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[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

One of the things I see people complain about CONSTANTLY is that Evan "doesn't face enough consequences for his actions". I've always thought this was a bad take for multiple reasons, the most obvious being that Evan didn't have much to lose to begin with, and still ended up losing the only things he DID have, since he ultimately drove his only two friends away.

But mainly I think this argument is bad because it's criticizing one of the elements that makes this show special. Is there some grand fallout where the secret comes out and Evan's life publicly crumbles as a result of his actions? No. But why does there have to be?

The audience is capable of discerning right from wrong. They don't need to be TOLD what Evan did is wrong because that's blatantly obvious. The show shouldn't have to aggressively and explicitly condemn his actions in order for us to understand that.

There are plenty of other stories you can go to if you're looking for a morality tale. There are countless different forms of media out there that will spoonfeed you the message "do bad things and bad things will happen to you in return", if that's what you're interested in. But there aren't nearly enough stories that tell you that you can screw up or do something bad and still keep going. Keep living. And keep learning to be better. Like it or not, life doesn't stop when you make a bad decision. It doesn't stop when you hurt someone or lose someone or do something you regret. It keeps going, and you have to keep going too.

For people who see themself in Evan, who don't feel they'll ever come to a place where they can forgive themselves for the mistakes they've made, that message is infinitely more helpful than another story about a character who brings about his own downfall for the sake of teaching the audience a lesson.

And if you came to watch this story about a kid whose intense suffering and loneliness leads him to make a terrible mistake, and your problem with it is that you wanted to see him suffer more, I think that says a lot more about you than it does about the show.

#dear evan hansen #deh #deh musical

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

If you ever feel like your whole purpose in life is to just follow people around and annoy them to death, always remember that a human being is a persistence predator.

So even if you weren't born to do that, you're still hardwired to be really, really good at it.

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"people in real life: hey man how's it going" is a killer phrase. instantly neutralizes whatever insane discourse you find online. gonna start using that from now on

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who cares 🙄 (me i would die for you)

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i learned about Tim Wong who successfully and singlehandedly repopulated the rare California Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly in San Francisco. In the past few years, he’s cultivated more than 200 pipevine plants (their only food source) and gives thousands of caterpillars to his local Botanical Garden (x)

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Again, short hair Blue 🫡

(I forgot to post)

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Its obvious to me when people who post about canaries in mines have never met a canary. Like yeah the miners had a special device to revive the canary because canaries are one of the most adorable creatures on the planet and they make adorable little chirping sounds and honestly probably loved the sounds of machinery and people talking so it was probably loud and friendly with the workers. Whatever though maybe meet a canary sometime and youd understand

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Saw this on a door at work.

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blue zircon, space attorney

#su blue zircon #su blue diamond #steven universe #su yellow diamond

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And isn’t that cruel?

And aren’t I a fool?  

#steven universe #su spinel

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underappreciated forgotten su lines

you always say you’ll be the crocodile but you never commit

#steven universe #su pearl #su amethyst

[chaotic-theatrical-weaver]

there used to be this fandom misunderstanding where people thought steven had no negative feelings about those who hurt him, and that he had completely forgiven everyone with no bitterness or trauma… but now, i fear that’s now been replaced by people thinking steven is completely and solely transactional in his willingness to help others.

some have posited that the Only reason he doesn’t kill is that he’s either weaker than his enemies or thinks not killing them will lead to a better outcome. as evidence, they show the anger he’s suppressed beneath his helper boy facade.

essentially, the argument is that SU is showing, through steven, the strategic value of being nice, at the exclusion of actually caring about others, where being merciful is just a means to an end.

but i will argue that the thing about SU is that it does both. it argues from a practical AND moral perspective.

and steven, personally… still cares about people beyond their strategic value in making peace and dismantling the hierarchy. yes, even “jerks.” yes, even when they make him uncomfortable or he suppresses trauma-induced anger.

he really does value his own ability to be a “nice” person, as well as the lives of others… and, because the diamonds are beloved and most of gemkind believe in the system, shattering them would be practical / strategic suicide, if you wanna make peace & help homeworld. 

to prove that it’s not all political realism (knowing that his enemies are stronger and adjusting to this), i will argue steven objects to shattering and death regardless of strategy. if the only “real” issue was the practical sociocultural impact on homeworld (see: how most gems hated the CGs after pink was “shattered”), then why would he object to this before knowing pink was shattered & its impact? he thinks it’s bad for its own sake, and wants the crystal gems to not kill anyone. he doesn’t wanna be like homeworld.

if it’s all strategic, there’s certainly no reason to feel guilty about shattering jasper. jasper is a hermit who lives alone in the woods. there’s no “useful” reason to help jasper; it doesn’t make anyone else’s life better. steven WANTS to help her for its own sake.

why? because helping people is who he wants to be. it’s core to steven’s sense of identity. hurting others is the last thing he wants to do, even when his trauma gives him negative feelings he’s not prepared to deal with.

the point i’m trying to make here is this: even if it made strategic sense to shatter everyone, he wouldn’t want to do that. that wouldn’t result in steven being like “sweet, finally i can show how i Really feel”. 

because it’s really not the sum of how he feels - he has trauma-induced fear and anger, but that doesn’t mean that’s aaaall he thinks of the people who hurt him. he doesn’t want to kill spinel - he is genuinely happy for her chance to be with the diamonds, even if he himself doesn’t always feel comfortable around her.

steven is a man of multitudes. he can feel uncomfortable around people who hurt him AND care about them & want them to grow as people. it’s more than just “grin and bear it for the sake of my grand masterplan.” he wants everyone to get better. that’s not fake, it’s sincere and an important part of him. 

steven feels good about himself when he’s able to help people. he has come to, like gemkind, seek having a purpose in life. helping the crystal gems and playing therapist for them after rose’s death gave him an immense sense of guilt and taught him to suppress his feelings… but it also gave his life “meaning”. everyone loves Kind Little Helper Boy steven. so that’s who he wants to be.

i can’t see him having such a panicked reaction to his intrusive thoughts about shattering white for purely strategic reasons. that wasn’t him having a carefully calculated thought about “hmm, shattering white might compromise era 3”… that was him feeling like a terrible person. because of his own values and morals.

and yes, steven can experience all of this at the same time. 

he can have suppressed trauma that leads to anger AND think, morally speaking, that shattering is wrong AND care about others AND have his strategic considerations match up with that, in terms of “using” the diamonds to heal the corrupted gems. 

he’s not this cold, strategic mastermind who secretly hates everyone he helps. that’s just… not who he is. he genuinely wants to help people, and no, being uncomfortable around the diamonds and spinel doesn’t stop that from being true. he’s just gone so far in the purpose-driven direction that he’s neglected his own trauma. he wants to be helpful and cares about others, even when they hurt him. it’s all a part of his complex, individual feelings. 

if it was all strategy, then idk what your main source of thinking that is, because that’s not what we saw in SU future.

if it was all strategy, that’s not what we saw when he fixed jasper. or when he felt awful for thinking about shattering white. or when he tried to help bluebird. or when he filled his schedule to the brim with every way to help others, even when it was exhausting and had little strategic value.

if it was all strategy, there would never be a reason for him to feel like a monster.

#steven universe