Heather Vodihn is on a simple mission: find her father. However she becomes entangled with two strangers with mysterious powers being stalked by a group with bizarre demands. Heather must learn to trust her new traveling companions, even if she is untrustworthy herself.
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Why does no one ever care about Stolas? He teaches science and medicine. Also, he’s a frigging dinosaur. Sure, so is Caim, but no one likes a politician.
On dealing with a particularly sanctimonious and frequently complaining reader, the late editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette observed that being on her prayer list is “little different from being on her shit list.”
Or, she’s praying that God helps Mary overcome her hatred and anger and accept people as they are. Once Mary repents and gives up her bigotry, Carla’s revenge will become unnecessary.
Politicians love this line because it makes their constituents think they give a crap about what happens to them. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of West Deertick, that the stinkbug plague will soon pass and we can begin picking up the pieces.”
Can’t deny that, though my dad used to get frustrated with the disunity on the left. After the failure of universal health care in 1993 with a Democratic House, Democratic super majority in the Senate and a Democratic President, my father said, “Only Democrats form circular firing squads.” Case in point was how healthcare reform went down in the first years of the Obama administration. After watching the Democratic super majority fumble around John Stewart said in frustration,”Democrats couldn’t get laid in a house [where people’s] sole purpose is to have consequence and disease-free sex with legislators on finance committees.” Half the time the left is it’s own worst enemy.
Actually, I think Ruth really feels passionately about what she’s saying. She’s just not saying all of it, out loud.
Here’s what we hear:
“Dear Lord, I am sending my thoughts and prayers for Mary.”
Here’s what she’s saying:
“Dear Lord, I am sending my thoughts and prayers for Mary (TO DIE IN A FIRE. PLEASE MAKE HER SUFFER!)
This is how I read it, too.
Even if she does believe in God (and I’m not certain that she does), Ruth is the type of cynic to believe that “thoughts and prayers” will do jack-shit.
It may look like Ruth’s praying for something bad to happen to Mary. Not so! She’s petititioning the Lord for all good things to be sent Mary’s way. Except! Ruth’s doing so while drunk (or possibly hungover), and it is written: “Do not drink wine nor strong drink […] when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation” (Leviticus 10:9). Thus, Ruth’s prayer will get twisted, and bad things will happen to Mary. Genius!
And the f word didn’t get hit, which seems to imply it’s for actual offensive language (the b word and c word are offensive to females, obviously the n word is offensive but I imagine a comment like that wouldn’t be posted at all, fag is offensive to homosexuals so I imagine that might not rhyme with bag by the time it passes through the filter, etc)
I don’t think any Christian I have known, including the fundies, would sympathise with Mary. She has only become more dislikable the more we see of her. At best she may end up a pitiable but unsympathetic character.
I misread that as “including the furries” and I was very confused as to why you thought Christian furries would be more likely to sympathize with Mary than Christian non-furries.
Nah. She’s just doing it on a technicality. She was honest, yet knows that prayer doesn’t actually do anything.
But Mary, being a devout christian, can’t argue against it because that would mean she would doubt the power of prayer.
Don’t take away Mary’s victory here. Through sheer virtue of her shining personality she convinced someone it was worth their time praying to the holey ghost! And by that I mean a literal ghost with holes in it like Swiss cheese. Trust me it works. Ghosts really have it all figured out.
I was gonna say that as much as it weirded me out, it’s been implied (directly by Billie, but throughout) that basically everyone is Christian or passively Christian, and people told me that yeah that sounded realistic to this locality, so it makes sense that Ruth would be-
But then I remembered that Ruth grew up in Canada, so that doesn’t really apply to her.
Because I still can’t get my head around assuming most of them are Christian, my first assumption was that it was just a joke to herself while also fulfilling two promises- she took it to the most high up (regardless of belief, and besides, Mary believes) and she is not preventing anyone from doing anything to Mary.
Canadian here – most of white Canada is Christian or passively Christian, but not in a big, outspoken way. In the country, even Joyce would be a little extreme in outward devotion. In more multicultural areas, like cities, a Mary type (leaving aside the bigotry – just looking at how explicit she is in her religion) or a Joyce type would be considered rude, just because it’s not something you’re that in others’ face about. A politician wearing their religion on their sleeve like they do in the states actually hurts their elect-ability up here among most of the country. Politicians are generally expected to be religious, but quietly so, if that makes sense – wear your cross or turban or niqab or kippah or etc, and observe your religion in peace, but don’t make your religion others’ business.
It’s the one thing that takes me a bit aback whenever I travel South of the border – around here it’s an unspoken social rule that you don’t talk religion or politics in polite/professional settings, in the cities at least. Down there, it seems like every second person is God this and Bless that and etc, or dragging their religion into discussions that have nothing to do with religion.
I can’t figure out if my Catholic family is more horrified that I’m aggressively agnostic or that I’m queer and trans. And hey, as long as I’m drunk, it is so bad it rolls around into “so bad it’s hilarious” territory.
No – closest in terms of culture I was is rural NS, which gets pretty religious fundie… but it’s a weird sort of religious fundie where they won’t let their kids play with the atheist’s kid, but they won’t like proselytize at you either.
Huh. I’m from BC, and although I obviously have a small sample size, basically everyone I have known, unless pointedly religious, has been agnostic or atheist.
Rorborat- Well it was clarified that that was in the cities, unless you mean my exception for Ruth, in which case she doesn’t strike me as rural, but I suppose we might find out.
Can we assume you’re from a city? I’m from Toronto originally, and am adjusting to South-Western Ontario. I’m always shocked to discover that there are lot more people who are quietly religious (or passively so) than I expected – i.e. a non-zero number – around here. And even more so if you get out of the city and into the townships. Some of the townships here start council meetings with the Lord’s Prayer. (I believe there is an official policy to stop if/when there is ever a complaint, but that still says a lot. I mean, that in no way means that everyone is both religious and Christian, because of the politeness ichemgeek mentions, but it’s still very surprising to me.)
Canadian Atheist living in rural area, I can say that most people keep to themselves about their religion. But If it comes up I am definitely the odd one out (although the young people are better). people can be pretty dumb about their religion though, I work in a Jail and had a fellow officer allow a visit without proper security screening or even checking ID because the guy was a priest… I just about strangled him, but a lot of people din’t think it was a problem. Oh and the offender was in for child abuse based around fundemental beliefs taught by the priest in question.
I’m rooting for Carla here. Carla is hilarious as a side character and I love when she pushes Mary’s buttons. The interactions between the two of them are just absolutely priceless.
I assume it’s stuff that’s been deleted. There was a lot of pro-Mary stuff before the transphobia bomb, but I haven’t seen any afterwards. At most, just people saying Carla is horrible, too, and blaming her for starting everything.
Yeah, it was like a continuation of the blame line, except basically saying ‘so Mary has a right to say anything she wants,’ sometimes continuing ‘and besides, calling her that is way less damaging than Carla annoying her and skating in the halls.’ Probably cropped up on the first one with comments after? Ruth’s non-interference? I can’t remember if Cerb hung around for that, or I would suggest ctrl f ing her to get the gist of terrible people.
Yeah, Willis has screen-capped some of the more egregious versions as well. Honestly, all the villains seem to attract creepy apologists from time to time.
Huh. How long has it been since Ruth quit the sauce? Because I work with several dudes on probation or parole, and the test they have to do for alcohol only tells you if you drank in the last 7 days. Ruth volunteers for that, pops clean, and Mary looks like a fool who mistook exhaustion for a hangover.
One evening, I’m pretty sure, so she’s got 6 days and about 2-3 books before she can try that out assuming no relapses (which are likely).
Honestly, Mary learning about the alcoholism is the worst thing for her right now, because it’s the one that’s easiest to prove and is most likely to be taken as something more than Mary being a loud bigot.
You’re optimistic. The six days between the start of Whiteboard Dingdong Bandit and the end of To Those Who’d Ground Me lasted from July 6, 2014 to November 25, 2015. And Willis has already said the current arcs are running long, so I would not at all be surprised if we’re waiting a year and a half for this to stop being a thing hanging over her head.
The first three weeks of the comic ran roughly a year of real time each. Week Four was a hefty year and nine months. Week Five has been ten months so far, and it’s only Saturday… and we skipped Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday completely. Six days, if stuff actually happens, is a year easy, probably more.
Wait, how old is Ruth? I’ve been assuming she’s at least 21, which would mean she’d just have to claim she’s not drinking on campus, right? Does her job prohibit her from drinking at all?
IU is a dry campus, so she officially shouldn’t be drinking regardless of her age. As an RA, whose job includes enforcing that alcohol policy, being caught under the influence would probably be a firing offense.
I think what Toad meant is that if she was of legal drinking age (which according to John she isn’t) then technically she could leave campus during her free time, drink legally, and return to campus to sleep without having violated any rules or procedure.
Actually, what if she tuns 21in the next day or two? That would be convenient, especially because withdrawals are visibly beyond regular hangovers, but birthday could imply both a lot of drinking and her first time drinking, meaning she might be kind of gross following.
Are you forbidden from drinking at all if you live on a dry campus? If she was 21 (I know she’s not), I assumed it could be explained as ‘oh yeah, we went to (a pub) the other day.’
RA? An individual intended to represent the college’s rules in handling dorm matters? No. Entering the dorm drunk would likely count as being drunk on the job.
Readers: “Dear Willis, please kill Mary. …Also, please change the universe so we can get some of that HOT HOT Ethanny man-lovin’ without destroying Amber in the process, kthx”
I really, really don’t like Mary, but if the bongo word isn’t allowed here, I doubt that word is–or at least, I feel it shouldn’t be. (I know –or I’ve heard– that bongo is banned because it was being used too much, so maybe that doesn’t apply here at all. But still.)
….That’s what Mary’s banking on? That the manager will interpret Ruth being bloodshot as “alcoholic going through withdrawal” and not “college student looking like a college student?”
Manager: You look awful, have you slept?
Ruth: … technically, no.
Manager: Fuck, no wonder. So Mary, why should I care right now?
Mary: You don’t understand, she doesn’t respond right to my blackmail and she lets that t-slur wander around like it’s people and…
Manager: I’m really sorry, Ruth. You may go. Me and this student need to talk a bit more about appropriate behavior on campus.
Mary: No, she’s a secret lesbo, I’m telling you. And there’s secret queers living on this floor, but not right now for some reason. And the t-slur is after me and is definitely up to something, you gotta believe me!!!!
