Idk what it is but something about this thread makes my brain do deep thunks that I then have to struggle for a couple of hours to put into words. This is another one to read on the shitter. Tl;dr is “these people scream mentally ill shit because they don’t actually believe in mental illness”
———-—LET’S GET THESE MOONS.txt——-
When I first started posting in this thread, a part of me was really uncomfortable with all the accusations Poppy would throw at detractors, which now meant me. Even if it’s coming from a crazy person who’s clearly in the wrong, it still doesn’t feel good being accused of “supporting a rapist” or “conspiring with a stalker” or what have you. It’s a natural human response to hear condemnations like that and not help but think “wait, is that true?”. And that same “wait, is that true?” is why it’s hard to throw out those accusations in even clear-cut cases, that is if you’re not devoid of empathy.
Now while P&Z are easier people to write off as a Patrick Bateman type, there’s still a whole “foundation” of people that can both shake off and throw out accusations like it’s nothing. A lot of them just seem damaged, not completely hollow by nature. I’m sure this whole group would (and probably do) consider this unrepentant shit slinging ability to be a good thing, that they can speak so freely because their “conscience is clear”. That seemingly clear conscience is the irksome common thread with all these posts from the PZ side characters. That and mental illness, although they would argue that it’s just “neurodivergence”.
That’s where this comes together for me; there’s almost this toxic positivity about their unique brains. They don’t seem to believe in “mental illness”. “Mental illness” implies that there’s an abnormality in your brain that you need to manage so you don’t hurt yourself and/or people around you. On the other hand, “neurodivergence” abstractifies the idea of a “normal brain” in such a way that it strips the shame of not being wired perfectly. That is not a bad sentiment in and of itself, but the message gets perverted into this idea of “normie brains” being a tyrannical majority that must be rebelled against. Meanwhile, “mental illness” gets twisted into “there’s something fundamentally wrong with you that you can’t fix; you must bear this curse to your grave”.
You don’t have to feel shame for incoming thoughts and feelings you can’t control (few exceptions here but let’s not talk annie gallagher), but you still have to manage them to avoid certain actions. Poppy’s extremely good at dismissing that last part and has refined that skill in his followers.
Anyway it seems like the word count’s been reached, thanks for listening to me reinvent the concept of a cult.
