Recent Discourse Reminds Me Of That Cult Indoctrination Trick That's Often Used To Weed Out More Difficult

Recent discourse reminds me of that cult indoctrination trick that's often used to weed out more difficult marks early on, where they tell you all that you aren't allowed to eat rice on Tuesdays and then if you protest they go "wow SOMEBODY likes rice a little much huh" as if you're the fucking weirdo who cares too much about how much rice is consumed between Monday and Wednesday instead of them.

And this forces you to decide whether your autonomy matters to you more than the approval of the group - while they'll still act like you're on thin ice either way, if you give in at this point they know you're theirs forever, because now they've established a foothold, you've shown a moral weakness, which they will brand you with so it can be used against you in the future ("hey RICE-addict here doesn't want help break into the city records office") to force you to double-down and isolate you further.

And if instead you do decide to push back further, after your abrupt departure from the group ("You're seriously leaving us over RICE?!? Seriously?") and subsequent ostracism, you can then be used as a demonstration to the others who were more pliable, of how the outgroup is full of people like you who are obsessed with violating the No-Tuesday-Rice rule to the point where they'll abandon all their friends, who cared so much for them, so it clearly isn't an arbitrary restriction, you're the kind of monster these rules are intended to protect them from, thus all the other wise and esoteric precepts of the charismatic leader are implied to be equally justified.

Hi! I just came across your blog, and I just wanted to say that I really enjoy reading your Invader Zim analysis/headcanon posts.

Some really good stuff there! 👽

Eeeeee thank you thank you, enjoy the stroll, take some complimentary cookies.

I‘ve actually noticed myself but I somehow still haven’t come close to running out of things to talk about regarding the show and it is getting to the point where theories are starting to build on theories, I guess what I’m saying is I have build up enough material at this point maybe to justify a master list of sorts. Cause wow it’s collectively been getting a lot more positive attention than I originally could’ve thought of :,)

I’ll accept your sign from the universe to get started on that post-haste in fact

Like nah you’re right and you should say it. I’ll die mad and ever curious about how a single invader managed to pull such a fast one over the literal most intelligent species in the universe. Irkens are virtually NOTHING without their Vortian-appropriated technology. It’s already tragically ironic enough that the spearhead ship of their conquesting Armada was majority-designed by the very people it would turn right back around and point its canons at one day. From what Purple once mentioned, Vort-original spacecrafts have all but been eradicated. All remaining Vortians live as either fugitives or slaves on their own home world. Like, I highly doubt at all it was an easy assignment, the couch was just a very enticing bonus reward to think about. The vortians were at least a civilized opponent to blend in with and live beside while the slaughtering rat people…. were the slaughtering rat people.

The Vortians’ history is so tied into Irk’s own and we’ve never as much as confirmed what their ball of rock even looks like. No cityscapes, no intact family units (it’s still an open question whether or not they even have females), and nothing between the A and B of how Larb single handedly brought them from a fortress holding their own to heeling before the Tallests. Did he and Lard Nar ever go toe to toe when shit really hit the fan? Did they interact at all, maybe not in a hostile manner? Hell, are Larb’s actions at all connected to the fact that Lard Nar is a free but very vigilante individual while prisoner 777 isn’t? I voted for Larb and it was near completely biased from how I’m begging to know more about the planet he was assigned for too.

But I’m equally curious to know what he’s been up to since then. We haven’t really checked in on any invader that has completed their mission except for Skoodge. And Skoodge was fired for his success, title and glory handed off to some nobody. But what of that guy? Do invaders return back into the elite draw pile once they’ve completed their assignment? I was going to assume maybe in the case of a sentient species left alive, the conquer could stay behind to keep running their operation with an iron fist. After all, Zim’s fantasy happy ending so often involves ruling the humans himself, but I think Zim might be really off… conquered goods belong to the empire, and invaders are just the means of taking.

Control Brains instead are the shown mechanism for running planet-scale faculties. So like,,? Yeah what’s Larb going to be up to then? Where next for probably the single most respected soldier of the entire fleet?

Skoodge has been excluded in the name of actually underrated characters. Had the series not been canceled, he was already on schedule to join the main cast on Earth anyway.

Tak was never officially an invader to begin with.

And Tenn’s unfortunately failed in her mission, as far as implications go.

“Clockwerk,

He was consumed with jealously for the Cooper Clan’s thieving reputation.

Is it inappropriate to refer to him as a monster?

No, not at all.

What kind of person stays alive for hundreds of years with the express intention of wiping out a rival’s family line?

Imagine the hatred fueling that first decision, to replace his mortal body… with soulless machinery.

Ultimately, it did the trick. Clockwerk lived on….”

You know, I’ve never actually have read much of it myself. So I’ll pledge myself to this right alongside with you, strangah.

if this post reaches 100k notes by Halloween I will read Homestuck

this is just a lil funny. Personally love Anatomy and especially HC4, but it really does feel like this sometimes scrolling the KHS tags.