Shadowgirls

Fear my alliteration!

Anywho, this is pretty much my clarification of comments I said in "Out Loud", about whether or not Misty UNDERSTOOD what she was doing.

SpanishShade:
Sadly, I disagree with your point of view about the naiveté about good and evil of Misty. Just think that she wasn’t conformed with Becka’s rape, she also planned to film and spread it via Internet and destroy Becka and Lindsey friendship as an extra. A person who plans such an outrageous act has cristal clear concepts of good and specially evil. Resuming, Misty is simply a first-class bitch.

Now, don't misconstrue, I agree that Misty is a bitch. Supremely. BUT, why is she such a bitch? Like her mother, she was privaleged and rarely if ever disciplined. Being pamperd gave her a sense that she could get away with anything, and she probably did. This was just another prank to pull off.

Why focus on Becka? Two reasons:
1) She was likely instructed by her mother that the McKays were distasteful, thus giving the young Snow yet another outlet for her cruelty. Likely this was done behind Daddy's back, so he could chime in with that pesky common sense.

2) Ignorance, the basis of all hate. She referred to Becka as a slut, even though there hasn't been any indication of her promiscuity (back to point one, since Christmas undoubtedly referred to Charon as such more than a few times over 13 years). Kids do that all the time, as do some adults (particularly celebs who "need" to force their opinion on the masses). To elaborate: You can hate THIS celebrity or THAT public figure for whatever reason. But what if you took time to understand that person, where they come from, why they do/say/act as they do? By doing so, you might not necessary LIKE said person, but it's possible you would either not hate them, hate them less, or pity them because you know why they do what ever is they do. That's why God doesn't hate...being omniscient and all (okay, a little philisophical, but you get my point). True, this wouldn't work on EVERY person, but mostly...

My earlier notation of Mistletoe's ability to comprehend what she planned is still in question, I think. Yes, she arranged it all, she planned to spread photos on the 'net; very true, very wrong. BUT her basic motivation is to embarress her enemy. Post-rape photos on the Internet was probably the most clever or largest-scale scheme she could concoct. What's more, she'd probably be expecting some pat on the back from her "peers" and mother for it. In that respect, she'd be throwing selfishness into her reasoning (being pampered). Just like Mommy, she needs to make herself feel better by diminishing others.

Recall she mentioned the (outlandish) prospect of Becka considering it a "favor". This is further evidence that Misty doesn't at all know what rape is like at all. I could go on about how most fictional media improperly glorifies violence, sex, and rebellion with little to no realistic consequences could add to such dillussion, but perhaps later.

I don't think Misty really knows about right and wrong. She may understand the basics and choose to ignore them, but being violated like that is different than stealing a candy bar while the checkout clerk's attention is elsewhere. If she were to be near-raped herself, she might actually think twice before doing so unto another. Maybe.

Pretty insightful man.

I'm really glad there's some people like you to analyze this stuff.

You know, Sporky, I tend to see you side in this. Mostly.

I haven't decided if I think Misty knew about the whole rape thing. I mean, everyone thinks Charon go knocked up by some random strange guy, which in itself is pretty slutty. Their rationalization is like mother, like daughter. It's not unlikely that Misty thought Becca would already be "experienced" in that area. And it's entirely possible that she wanted to get proof of her being the slut that she was always told Becca's mother was...

It's also not entirely possible that random football jock asshole was told "Hey, I wanna get your having sex with Becca on tape," and him being the hormone driven guy that he seems to be, thought that was was a great idea. So he goes bloating to his friends about what's going to take place and they say they want in on the deal... So as a good friend he says "meet me in the cornfield" or something like that.

I'm not saying Misty is a great person, or that she's incapable of doing such a hideous thing, I'm just thinking maybe we're giving her evil side a little too much credit.

Why are we, as a culture, so eager to forgive genuinely horrible actions? Understanding a person's motivations are important, yes, but only when considering how to prevent those awful things from happening again.

Misty set up a multiple rape.

No disclaimer, no rationale, is ever going to make that less of an atrocity, nor the person responsible less of a monster. Frankly, I wish I couldn't empathize. I hate knowing that there's a part of me that, under her circumstances, might have done the same thing.

~NsN

I don't know about forgiving atrocities, but I think we seek to understand the reasons for them, so we may prevent them in the future. That whole history repeating itself thingie.

Going to drop in here that while Misty is evil, I don't think she considers what she's doing is wrong.

Starting with the most obvious point: Teenagers don't consider consequences. Just tyesterday I sat in a classroom full of 9th graders, and listened to two otherwise normal girls, who had been fairly repectful to me as a subsitute teacher and authority figure, discussing how they'd hospitlize some third girl if she came back to town. I couldn't exactly track WHY they were going ot do this, but it seemed perfectly reasonable to them. Since the world of Shadow Girls is at least a little darker than our own, I'm sure these things ar emore common there.

Second, we alread know that at least in the one instance where Lin-Lin met Becca, Becca has been one-upping Misty. If we assume that Becca is the nice gurl we're lead to believe hse is, and that Misty is the spoiled rich bitch we've seen so far, we can safely extend that Becca wins most adult confrontations with Misty, and that Misty wins most Peer interactions. For her, that should constitute justification.