I’ve never, ever been able to wrap my mind around people like Mary, usually religious, who are all mad/offended by the choices/actions of another person, when ALL of their issues could be solved by just fucking ignoring that person. Just. Ignore. It. I just can’t fathom giving that much of a shit about the actions of another person that I’d get my panties that much in a wad about it.
It probably has a lot to do with the fact that abrahamic religion — both present and CERTAINLY in the past — has always been very fascistic, even down to the scriptures themselves.
Very rarely have they not been, and it’s mostly now in modern times when it’s slowly losing its grip over the people that it realizes that it cannot afford to be so fascistic anymore.
But of course, like with stuff like creationism, which was disproven long ago, there will always be people lagging behind…
Yeah, there were times when we got shitty Popes who advocated Crusades instead of peace, and there’s still in many places a strong element of control rather than the more open forms (which have also always existed), but that’s still not very applicable to what Fascism is.
It’s also…not something in any way unique to the Abrahamic religions. Pretty much any religion that ever got popular was quickly subverted into the existing power structure, so you almost always get it being used to justify whatever the existing ruler wants to do. The main difference is that Christianity and modern Judaism emphasized caring for the poor. (Not sure about Islam, though they probably do that as well – what I can definitely confirm is that it is historically noted that Christianity basically originated the idea of the religion systematically caring for the poor.)
It’s about power. Destroying someone’s life, making someone miserable, hurting someone for what they are, killing someone different.
These things make one feel powerful in a chaotic seemingly-random world where our little pieces of humanity don’t really affect all that much. It’s a cheap way to feel one matters because by destroying someone you show you at least have the power to destroy that person’s life.
Combine that with an expectation that the world is a certain way and you shouldn’t have to learn and adapt to the existence of people who are not like you and a belief that you are inherently better than certain categories of people, mix it up with some toxic societal/religious beliefs and voila, you have a little shit stain like Mary or the numerous of politicians right now stoking fear of trans people shitting to wring a little more hate money out of the rubes.
I’m reeling a bit due to the new proposed Arkansas law making using the “wrong bathroom” as a trans person a sex offense leading one to have to register as a sex offender and the New York Times article that found out about a trans boy getting bullied by his peers and school and decided to throw its full support behind the type of fucks who wear “Straight Pride” shirts and claim a trans boy rushing as quick as possible to the stalls is “invading a vulnerable sanctum where boys are exposed at the urinals”, so this’ll probably be shorter than usual, but comic reactions:
Panel 1: And here we see Mary collapsing into herself right on cue. Because she’s really only got one mode when confused or out of her comfort zone and that’s angry appeals to authority. Carla isn’t cowering in fear and hiding herself from the light of day and is being all intentionally clandestine, so Mary immediately goes running to Ruth to complain despite literally having nothing.
Carla understands Mary far better than Mary will ever let herself understand Carla. And that’s why she’ll lose this next battle…
Panel 2: Though this panel is why that might not matter. Her other mode when losing is to escalate the game. We see it with Mary doing a redux of her “you’re not jumping when I want, so therefore, all the blackmail and threats of firing” act from back during the Whiteboard Dindong Bandit arc.
And we see it in her little fucking transphobic dig of “misplaced freak”. It’s a reminder that even if Carla thoroughly gets over on Mary, Mary will probably retaliate in the most hurtful way she can just because she can’t stand to lose.
But hey, maybe Carla can shake her up enough to get her to temporarily back off with her shit.
Panels 3 and 4: And confirmation that what Mary actually wants is total supplication to her whims, dropping literally everything to deal with her petty bullshit. People aren’t people to her, even ones in (secular) authority. They’re just pawn pieces in the epic chess match that is Mary vs The Sinners.
I’m reminded a lot of Granny Weatherwax talking about how all problems stem from treating people like things.
Panel 6: Nice evisceration of the “thoughts and prayers is the most powerful force for good I can do right now” crowd. And a nice swerve to Mary’s demands. And here we see the other way of dealing with Mary. Ruth’s just been accepting Mary’s demands in the moment and then passively handling them in the way where she changes nothing that matters.
It’ll be interesting to see what drives Mary fully up the wall first. Carla’s refusal to be the destroyed bullying victim or Ruth’s refusal to be the good blackmail victim?
Come to Canada. We suck in some ways, but we’re actively taking steps against transphobia and violence. And Ruth would totally back me, if only because Canada.
Wait, there’s ANOTHER ONE? If the DoJ told NC’s HB2 to fuck right off, do they really expect that one to get a pass? What the fuck do you people have in the water in the US?
I couldn’t find anything on the new Arkansas bill. Not to make you dwell on it any more, but what stage is it at? Does it actually look like it’s got a decent chance of passing?
There are a lot of stupid and horrible bills proposed every year, the vast majority of which go nowhere. They just let some idiot Rep tell his backers that he tried.
Toilet Terrorists of the Republican Party sounds like a great name for a band, though. Also, forget porn – the last thing I’d be comfortable with my mom finding in my google search history is now “arkansas restroom law.”
He says Arkansas law currently does not specify which bathroom people must use.
“That’s something all of our lawmakers ought to be looking into,” he said. “We’re certainly looking into it.”
Because the number one issue in the world is the sign on the door of the stalls where people pee. The number two issue is, of course, the one on the door of the stalls where people poop.
So it looks like it hasn’t been officially introduced yet and is facing opposition from the governor and other party leaders, if only for tactical reasons. I doubt this one’s going anywhere, at least not this year.
It’s not so much that it has a real chance of passing (cause it doesn’t). It’s more the escalation of these tactics. This is all pretty much being coordinated by the ADF and the other professional homophobe groups and the fact that a sitting state congresscritter felt safe floating this type of law and felt it would serve as something they could brag about to their constituents is a sign of how much these laws are escalating and is a sign of what people will probably try and sneak into a broader bill later.
And it’s part of a bigger push to fully link the ideas of trans person (and let’s be honest, the only trans people they’re thinking of are trans women) with “rapist man who will rape your kids”. And that’s going to have tons of repercussions for trans women everywhere.
Because it makes bigots feel even more justified in policing bathrooms for gender non-conformity, in confronting and physically attacking trans women, especially trans women of color, in denying trans folk jobs, especially in careers involving care for children, and in denying adoption rights and possibly in deciding child custody during divorce proceedings.
It also allows an opening for making normal the idea of disgust for trans folk, because hating someone for being “crazy” (which is the ignorant person’s most common current view of us) is a lot harder to sell as socially okay than hating someone for being “a danger to my kids”.
And it’s setting off my depression something fierce, especially since I’ve already had my two (possibly three) brushes with people musing over whether or not to kill me and so it’s setting off my PTSD from that something fierce.
Crazy bigoted straight old white people are going to start running out of things to legally hate. I remember reading that those in favor of HB2 and the like saying that the DOJ was overstepping it’s bounds when they said that transpeople are protected under the discrimination law, stating that they don’t make the laws (the act doesn’t specify trans). However, the Supreme Court has put out a brief stating that it does, and it’s their job to interpret the law. So there’s that.
Everyday, it’s just harder and harder to expect human being to be decent to on another. Well, at least all of them.
I feel like my hate towards Mary has really subsided? Like, she has no power or connections with people. She played her hand too soon and has nothing left. I’m just more upset at the other characters making emotional cuts due to them actually being close to each other.
Yeah, I’m real worried about those angry Carla yelling at what looks like a floor of people preview panels in a few months. I can definitely see Carla getting a big win or a temporary reprieve only to have Mary come back with even more gross garbage.
The arc will end with Carla, desperately hanging onto Ruth and Mary by one hand each over the roof of I.U, unable to lift them both, but unwilling to let either one fall. Mary will have a heel realization and give Carla one last legitimately warm smile, before digging her fingernails into her flesh. Causing Carla’s hand to slip…
For me, it’s more satisfying that Carla gets the revenge that she wants, and that she’s the one to deliver it. It doesn’t have to be gruesome. I think we all just want to see Carla win even more than we want to see Mary lose.
Plus it might help that we have a concurrent storyline in which Amber/AG is dishing out too much vigilante justice, and it’s clearly unhealthy for her and bad news all around. I wouldn’t want Carla to become a violent mess.
That’s the perfect distinction. Same thing with Becky vs ToeDad. It was satisfying to see him getting decked by Joyce, it was WONDERFUL to see Becky flip him the bird and walk out to a bright future full of dinosaurs and mouth smooches.
Carla’s victory can be as simple as a recording setup tracking every transphobic and hatred filled thing Mary said, then giving it to the superiors. Then Mary has no where to go, is expelled, enrolls in a Christian College, and continues her hate with her tribe there.
Or if Willis wants to be optimistic, Mary gets a tough, close call with the law and how her hatred doesn’t fit; and she swallows it and ignores everyone but her tribe until she graduates. That’s more realistic? I guess?
I think it’s because we don’t want Carla to get into trouble. So, we want justifiable revenge for Carla and against Mary… just in a way that Carla doesn’t get in trouble or make us think that, maybe, if we didn’t like her so much, we should want her to be in trouble.
That’s because before Carla started working on her plan, there was no comeuppance on the books for Mary, so people just put in their own. Now that there IS one, people are rooting for it instead.
We know that God answers Lesbian prayers. How about sarcastic prayers?
“Please Gooood, help Mary… oh no, it would be soooo bad if something happened to her… anyway, look into it if you have the time at some point. No rush, really”
There are quite a couple of glee when she was getting her way over Ruth through blackmail. It says a lot about Mary’s type of people that they’re only happy times are when they’re fucking over other people.
As one of those demonic Catholics, I don’t know how non-Catholic Christians (is Protestant a rude word?) enter a prayer without the sign of the cross. How can I know I’m not cussing the Lord directly when I don’t separate my personal thoughts/words from my prayers with the cross sign??? I cuss a lot, so….
Do Catholics where you’re from use “Protestant” as an insult?
I think it’s a perfectly fine word, but most Christians of the strain that Mary belongs to (and Joyce’s and Becky’s families) seem to prefer not using it, possibly because it legitimizes Catholic and Orthodox Christianity too much, and lumps their “non-denominational” faith in with that of Baptists and Presbyterians and the like.
In the absence of a name for this strain, I’m going to call it “Jesusism”, because they don’t like to use the word “Christ”, because it’s just too formal, and they like to talk to Jesus as an equal.
