Wapsi Square Forum

Thor wrote:

Dave wrote: And, as Thor points out, it'd be very hard for her to find a professional psychologist who could deal with the truth of her situation.

Actually, I meant it the other way around. I'm sure there are paras that are certified mental health specialists that Monica could go to. That's not the problem. However, since Monica's encounters with the mental health profession have been very unfavorable and traumatic (remember what happened to her after she was committed to the looney bin), I think it would be nearly impossible for Monica to trust someone in that field enough for them to diagnose her properly.

Ahh, good point, and I misunderstood it.

You're right - she might be gracious enough not to poit any psychiatrist she meets into the nearest volcano, but she's unlikely to trust 'em again. Para psychologists... well, there are probably all sorts of other trust issues which would exist there, depending on who they were and what species.

Opus the Poet wrote:You've never met any of the trickster gods I take it? Loki, Coyote, Hermes, Lucifer, Prometheus? Lucifer is actually quite benign if you ignore the Christian retcon. We met Prometheus' brother in-comic, he's Shelly's BF.

We already met Coyote a good while back.

Yeah, I'd say Monica is more of a sociopath than a psychopath.

I work with the latter. She ain't that.

Dave wrote: I don't think a psychopath could have expressed this sort of empathy and compassion.

Sociopathic? Maybe. She's certainly suffered the sort of trauma and abuse that makes it hard for sociopaths to trust, and form really strong attachments. She's "walking wounded". And, as Thor points out, it'd be very hard for her to find a professional psychologist who could deal with the truth of her situation. The same is true for Georgette.

Monica does show empathy and compassion towards her friends and family (mostly her Kath-based extended family {Aunt Monica's siblings, nieces, and [maybe] nephews}), her in-group (mostly other paras {particularly young paranormals}), and not a whole lot else. And consider Kevin. Presumably he's still a friend of Monica's, if not directly then at least through Bud. But has Monica ever brought him to the sandbar and/or Café-296, either pre-break-up, or post? If she has, it was off-camera. I hope that Bud's brought him there — even guys can appreciate a respite from eon after eon of winter!

The point of my previous post was not to point out that this strip was exactly three-years Paul-time after that one, but to point out that Monica and Shelly were reprimanded for flaunting their superhumanity and paranormality in the faces of the muggles. This is more of the same. If Shelly (and Connie) do not escalate this situation beyond what they have already done, probably no harm done. But that is why I am expecting an intervention (by Phix or her surrogate).

At this point, Shelly hasn't flaunted her superiority . . . she is behaving in a way that a mundane could without penalty.

Aside from the fact that her imaginary friend is real (for certain values of real). But the mundanes don't know this . . .


And I've had nosy neighbors that I felt like doing this to . . .

--FreeFlier

FreeFlier wrote:At this point, Shelly hasn't flaunted her superiority . . . she is behaving in a way that a mundane could without penalty.

Aside from the fact that her imaginary friend is real (for certain values of real). But the mundanes don't know this . . .


And I've had nosy neighbors that I felt like doing this to . . .

--FreeFlier

On the one hand, it IS a bit much to inflict on a mundane- on the other hand, I have done similar things to neighbors who deserved it...

Sgt. Howard wrote:

FreeFlier wrote:At this point, Shelly hasn't flaunted her superiority . . . she is behaving in a way that a mundane could without penalty.

Aside from the fact that her imaginary friend is real (for certain values of real). But the mundanes don't know this . . .


And I've had nosy neighbors that I felt like doing this to . . .

On the one hand, it IS a bit much to inflict on a mundane- on the other hand, I have done similar things to neighbors who deserved it...

The term gaslighting was invented by mundanes to describe this kind of operation . . . I'd say it really has nothing to do with paranormal vs. mundane.

--FreeFlier

well I bet that in RL "they walk among us"... :p and MANY people have seen 'strange things' that they do not mention for fear of being locked in the loony bin... I have a friend who is american indian, who can 'see' a lot more than normal people...

Catawampus wrote:

Opus the Poet wrote:You've never met any of the trickster gods I take it? Loki, Coyote, Hermes, Lucifer, Prometheus? Lucifer is actually quite benign if you ignore the Christian retcon. We met Prometheus' brother in-comic, he's Shelly's BF.

We already met Coyote a good while back.

as for Monica.. go forward a few strips, and you find she is the *sensible* one, shocking the others out of their 'craziness'..

If she had not been there, they would have ripped each other apart, leaving tina with *even more* psychoses...

I still wonder how the ability of paranormals such as Conscience and demons and Tsillah to be selectively invisible works. Apparently it's something that they can consciously control, since they can let themselves be seen by people who didn't see them a moment earlier. And if Tsillah has that ability, I wonder if her immediate family can do it as well?

illiad wrote:If she had not been there, they would have ripped each other apart, leaving tina with *even more* psychoses...

And possibly having to repaint that wall again! The horror!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1940_film)The 1940 version was a surprise to find out about, I haven’t seen that one yet.

I'm familiar with the 1944 version; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslight_(1944_film)

"...18-year-old Angela Lansbury in her screen debut. "

Gaslighting Abbie / Steely Dan (Two Against Nature LP, 2000)