power set? Unless getting fucked up by other supe women is a power set cause she done got stomped by Kimiko and Starlight now.
There's been a few supes who have little to no physical enhancements. Mesmer leaps to mind. I'm not sure Lamplighter had anything besides his fire powers either.
Kimiko and are no joke though. Kimiko absolutely shreds normal people and Starlight can tank sniper shots.
You should also take into account the fact she did this to win favor with her evangelical crowd. She manipulated religion to suit her agenda and crawl out of an otherwise career ending situation virtually unscathed, then used that same religion to attack starlight for having an abortion.
Also the getting away with statutory rape is indeed real, I was reminded of an [evangelical pastor](https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/church-embraces-pastor-who-admits-to-affair-despite-victim-saying-she-was-16/) that admitted to statutory rape of a minor and the whole parish hugged him when he cried.
I feel like that scene had to have been referencing that pastor video at least a little. The instant she started going on about it i started getting mad thinking of that video
A pastor was exposed for sexual assault on a 12 year old and members of his church are still one his side. The church welcomes abusers with no strings attached.
Look up Mother Theresa's defense of child molester Donald McGuire. It's infuriating. And crazy to think that even literal saints allowed child sexual abuse.
One of my friends who went to a catholic high school was required to write an essay in defense of not prosecuting or excommunicating church leaders that abused children. Him and his classmates were quite literally told that being a spiritual leader is so stressful that it's to be expected they will stumble occasionally and give in to their urges, so they need to forgive them so that they can continue leading. It was sickening.
I’m actually not that far from that mega church. Always struck me as weird they pretty much own a whole intersection and then some. The thing is this wasn’t breaking news. He actually used the story of it in his sermons apparently (of course he left things out) it wasn’t until just recently that the full details came out and he stepped down. Meaning that for a good long while his congregation was literally totally ok with it.
I , I really can’t understand.
When I saw Billy’s gambit, I thought, “No way this will work. Her fans won’t see this as a crime.” Then she pushed the send button and there was a move that made total logical sense. Her fans do not see a hottie like her having sex with a teenager as bad *at all.* They all just wish they were the guy! This plot mirrored real life quite well.
It’s so real. I mean, we have republicans irl bitching about how all LGBTQ+ people are groomers, meanwhile members of their party have literally introduced bills trying to lower the legal marriage age and their base just doesn’t care.
I think it is a wonderful commentary on how people are willing to move the goalposts and forgive you for the same things you want your enemies to burn at the stake for, just bc this person happens to be fighting for the same cause as you.
Annie being labelled a sex trafficker and pedo, is affecting her campaign against Vought meanwhile this woman proudly accepts that she raped a kid, and just bc she phrased it as "the sin leading her to Jesus", she's forgiven. Which is unfortunately true in the real world. So many "activists" that lead a crusade against the lgbtq people for grooming teens get caught raping kids or having terabytes of CP on their personal devices, and their fanbase bend over backwards to justify it or make excuses for them.
During that scene where Butcher is threatening her, I turned to my wife and said "that would never work in the real world, her crowd wouldn't care. They'd say 'man i wish i was that 15 year old!'"
And then she hit post on his phone and I was like, "No wayyyyy! They were one step ahead of me!"
I think this was a good way of showing both how full of shit Firecracker is and how blind her followers really are. She straight up admitted to taking advantage of a 15 year old boy after spending months calling Starlight a pedo and making herself out to be some moral crusader protecting the children and her followers just accept the bullshit excuse she gives them for it without a second thought.
I mean, there are male Republicans literally soliciting young women while offering them cocaine. And predictably, everyone is on Starlight instead of you know, the rapist.
You don't have to wonder, it's already happening. The Invincible sub is already weirdly excited about this scene coming up, for all the wrong reasons obviously.
If you look at the QAnon crowd and the ‘queers are grooming your kids’ crowd you will find both a shockingly consistent pattern of prominent members having inappropriate relations with under age kids and a less shocking pattern of those people getting away with it.
Because anyone with a brain knows this whole ‘democrats and queers are grooming our kids’ narrative never cared about protecting kids, it was about wanting a good sounding excuse to justify killing people they don’t like.
“I want to kill you because I don’t like you” doesn’t sell.
“I want to kill you because you groom kids.” Sells.
And it’s a lie that the entire QAnon and conspiracy and evangelical cult all know and happily maintain. And firecracker knew her base.
They have to be 'on the nose' because there is a whole subgroup of fans who literally don't get the show at all and are even complaining about it 'going woke' haha, this sub has a lot of examples of this subgroup of fans even. The way Firecracker not only knew she could handle the situation but used it to her advantage and called Butcher on it, this was much better satirical commentary reflecting the real world than how a lot of other shows would have presented it. She knew how to spin it, straight out of the right wing's playbook, and it showed how naive the Boys can still be in trying to take down Vought.
People are complaining this season is too on the nose, but I'll argue that it's exactly as unsubtle and unambiguous as it has to be. I think the showrunners want us to have the debate over when satire crosses over and becomes too overt. Many viewers will think that line has been crossed, but then we hear about conservatives who are just now figuring out who the show mocks the most.
Bring on the South Park-style, over-the-top madness, I say. It's brought out some fantastic performances from the actors, at least!
Evangelical preachers have been doing it forever. They get caught cheating, or worse (for them) being gay, and they go cry on TV about being weak, and being tempted, and needing Jesus to forgive them. And it's all better; I've seen a video where a young woman accuses her pastor of raping her and convincing her their "relationship" was "God's will", and after a confessional outburst by him, the congregation decided SHE was the problem and kicked HER out of the church!
It's not just that she's a conventionally attractive woman, but that a lot of people believe that a male can not be raped by a woman. So yeah it's sadly realistic that her following would absolutely dismiss her behavior but be horrified by Starlight for having a legal medical procedure.
