#authority

[deermouth]

Scavengers Reign (Joseph Bennett, Charles Huettner, 2023) // The Southern Reach Trilogy, from Authority and Acceptance (Jeff VanderMeer, 2014)

#scavengers reign #southern reach #southern reach trilogy #scavengers reign spoilers #web weaving #comparatives #<- idk which tag im using now #authority #acceptance #jeff vandermeer #who's the audience for this. just me? well. :^) #desc in alt text #oh i suppose mr vandermeer might be the audience for this as he was tweeting about the show. but uhhhhhhh

[philosophybits]

Everything the State says is a lie, and everything it has it has stolen.

Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

#philosophy #quotes #Friedrich Nietzsche #Thus Spoke Zarathustra #state #authority #lies #politics

[pratchettquotes]

Colon didn't reply. I wish Captain Vimes were here, he thought. He wouldn't have known what to do either, but he's got a much better vocabulary to be baffled in.

Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!

#fred colon #sam vimes #samuel vimes #guards! guards! #discworld #terry pratchett #character description #chain of command #authority #faking it #vocabulary #wishful thinking #baffled #what do i do

[headspace-hotel]

"New (old) perspectives on self-injurious and aggressive biting" published in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis / Nine Inch Nails- The Hand that Feeds

I was troubled to see a trend of claiming that Autistic people who do not support Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) are a group of "low-support-needs" autistics who are monopolizing the conversation and taking resources away from autistics with higher support needs—I think it is misunderstanding.

Individual positive or negative experiences with ABA are irrelevant here—the fundamental core of the therapy is behaviorism, the idea that an autistic person can be "treated" by rewarding "desirable" behaviors and punishing "undesirable" behaviors, and that an increase in desirable behaviors and decrease in undesirable behaviors constitutes successful treatment

In researching I found that ABA practitioners have published statements condemning conversion therapy. They refer to an unfortunate historical association between ABA and conversion therapy, but it is not association—ABA literally is conversion therapy; the creator of it used it to try to "cure" little boys that were too feminine.

ABA is considered "medically necessary" treatment for autism and the only "proven" treatment, in that it is proven to create decrease in "undesirable" behaviors and increase in "desirable" behaviors.

Undesirable behaviors for an autistic person might include things like stimming and talking about their interests, desirable behaviors might include eye contact, using verbal speech, playing with toys in the "right" way.

The BCBA behavior analyst code of ethics does not prohibit "aversive" methods (e.g. electric shock) to punish undesirable behaviors

The code of ethics only discusses the consent of the "client," not the person receiving the treatment

Many people will say "my child's ABA therapist would never make them repress harmless stims, give up their interests, use electric shocks...They understand the value of neurodiversity and emphasize the consent of the child..."

But consider...if nothing binds or requires an ABA therapist to treat stimming as important, nor restrains them from using abusive techniques, nor requires them to consider the consent of a person being treated, what protects vulnerable people other than luck? The ABA therapist still has an innately unethical level of power over a child being "treated."

Furthermore, consider: can a therapy built on the goal of controlling the behavior of a person who cannot meaningfully consent to it, especially without hard limits or protections on the kinds of behavior that can be coerced or controlled, ever be ethical?

I found many articles that discuss teaching "compliance" in autistic children, treating "compliance" as a reasonable goal to strive for without qualification...

The abstract of the above article struck me with a spark of inspiration. Biting is an undesirable behavior to be controlled, understandably so, since most would feel that violence should not be allowed. But I was suddenly reminded of the song "The Hand that Feeds" by Nine Inch Nails, which is a play on the saying "Don't bite the hand that feeds you," meaning don't lash out against someone that is kind to you.

But doesn't "the hand that feeds you" implicitly have power over you through being able to give or withhold food? In this case, kindness can be a form of coercion. Thus "biting the hand that feeds" is used in the song as a metaphor for autonomy and resisting coercive power. The speaker asks the audience if they have the courage to test the benevolence of their oppressors, or if they will remain compliant and unquestioning even though they know deep down that it isn't right.

Likewise the article blunders into something unintentionally poetic when it recognizes that biting is an innately possible behavior in response to "aversive" stimuli or the "removal of reinforcers." Reinforcers and aversives in ABA are discussed as tools used by the therapist—the presentation of a preferred food would be a reinforcer, for instance (and is often used as such in ABA).

The journal article considers biting as a behavioral problem, even though the possibility that someone may bite can never be eliminated. Contrastingly, "The Hand that Feeds" highlights the coercive power behind the ability to control your behavior, even when that control appears benevolent and positive, and argues that "biting the hand that feeds you" is not only a possibility but a moral imperative.

Consider: In what circumstances would you bite someone? To defend your own body? To defend your life? Are there circumstances in which biting would be the reasonable and the right action to take?

What authority decides which behaviors are desirable or undesirable, and rewards or punishes compliance or resistance? Who is an authority—your therapist? Your teacher? Your caregiver? Any adult? Any person with the power to reward or punish?

In what circumstances might compliance be demanded of you? In what circumstances would it be justifiable not to comply? What authority decides which circumstances are justifiable?

