Comic for Monday, Jan 10, 2022

[mlooney 3,417]

Here is

So Tony has always been a bully.  Like I expected.  Wonder when the gay bashing starts.  I suspect it's the last panel of today's strip with a Elliot finding out about it next strip.  Either that or this is when Elliot rescues Tedd.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

5 hours ago, mlooney said:

...or this is when Elliot rescues Tedd.

Highly probable.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Elliot and Tony were similar, Elliot had better guidance. Tony was left to figure it out for himself. And while Elliot can hardly be blamed for Tony's long term choices, ironically he initially triggered the behavior that lead to the bullying and gay bashing. 

Elliot is in a position to pass on what his parents explained to him, but I'm guessing that doesn't happen. Previous reference to this era and Tony's later outcome and Elliot's sucking at introspection, not exactly thinking things through, indicate he will take a confrontational physical approach, which will in turn create resentment ("Man, you've changed") and harden Tony's outlook.

One quirk, at a young age, would they know enough to gay bash? In my 1960s suburban environment, I would have been too naive to understand the context until I was an early preteen. I'm guessing kids learn this much younger with the Internet available. Dad has portrayed this before, in the comic book store; an obviously much younger child apologizing to Justin for using the word 'gay' in a cavalier manner.

 

Edit: On a re-read, Tony is already working on becoming a bully, Elliot was not his trigger. Elliot may have given unneeded positive strokes to the process, but that is the extent of his contribution.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Darth Fluffy
Correction

[mlooney 3,417]

1 hour ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Elliot may have given unneeded positive strokes to the process, but that is the extent of his contribution.

I'm not even sure that Elliot gave anything towards Tony's behaviour, just Elliot was the first person to take the bullying as roughhouse play.  If anything, Elliot may have acted as a sorta damper rod for Tony.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

8 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I'm not even sure that Elliot gave anything towards Tony's behaviour, just Elliot was the first person to take the bullying as roughhouse play.  If anything, Elliot may have acted as a sorta damper rod for Tony.

OK, I can see that. Good point.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

So Elliot has always been a bit clueless?

Doesn't understand that what he wants is not necessarily what anyone else wants?

Good thing Ellen didn't inherit his underdeveloped introspection

I can see why Elliot's struggling parents would choose to introduce their kid to Martial Arts

And considering their Economic situation, Sensei Greg's dojo probably was about all they could afford (remember his prime location)

[mlooney 3,417]

59 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

I can see why Elliot's struggling parents would choose to introduce their kid to Martial Arts

Yeah, I can see that.  Kid likes it for the fighting part, but the parents like it for the discipline that leads to not fighting as much

[Amiable Dorsai 70]

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Good thing Ellen didn't inherit his underdeveloped introspection

I suspect that Ellen's unique "birth" and second life experience forced her to  think about herself, her situation, and how she was to fit in the world. Introspection, to her, would have been as necessary as breathing.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

By the way, what kind of dress is Elliot's mom wearing?

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

3 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

And considering their Economic situation, Sensei Greg's dojo probably was about all they could afford (remember his prime location)

They seem to be well off, not rich, but definitely not impoverished. Their occasional displays of uncanny skill suggest they are not working retail.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

OFFICIALY they had to give up one of their kids to foster care for economic reasons when Elliot was verry young

They were not well off

[mlooney 3,417]

25 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

They seem to be well off, not rich, but definitely not impoverished. Their occasional displays of uncanny skill suggest they are not working retail.

Mrs Dunkel seems to be a stay at home mom while Mr. Dunkel has an office job, maybe an accountant.   I still think that they are agents (CIA type, not DGB type) that are either in cover or retired from the life.  That would explain their "we've seen it all, just roll with it attitude" and why they are strangely good at things like search party operations.  

[Darth Fluffy 302]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

Mrs Dunkel seems to be a stay at home mom while Mr. Dunkel has an office job, maybe an accountant.   I still think that they are agents (CIA type, not DGB type) that are either in cover or retired from the life.  That would explain their "we've seen it all, just roll with it attitude" and why they are strangely good at things like search party operations.  

Right, whatever she is now, she wasn't always managing her home. Could both be ex-military; there's a lot of that going around these days.

Are they maybe a bit too comfortable with the notion of magic to not have prior exposure?

 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Darth Fluffy
Add a question

[mlooney 3,417]

49 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Are they maybe a bit too comfortable with the notion of magic to not have prior exposure?

It's possible. I often wonder about the fact that Edward told Tedd that Elliot's phone might be tapped.  Why?  Unless the parents are agents of some sort being watched for what ever reason.  While it's possible that Edward did a background check on Elliot and his parents, I don't think that their phone would still be tapped that long afterwards, if they ever were, which leads me to think that the adult Dunkels are under some sort of observation.  Being an agent in cover might be one of those.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

We know Edward, Noriko, and Mrs Kitsune were students of Adrian Raven

Perhaps the Dunkels were as well, but their low level magic ended up being of little interest to the educator elf

Thus they didn't learn magic beyond the basic lesson of "How to avoid hurting yourself and others by simply not using the hocus and/or pocus"

[mlooney 3,417]

This would assume that all the parental figures are more or less the same age and all went to Moperville South. I find that unlikely.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

3 hours ago, mlooney said:

It's possible. I often wonder about the fact that Edward told Tedd that Elliot's phone might be tapped.  Why?  Unless the parents are agents of some sort being watched for what ever reason.  While it's possible that Edward did a background check on Elliot and his parents, I don't think that their phone would still be tapped that long afterwards, if they ever were, which leads me to think that the adult Dunkels are under some sort of observation.  Being an agent in cover might be one of those.