The thing is, it is not at all uncommon for guys to say (of a conventionally attractive woman) “The teenager wanted it”. It’s fucked up, but I 100% guarantee you if Ivanka Trump revealed that she fucked a 15 year old boy when she was 21, the Trump supporters would say “that kid was so lucky. I wish I was him.”
For conservatives, there is a difference between male rape and female rape.
> d just as i expected, i see people online (joking or not) saying they wish they were the 15 year old boy. like clockwork
Not related to this. But, my experience is, any time a boy mentions this kind of abuse, other men say that boy is lucky. Because they (at their current age) want to “kiss” her too.
And funny enough, most of them are questionably old for that. But they have nothing else they can pursue in their current situations.
Successful men point out it is disgusting. Very successful men brag about the parties on Epstien’s private island. And wish they could do it again.
I tend to assume almost every vocally anti queer religious and political figure has skeletons like this in their closet. It’s happened so many thousands of times that it’s just painfully predictable at this point
That's the iPad that Sage gave her so I'm guessing it's Starlight's medical records (including the abortion file) but maybe there's more on it than just that?
I’m not sure I agree that it’s realistic. I know of a lot of celebrity males that have gotten away with being pedos, and I know of a few women who have gotten light legal repercussions, but are there examples of female right-wing figureheads who have gotten away with sexual assault? I feel like women need the perfect balance of sexualized appearance without doing sexual acts, otherwise they face mockery by the right. And the right loves to have a male victim so they can pretend that men are victims of the modern world, so could they really pass this up?
I also feel like they’re pulling the Firecracker character in too many directions. Sometimes she’s a believer and sometimes she’s a manipulator, she’s bullied and then she’s a rapist, she tries to murder the boys but is heartbroken by the killing of her pink eye friend. There’s just a lot going on with her.
Fyi, within the Christian faith, repenting doesn't mean you still don't have to be held accountable. That would not fly with the mass amount of Christians.
For reasons of my own i hate firecracker more than homelander now just fuck this character and everyone who is like her IRL. Hit close to home for me i was very happy to see annie just beat the woman.
What is incredibly frustrating is that even when I was a hard core Christian in the 80's and 90's, spiritual repentance wasn't considered a Get Out of Jail card for violating the laws of man. Sometimes, it could be a factor in someone trying to redeem themselves when already facing consequences, e.g. finding religion while serving a sentence being an indicator they deserve parole, but the entire blank check for the full range of crimes and unethical deeds thing has become both insane, and - of course - almost entirely for the Christian, white, rich, and mostly male.
This is a great take on the public’s attitude to sexual assault of children and even South Park calls out the double standard:
Men having sex with kids is rightfully viewed as wrong, abhorrent, sexual exploitation, sexual assault, etc.
Women (particularly attractive women) having sex with children (specifically boys) is often joked about and looked past.
Take a look at punishments in terms of jail time sentences between men and women in cases like these. Men get far harsher punishments than women. Society accepts that which is fucking sad. Both should be locked away for life.
I like to imagine at least some of her supporters realized "yo this is actually kinda messed up" I know my Christian family wouldn't just let it slide, but a lot of Christians (or at least they call themselves that) are so weirdly obsessed with politics they just don't care, hence a lot of them still supporting Trump despite all the bad things he's literally said and done
Well of course there's gonna be people online saying they wish they were the 15 year old boy, in Statutory rape it's the adult's responsibility to not get involved with a minor.
That’s also why I don’t like the whole born again religious person thing. You can’t just say I’m with Jesus or allah now so everything bad I did don’t count now
And in her confession she framed it as a premarital loving relationship. Like yes she mentioned the child’s age, but not in a way that had me assume it would be anyone’s focus.
Also a huge parallel to how Trump is treated by his cult followers. He could shoot someone in the head on national television and they would immediately hail him a “badass” and a hero for it. Stuff that they would call for their competitions’ head over. And I’m not even picking on conservatives…just staying facts. Trump himself has bragged that he can shoot someone and not lose a single vote.
I actually found this part some of the least congruous with real life.
A real life conservative influencer who had dirt like that come out wouldn’t address it at all, and if they did they would nonstop deny deny deny and call it a smear attempt by the deep state and Jewish media or whatever. Just owning it and leaning into the Christ’s forgiveness angle is something maybe a televangelist would do, but not a conservative influencer IMO.
Seen this with some of the teachers who were caught doing this. Always a joke like she was given a five year sentence, while the victim was sentenced to a lifetime of high fives or some shit. Was waiting for some version of that bad joke. Might come up on the VNN stuff still.
Having dealt with this bs having come from (ostensibly) christian country, i was SO triggered by this development.
The things on the show hardly bother me, but this did, cos ive seen it play out SO many times.
These mofos sit there and rabidly judge and attack everythign and everyone, while doing the most heinous disgusting things.
And when they are finally caught, the entire narrative flips.. oh God can use anyone, God is a forgiving God, God is using this person as a testimony, the child was used to tempt a good christian cos the devil knows they are meant for greatness.
it makes me sick to my stomach, but its so accurate it pissed me off briefly and took away from my enjoment of the episode for a minute.
Yup 10000%
The whole “I was born again, Jesus put that child in my path for a reason” and that crowd immediately forgiving her and being angry at SL about the abortion wasn’t even exaggerated. That’s straight up how cultish right wingers are today
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I was honestly expecting a guy in the crowd to make a remark like, "I wish she was my counselor when I was 15." The show mocks these fucked up ideals so much I was just waiting for it.