Third, lets not forget that for most people in Misty's circle, sex with football players is a good thing. Granted, forced intercourse with multiple partners wouldn't be the perferable method of doing so, but again they're FOORBALL PLAYERS! The fact that it's still a voilation might not occur to them. (Some probably do it willingly)

Finally, I'm sure the light vs. dark dichotamy trickles in a metaphysical way into the relationship between Misty and Becca. There's a bright part of Misty's soul that says she has to destroy Becca.

We seem to have lost the point, though. We (or if we're being completely honest, "I") have a tendency to gain vast amounts of information and think that it's the same as having wisdom. We think that understanding why a spoiled little bitch performs wicked acts is just as important as slapping the bejeezus out of her until she stops.

Stopping the bad behavior is paramount, understanding why it went wrong is secondary. "Up to your ass in alligators is no time to talk 'drain the swamp.'"

~NsN

NsN - I get why we want to understand WHY it happens... preventing an action, rather than putting a bandaid over it... If Misty Snow did plan the entire thing by herself, no other add on ideas etc, then yes... her throat should be slit (what can I say, I'm a conservative and death is an acceptable penalty to me) but if someone else added to it and made it more twisted than what she intended... maybe a few punches to the face a week would straighten her out.

I suppose I was mostly ranting against making Misty a "victim" of her past, thereby partially exculpating her. I loathe the culture of victimhood almost as much as I love personal accountability in all matters.

I have trouble acknowledging the possibility that things spun out of control, that multiple rape was not the intention all along - Tabbi knew there were going to be multiple guys, and Misty expressed no surprise over that fact. Misty knew Becka was going to be completely humiliated, which suggests that Becka is not a slut (in Misty's mind, a "Charon-class slut" would probably have enjoyed it). And when Lindsey leaves, Misty follows to ensure that nothing interferes with her nefarious plot.
She is pure blonde evil.

But, you seem to be in agreement that she needs a hatchet spanking, although you aren't yet sure what side of the hatchet she deserves. Thus assuaged, I take my leave.

~NsN

Misty does not exactly have the best of examples in her life of virtue in her mother, and the excesses of spoiled youth unbound are hardly doing much to improve her, either. It hardly surprises me she would engage is such egregiously reprehensible behavior, therefore. It is, however, all the more repellant for all that. Her motives seem singularly selfish, and she doesn't appear to give very much attention to the pain it would give others, at least any farther than the paltry and ephemeral edification she can derive from it. While Misty does not wish to delve overmuch into the consequences for her hated and inherited enemy, she has very little desire, as well, to consider the dire consequences it can also bring upon herself, her friends (if such a warm and convivial word can truly be said to apply), and, perhaps most especially, the boys she has put into the "hot-seat" for her own sick amusement. With such a personality on display as we see in Misty, I do not think she particularly cared whether the indignities she wished inflicted on Becca extended so far as rape, as long as it was as humiliating as possible. Frankly it seems, disgustingly enough, that the worse it was for Becca, the better Misty would have approved. Glee over the suffering of another seems her only goal, no matter how it was reached.

It can only be the hardest sort of education that could get through such a head as hers, sadly. And for my part, it cannot come too soon!

Night Shift Nerd wrote:I suppose I was mostly ranting against making Misty a "victim" of her past, thereby partially exculpating her. I loathe the culture of victimhood almost as much as I love personal accountability in all matters.

She is pure blonde evil.

I wouldn't try to excuse her behavior, only explain it. She's evil because she'd undisciplined and ignorant of others, facilitated by a poor female role model and a father that either wasn't paying much attention or was easily distracted to Misty's darker side. Certainly, the parents should be concerned and wise-up to it all, but that shouldn't detract from Misty's punishment (and, oh, I hope she gets one).

Even as a high school kid, when hearing about the prospect of parents getting punished when their offspring commit crimes, I thought "what, are they stupid or something?"

No matter what, everyone has a choice between right and wrong. So few are the instances when this isn't true, they probably go undocumented fro the most part.

I want to interject a point I made way back on the main comic as a reference to jack but will now expand. Charon just disappears one day & is found several months later wandering the wastlands pregnant & speaking in tongues and the whole town(including her best friend) assumes that she ran off with a stranger of her choice instead of the more logical(to me anyway) conclusion of kidnap and rape causing trauma & memory blocking. So obviously in this town it is very easy to get away with rape because no one really believes in it. Unfortunately there are people that believe any woman who was 'raped' was obviously asking for it and so is not a victim. Innsmouth seems to be full of these people.
So Misty could very well have thought of & dismissed the idea of getting in trouble for arranging her prank.
Fishmen feel free to run amuck

There's easily over 100 different places in Starkweather where you could say:

"As if he/she would do that in real life"

But as if someone would turn into a shadow monster or throw fireballs or be ripped apart by a fish monster or marry Chrisy *lol*

It's still a bloody good story. Enjoy the fiction.

In Jack's defense for marrying Chrissy... Angry sex.

That's really says it all.

Yeah... see... you'd think it would quickly turn from "Angry Sex" to "CHOKE A !@#$*!!!"

But I do see your point. Did I have that conversation with you, or someone else?

Hmm.. weird.