Jesusists, in my experience, don’t make such a separation between when they’re directly addressing God and when they’re not. They walk in fellowship with God every moment of their lives. If they use foul language, they are swearing directly at God. If they engage in sexual acts not acceptable to the Jesusist establishment, they are committing a sex crime against God.
If trying to understand that mindset fills you with deep existential paranoia and dread, you’re beginning to understand how they feel every moment of their lives.
How do they deal with it? Cognitive dissonance, mostly.
Plenty of Jesusists swear, commit adultery, and do all the things they tell people not to do. But God is understanding and forgiving … to members of the in-group.
All those other people claiming to be “Christian”, who are rude to God? They may very well be beyond salvation, and God needs to know you can be counted on to remain loyal when the Apocalypse comes. (Which is soon.)
So anyway… most Protestants (especially Jesusists) don’t make the sign of the cross. They see it as a Catholic thing, and want to avoid such an association.
Closing your eyes and either lowering your head or lifting it to Heaven is an acceptable sign that a prayer has begun … to mortal humans arund you, so they can see how Christian you are.
As for “Protestants” as a cuss, no, we don’t really use it as an insult here, but I can see why people would avoid addressing themselves with it coz it sounds a negative. Though using “Christian” is sorta funny coz Catholics are Christians too, though they sorta see us as “others”. Which is fine by me, Catholicism has a lot of shitty aspects too haha. Imagine a predominantly-Catholic country where divorce and abortion are still illegal. That’s my country hahahah.
This. I’m actually interested in all the plotlines, but this chapter really is spending time on at least 3 major plots with pretty major developments (Becky/Joyce, Amber/Danny/Ethan, Carla/Mary/Ruth/Billie) and checking in on other characters as well. The Walky/Sal stuff might even qualify as another main development.
I suspect it’ll read better collected, when you don’t have to wait weeks to check back in on each plot thread.
Dependencies of all sorts are hard to kick and it always carries a physical cost to do so. She’ll be okay if she can stay on the wagon. Although she’ll probably never be free of the need, her body will mostly recover in time.
Posting as a Christian, it’s depressing that Mary’s religion doesn’t in any way impel her to help Ruth try to make her life better other than by spitting threats and demands.
“it’s depressing that Mary’s religion doesn’t in any way impel her to help Ruth try to make her life better other than by spitting threats and demands.” — Really? That’s the way I feel most devout (and not so devout) religious people behave – You don’t have to look further than the religious right in the U.S. who feel that everybody including the government must kowtow to their wishes and beliefs because god.
the representation you see of the religious right != the VAST MAJORITY of religious people. I ain’t nothin but an atheist over here but don’t slippery-slope all religious people, it’s not useful. there are tonnnnnssssss of queer and trans accepting christian churches in the US. I’m not saying the ugly ones are that exceptional (as in, an exception to hatey bigotry, not “awesome”), probably, but I am saying that you really just cannot paint different kinds of religious people with the same ‘well they’re all nonsensical science-hating bigots, done!” brush. just like you can’t paint *people* with that brush.
Ruth has now put Mary into a very, very difficult position that targets the very centre of her self-identity. What happens if Mary complains that Ruth went back on her word to go to the ‘greatest powers’?
“Well, actually, I appealed to the Lord in prayer. Are you saying that you think that prayer is ineffective and powerless when one is confronting trials? That’s an interesting perspective; maybe I should ask Brown and McIntyre to raise this at church next Sunday; we’ll see what the pastor and the congregation think of your newly sceptical mindset!”
Basically a ‘mutually assured destruction’ counter-measure. If Mary complains to the Administration, Ruth makes her name mud amongst the local churches.
Honestly, I don’t think Ruth has any authority with the local churches. And even if she did, it wouldn’t have any effect. Any church Mary would care about having a bad reputation with would sooner dismiss anything Ruth say as lies of Satan. Hypocrisy can be a very useful tool when you want to live in your own world.
I’m actually worried that we’ll see Mary recruit the “local churches” during the Sunday strip to help her protest Carla’s inclusion in Clark Wing. It’d fit her character as well as all the awful anti-trans nonsense going on right now.
I have a feeling that the resident manager and whomever their boss is, is going to say this to mary’s face, but with more tact: “piss off. can’t do anything about it.”
If I recall they’ve mentioned the reason Ruth stays in charge despite her abuses is just that she doesn’t tend to bother her superiors often. Presumably they’ll be pretty happy to just sit back and wait for the kids to sort this out themselves through violence and intimidation once they realize that’s an option.
Except if her charges start bringing complaints to her superiors, that’s bothering them and it quickly becomes less hassle to replace Ruth than to let her stay.
So far Mary’s the only one even thinking about reporting anything to anybody.
I’m sure a lone incident, followed by Mary quickly being silenced by whatever Carla’s got planned, isn’t gonna immediately get Ruth fired.
It’s expected that stuff will make its way up the chain once in a while. They just know it happens less with Ruth in charge, and they’re willing to turn a blind eye to Ruth’s often quite frankly criminal behavior because of this.
I think Mary could probably manage to make enough noise to at least ruin Ruth’s life, but if she succeeded at that, she would quickly get written off by the forces downstairs as she’s the type to constantly press on an authority figure for everything she wants when she wants it and a lot of what she complains about aren’t really issues that the forces downstairs give a fuck about (like they might have sent someone up to tell Carla to knock it off with the skating, but they’re not going to be in the mood to do that every time Mary hears a loud noise outside or every time a kid does something dumb and silly in the halls.
I don’t really think she could at this point. Because the college is clearly going out of their way for Carla, all Ruth has to do is say that Mary said something crappy about Carla, and Ruth reprimanded her, and now Mary is making up stuff to get back at her. She could have Carla and Billie back it up.
The one complaint that could have traction on Ruth is the one that Mary doesn’t seem to realize is a problem: her threats of violence (and actual violence). That could be corroborated by a bunch of students.
Still, if Ruth has always been like this, I can’t believe that no one would have ratted her out on this before. So they really don’t care. Or, as I’ve long suspected, her violence is exaggerated for the purposes of the comic.
I think her violence has been exaggerated in our minds.
She made those initial threats. She certainly harassed Billie – and continued to “fake fight” with Billie to hide their relationship. She slapped Mary once.
Isn’t that all we’ve actually seen?
Well, she threw Blaine, but she gets points for that, even with the authorities.
Seriously, every time someone brings up her threats of violence, I have to stop and reread the comic again to try and figure out where I missed one. People are acting like she’s routinely starting fistfights with students, instead of, you know, playful jokey threats of violence and a few judo tosses when attacked.
I still maintain that Carla’s “plan” is something completely unrelated to Mary whatsoever, and is entirely based around making her torture herself wondering what’s going to happen when, in fact, nothing is happening.
My daughter was the RA Manager for her College while she was in Grad School; it’s amazing the petty bullshit people wanted to whine about. And it’s pretty hard to get and keep RA’s so they typically don’t get fired on a whim. So unless she’s clubbing baby seals in her dorm room, the RA Manager is likely to only care whether Ruth is keeping her hall controlled.
Besides, right now the only thing Carla is doing is whistling the 1812 Overture; Ruth can’t help it if Mary has rampant paranoia. Maybe she should recommend that Mary get some counseling…
It’s kinda ironic that Mary’s so big on Christianity, yet every time I hear her open her hate-spewing mouth, my first thought is – in the voice of Dule Hill from Psych – “That woman needs Jesus.” (I’m not the only one here who’s watched Psych, am I?)
Pop culture references aside, as a Christian it really bugs me when other people use Christianity – or any other religion that’s supposed to be about love and respect – to spread hate and prejudice. I respect anyone’s right to choose their own religion – or none at all – but when your beliefs infringe on other people’s beliefs and rights, that ain’t good. Why – I ask, rhetorically – do Mary’s beliefs on gender have to take precedence over Carla’s beliefs on gender? People may talk about “religious freedom” when it comes to not baking cakes for gay weddings or restricting bathrooms to transgendered individuals, but what about what the beliefs of those who are being shut out?
Also I’d love to see this conversation happen between Mary and a fully functioning Ruth.
“What do you want me to do specifically? Tell Carla to stop being suspect? We live under rule of law, Mary. That means you can’t punish people for things you think they may do in the future. (Also things you think they are, but I don’t expect you to be able to wrap your head around that concept.) Get back to me when she does something that is against the rules you signed when you moved here. Or better yet, go over my head. Take it to God.”
“Ruth, you break those rules all the time for your benefit and I have evidence of that. Now go break them for my benefit or I throw you to the wolves.”
Ruth really doesn’t have the high moral ground to be talking about “rule of law”.
Mary is the one who wants everyone to live by her rules. It would be hilarious to open a debate where she has to verbalize just how awful they are so she herself can hear it.
But that is the problem. She sees nothing wrong with what she says. She would still say everything that she says, and double down on them. Those are her beliefs.
I don’t know, I’ve never heard anyone actually say “Those weirdos who are different from me offends me with their pretending to be real people and they should stop existing”, like they know it would make them sound like the shittiest person ever if they said it out loud.
So I’ve been reading this comic since it’s beginning (Love your style and your characters.) but I gotta say this:
Mary is the most deplorable Christian I have ever seen in slice of life style story. Really I have a hard time seeing anything redeemable for the…heh, redeemed.
Took me a bit to figure out what you meant, but yeah ‘Dumbing of Age’ (or any 4-syllable phrase) fits nicely with the 4-beat rhythm (Simm!Master’s ‘drumbeat’) that underlies the theme.
Ok, what actual proof besides Ruth looking pretty terrible right now does she HAVE? It could be easy to excuse away Ruth’s appearance as “I’m under the weather right now” unless she reeks of alcohol or something, in which case I feel like more students would be aware of the issue. If she’s otherwise been a great RA (as far as the higher ups can see) then I really doubt they’d do much more than a look through her dorm (and I’m guessing she’s cleaned out all the bottles) and shrug.
Mary seems to be under the impression her righteousness will overpower someone’s reputation based on her testimony alone.
And no, Mary, bloodshot eyes aren’t really that unusual on upperclassmen. Granted, most of them have learned to shrug off the burdens of responsibility, but they aren’t the ones that get made into RA’s.
… Holy cow.
That’s the only thing Mary thinks she’s holding over Ruth’s head, isn’t it?
Does Mary really not grasp the relationship Ruth had with Billie?
As wonderful as it is to see Ruth protecting Carla and Carla working on her revenge, I really hope this storyline is over soon. I’m not even trans and reading the things Mary is saying is upsetting as hell.