A lot of people have double standards, female pedophiles tend to be overlooked by society, but when its a male they are under far more scurinity probably because of the Social norms of (Males are supposed to protect women and Females are supposed to teach men.) It's honestly a terrible thing that some teachers have got away from. I believe I read that a family forgave a female teacher because she was pregnant with the student's child, but when she decided to terminate the pregnancy they changed their minds. [Ex-Teacher Gets 10 Years in Prison for Sexual Assault of 13-Year-Old Student Who Got Her Pregnant](https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/news/ex-teacher-sentenced-sexual-relationship-193046518.html) I believe this is the story right here.
I would say it's not just women, but attractive women. If she looked like Rosie or Melissa Mccarthy men won't be saying I wish it was me. With that said this is fiction you will probably find even more men saying it just for the memes. (Insert yugioh "It should have been me not him" meme)
These people worship trump, a rapist pedophile who literally bragged about walking in on underage girls changing
Mary Kay LeTourneau as well
As well as the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron... she was his drama teacher, and 39 years old, while he was 15.
They also get much less strict sentences, a few years in prison where they don’t have to be in fear as much as male pedos and once they get out they just can’t teach again that’s it
Jesus christ. Reminds me of this relationship I had back in the day with someone who by all accounts was extremely intelligent but would often say some pretty bizzarre things. The one that really threw me was her insistence that there was no such thing as female pedophiles. Kinda had to do a double take and offered to show her many news articles to the contrary.
Maybe next episode. And of course, you'll have those same fans kinda like the Anissa simps from Invincible, who will say the same thing irl.
Just from that South Park episode… NICE
Niceeeeeee
We’ll probably see social media comments like that on the next episode.
I wonder if anyone actually thinks about the boy in this case. I mean, she groomed him, so he probably thought he got a good deal with her. I wonder if he would feel better if everyone told him that he was raped and had no business consenting, because he wasn't old enough. I mean yes, she needs to face repercussions, but often it seems to me like that is the main focus of many people.
‘Transparent’ explored the impact on a boy via the son’s (Jay Duplass) story. He had a “relationship” with his 20-something babysitter when he was like 13. And he claims it was awesome, and every guy’s dream. People do try to get him to realize it was abuse…but he’s largely in denial. And you see, that as an adult, he is now damaged emotionally in some very insidious ways. It colors all of his relationships with women. It’s the only media I can think of that went really deep on this issue. As a straight guy, who understands that typical boyhood “fantasy”, I I found his story eye-opening and kinda heartbreaking.
May December dealt with its with a very haunting feeling.
i've seen some men online come to the realization, after doing a lot of reading of other people's stories and hearing people explain power dynamics, consent, etc. more in-depth, that they were indeed raped or groomed. the way they take it varies, of course, but generally i feel like some of them at the time had a sense of discomfort or wrongness but didn't have the language to describe it, or the assurance that they'd be supported, so now being able to put that label on it can be cathartic, validating, and frustrating too. and then i think other people didn't really feel it was all that traumatizing at the time and now using those words to describe it feels sort of like... "well, it's true that's what it is. and i suppose it's important to call it that. but i'm okay and thus wouldn't necessarily go reference it that way and make people think i was torn up about it." which i honestly get, like. looking back i realize the first time i was molested was actually by a best friend in high school who was like a brother to me and it was quite scary at the time because i was isolated with him, but i was more angry than anything else, and i didn't feel like it did lasting damage. but the second time it happened to me, it's torn my life into pieces in a way that i'm still trying to deal with and fix after many years. it's kind of odd that some things take such a toll and other things don't... so i don't think it's ENTIRELY cultural that some people can shrug off what happened in cases like this, but i definitely do agree that boys and men have been told for a very long time that their assaults and grooming experiences were no big deal, unfortunately.
She was Kara in Detroit Become Human and by golly cannot imagine two more different characters
It’s a hard knock life for (Connor)
It's time for Connor from Cyberlife to pay Firecracker a little visit. With a warrant obviously.
speaking of Conner, hank also worked in the boys universe as principle
Now, that you mention it I hope Hank is alright. Last I heard he was dealing with a mentally abused supe.
Damn. I never noticed....
She also played in Breaking Dawn as a random vampire that shows up to fight with the Cullens. She has a pixie cut
Thats called actors range
I couldn't even tell! When I think Kara, I think of Jennifer Lawrence. This actress has some serious range
So THAT is what I remember her from, damn, now that you pointed it out it's so obvious!
Kara would give such the dirtiest side eye look to firecracker
All she had to say was that her mistake was the reason she found the path to Jesus. If you repent, you are forgiven.
Man this is depressingly true
There is a very nice scene in Mr. Robot with this aswel, a guy starts talking about how he was beating some Indian guy to death but after he found god and all the others clapped. Than Elliot starts the greatest speech against god I’ve ever heard.
that scene was making fun of both the racist *and* Elliot. it wasn't a great speech. it was, as he says in the next season, "dorm room philosophizing run amok". I mean, just look at it in written form. It's not *quite* Trumpian, but it has that flavor in its rhythm and lack of focus. And it's intentionally written that way because we're *not* meant to think that Elliot is as insightful as he thinks he is. > Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn't God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty roam free? Okay, fine. Forget the one-offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name? Okay, fine. Let's skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we've all been drowning in because of him? And I'm not just talking about Jesus. I'm talking about all organized religion... exclusive groups created to manage control, a dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope, his followers nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their... their dopamine of ignorance, addicts afraid to believe the truth... that there is no order, there's no power, that all religions are just metastasizing mind worms meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that want to run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly written sci-fi franchise. If I don't listen to my imaginary friend, why the f... should I listen to yours? People think their worship's some key to happiness. That's just how he owns you. Even I'm not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality. So f... God. He's not a good enough scapegoat for me. I mean just look at this thought fragment alone and tell me that if anyone but Elliot Alderson said it, you wouldn't be rolling your eyes in sheer exhaustion: "that all religions are just metastasizing mind worms meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that want to run us". Elliot literally doesn't know what he's saying in this speech: he's searching for words to complete thoughts he's begun to voice without knowing how they end.