Can you imagine a circumstance where it might be important for a child to not comply with the demands of an adult? For a citizen to not comply with the demands of a government? Which authorities demand compliance in a right and just manner, and which demand compliance to things that are evil and wrong? Which authority has the power to differentiate the two? Should you trust them? Will you bite the hand that feeds you?/Will you stay down on your knees?

#analysis #power #authority #aba #applied behavior analysis #aba tw #abuse tw #nine inch nails #music #psychology #autism #actually autistic #psych critical

[12thbiologist]

what can you do when your five senses are not enough? ... what occurs after revelation and paralysis?

- jeff vandermeer, annihilation

#YEAH! yeah #i quite like this. ive always always wanted to draw the scene with the biologist and the crawler but obviously drawing the crawler #is a whole big Task. so i went with this. and i think that gets the ideas and feelings down. maybe #annihilation #authority #acceptance #jeff vandermeer #the biologist #southern reach trilogy #the southern reach #the southern reach trilogy #area x

[erythriina]

my dealer: got some straight gas this strain is called ‘the southern reach’ youll be zonked out of your gourd beyond what any man can bear, but whether it decays under the earth or above on green fields, or out to sea or in the very air, all shall come to revelation, and to revel, in the knowledge of the strangling fruit

me: yeah whatever. I don’t feel shit

5 minutes later: dude I swear I just saw a rift in reality in the tunnel tower

my buddy Control, pacing: The Voice is lying to us

#someone has to make southern reach memes it might as well be me #mine #the southern reach trilogy #southern reach #the southern reach #jeff vandermeer #annihilation #authority #acceptance #100 #200

[missbehavior0u0]

#disco elyisum #DE #authority #electrochemistry #kim kitsuragi #MBs doodles #art

[southern-reach]

boss makes a dollar i make a dime that’s why i put dead mice and plants in desk cabinets on company time

#southern reach #area x #the southern reach #jeff vandermeer #southern reach trilogy #the southern reach trilogy #area x trilogy #the area x trilogy #the biologist #annihilation #authority #john rodriguez #john control rodriguez #control rodriguez #the director #the psychologist

[halothanic]

the biologist, 20XX

"the biologist’s hair had been long and dark brown, almost black (…) she had dark, thick eyebrows, green eyes, a slight, slightly off-center nose (broken once, falling on rocks), and high cheekbones that spoke to the strong asian heritage on one side of her family. her chapped lips were surprisingly full for such a thin frown (…) even sitting down at the table, she somehow projected a sense of being physically strong, with a ridge of thick muscle where her neck met her shoulders."

there is no official art of the biologist from the southern reach trilogy, so i quick whipped up my own for the character inspiration meme i did! above is her physical description from the second book.

to me, she is one of the best written characters in any media i've consumed. one of my all-time favorites, undoubtedly. the southern reach trilogy is one of the best things i've ever read too, i encourage it for anyone that hasn't. it's probably my biggest inspiration, as well!

background is eric nyquist's inside cover artwork, just stunning. i thought it fit the symmetry theme of her portrait.

#southern reach #southern reach trilogy #the biologist #annihilation #ghost bird #my art #authority #acceptance

[philosophybits]

Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority.

Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man Under Socialism

#philosophy #quotes #Oscar Wilde #The Soul of Man Under Socialism #authority #power #oppression #freedom #liberty #humanity

[g0at0ad]

some skills shenanigans from my fic

#the headmates are fightinnnngg #elchem is so fun to draw #disco elysium #skills disco elysium #rhetoric #authority #hand/eye coordination #reaction speed #volition #electrochemistry #logic #interfacing #toadart #fanart #art

[littledeadling]

I know it’s not the lunar new year yet for a while, but all this rabbit talk has got me thinking about Southern Reach again 💛

#Southern Reach #Annihilation #Authority #jeff vandermeer #southern reach spoilers #my art #artists on tumblr #digital art #digital illustration #procreate #white rabbits #year of the rabbit #500

[fieriframes]

[Your authority and my degeneracy are one in the same.]

#s23e14 holiday hoopla #guy fieri #guyfieri #diners drive-ins and dives #authority #degeneracy

[pratchettquotes]

"You could have helped people," said Brutha. "But all you did was stamp around and roar and try to make people afraid. Like...like a man hitting a donkey with a stick. But people like Vorbis made the stick so good, that's all the donkey ends up believing in."

"That could use some work, as a parable," said Om sourly.

"This is real life I'm talking about!"

"It's not my fault if people misuse the--"

"It is! It has to be! If you muck up people's minds just because you want them to believe in you, what they do is all your fault!"

Terry Pratchett, Small Gods

#brutha #om #vorbis #omnians #small gods #discworld #terry pratchett #religion #belief #deity #gods #power #blame #authority #fear #real life #parable #philosophy #theology #morality #could use some work #all your fault

[gorgynei]

has there always been someone like me to bury the bodies, to have regrets, to carry on after everyone else was dead?

#RAH BIOLOGIST #thumbs up #annihilation #the southern reach trilogy #the biologist #acceptance #authority #jeff vandermeer