It’s adorable that you think that Marys are rare. They’re not. The only thing that’s odd about Mary is that she thinks the people in authority will side with her instead of being in the pocket of the evil liberals who want to cram their horrible agenda of not being able to treat people like shit.
If you REALLY want to see the true dregs of humanity, there’s a site called fstdt.com. It’s short for fundies say the darnest things, and it will take any faith you may still have in humanity, kill it, and make you horrified that you ever had it.
WARNING: If I understood correctly what the term means, the quotes on that site deserve a trigger warning for EVERYTHING. It hits all the bad notes and comes up with quite a few of its own. If it ever made you want to curl up and cry or punch someone in the teeth so hard they have to take their meals with the back of their heads, it’s there.
Except the top quote here: http://fstdt.com/Top100.aspx The tale of the Leviathan (I’m sorry, Leviathon, which I assume is its unable to spell cousin) in the bathtub is something to marvel at for generations to come.
There’s really no sliding scale of “thinking people who are different aren’t real humans”. I’m surprised many people seem to be reading this strip as Mary sinking to new depths, when everything she has done is entirely expected from someone who gets angry while secretly watching girls she doesn’t know kiss.
… There some reason you’re so desperate for her to? She’s pretty clearly utterly without compassion for those who she sees as sinners. Why the hell would you expect that to be different in any other situation?
Where did Hollywood go so wrong? I thought movies were supposed to be an escape from reality, a chance to put your worries aside and not have to think about any underlying ideas or concepts. Well, not anymore.
theonion.com/you-can...
It's not a new argument, of course, but Chesterton dismissed it effectively in 1908.
"You will hear everlastingly... this argument that the rich man cannot be bribed. The fact is, of course, that the rich man is bribed; he has been bribed already. That is why he is a rich man."
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com ⋅ 16h
Hawley dismisses Trump lining his pockets with his memecoin: "Listen, I think nobody believes that Donald Trump can be bought. I mean, what does Donald Trump need more money for?"
wilbur, savvy enough to know he's in a comic strip but still not a great actor, awkwardly lifts a muffin up into frame so that we, the audience, understand that he has a muffin right now, which is very important narratively, but he's not really selling it well as an organic, human action
confirming that the reason there's been no Galaxy Version female characters in Blokees until now is that they felt they needed to make Round Lady Thighs For Ladies
It's #webcomicday? We have a special day???
Well, my name is Pat McHoarney and I draw 69 Mouse-Ear Blvd, a multigenerational story about women who all have sexy legs and probably other features. There was a grandmother, but she wasn't hot and so she died off-panel.
Elizabeth Holmes is in prison for defrauding investors through her blood-testing company, Theranos. Her partner, Billy Evans, is now trying to raise money for a company that describes itself as “the future of diagnostics.” nyti.ms/3FbtZm9
www.ebay.com/itm/23609767...
selling my netflix war for cybertron megatron -- the walmart exclusive one that came with pinpointer and lionizer (but being sold here without pinpointer and lionizer)
Gran... IS ALIVE?
okay, juliette still has brown hair, so this is probably definitely a flashback
i'm just surprised that the comic has remembered her, at all
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com ⋅ 16h
Pavel
@spavel.bsky.social ⋅ 10d
The New York Times @nytimes.com ⋅ 5d
preternia @preternia.com ⋅ 3d
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oh come on, Satan’s RIGHT THERE
ya, but carla’s probably got that covered
Who, Mary?
…Yes.
“Dear Satan, I want a pony, and a dollhouse, and Mary’s smug face smooshed between my knuckles in a repercussion-free manner, kthx”
I’ll see what I can do.
Why does no one ever care about Stolas? He teaches science and medicine. Also, he’s a frigging dinosaur. Sure, so is Caim, but no one likes a politician.
Dear Satan: We all know that Mary is one of yours. So we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind just collecting your trash now get it out of our way?
God: “Sorry, but I kinda want to see where Carla’s going with this.”
She isn’t praying for God to stop Carla, just make sure Mary gets out alright
No, she’s just sending her thoughts and prayers, which are
“I think Mary needs to sod the fuck off”
and
“I pray Mary will GTFO”
Exactly.
On dealing with a particularly sanctimonious and frequently complaining reader, the late editorial cartoonist Doug Marlette observed that being on her prayer list is “little different from being on her shit list.”
Or, she’s praying that God helps Mary overcome her hatred and anger and accept people as they are. Once Mary repents and gives up her bigotry, Carla’s revenge will become unnecessary.
She’s praying that the Lord cures Mary of her cranio-rectal inversion.
Pretty sure she’s praying ironically since god is “the greatest power” at her disposal
thoughts and prayers can mean good or bad
I am thinking about bad things happening to her and praying my thoughts are true later.
I imagine that being the case.
“Thoughts and prayers” is what Americans send when they aren’t going to do shit about something.
It’s literally the *least* someone can do.
Politicians love this line because it makes their constituents think they give a crap about what happens to them. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of West Deertick, that the stinkbug plague will soon pass and we can begin picking up the pieces.”
Specifically, it’s what politicians say after every mass shooting, instead of actually doing something.
Right wing politicians send “hopes & prayers”. Left wing politicians just sort of flail around ineffectively, which amounts to the same thing.
When every law you try to pass gets shut down by the right wing politicians, flail ineffectively is all y’all can do.
Can’t deny that, though my dad used to get frustrated with the disunity on the left. After the failure of universal health care in 1993 with a Democratic House, Democratic super majority in the Senate and a Democratic President, my father said, “Only Democrats form circular firing squads.” Case in point was how healthcare reform went down in the first years of the Obama administration. After watching the Democratic super majority fumble around John Stewart said in frustration,”Democrats couldn’t get laid in a house [where people’s] sole purpose is to have consequence and disease-free sex with legislators on finance committees.” Half the time the left is it’s own worst enemy.
Actually, I think Ruth really feels passionately about what she’s saying. She’s just not saying all of it, out loud.
Here’s what we hear:
“Dear Lord, I am sending my thoughts and prayers for Mary.”
Here’s what she’s saying:
“Dear Lord, I am sending my thoughts and prayers for Mary (TO DIE IN A FIRE. PLEASE MAKE HER SUFFER!)
This is how I read it, too.
Even if she does believe in God (and I’m not certain that she does), Ruth is the type of cynic to believe that “thoughts and prayers” will do jack-shit.
Well maybe not so much “getting out alright” rather “getting out not dead”.
“Dear Lord, please let this end in a way that doesn’t result in lawsuits or legal charges.”
God IS an ACME Anvil ™
No, God is an iron. Felons practice felony…
God doesn’t care, God just wants us to bring back Enterprise and the Yip-Yip Martians.
Enterprise after fourth season started, though. Third season was an abomination in His eyes.
“Actually I’m already pending a request to kill Mary, so I’ll have to get back to you on that.”
It may look like Ruth’s praying for something bad to happen to Mary. Not so! She’s petititioning the Lord for all good things to be sent Mary’s way. Except! Ruth’s doing so while drunk (or possibly hungover), and it is written: “Do not drink wine nor strong drink […] when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation” (Leviticus 10:9). Thus, Ruth’s prayer will get twisted, and bad things will happen to Mary. Genius!
It’s DIABOLICAL.
I mean, whatever Carla’s up to is definitely more diabolical, but this is a pretty damn good jab on Ruth’s part.
I mean good jarb.
I mean good jeorb.
Jeeourb!
Jeee-o-o-a-r-ub!
Joreeairb!
Did someone take yours?
It probably was Fhqwhgads.
Ruth is detoxing.
I wish for good things to come to Mary.
Carla’s vengeance is a very good thing.
Yeah. Mary’s screwed! ^_^
Mary keeps falling for that.
Mary isn’t very bright.
I’ve seen burnt out bulbs shine brighter.
I’ve seen sharper Nerf balls.
“As sharp as a bag of wet mice.” – F.L.
As delicate as a sledgehammer.
“About as useful as a screen door on a submarine.”
It complements her bigotry.
Well, if she was bright she wouldn’t be harassing people in the first place.
yes, but c’mon. this is thor and loki levels of really?
http://images.fashionnstyle.com/data/images/full/117841/tom-hiddleston-fall-for-that-gif.gif
She’s the sharpest bulb in the box sometimes.
…In that she could really use a good screwing, but that she’d probably end up injuring anyone who tried?
In that the sharpest bulb is the broken one?
I like to say “not the sharpest spoon in the drawer” myself.
Ok I am a christian but this was great!
Dude, if you’ve been having trouble because you’re sympathizing with Mary up til now, you need to go back through the bible.
Just ignore most of the old testament and stuff and you’ll be fine.
nope I have no problem with what is happening to that bongo.
Nobody does. Because she is a spiteful, odious douchenozzle.
I’m going to start using “bongo” as an insult, thanks
The comment automoderation system replaces the word for female dog with bongo.
maybe so but i like it even thought it was a censorship thing. makes it funny.
Well, I think it is a censorship thing. There’s a program that automatically censors any language that’s fucking offensive
And the f word didn’t get hit, which seems to imply it’s for actual offensive language (the b word and c word are offensive to females, obviously the n word is offensive but I imagine a comment like that wouldn’t be posted at all, fag is offensive to homosexuals so I imagine that might not rhyme with bag by the time it passes through the filter, etc)
Well, I guess it’s not as offensive. It is sort of a reclaimed word
I don’t think any Christian I have known, including the fundies, would sympathise with Mary. She has only become more dislikable the more we see of her. At best she may end up a pitiable but unsympathetic character.
I misread that as “including the furries” and I was very confused as to why you thought Christian furries would be more likely to sympathize with Mary than Christian non-furries.
*and an encore of “Mary’s Prayer” on the hacked Muzak*
after that I think a little Run DMC is in order…
And people say I Monkee around…
“Dear Lord, please forsake Mary, she’s a list cause.”
*lost
No, it was right the first time.
A list cause is when you are something on the shit list to be fixed.
“And a burden to us all”
I would’ve never thought of Ruth as the religious type…..I guess Mary won that battle.
Well, she didn’t specify, but the Lord she’s addressing is Lord Cthulu.
OR the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Or J. R. “Bob” Dobbs, may he live in slackness.
Or Kaname Madoka.
So Carla is planning a production of the King in Yellow?
Nah. She’s just doing it on a technicality. She was honest, yet knows that prayer doesn’t actually do anything.
But Mary, being a devout christian, can’t argue against it because that would mean she would doubt the power of prayer.
It’s genious, really…
This.