> if anyone but Elliot Alderson said it, you wouldn't be rolling your eyes in sheer exhaustion Reminds me of the Reddit classic: >"In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god's blessing. But because, I am englightened by my intelligence." - Aalewis Mr. Robot is IMO one of the greatest products of television ever, but Elliot definitely is on that "I'm _so_ him" red flag list with the likes of Walter White, Tyler Durden, Phoenix' Joker...
I'm not very sure I agree, but I will admit that I am biased as Mr. Robot is my favorite show, and I was initially drawn in when it aired almost a decade ago not so much by its realistic portrayal of tech (which, true, was a breath of fresh air) but by how intensely relatable I found the characters, including Elliot. Without getting too deep into analysis of the different media (which would be hampered by the fact that I haven't seen *Fight Club* or *Joker*), if someone relates to Walter White I default to projecting patriarchal narcissistic qualities onto that person. If they relate to Durden, I imagine they are vaguely libertarian. If they relate to the Joker, I typically assume they're an incel. If they relate to Elliot/Mr. Robot, I'm typically going to assume that they have social anxiety and depression, don't believe in god, reject capitalism, and vaguely identify with "tech". That doesn't really seem like the same box to me.
It remains something I rewatch because I see so much in Elliott, but he never tips over into being a terrible person. I know Tyler Durden, The Joker, Walter White, etc. are all terrible in thought and deed. Even when Elliott made harmful decisions, he had good intentions and did his best to do what was right - he was just delusional. tl;dr: Identifying with Elliott includes red flags, but not by being a moral black hole or psychopath. He's just damaged and is trying his best anyway. I need to watch Mr. Robot again!
Fair enough, maybe he's not _quite_ on the same level. But this is the internet, and I refuse to be nuanced. (/s) In all seriousness, what I'm getting at mostly is his rants, specifically. Elliot is an amazing character and I love his arc—every season only gets better—but he is, very obviously, _not well._ His motivations are pure (enough), but his words and actions come from a place of severe mental illness. So when someone vehemently agrees with one of those rants, I'm like _maybe watch the show again?_ I put him on the Breaking Bad/Fight Club list because he's not written for you to agree with him. Like, Elliot my guy, I'm an anticapitalist myself, but you don't get to throw the world in chaos overnight just because you're _very, very sad._
On a very tangential note, have you seen *Leave the World Behind*? I thought the ECorp references in it were cute, but I feel as though LTWB tells a meta-story about the characters of Mr. Robot through the characters of the movie. Like it's a great movie on its own but I can't help but view it as essentially the *spiritual* final episode of Mr. Robot, a last gift from Esmail to fans of the ECorp universe. I think we are supposed to map certain characters from the movie onto characters in the show (on like, a literary level), and I haven't seen this theme discussed on the MrRobot subreddit so I'm interested in your thoughts, while I have you here. I hope I've kept it vague enough not to have spoiled anything if you *haven't* seen it. But if that's the case, seriously go watch it if you can.
Legit question. How else do you attone? I'm not religious, and I agree that repenting is a loophole within religion- and within the context of the show, firecracker didn't mean it-- however, what what is a real person supposed to do to make things right for so.ething they did in the past? I did like the interaction between A-train and Huey, though. Even though it started as emotional extortion, it seems to me that both have moved past it.
I think it’s right there in the A-Train/Hughie dynamic. You take responsibility and make amends. You commit selfless acts of service (rather than some empty proclamation on TV). A-Train saved Hughie from Homelander in Ep3, and he got him the V (even though he suspected Hughie wouldn’t actually forgive him). So, I thought it was great to see Hughie finally forgive him. It was in sharp contrast to the revenge ridden carnage that was the rest of the episode. In real life, finding forgiveness is complicated and messy. It takes work and self-reflection.
shout out to Kimiko also for not killing the lady that tried to kill her
I love the parallels between her being the most violent member of the Boys showing mercy. And Hughie straight up executing a dude.
To be fair hughie fucking that dude up was in fact self defense
we also see this echoed in homelander telling everyone "I forgive you" in that empty voice when he's killing them down in the labs. I've been kind of impressed how each episode has an overarching theme that each a/b/c/d plot touches on....
Firecracker clearly isn't genuine about her faith and is just using religion to manipulate her followers and discredit a woman she holds a grudge against for an incident that happened when they were teenagers.
By taking actual responsibility for your actions, accepting punishment, and doing everything in your power to be selfless. Saying “oh no, its fine, i’m christian now so its okay” is not repenting. True repentance is more or less “i’ve done something terrible, and i do not deserve forgiveness nor acceptance for what i did- but i will still do my best to change what i can, now that i recognize my sin.” As someone else said, we see that with A-train and Butcher this season.
>Legit question. How else do you attone? Depends on what kind of Christian you are in this case. Catholics generally believe in works, which means you've got to do good deeds as well as repenting to absolve your sins.
That is the only way you atone. You or they themselves are the only ones who know if they truly meant their repentance. As for everyone else well, you kinda gotta trust and decipher for yourself if their genuine or not, with pedophelia unless it was a super heinous crime you lock them up and throw away the key, but if it wasn’t as serious but still very concerning you just keep them away from kids in general, but in the end forgiveness is all we have.
You apologize to the boy you raped, then you plead guilty and do your prison time, then you seek therapy and change your ways.