Being government agents of any sort might mean need to know about unusual threats, such as magic, even if they have none of their own.

 

2 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

We know Edward, Noriko, and Mrs Kitsune were students of Adrian Raven

Perhaps the Dunkels were as well, but their low level magic ended up being of little interest to the educator elf

Thus they didn't learn magic beyond the basic lesson of "How to avoid hurting yourself and others by simply not using the hocus and/or pocus"

We've seen no evidence the Dunkels have magic, just that they seem too comfortable with the notion.

 

5 minutes ago, mlooney said:

This would assume that all the parental figures are more or less the same age and all went to Moperville South. I find that unlikely.

Adrian Raven has been teaching for a long time, at least a generation. He's old enough for a couple more, if he had a way to disguise himself. Oh, wait, he does. So, reapply as a younger man from time to time, maybe in a different school system?

Edward seems older than the Dunkels, to me. <shrug?>

 

So, with Mama Kitsune a potential Hufflepuff, with a possible bent toward herbology, is she not using the crocus on the locus?

Hmm. Elliot is definitely a Griffindor, Tedd is a Ravenclaw, ... Lord Tedd read posts by JK Rowling and turned Slytherin ...

 

[mlooney 3,417]

I think the whole of the main cast read JKR's posts and decided, as a group, they would not have anything to do with her any more, so they don't care what house they would be in.

[Amiable Dorsai 70]

8 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

By the way, what kind of dress is Elliot's mom wearing?

 

Skorts?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

Just now, mlooney said:

I think the whole of the main cast read JKR's posts and decided, as a group, they would not have anything to do with her any more, so they don't care what house they would be in.

I don't believe in book burning.

Fortunately I do believe in wastebaskets, which is where I consigned my own JKR books.

[ijuin 572]

I disagree with treating everything created by a bigot as tainted—doing so implies that the person, and everything that they do, is forever irredeemable.

[Don Edwards 548]

8 hours ago, mlooney said:

It's possible. I often wonder about the fact that Edward told Tedd that Elliot's phone might be tapped.  Why? 

Because someone's interested in whom Edward and Tedd talk to and what they talk about, but with him being a government agent THEIR phones are harder to tap undetected. So tap the phones of their friends who don't have that solid connection.

(Suggested as a plausible hypothesis, not necessarily something I think is true.)

[Darth Fluffy 302]

4 hours ago, mlooney said:

I think the whole of the main cast read JKR's posts and decided, as a group, they would not have anything to do with her any more, so they don't care what house they would be in.

 

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I don't believe in book burning.

Fortunately I do believe in wastebaskets, which is where I consigned my own JKR books.

 

Meh, I've enjoyed Harry Potter, the movies in particular. The overall effort is good, but the contributions of the actors to their characters is incredible. Then, years later, said author displays an ugly point of view; had that come out earlier, it would have been a reason to boycott. Does it retroactively mean I didn't enjoy it in the past? Does her narrow mindedness invalidate everyone else's contributions? The kids in particular; they may have their regrets, now, yet it is likely they would not be actors today without having been cast. I think this is a case where the author creation has broken free of the author. Unless she pulls a George Lucas and retcons her setting, then using it to promote her transphobia.

To me, it says, "Just because you are famous and successful, that doesn't mean you are worth listening to."

[Don Edwards 548]

And my attitude is "just because you are famous and successful in one field, doesn't mean anybody should care about what you think about anything else."

I didn't read the Harry Potter books to get Rowling's views on homosexual or transgender people, and I don't see how those views - learned years later - change the quality of her writing.

(Also, I think more people should check out what she said and what she was responding to.)

[Darth Fluffy 302]

5 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

And my attitude is "just because you are famous and successful in one field, doesn't mean anybody should care about what you think about anything else."

I didn't read the Harry Potter books to get Rowling's views on homosexual or transgender people, and I don't see how those views - learned years later - change the quality of her writing.

(Also, I think more people should check out what she said and what she was responding to.)

I like your attitude statement, it is more precise than mine.

That is a genuinely interesting article. It is the first thing I've seen that mitigates the transphobic story at all.

However:

1. The Tweet came first, it was rather blunt, and, reflecting the nature of social media, rather thoughtless.

2. Those that know her and worked with her condemn her statement.

3. There is a hint of back pedaling and making excuses, but overall, the short statement she made fits my perception of her demeanor pre-controversy. I can believe she would defend a trans person who was being discriminated against, it's not out of character.

4. It would have helped if she dug down deep and figured out why people were offended.

She has a point that probably didn't need to be made, there are aspects of being born female with all the features that a male to female trans person will never experience, although, medical technology could eliminate that as well. It may be possible to surgically insert a 3D printed uterus someday, if desired.