And best of all, it’s what Mary would do if someone asked her to give her “all” to another person’s cause.
And Mary totally would have complained about it if she were actually paying attention, too. The hypocrite.
Don’t take away Mary’s victory here. Through sheer virtue of her shining personality she convinced someone it was worth their time praying to the holey ghost! And by that I mean a literal ghost with holes in it like Swiss cheese. Trust me it works. Ghosts really have it all figured out.
I don’t believe Mary won a damn thing.
Ruth said she’d go to the highest power at her disposal. And she has done so.
Now then, look at how she prayed and describe what it really means…nothing.
I was gonna say that as much as it weirded me out, it’s been implied (directly by Billie, but throughout) that basically everyone is Christian or passively Christian, and people told me that yeah that sounded realistic to this locality, so it makes sense that Ruth would be-
But then I remembered that Ruth grew up in Canada, so that doesn’t really apply to her.
Because I still can’t get my head around assuming most of them are Christian, my first assumption was that it was just a joke to herself while also fulfilling two promises- she took it to the most high up (regardless of belief, and besides, Mary believes) and she is not preventing anyone from doing anything to Mary.
Ruth is probably agnostic.
Makes sense, I was thinking agnostic/apathetic
Canadian here – most of white Canada is Christian or passively Christian, but not in a big, outspoken way. In the country, even Joyce would be a little extreme in outward devotion. In more multicultural areas, like cities, a Mary type (leaving aside the bigotry – just looking at how explicit she is in her religion) or a Joyce type would be considered rude, just because it’s not something you’re that in others’ face about. A politician wearing their religion on their sleeve like they do in the states actually hurts their elect-ability up here among most of the country. Politicians are generally expected to be religious, but quietly so, if that makes sense – wear your cross or turban or niqab or kippah or etc, and observe your religion in peace, but don’t make your religion others’ business.
It’s the one thing that takes me a bit aback whenever I travel South of the border – around here it’s an unspoken social rule that you don’t talk religion or politics in polite/professional settings, in the cities at least. Down there, it seems like every second person is God this and Bless that and etc, or dragging their religion into discussions that have nothing to do with religion.
It sounds so nice up there in Canada. Because honestly I am sickened with how they try to push religion into every little thing down here in America.
Try living in a country with the Vatican in the middle…
Sigh…
(nice to “meet” other Italian DoA readers though)
Even into pierogis?
Note to self:
New religion to try out: mashed potatoes and cheese.
I’m kinda sick of family members silently shaming me because I decided I wasn’t going to bother with all of that and they’re all Catholic.
I can’t figure out if my Catholic family is more horrified that I’m aggressively agnostic or that I’m queer and trans. And hey, as long as I’m drunk, it is so bad it rolls around into “so bad it’s hilarious” territory.
I see you haven’t been to rural central Alberta then. They have people there who make Toedad seem like a slacker.
No – closest in terms of culture I was is rural NS, which gets pretty religious fundie… but it’s a weird sort of religious fundie where they won’t let their kids play with the atheist’s kid, but they won’t like proselytize at you either.
Huh. I’m from BC, and although I obviously have a small sample size, basically everyone I have known, unless pointedly religious, has been agnostic or atheist.
Rorborat- Well it was clarified that that was in the cities, unless you mean my exception for Ruth, in which case she doesn’t strike me as rural, but I suppose we might find out.
Can we assume you’re from a city? I’m from Toronto originally, and am adjusting to South-Western Ontario. I’m always shocked to discover that there are lot more people who are quietly religious (or passively so) than I expected – i.e. a non-zero number – around here. And even more so if you get out of the city and into the townships. Some of the townships here start council meetings with the Lord’s Prayer. (I believe there is an official policy to stop if/when there is ever a complaint, but that still says a lot. I mean, that in no way means that everyone is both religious and Christian, because of the politeness ichemgeek mentions, but it’s still very surprising to me.)
Canadian Atheist living in rural area, I can say that most people keep to themselves about their religion. But If it comes up I am definitely the odd one out (although the young people are better). people can be pretty dumb about their religion though, I work in a Jail and had a fellow officer allow a visit without proper security screening or even checking ID because the guy was a priest… I just about strangled him, but a lot of people din’t think it was a problem. Oh and the offender was in for child abuse based around fundemental beliefs taught by the priest in question.
I love how so many people in this comic pray passive-aggressively. It’s just somehow really satisfying.
It’s the best kind.
I mean, well, technically.
Lord: Meh. Que sera sera.
I’m rooting for Carla here. Carla is hilarious as a side character and I love when she pushes Mary’s buttons. The interactions between the two of them are just absolutely priceless.
Everyone is rooting for Carla. Because Mary is a raging prickmuffin.
Ohhh, prickmuffin, that is a new one, I like it, definitely adding to my collection.
‘I’m rooting for the transphobe,’ said no one ev- oh wait, no, a fuckton of people said that or as much as said it on previous strips in this arc.
Fucking really?
I haven’t seen any, but maybe that’s why the first interaction with Mary and Carla has disabled comments.
Any case, I want Mary to be destroyed.
That’s exactly why, actually. And then the first thread that opened up again had 500+ comments.
I assume it’s stuff that’s been deleted. There was a lot of pro-Mary stuff before the transphobia bomb, but I haven’t seen any afterwards. At most, just people saying Carla is horrible, too, and blaming her for starting everything.
Yeah, it was like a continuation of the blame line, except basically saying ‘so Mary has a right to say anything she wants,’ sometimes continuing ‘and besides, calling her that is way less damaging than Carla annoying her and skating in the halls.’ Probably cropped up on the first one with comments after? Ruth’s non-interference? I can’t remember if Cerb hung around for that, or I would suggest ctrl f ing her to get the gist of terrible people.
Yeah, Willis has screen-capped some of the more egregious versions as well. Honestly, all the villains seem to attract creepy apologists from time to time.
Ah Karma.
Did you mean, “Ah Carla.”
CARLA, KARMA CHAMELEON
YOU COME AND GO, YOU COME AND GO-OO-OOH
Huh. How long has it been since Ruth quit the sauce? Because I work with several dudes on probation or parole, and the test they have to do for alcohol only tells you if you drank in the last 7 days. Ruth volunteers for that, pops clean, and Mary looks like a fool who mistook exhaustion for a hangover.
One evening, I’m pretty sure, so she’s got 6 days and about 2-3 books before she can try that out assuming no relapses (which are likely).
Honestly, Mary learning about the alcoholism is the worst thing for her right now, because it’s the one that’s easiest to prove and is most likely to be taken as something more than Mary being a loud bigot.
Yeah it kind of worries me :/
Which unfortunately means we’ll be tolerating Mary’s bullsh-…I mean appreciating Mary’s justifiable and altruistic concern for some time to come.
“6 days”
So like, half a year.
You’re optimistic. The six days between the start of Whiteboard Dingdong Bandit and the end of To Those Who’d Ground Me lasted from July 6, 2014 to November 25, 2015. And Willis has already said the current arcs are running long, so I would not at all be surprised if we’re waiting a year and a half for this to stop being a thing hanging over her head.
UGH
The first three weeks of the comic ran roughly a year of real time each. Week Four was a hefty year and nine months. Week Five has been ten months so far, and it’s only Saturday… and we skipped Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday completely. Six days, if stuff actually happens, is a year easy, probably more.
I don’t think the alcoholism is the easiest thing to prove. Ruth is a closet drunk. She doesn’t go out and party.
If she went to class drunk she would have been gone a long time ago.
So 6 days sober for the test, or about 6 months DoA time.
Humm that equals no worries. I think Carla will either kill Mary or drive her mad before Ruth has to worry about her.
Wait, how old is Ruth? I’ve been assuming she’s at least 21, which would mean she’d just have to claim she’s not drinking on campus, right? Does her job prohibit her from drinking at all?
Ruth is 20. I asked Willis one time because I was wondering about her drinking legality status, too.
IU is a dry campus, so she officially shouldn’t be drinking regardless of her age. As an RA, whose job includes enforcing that alcohol policy, being caught under the influence would probably be a firing offense.
I think what Toad meant is that if she was of legal drinking age (which according to John she isn’t) then technically she could leave campus during her free time, drink legally, and return to campus to sleep without having violated any rules or procedure.
Actually, what if she tuns 21in the next day or two? That would be convenient, especially because withdrawals are visibly beyond regular hangovers, but birthday could imply both a lot of drinking and her first time drinking, meaning she might be kind of gross following.
Are you forbidden from drinking at all if you live on a dry campus? If she was 21 (I know she’s not), I assumed it could be explained as ‘oh yeah, we went to (a pub) the other day.’
Average student? Probably fine.
RA? An individual intended to represent the college’s rules in handling dorm matters? No. Entering the dorm drunk would likely count as being drunk on the job.
My other thought was if she’s allowed to wander that much/far at night rather than being there in case something happens.
Oh Lord, thou that are in christian heaven, how much shit is Mary in?
And the Lord spaketh: TOTES.
…The Lord kinda talks like Robin, try not to think about that too much.
The DeSanto family is huge, we knew that.
Y’know, we’ve never actually seen Robin’s father,,,
We did in Shortpacked in a flashback. He’s a cheating asswipe.
Kingdom come what Carla ought wrought
On Hell as it is on Earth
How much shit is Mary in? The angels can take the soundings with a short rope.
RUTH: “Dear Willis, please kill Mary. … Also, no trucks. Thanks.”
Readers: “Dear Willis, please kill Mary. …Also, please change the universe so we can get some of that HOT HOT Ethanny man-lovin’ without destroying Amber in the process, kthx”
I can only hope Willis forgives me, for I am not sober, and that colors what I’m about to say in regards to Mary.
God, what a conga.
I know, right?
#trufax
You’re just saying what everyone else is thinking.
They are, they are.
I really, really don’t like Mary, but if the bongo word isn’t allowed here, I doubt that word is–or at least, I feel it shouldn’t be. (I know –or I’ve heard– that bongo is banned because it was being used too much, so maybe that doesn’t apply here at all. But still.)
I was surprised that it didn’t filter.
Bongo only got filtered because people overused it when Roz pissed them off.
Huh, don’t remember being irritated by Roz at any point. Either forgot the storyline, or I understood it’s nature.
She has neither the warmth, the depth, the strength, or the charm of that reproductive organ, sadly.
She’s more like a douche, toxic, cloying, bad for one’s health, and sold by hateful idiots who like to slag on lesbians for the hell of it.