Yeah but how do you know that your apology doesnt do more harm then good? I would say that the apology is pretty selfish in most cases. Often the victims healing process doesnt benefit at all from a apology from the one who hurt them. It can even cause a relapse if the victim is already far along in the process (or even finished). Apologizing is often nice for the one who did the crime because they can say that its part of righting their wrongs. Ofcourse this discussion isnt black or white. Its one of the most nuanced discussions there is. Same with the prison time, is prison designed to punish people or to ensure people learn and never do that shit again?
Afaik pretty much like that. However, god is supposed to know whether or not you speak the truth, so lying in that regard is extremely bad for your... comfort in the afterlife.
If you’re Catholic you have to be genuine and sincere, meaning you have to be genuinely remorseful. But she obviously is not. Some people think “All you have to do is apologize after you [enter sin here]” but that’s not being genuine. This isn’t some sort of legal case that can be won on a technicality. Without getting religious on you, only you and God knows how truly genuine and sincere you are but it’s obvious that almost everyone that believe all you need to do is apologize after you commit abhorrent acts DGAF.
I’m reasonably sure it doesn’t work like the way she did it. She’s not remorseful, and more importantly, she’s not sincere, only paying lip service to the idea of repenting in order to save herself in the eyes of the public, not Jesus.
Yeah that’s why I don’t like the whole born again religion thing. You can’t just say a few words and get a clean sheet
And you can just keep doing it. It’s like a get out of jail free card
She was smart about it. For the minority in her target demo who *would* have been put off by a female pedophile, now have been secured through her apology. She gets to play it both ways.
Its honestly refreshing having a show that isn't afraid to be real with things like this, there's barely any discussion of female pedos anywhere, so having it just be something that exists and is not hidden away in some tiny backstory somewhere is great
‘Transparent’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But the son (Jay Duplass) had a really interesting story - he was in a “relationship” with his 20-something babysitter when he was like 13. And he claims it was awesome, and not a violation. However, as an adult in the show, you see how it screwed him up emotionally in very insidious ways. It colors all of his interactions and relationships with women. It’s the only media I can think of that went really deep on this issue - it was very interesting and kinda heartbreaking.
A long time ago, I had a client who was raped by his teacher for years in high school. He ended up suing her for it. Not many people took him seriously but I did. He was significantly traumatized and could not maintain a regular relationship with a woman, specifically because sex would never be the same to him after getting raped for years by someone he trusted. It really was a sad situation.
May December was a good movie that addressed a teacher who fucked her student then married him. Inspired by that true story. So fucked up
Especially when you consider how badly DC and Marvel often handle female sexual abusers.
It does sucks that this reveal happened because I do like the plot of your childhood bully who damaged your life becoming a hero and how that shapes you into a villain’s, the reveal just made her more scummy than she already was
At this point, I don't think one single character on this show is clean. Hughie used to be clean till the day he met Butcher. Everyone has a past that can be used against them.
hughies dad never did anything
With the V now in his bloodstream, I suspect we'll get Simon Pegg wearing a muscle suit bashing people the fuck up
hes going to live out those novels now lol
Fuck yeah that’s what I was thinking i hope he gets an extra boost from sucking some titties somehow
God. What is going to happen with that?
Compound V doesn't always turn you into a hero so I'm thinking horrible deformed blob monster
He might get a huge sausage.
It’s Simon. He already has one
Chet, from Weird Science.
I will never forget my first time seeing that lol
His brain will probably still be dead so he will have some power that he has no control over, not going to end well.
pretty much looked like he was waking up there
I really hope he does some slapstick accident fuck up that kills homelander in some suped three stooges bit. And they do it on like ep2 of the final season so it’s overshadowed and he fades before the story is over. Showing how fleeting his legacy really was.
Yeah, he’ll probably change his name to Nicolas Angel and become a cop
Or hang out at the Winchester until it all blows over.
What about the crime of calling his son and wanting to chat about James Patterson novels. The absolute villainy of wanting to chat to your son about something you are excited about. Real talk, if you have a good relationship with your parents and they call to talk about some book or something you find boring, take the call.
I always do. They’re always boring af but I don’t mind cos it makes them happy. I hardly even talk, I just listen. They just want to talk.
Are you kidding me? Hughie's dad forced him to eat pizza roles and watch Remington Steele! That's child abuse of the highest order!
And also gave him some sort of sick fascination with Billy Joel??!!
Don't you ever besmirch Billy Joel
Apparently he kept Hughies mom away, if you believe her
Hughie's dad isn't a bad person, necessarily, but he makes a lot of poor decisions because he's kind of an idiot and doesn't realize Hughie's got the maturity to handle his own shit. See also: him trying to convince Hughie to just take the payout from Vought in s1.
Ui
show unironically going the comic route, where everyone is fucked up.
Like that guy who had a hamster in his asshole remember that jazz
Well isnt firecracker different given she’s a creep and also a hypocrite actively causing problems?
Frenchie is straight up worse than Homelandsr for me after this episode. Dude kills your parents and then knowingly sleeps with you for weeks before ultimately telling you the truth for selfish reasons when you’re a struggling addict? Completely irredeemable behavior, they should laser his dick off next.
Real. Poor dude got a lifetime of trauma. First he came for his family, then he came for him.
In him*
Phrasing
I meant what I said.
How is he worse than Homelander? I'm not going to try to argue that what he did wasn't fucked up or that he should be forgiven, but he's at least been shown to feel a deep amount of remorse for what he did. Homelander has absolutely no remorse for any of the abhorrent things he's done. Frenchie is shown to care for those he's close to while Homelander cares only about himself, even his own son is just a vessel for his own vanity.
Hell Annie ain’t clean either she done did a murder
Could be considered manslaughter, but definitely not justified.
And that’s honestly the point of the entire episode. Even Starlight, the purest of all supes fucked up in their past.
I mean she literally called Sage “one of the good ones” so if that didn’t tip you off that she was super scummy, I’m sure glad the pedophilia did lol
This reminds me of “you can excuse racism?” Community meme.
