Anonymous asked:
brazenautomaton answered:
order of the stick
the backer comic, “how the paladin got his scar”, is about seeing humanity and value in your enemy and avoiding the needless loss of life and recognizing others have a perspective and wants and needs and fears and all that stuff
except if you’re an MRA or GG or some similar group where the lie “these people hate and are threatening to women” has been told and has been exalted and is more important than the truth; the comic makes it clear that those people are awful and contemptible and are motivated only by malice and hatred of women and everyone should feel contempt for them and they do nothing but lie and should die
and this reminds me that the lie is more important than the truth. people literally cannot stop themselves from believing the lie. they can’t. it’s impossible. no matter how much they want to be virtuous, no matter how much they want to be honest and charitable, the lie is so much more important than the truth they are incapable of not believing it. the lie makes up a fundamental component of how they see reality. they can’t stop. they can look at the lie. they can see it is a lie. they can be told it is a lie and agree “what I am looking at is a lie, and I do not want to believe it”. then they believe that lie anyway, because popularity is invincible and inassailable and will devour all and death is the only escape.
Alternative: They know it’s a lie, but they have to counter-signal so they won’t get purged or so that people won’t immediately turn off their brains and go all “YOU’RE IN LEAGUE WITH THE ENEMY”.