She’s terrible on the inside, like those vomit-flavored jellybeans.
Well, she’s in our thoughts and prayers.
And the Lord spake, saying, “Let there be prank…”
And the Lord Jesus said forth: “Though shalt teach that insufferable skank a lesson”.
I love Ruth right now.
astoundly admiring mary’s ability to accelerate her asshole attitude
Amazing alliteration!
Ooooh, Mary’s gonna need it.
I love Ruth’s reaction in the first panel. “Yeah, I also heard the Pope’s still Catholic and bears shit in the woods.”
Bears are Catholic, and the Pope shits in the woods.
I live in a place where there are millions of Catholic people and lots of bears, and this creeps me out.
Quebec?
Sharp!
Then you probably shouldn’t think about all Catholics are secretly bears, and how the Pope shits wood.
But according to Stephen Colbert, bears are Godless Killing Machines.
Well maybe Russian bears.
Only when they aren’t dancing or riding bicycles.
Or raiding city dumpsters…what, some bears do that.
God: Sorry, but no. People like her are why I made Schadenfreude.
“Never enjoy someone’s misery…unless it’s Mary.”
Sadly, Mary has not grasped that the Lord Almighty, should He exist On High, is probably rooting for Carla.
After all, God likes skee-ball and cartwheels, so Carla’s got a few points in her favor.
….That’s what Mary’s banking on? That the manager will interpret Ruth being bloodshot as “alcoholic going through withdrawal” and not “college student looking like a college student?”
jfc, particularly senior year, with graduate school admissions and/or job hunt.
I was thinking the same thing! Also, you can pile “babysitting 30 18-year olds” onto that pile too. No wonder she’d be exhausted.
Manager: You look awful, have you slept?
Ruth: … technically, no.
Manager: Fuck, no wonder. So Mary, why should I care right now?
Mary: You don’t understand, she doesn’t respond right to my blackmail and she lets that t-slur wander around like it’s people and…
Manager: I’m really sorry, Ruth. You may go. Me and this student need to talk a bit more about appropriate behavior on campus.
Mary: No, she’s a secret lesbo, I’m telling you. And there’s secret queers living on this floor, but not right now for some reason. And the t-slur is after me and is definitely up to something, you gotta believe me!!!!
Now I want this to happen…
I want this, but I somehow doubt Willis would make it that easy…he enjoys the tears of the readers too much.
GOD WILLS IT
This looks astonishingly like GOD, WILLIS
Deus vult
Willis vult.
I’ve never, ever been able to wrap my mind around people like Mary, usually religious, who are all mad/offended by the choices/actions of another person, when ALL of their issues could be solved by just fucking ignoring that person. Just. Ignore. It. I just can’t fathom giving that much of a shit about the actions of another person that I’d get my panties that much in a wad about it.
The problem is that they’ve never stuck their nose into someone else’s business, only to have it snapped off.
It probably has a lot to do with the fact that abrahamic religion — both present and CERTAINLY in the past — has always been very fascistic, even down to the scriptures themselves.
Very rarely have they not been, and it’s mostly now in modern times when it’s slowly losing its grip over the people that it realizes that it cannot afford to be so fascistic anymore.
But of course, like with stuff like creationism, which was disproven long ago, there will always be people lagging behind…
That’s…not very accurate. Fascism is hardly even applicable to multinational religion.
Historians liken them closer to a welfare state:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_health_care#Middle_Ages
Yeah, there were times when we got shitty Popes who advocated Crusades instead of peace, and there’s still in many places a strong element of control rather than the more open forms (which have also always existed), but that’s still not very applicable to what Fascism is.
It’s also…not something in any way unique to the Abrahamic religions. Pretty much any religion that ever got popular was quickly subverted into the existing power structure, so you almost always get it being used to justify whatever the existing ruler wants to do. The main difference is that Christianity and modern Judaism emphasized caring for the poor. (Not sure about Islam, though they probably do that as well – what I can definitely confirm is that it is historically noted that Christianity basically originated the idea of the religion systematically caring for the poor.)
It’s about power. Destroying someone’s life, making someone miserable, hurting someone for what they are, killing someone different.
These things make one feel powerful in a chaotic seemingly-random world where our little pieces of humanity don’t really affect all that much. It’s a cheap way to feel one matters because by destroying someone you show you at least have the power to destroy that person’s life.
Combine that with an expectation that the world is a certain way and you shouldn’t have to learn and adapt to the existence of people who are not like you and a belief that you are inherently better than certain categories of people, mix it up with some toxic societal/religious beliefs and voila, you have a little shit stain like Mary or the numerous of politicians right now stoking fear of trans people shitting to wring a little more hate money out of the rubes.
I’ll let you know when they stop killing each other over minor doctrinal disputes.
Reminds me of Fiddler on the Roof.
“Rabbi! May I ask you a question?”
“Certainly, Lebisch!”
“Is there a proper blessing for the Tsar?”
“A blessing for the Tsar? Of course! May God bless and keep the Tsar… far away from us!”
+1
Never before has passive-aggressive praying been so satisfying.
I think Ruth doesn’t believe in god and is just doing that to “do something”‘ and stop Mary’s pointless whining. You GO Carla sweetie.
I’m reeling a bit due to the new proposed Arkansas law making using the “wrong bathroom” as a trans person a sex offense leading one to have to register as a sex offender and the New York Times article that found out about a trans boy getting bullied by his peers and school and decided to throw its full support behind the type of fucks who wear “Straight Pride” shirts and claim a trans boy rushing as quick as possible to the stalls is “invading a vulnerable sanctum where boys are exposed at the urinals”, so this’ll probably be shorter than usual, but comic reactions:
Panel 1: And here we see Mary collapsing into herself right on cue. Because she’s really only got one mode when confused or out of her comfort zone and that’s angry appeals to authority. Carla isn’t cowering in fear and hiding herself from the light of day and is being all intentionally clandestine, so Mary immediately goes running to Ruth to complain despite literally having nothing.
Carla understands Mary far better than Mary will ever let herself understand Carla. And that’s why she’ll lose this next battle…
Panel 2: Though this panel is why that might not matter. Her other mode when losing is to escalate the game. We see it with Mary doing a redux of her “you’re not jumping when I want, so therefore, all the blackmail and threats of firing” act from back during the Whiteboard Dindong Bandit arc.
And we see it in her little fucking transphobic dig of “misplaced freak”. It’s a reminder that even if Carla thoroughly gets over on Mary, Mary will probably retaliate in the most hurtful way she can just because she can’t stand to lose.
But hey, maybe Carla can shake her up enough to get her to temporarily back off with her shit.
Panels 3 and 4: And confirmation that what Mary actually wants is total supplication to her whims, dropping literally everything to deal with her petty bullshit. People aren’t people to her, even ones in (secular) authority. They’re just pawn pieces in the epic chess match that is Mary vs The Sinners.
I’m reminded a lot of Granny Weatherwax talking about how all problems stem from treating people like things.
Panel 6: Nice evisceration of the “thoughts and prayers is the most powerful force for good I can do right now” crowd. And a nice swerve to Mary’s demands. And here we see the other way of dealing with Mary. Ruth’s just been accepting Mary’s demands in the moment and then passively handling them in the way where she changes nothing that matters.
It’ll be interesting to see what drives Mary fully up the wall first. Carla’s refusal to be the destroyed bullying victim or Ruth’s refusal to be the good blackmail victim?
This is such a group prayer moment. Mary runs in a makes a lot of noise, but is easily deflected.
I fear we are being lulled into a false sense of security. Next time will not be as easy…
*sympathy by light touch* Sorry about all the bullshit. Hang in there.
Granny Weatherwax would never has suffered Mary’s bullshit past the first whine that came out of her mouth.
Granny Weatherwax was one of the greats.
By Cer that law is messed up. Let it fail.
Come to Canada. We suck in some ways, but we’re actively taking steps against transphobia and violence. And Ruth would totally back me, if only because Canada.
Ceding territory and moving away, while sometimes tempting, is not the solution.
Wait, there’s ANOTHER ONE? If the DoJ told NC’s HB2 to fuck right off, do they really expect that one to get a pass? What the fuck do you people have in the water in the US?
*looks at Flint news*
Oh…
I couldn’t find anything on the new Arkansas bill. Not to make you dwell on it any more, but what stage is it at? Does it actually look like it’s got a decent chance of passing?
There are a lot of stupid and horrible bills proposed every year, the vast majority of which go nowhere. They just let some idiot Rep tell his backers that he tried.
I think she’s referring to this: http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2016/05/18/report-missy-irvin-plans-to-make-it-a-sex-crime-to-use-wrong-restroom
Toilet Terrorists of the Republican Party sounds like a great name for a band, though. Also, forget porn – the last thing I’d be comfortable with my mom finding in my google search history is now “arkansas restroom law.”
Also, this piece: http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/transgender-bathroom-debate-coming-to-ar gives us this gem:
He says Arkansas law currently does not specify which bathroom people must use.
“That’s something all of our lawmakers ought to be looking into,” he said. “We’re certainly looking into it.”
Because the number one issue in the world is the sign on the door of the stalls where people pee. The number two issue is, of course, the one on the door of the stalls where people poop.
So it looks like it hasn’t been officially introduced yet and is facing opposition from the governor and other party leaders, if only for tactical reasons. I doubt this one’s going anywhere, at least not this year.
It’s not so much that it has a real chance of passing (cause it doesn’t). It’s more the escalation of these tactics. This is all pretty much being coordinated by the ADF and the other professional homophobe groups and the fact that a sitting state congresscritter felt safe floating this type of law and felt it would serve as something they could brag about to their constituents is a sign of how much these laws are escalating and is a sign of what people will probably try and sneak into a broader bill later.
And it’s part of a bigger push to fully link the ideas of trans person (and let’s be honest, the only trans people they’re thinking of are trans women) with “rapist man who will rape your kids”. And that’s going to have tons of repercussions for trans women everywhere.
Because it makes bigots feel even more justified in policing bathrooms for gender non-conformity, in confronting and physically attacking trans women, especially trans women of color, in denying trans folk jobs, especially in careers involving care for children, and in denying adoption rights and possibly in deciding child custody during divorce proceedings.
It also allows an opening for making normal the idea of disgust for trans folk, because hating someone for being “crazy” (which is the ignorant person’s most common current view of us) is a lot harder to sell as socially okay than hating someone for being “a danger to my kids”.