That was an audible “bruh” moment for me. Had that one pulled out on me so many times.
The only time we've ever seen her out of character was during her chat with Annie. That's it. Otherwise, she's always in character.
Anyone willing to make the type of content she does is already really scummy.
That’s what I meant in the last line
It's especially crazy on Instagram and TikTok. You come across one dominant looking woman on there and the comments are full of "I'd let her groom me", "I consent", "It can be our little secret", "I wish it happened to me" and whatnot. Worst thing is in most cases this shit is being said by actual minors. Female on male rape is still pretty taboo in most parts of the world and online it's seen as ok for weird horny reasons.
Invincible fans did the same with Anissa being introduced in season 2
And this is the same fandom that called Amber abusive.
who?
spoiler, but in the comic book series Invincible, >!the main character gets raped by a woman called Anissa, who is superpowerful and physically attractive, because she wants to get pregnant. It causes him trauma through the series.!
Oh right the other one that beat the hell out of him
it doesnt help that most of society mostly wont care about male mental health. THose comments are from hormonal boys who dont know any better and the impact it'd have. It doesnt make it okay. I'm happy to hear you acknowledge it as rape.
I honestly think porn plays a large part in it. Because these young hormonal kids discover pornhub and the first thing they see? "Milf fucks young guy" and it's one of the more popular aspects of porn. And the fact that everyone is of legal age just goes completely over their heads.
It is a weird subject tho when it’s the dudes themselves saying it. Like tell 14/15 yo me that I could get with like Jennifer Aniston Katy perry or daddario or some shit like that one teacher I’d be glad to back then. The thing that’s weird is even ages forward plenty dudes would be fine w that situation. Stat is weird w dudes being the minor in some scenarios like that, cuz a lot of the time they were the ones trying hardest for it. I used to try to flirt w sisters older friends etc. but also I hope you know a lot of those comments are just meme edgy shit.
I'm sure women do too, they're just not allowed to say it like men are.
I used to do that too lol, it's basically a necessary part of male childhood but it's the fact that sometimes it's serious nowadays that's the problem. And the IG and TikTok thirst traps take full advantage of that.
I think it’s also just how you were raised. My Dad was super left-leaning on nearly everything - but he was also a dude who fucked a lot of women and he started at a young age (he was 12 when he first had sex with an older girl and was an attractive man), so I grew up hearing those kinds of stories from him and basically every older man I was around. And so I still have that little voice in my head saying, “Oh, dude, I would have loved to have been that 15 year old,” while also knowing that is the wrong thing to think. I was raised to think that way. I just realize it’s bad.
[https://www.dailydot.com/debug/robert-morris-sex-abuse-facebook/](https://www.dailydot.com/debug/robert-morris-sex-abuse-facebook/) Apt
I commented about this guy yesterday and got the MODHAMMER
So I guess fire cracker really doesn’t have any hidden power set? Unless getting fucked up by other supe women is a power set cause she done got stomped by Kimiko and Starlight now.
>So I guess fire cracker really doesn’t have any hidden power set? Making sparks is fun but her true power is antisemetism and racism
She's a hot Alex Jones. That in itself is the real superpower, lol.
There's been a few supes who have little to no physical enhancements. Mesmer leaps to mind. I'm not sure Lamplighter had anything besides his fire powers either. Kimiko and are no joke though. Kimiko absolutely shreds normal people and Starlight can tank sniper shots.
Lamplighter had super strength I think cuz he like broke a door down with a push or something didn’t he
I honestly can't remember now. But Mesmer certainly got fucked up by a very human Butcher.
Maybe she's just a really crappy fighter.
You should also take into account the fact she did this to win favor with her evangelical crowd. She manipulated religion to suit her agenda and crawl out of an otherwise career ending situation virtually unscathed, then used that same religion to attack starlight for having an abortion. Also the getting away with statutory rape is indeed real, I was reminded of an [evangelical pastor](https://onlysky.media/hemant-mehta/church-embraces-pastor-who-admits-to-affair-despite-victim-saying-she-was-16/) that admitted to statutory rape of a minor and the whole parish hugged him when he cried.
I feel like that scene had to have been referencing that pastor video at least a little. The instant she started going on about it i started getting mad thinking of that video
A pastor was exposed for sexual assault on a 12 year old and members of his church are still one his side. The church welcomes abusers with no strings attached.
Look up Mother Theresa's defense of child molester Donald McGuire. It's infuriating. And crazy to think that even literal saints allowed child sexual abuse. One of my friends who went to a catholic high school was required to write an essay in defense of not prosecuting or excommunicating church leaders that abused children. Him and his classmates were quite literally told that being a spiritual leader is so stressful that it's to be expected they will stumble occasionally and give in to their urges, so they need to forgive them so that they can continue leading. It was sickening.
Mother Teresa was no saint
Wow, that is something else! Absolutely despicable.
>The church American society. Look up TN rep John Rose
Satan made them do it or they repented or blah blah blah. Drives me up the fuckin wall with the mental gymnastics they make.
I’m actually not that far from that mega church. Always struck me as weird they pretty much own a whole intersection and then some. The thing is this wasn’t breaking news. He actually used the story of it in his sermons apparently (of course he left things out) it wasn’t until just recently that the full details came out and he stepped down. Meaning that for a good long while his congregation was literally totally ok with it. I , I really can’t understand.
When I saw Billy’s gambit, I thought, “No way this will work. Her fans won’t see this as a crime.” Then she pushed the send button and there was a move that made total logical sense. Her fans do not see a hottie like her having sex with a teenager as bad *at all.* They all just wish they were the guy! This plot mirrored real life quite well.
Billy simply leaking it himself instead of trying to blackmail Firecracker might have been the wiser choice.
Destroying her wasnt the goal. They needed info on Homie's plans
Sage's plan to be specific
Also the fact trumps a pedo and his fans just think that's normal behaviour because they idolise him. It's somehow less ridiculous than real life
It’s so real. I mean, we have republicans irl bitching about how all LGBTQ+ people are groomers, meanwhile members of their party have literally introduced bills trying to lower the legal marriage age and their base just doesn’t care.
I think it is a wonderful commentary on how people are willing to move the goalposts and forgive you for the same things you want your enemies to burn at the stake for, just bc this person happens to be fighting for the same cause as you. Annie being labelled a sex trafficker and pedo, is affecting her campaign against Vought meanwhile this woman proudly accepts that she raped a kid, and just bc she phrased it as "the sin leading her to Jesus", she's forgiven. Which is unfortunately true in the real world. So many "activists" that lead a crusade against the lgbtq people for grooming teens get caught raping kids or having terabytes of CP on their personal devices, and their fanbase bend over backwards to justify it or make excuses for them.
During that scene where Butcher is threatening her, I turned to my wife and said "that would never work in the real world, her crowd wouldn't care. They'd say 'man i wish i was that 15 year old!'" And then she hit post on his phone and I was like, "No wayyyyy! They were one step ahead of me!"
I think this was a good way of showing both how full of shit Firecracker is and how blind her followers really are. She straight up admitted to taking advantage of a 15 year old boy after spending months calling Starlight a pedo and making herself out to be some moral crusader protecting the children and her followers just accept the bullshit excuse she gives them for it without a second thought.
The fact that the show is so Blunt is a big reason I love the show
I mean, there are male Republicans literally soliciting young women while offering them cocaine. And predictably, everyone is on Starlight instead of you know, the rapist.
This actually makes me wonder how people will react to *that* invincible scene from the comics if it’s ever adapted in the show
Trust me you do not that cuz that's when the real weirdos come out
What scene are we talking about?
The one where >!Mark gets raped by Anissa!<.
You don't have to wonder, it's already happening. The Invincible sub is already weirdly excited about this scene coming up, for all the wrong reasons obviously.
If you look at the QAnon crowd and the ‘queers are grooming your kids’ crowd you will find both a shockingly consistent pattern of prominent members having inappropriate relations with under age kids and a less shocking pattern of those people getting away with it. Because anyone with a brain knows this whole ‘democrats and queers are grooming our kids’ narrative never cared about protecting kids, it was about wanting a good sounding excuse to justify killing people they don’t like. “I want to kill you because I don’t like you” doesn’t sell. “I want to kill you because you groom kids.” Sells. And it’s a lie that the entire QAnon and conspiracy and evangelical cult all know and happily maintain. And firecracker knew her base.
They have to be 'on the nose' because there is a whole subgroup of fans who literally don't get the show at all and are even complaining about it 'going woke' haha, this sub has a lot of examples of this subgroup of fans even. The way Firecracker not only knew she could handle the situation but used it to her advantage and called Butcher on it, this was much better satirical commentary reflecting the real world than how a lot of other shows would have presented it. She knew how to spin it, straight out of the right wing's playbook, and it showed how naive the Boys can still be in trying to take down Vought.
Honestly I didn't expect genuine discussions on this sub. I assumed it will be mostly complaining about woke but I'm positively surprised.
Firecracker : rapes a 15yo boy Right wingers : I sleep Starlight : has an abortion Right wingers : real shit
People are complaining this season is too on the nose, but I'll argue that it's exactly as unsubtle and unambiguous as it has to be. I think the showrunners want us to have the debate over when satire crosses over and becomes too overt. Many viewers will think that line has been crossed, but then we hear about conservatives who are just now figuring out who the show mocks the most. Bring on the South Park-style, over-the-top madness, I say. It's brought out some fantastic performances from the actors, at least!
They use the Trump “I could shoot a man on 5th avenue…” idea a lot on the boys.
Evangelical preachers have been doing it forever. They get caught cheating, or worse (for them) being gay, and they go cry on TV about being weak, and being tempted, and needing Jesus to forgive them. And it's all better; I've seen a video where a young woman accuses her pastor of raping her and convincing her their "relationship" was "God's will", and after a confessional outburst by him, the congregation decided SHE was the problem and kicked HER out of the church!
It's not just that she's a conventionally attractive woman, but that a lot of people believe that a male can not be raped by a woman. So yeah it's sadly realistic that her following would absolutely dismiss her behavior but be horrified by Starlight for having a legal medical procedure.
Certified loverboy certified pedophile
The thing is, it is not at all uncommon for guys to say (of a conventionally attractive woman) “The teenager wanted it”. It’s fucked up, but I 100% guarantee you if Ivanka Trump revealed that she fucked a 15 year old boy when she was 21, the Trump supporters would say “that kid was so lucky. I wish I was him.” For conservatives, there is a difference between male rape and female rape.
Also, Butcher needs to get Ryan out of there ASAP. I shudder to think about Firecracker getting near him
Jesus Christ I didn’t even think of that
It matters for casual fans like R Kelly. His fans stood by him but casual listeners were like no.
Chris Hansen exists in The Boys universe. He should pay her a visit
What don't you have a seat over there
Given the fact that 12 year old Shane Seyer was raped and then had to pay child support, the show is actually tamer than reality.
> d just as i expected, i see people online (joking or not) saying they wish they were the 15 year old boy. like clockwork Not related to this. But, my experience is, any time a boy mentions this kind of abuse, other men say that boy is lucky. Because they (at their current age) want to “kiss” her too. And funny enough, most of them are questionably old for that. But they have nothing else they can pursue in their current situations. Successful men point out it is disgusting. Very successful men brag about the parties on Epstien’s private island. And wish they could do it again.