And they’re not exactly being subtle about this shit:
http://www.joemygod.com/2016/05/18/minnesota-haters-plan-mobile-billboard-campaign-against-all-72-target-outlets-in-the-state-video/
And it’s setting off my depression something fierce, especially since I’ve already had my two (possibly three) brushes with people musing over whether or not to kill me and so it’s setting off my PTSD from that something fierce.
I dunno, headspaces, man.
Crazy bigoted straight old white people are going to start running out of things to legally hate. I remember reading that those in favor of HB2 and the like saying that the DOJ was overstepping it’s bounds when they said that transpeople are protected under the discrimination law, stating that they don’t make the laws (the act doesn’t specify trans). However, the Supreme Court has put out a brief stating that it does, and it’s their job to interpret the law. So there’s that.
Everyday, it’s just harder and harder to expect human being to be decent to on another. Well, at least all of them.
I mean, Mary can’t say Ruth didn’t do as asked, or she’s admitting that God isn’t those things.
Erm, or, at least didn’t do as she said she would. If God doesn’t stop Carla, that’s on Him, though.
I feel like my hate towards Mary has really subsided? Like, she has no power or connections with people. She played her hand too soon and has nothing left. I’m just more upset at the other characters making emotional cuts due to them actually being close to each other.
For me, this is such a “ToeDad takes the bus” moment. An easy defeat that will be followed by a much worse situation.
Yeah, I’m real worried about those angry Carla yelling at what looks like a floor of people preview panels in a few months. I can definitely see Carla getting a big win or a temporary reprieve only to have Mary come back with even more gross garbage.
And seriously, just all of my middle fingers for her little “misplaced freak” appellation for Carla.
YUP.
But she’s wearing overalls…and she’s not on a farm! Truly she is the greatest of all evils.
Yeah, especially the casual way she throws it out. She is not even trying to get a reaction out of anyone.
Fudge you, Mary
She genuinely believes that Carla is subhuman and so treats her accordingly.
Yup.
I’m hoping this is a signal that later on she’ll blurt out what she really thinks in front of witnesses.
Ideally including the authorities she’s so keen on.
I feel like Carla has somehow made the comment section less violent.
Comments before Carla started planning: I hope Mary gets tossed out of the window onto a bed of broken glass, and has her eyes eaten out by leeches!
Comments after Carla: I hope Mary gets hit by a pie! either that or Carla’s just messing with her!
It’s cause Carla is really non-violent. Not non-angry. Not non-petty. Not non-revenge, but definitely non-violent, definitely non-assault.
So much so that it partially tames the wild blood-hungry beast that is the comment section.
….as if I needed another reason to think Carla is awesome.
The arc will end with Carla, desperately hanging onto Ruth and Mary by one hand each over the roof of I.U, unable to lift them both, but unwilling to let either one fall. Mary will have a heel realization and give Carla one last legitimately warm smile, before digging her fingernails into her flesh. Causing Carla’s hand to slip…
Perhaps a Disney Death then, won’t show her dying so maybe she didn’t really die…
Mary as Zira, got it.
Cue CARLA’s MECHANICAL CHEST HAND!!!!
And the 1812 overture
With cannons.
Right near Mary to scare the crap out of her
Best percussion instrument ever
For me, it’s more satisfying that Carla gets the revenge that she wants, and that she’s the one to deliver it. It doesn’t have to be gruesome. I think we all just want to see Carla win even more than we want to see Mary lose.
Plus it might help that we have a concurrent storyline in which Amber/AG is dishing out too much vigilante justice, and it’s clearly unhealthy for her and bad news all around. I wouldn’t want Carla to become a violent mess.
That’s the perfect distinction. Same thing with Becky vs ToeDad. It was satisfying to see him getting decked by Joyce, it was WONDERFUL to see Becky flip him the bird and walk out to a bright future full of dinosaurs and mouth smooches.
Carla’s victory can be as simple as a recording setup tracking every transphobic and hatred filled thing Mary said, then giving it to the superiors. Then Mary has no where to go, is expelled, enrolls in a Christian College, and continues her hate with her tribe there.
Or if Willis wants to be optimistic, Mary gets a tough, close call with the law and how her hatred doesn’t fit; and she swallows it and ignores everyone but her tribe until she graduates. That’s more realistic? I guess?
Getting hit by a pie is, actually, assault/battery.
Buuuuuuuuttt….
assault/buttery y’mean?
Assault and batter-y maybe?
^^
I think it’s because we don’t want Carla to get into trouble. So, we want justifiable revenge for Carla and against Mary… just in a way that Carla doesn’t get in trouble or make us think that, maybe, if we didn’t like her so much, we should want her to be in trouble.
I’m still rooting for Billie to just deck Mary. It worked in the other universe.
That’s because before Carla started working on her plan, there was no comeuppance on the books for Mary, so people just put in their own. Now that there IS one, people are rooting for it instead.
And the Lord chuckled.
Best comment in the whole thread, by far.
So are Ruth and Billie gonna get back together, or is she going to start a relationship with danny?
Hopefully none of the above!
I’m sticking to “get back together” for now. They clearly love each other, and I adore the both of them.
Plus, we can mine more sorrow from them.
I’m assuming Ruth is sending her thoughts and prayers for Mary to be subject to a good smiting.
Let’s be honest. For Mary, that’s considered a legitimately filed note to the highest authority. She’d probably count it.
THIS IS ADORABLE
ahaha
We know that God answers Lesbian prayers. How about sarcastic prayers?
“Please Gooood, help Mary… oh no, it would be soooo bad if something happened to her… anyway, look into it if you have the time at some point. No rush, really”
Best thing is, Mary can’t even really complain, since she’s all bout that fire and brimstone “God’s authority above all” bullshit :p
Amen to that.
Is there an image of Mary’s face actually happy… or at least below an 8 on the rage scale?
There are quite a couple of glee when she was getting her way over Ruth through blackmail. It says a lot about Mary’s type of people that they’re only happy times are when they’re fucking over other people.
Just interesting to see someone so comparatively flat in this comic. The only other character I can think of with so few dimensions is Becky’s Dad.
You know, Mary would be pretty cute if she wasn’t such a raging Asswipe.
Well, as terrible as she is now, like all people there is a chance she will change for the better.
As one of those demonic Catholics, I don’t know how non-Catholic Christians (is Protestant a rude word?) enter a prayer without the sign of the cross. How can I know I’m not cussing the Lord directly when I don’t separate my personal thoughts/words from my prayers with the cross sign??? I cuss a lot, so….
This is such an interesting comment!
Do Catholics where you’re from use “Protestant” as an insult?
I think it’s a perfectly fine word, but most Christians of the strain that Mary belongs to (and Joyce’s and Becky’s families) seem to prefer not using it, possibly because it legitimizes Catholic and Orthodox Christianity too much, and lumps their “non-denominational” faith in with that of Baptists and Presbyterians and the like.
In the absence of a name for this strain, I’m going to call it “Jesusism”, because they don’t like to use the word “Christ”, because it’s just too formal, and they like to talk to Jesus as an equal.
Jesusists, in my experience, don’t make such a separation between when they’re directly addressing God and when they’re not. They walk in fellowship with God every moment of their lives. If they use foul language, they are swearing directly at God. If they engage in sexual acts not acceptable to the Jesusist establishment, they are committing a sex crime against God.
If trying to understand that mindset fills you with deep existential paranoia and dread, you’re beginning to understand how they feel every moment of their lives.
How do they deal with it? Cognitive dissonance, mostly.
Plenty of Jesusists swear, commit adultery, and do all the things they tell people not to do. But God is understanding and forgiving … to members of the in-group.
All those other people claiming to be “Christian”, who are rude to God? They may very well be beyond salvation, and God needs to know you can be counted on to remain loyal when the Apocalypse comes. (Which is soon.)
So anyway… most Protestants (especially Jesusists) don’t make the sign of the cross. They see it as a Catholic thing, and want to avoid such an association.
Closing your eyes and either lowering your head or lifting it to Heaven is an acceptable sign that a prayer has begun … to mortal humans arund you, so they can see how Christian you are.
I hope this helps!
Thanks! That helped!
As for “Protestants” as a cuss, no, we don’t really use it as an insult here, but I can see why people would avoid addressing themselves with it coz it sounds a negative. Though using “Christian” is sorta funny coz Catholics are Christians too, though they sorta see us as “others”. Which is fine by me, Catholicism has a lot of shitty aspects too haha. Imagine a predominantly-Catholic country where divorce and abortion are still illegal. That’s my country hahahah.
Does anybody else feel this arc is dragging?
It’s a bit all over the place. Becky and Joyce is where my interest was.
This. I’m actually interested in all the plotlines, but this chapter really is spending time on at least 3 major plots with pretty major developments (Becky/Joyce, Amber/Danny/Ethan, Carla/Mary/Ruth/Billie) and checking in on other characters as well. The Walky/Sal stuff might even qualify as another main development.
I suspect it’ll read better collected, when you don’t have to wait weeks to check back in on each plot thread.
Willis has made some comments on Twitter recently to suggest that he thinks he has been getting sidetracked a lot.
Yeah, whatever. That’s not going to stop Carla.
Ruth looks terrible. It makes me sad.
Dependencies of all sorts are hard to kick and it always carries a physical cost to do so. She’ll be okay if she can stay on the wagon. Although she’ll probably never be free of the need, her body will mostly recover in time.
Posting as a Christian, it’s depressing that Mary’s religion doesn’t in any way impel her to help Ruth try to make her life better other than by spitting threats and demands.
“it’s depressing that Mary’s religion doesn’t in any way impel her to help Ruth try to make her life better other than by spitting threats and demands.” — Really? That’s the way I feel most devout (and not so devout) religious people behave – You don’t have to look further than the religious right in the U.S. who feel that everybody including the government must kowtow to their wishes and beliefs because god.
the representation you see of the religious right != the VAST MAJORITY of religious people. I ain’t nothin but an atheist over here but don’t slippery-slope all religious people, it’s not useful. there are tonnnnnssssss of queer and trans accepting christian churches in the US. I’m not saying the ugly ones are that exceptional (as in, an exception to hatey bigotry, not “awesome”), probably, but I am saying that you really just cannot paint different kinds of religious people with the same ‘well they’re all nonsensical science-hating bigots, done!” brush. just like you can’t paint *people* with that brush.
Technical truths, the best ones.
Not even God could help Mary now. Or should that be would?
Ruth has now put Mary into a very, very difficult position that targets the very centre of her self-identity. What happens if Mary complains that Ruth went back on her word to go to the ‘greatest powers’?