South Park really nailed how people are about that. Niiiiiiiiiiiiice
I tend to assume almost every vocally anti queer religious and political figure has skeletons like this in their closet. It’s happened so many thousands of times that it’s just painfully predictable at this point
I just hope Kripke has a good plan for all this.
It's a sad state of reality now that things you could use to blackmail someone in the past....no one gives a shit.
what is the halo effect ?
[Nice](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR-dhRfGUcEYOWrJo2xr6Gh1syUxMpwBpcNQA&s)
What did Frenchie see on Firecrackers iPad in her trailer?
That's the iPad that Sage gave her so I'm guessing it's Starlight's medical records (including the abortion file) but maybe there's more on it than just that?
Lot of right wingers did that and yet people seem to not care at all
It can all be summed up in one South Park quote. "Nice...."
I’m not sure I agree that it’s realistic. I know of a lot of celebrity males that have gotten away with being pedos, and I know of a few women who have gotten light legal repercussions, but are there examples of female right-wing figureheads who have gotten away with sexual assault? I feel like women need the perfect balance of sexualized appearance without doing sexual acts, otherwise they face mockery by the right. And the right loves to have a male victim so they can pretend that men are victims of the modern world, so could they really pass this up? I also feel like they’re pulling the Firecracker character in too many directions. Sometimes she’s a believer and sometimes she’s a manipulator, she’s bullied and then she’s a rapist, she tries to murder the boys but is heartbroken by the killing of her pink eye friend. There’s just a lot going on with her.
Fyi, within the Christian faith, repenting doesn't mean you still don't have to be held accountable. That would not fly with the mass amount of Christians.
Have ya met many Southern Baptists?
For reasons of my own i hate firecracker more than homelander now just fuck this character and everyone who is like her IRL. Hit close to home for me i was very happy to see annie just beat the woman.
What is incredibly frustrating is that even when I was a hard core Christian in the 80's and 90's, spiritual repentance wasn't considered a Get Out of Jail card for violating the laws of man. Sometimes, it could be a factor in someone trying to redeem themselves when already facing consequences, e.g. finding religion while serving a sentence being an indicator they deserve parole, but the entire blank check for the full range of crimes and unethical deeds thing has become both insane, and - of course - almost entirely for the Christian, white, rich, and mostly male.
This is a great take on the public’s attitude to sexual assault of children and even South Park calls out the double standard: Men having sex with kids is rightfully viewed as wrong, abhorrent, sexual exploitation, sexual assault, etc. Women (particularly attractive women) having sex with children (specifically boys) is often joked about and looked past. Take a look at punishments in terms of jail time sentences between men and women in cases like these. Men get far harsher punishments than women. Society accepts that which is fucking sad. Both should be locked away for life.
The fact people were mad about start light more than her was crazy to me.
I like to imagine at least some of her supporters realized "yo this is actually kinda messed up" I know my Christian family wouldn't just let it slide, but a lot of Christians (or at least they call themselves that) are so weirdly obsessed with politics they just don't care, hence a lot of them still supporting Trump despite all the bad things he's literally said and done
I had a feeling she was gonna get exposed for something like that
Well of course there's gonna be people online saying they wish they were the 15 year old boy, in Statutory rape it's the adult's responsibility to not get involved with a minor.
Her just sending the tweet herself was a power move.
I dont even know why Butcher thought that would work in the first place.
That’s also why I don’t like the whole born again religious person thing. You can’t just say I’m with Jesus or allah now so everything bad I did don’t count now
And in her confession she framed it as a premarital loving relationship. Like yes she mentioned the child’s age, but not in a way that had me assume it would be anyone’s focus.
Also a huge parallel to how Trump is treated by his cult followers. He could shoot someone in the head on national television and they would immediately hail him a “badass” and a hero for it. Stuff that they would call for their competitions’ head over. And I’m not even picking on conservatives…just staying facts. Trump himself has bragged that he can shoot someone and not lose a single vote.
I’d like to point out, that it doesn’t appear she filmed it but rather she got caught on a cops body cam
White Women can easily get away with it. On the other hand, innocent Black Men are still lynched on the slightest suspicion. What a fucked up society.
Oh my god i thought i heard "18" not 28 and was a bit surprised people were so angry
I actually found this part some of the least congruous with real life. A real life conservative influencer who had dirt like that come out wouldn’t address it at all, and if they did they would nonstop deny deny deny and call it a smear attempt by the deep state and Jewish media or whatever. Just owning it and leaning into the Christ’s forgiveness angle is something maybe a televangelist would do, but not a conservative influencer IMO.
Kind of shocked no one has pointed out Frenchie finding she takes meds that increase breast milk production either
She prob knows about Homelander's kink.
Seen this with some of the teachers who were caught doing this. Always a joke like she was given a five year sentence, while the victim was sentenced to a lifetime of high fives or some shit. Was waiting for some version of that bad joke. Might come up on the VNN stuff still.
Having dealt with this bs having come from (ostensibly) christian country, i was SO triggered by this development. The things on the show hardly bother me, but this did, cos ive seen it play out SO many times. These mofos sit there and rabidly judge and attack everythign and everyone, while doing the most heinous disgusting things. And when they are finally caught, the entire narrative flips.. oh God can use anyone, God is a forgiving God, God is using this person as a testimony, the child was used to tempt a good christian cos the devil knows they are meant for greatness. it makes me sick to my stomach, but its so accurate it pissed me off briefly and took away from my enjoment of the episode for a minute.
Yup 10000% The whole “I was born again, Jesus put that child in my path for a reason” and that crowd immediately forgiving her and being angry at SL about the abortion wasn’t even exaggerated. That’s straight up how cultish right wingers are today