“Well, actually, I appealed to the Lord in prayer. Are you saying that you think that prayer is ineffective and powerless when one is confronting trials? That’s an interesting perspective; maybe I should ask Brown and McIntyre to raise this at church next Sunday; we’ll see what the pastor and the congregation think of your newly sceptical mindset!”
Basically a ‘mutually assured destruction’ counter-measure. If Mary complains to the Administration, Ruth makes her name mud amongst the local churches.
Honestly, I don’t think Ruth has any authority with the local churches. And even if she did, it wouldn’t have any effect. Any church Mary would care about having a bad reputation with would sooner dismiss anything Ruth say as lies of Satan. Hypocrisy can be a very useful tool when you want to live in your own world.
I’m actually worried that we’ll see Mary recruit the “local churches” during the Sunday strip to help her protest Carla’s inclusion in Clark Wing. It’d fit her character as well as all the awful anti-trans nonsense going on right now.
It’s in God’s hands now so whatever happens is part of his divine plan.
I have a feeling that the resident manager and whomever their boss is, is going to say this to mary’s face, but with more tact: “piss off. can’t do anything about it.”
If I recall they’ve mentioned the reason Ruth stays in charge despite her abuses is just that she doesn’t tend to bother her superiors often. Presumably they’ll be pretty happy to just sit back and wait for the kids to sort this out themselves through violence and intimidation once they realize that’s an option.
Except if her charges start bringing complaints to her superiors, that’s bothering them and it quickly becomes less hassle to replace Ruth than to let her stay.
So far Mary’s the only one even thinking about reporting anything to anybody.
I’m sure a lone incident, followed by Mary quickly being silenced by whatever Carla’s got planned, isn’t gonna immediately get Ruth fired.
It’s expected that stuff will make its way up the chain once in a while. They just know it happens less with Ruth in charge, and they’re willing to turn a blind eye to Ruth’s often quite frankly criminal behavior because of this.
I think Mary could probably manage to make enough noise to at least ruin Ruth’s life, but if she succeeded at that, she would quickly get written off by the forces downstairs as she’s the type to constantly press on an authority figure for everything she wants when she wants it and a lot of what she complains about aren’t really issues that the forces downstairs give a fuck about (like they might have sent someone up to tell Carla to knock it off with the skating, but they’re not going to be in the mood to do that every time Mary hears a loud noise outside or every time a kid does something dumb and silly in the halls.
I don’t really think she could at this point. Because the college is clearly going out of their way for Carla, all Ruth has to do is say that Mary said something crappy about Carla, and Ruth reprimanded her, and now Mary is making up stuff to get back at her. She could have Carla and Billie back it up.
The one complaint that could have traction on Ruth is the one that Mary doesn’t seem to realize is a problem: her threats of violence (and actual violence). That could be corroborated by a bunch of students.
Still, if Ruth has always been like this, I can’t believe that no one would have ratted her out on this before. So they really don’t care. Or, as I’ve long suspected, her violence is exaggerated for the purposes of the comic.
I think her violence has been exaggerated in our minds.
She made those initial threats. She certainly harassed Billie – and continued to “fake fight” with Billie to hide their relationship. She slapped Mary once.
Isn’t that all we’ve actually seen?
Well, she threw Blaine, but she gets points for that, even with the authorities.
Seriously, every time someone brings up her threats of violence, I have to stop and reread the comic again to try and figure out where I missed one. People are acting like she’s routinely starting fistfights with students, instead of, you know, playful jokey threats of violence and a few judo tosses when attacked.
I still maintain that Carla’s “plan” is something completely unrelated to Mary whatsoever, and is entirely based around making her torture herself wondering what’s going to happen when, in fact, nothing is happening.
My daughter was the RA Manager for her College while she was in Grad School; it’s amazing the petty bullshit people wanted to whine about. And it’s pretty hard to get and keep RA’s so they typically don’t get fired on a whim. So unless she’s clubbing baby seals in her dorm room, the RA Manager is likely to only care whether Ruth is keeping her hall controlled.
Besides, right now the only thing Carla is doing is whistling the 1812 Overture; Ruth can’t help it if Mary has rampant paranoia. Maybe she should recommend that Mary get some counseling…
It’s kinda ironic that Mary’s so big on Christianity, yet every time I hear her open her hate-spewing mouth, my first thought is – in the voice of Dule Hill from Psych – “That woman needs Jesus.” (I’m not the only one here who’s watched Psych, am I?)
Pop culture references aside, as a Christian it really bugs me when other people use Christianity – or any other religion that’s supposed to be about love and respect – to spread hate and prejudice. I respect anyone’s right to choose their own religion – or none at all – but when your beliefs infringe on other people’s beliefs and rights, that ain’t good. Why – I ask, rhetorically – do Mary’s beliefs on gender have to take precedence over Carla’s beliefs on gender? People may talk about “religious freedom” when it comes to not baking cakes for gay weddings or restricting bathrooms to transgendered individuals, but what about what the beliefs of those who are being shut out?
Like fire… Hellfire…
It’s funny cause in Mary’s world, begging the invisible magic man in the sky to fix everything for you is using “the greatest power at your disposal”.
Also I’d love to see this conversation happen between Mary and a fully functioning Ruth.
“What do you want me to do specifically? Tell Carla to stop being suspect? We live under rule of law, Mary. That means you can’t punish people for things you think they may do in the future. (Also things you think they are, but I don’t expect you to be able to wrap your head around that concept.) Get back to me when she does something that is against the rules you signed when you moved here. Or better yet, go over my head. Take it to God.”
“Ruth, you break those rules all the time for your benefit and I have evidence of that. Now go break them for my benefit or I throw you to the wolves.”
Ruth really doesn’t have the high moral ground to be talking about “rule of law”.
…Really, the only one she violates regularly is the one for underage drinking. She’s fine here, especially in comparison to petty cissexist bullshit.
Though Rule of Law is not the choice of words I’d use for enforcing normal rules.
Also frankly after all that vigilante defense I’m surprised to see you hold the rule of law as something to be esteemed. B
Mary is the one who wants everyone to live by her rules. It would be hilarious to open a debate where she has to verbalize just how awful they are so she herself can hear it.
But that is the problem. She sees nothing wrong with what she says. She would still say everything that she says, and double down on them. Those are her beliefs.
I don’t know, I’ve never heard anyone actually say “Those weirdos who are different from me offends me with their pretending to be real people and they should stop existing”, like they know it would make them sound like the shittiest person ever if they said it out loud.
So I’ve been reading this comic since it’s beginning (Love your style and your characters.) but I gotta say this:
Mary is the most deplorable Christian I have ever seen in slice of life style story. Really I have a hard time seeing anything redeemable for the…heh, redeemed.
Not a criticism, just something I’ve noticed.
Just realised that Dumbing of Age scans nicely with the Doctor Who theme …
OK then…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Adk1ujjmguo
Notice the rectilinear Daleks, BBC had some “problems” with the more accurate ones.
Took me a bit to figure out what you meant, but yeah ‘Dumbing of Age’ (or any 4-syllable phrase) fits nicely with the 4-beat rhythm (Simm!Master’s ‘drumbeat’) that underlies the theme.
Ok, what actual proof besides Ruth looking pretty terrible right now does she HAVE? It could be easy to excuse away Ruth’s appearance as “I’m under the weather right now” unless she reeks of alcohol or something, in which case I feel like more students would be aware of the issue. If she’s otherwise been a great RA (as far as the higher ups can see) then I really doubt they’d do much more than a look through her dorm (and I’m guessing she’s cleaned out all the bottles) and shrug.
Mary seems to be under the impression her righteousness will overpower someone’s reputation based on her testimony alone.
And no, Mary, bloodshot eyes aren’t really that unusual on upperclassmen. Granted, most of them have learned to shrug off the burdens of responsibility, but they aren’t the ones that get made into RA’s.
… Holy cow.
That’s the only thing Mary thinks she’s holding over Ruth’s head, isn’t it?
Does Mary really not grasp the relationship Ruth had with Billie?
Well, she did think she had that too, but it’s possible she’s realized she can’t tell on Ruth for a relationship she currently isn’t in.
She could try but she has no proof.
She can’t understand that queer relationships are legitimate.
As wonderful as it is to see Ruth protecting Carla and Carla working on her revenge, I really hope this storyline is over soon. I’m not even trans and reading the things Mary is saying is upsetting as hell.
I cannot wait for vengeance!
What the hell is wrong with Mary? Seriously, how closed-minded do you have to be to say things like this and mean it?
It’s adorable that you think that Marys are rare. They’re not. The only thing that’s odd about Mary is that she thinks the people in authority will side with her instead of being in the pocket of the evil liberals who want to cram their horrible agenda of not being able to treat people like shit.
If you REALLY want to see the true dregs of humanity, there’s a site called fstdt.com. It’s short for fundies say the darnest things, and it will take any faith you may still have in humanity, kill it, and make you horrified that you ever had it.
WARNING: If I understood correctly what the term means, the quotes on that site deserve a trigger warning for EVERYTHING. It hits all the bad notes and comes up with quite a few of its own. If it ever made you want to curl up and cry or punch someone in the teeth so hard they have to take their meals with the back of their heads, it’s there.
Except the top quote here: http://fstdt.com/Top100.aspx The tale of the Leviathan (I’m sorry, Leviathon, which I assume is its unable to spell cousin) in the bathtub is something to marvel at for generations to come.
There’s really no sliding scale of “thinking people who are different aren’t real humans”. I’m surprised many people seem to be reading this strip as Mary sinking to new depths, when everything she has done is entirely expected from someone who gets angry while secretly watching girls she doesn’t know kiss.
Panel 1 & 2 – Look at that smile on Mary’s face! Though I don’t see why she added so much white lipstick.
HAHAHA, oh the irony…
Yeah, I think we might be seeing another escalation soon, when she figures out Ruth isn’t doing shit.
Ruth is beating Mary at her own game.
Well. She wanted more prayers!
Ugh… can’t Mary have at least one redeeming quality? Maybe she does charity work or volunteers at an animal shelter. Just one… Please?
According to the Willis himself, she draws okay
Yeah. She drew the art for the door decs on Joyce and Sarah’s door.
… There some reason you’re so desperate for her to? She’s pretty clearly utterly without compassion for those who she sees as sinners. Why the hell would you expect that to be different in any other situation?
“Crom. I have never prayed to you before…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qfOFbQTyJU
Can I kick Mary’s arse