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docsnotes · 3 years

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Thoughts on Dexter Morgan WARNING: NSFW, GRAPHIC, Spoilers, not legal advice, not medical advice, my opinion only

Welcome back, boys and girls, It is time for another exciting look into my mind and how I see the world around me. Today's topic is inspired by the upcoming 10 episode Dexter Revival and my currentrewatching of the original 8 seasons. I am going to cover some of *MY* (very nonprofessional) perspectives of the character.

Part I: the Code

First, we are going to look at one of the most important aspects of the series, without this, it would have gone entirely differently. I am of course speaking of the Code of Harry. A clean, neat list of rules that keep Dexter from being your average run of the mill psycho.

The Rules of the Code of Harry:

Don't get caught: Getting caught would obviously be counter productive to the mission. Of course, this may be the one time that someone wasn't worried about the prisoner snitching.

Never kill an Innocent: Killing the innocent would violate the code, as killing the innocent makes you just another killer.

Targets must be killers who have evaded the justice system: Of course, as Harry was a highly decorated detective with the Miami Metro Police Department - Homicide Division, he would rather the normal course of justice be preserved, however, just like in the real world, traditional justice sometimes falls short. In those cases, Harry taught Dexter to step up.

Killing must serve a purpose, otherwise, it's just plain murder: This is the most obvious.

Blend in socially. Maintain appearances: It would be absolutely devastating to the mission if anyone suspected that you had any other life, why do you think Bruce Wayne goes through all the effort to seem like a spoiled, billionaire playboy?

Fake emotions and normality: It would be exceptionally difficult to go under the radar of you walked around like a zombie all the time. There are some emotions that I have to fake, so I understand this one a little better than I like to admit.

Control urges to kill and channel them: Violating this rule would undo all the work done for the other rules

Be prepared. Leave no traces or evidence: This one is quite obvious, but given recent advances in forensic technology, it would be a harder rule to follow, every interaction you have with anything leaves a small part of you behind.

Never make a scene. Stay calm and collected: This one is kinda obvious, but also cannot be over stated that losing your shit would draw attention to you. Also, it is harder to think rationally if you are freaking out.

Don't make things personal because it clouds judgment: I think this is one we should all apply to our lives. While there are some things that should be taken personally, never allow it to get to the point that it alters your judgement.

The importance of having a code, a mantra, to live by in situations like this is the only way for it to be righteous, if such a thing could be said.

Part II: The Trauma To go ahead and get this out of the way, as a firm believer in the fact that it is not "Nature vs. Nurture" it is "Nature & Nurture," as such, the psychological trauma that occurred when he witnessed his biological mother's murder at the age of three, when she was brutally dismembered with a chainsaw. Witnessing any murder at that age would have an understandably catastrophic effect on the psyche of anyone, but as we will discuss in a moment Dexter possibly had some other predetermined risk factors. The sheer brutality of carving a living person with a chainsaw, then add to that the fact that the killer did that in front of her children (Dexter and his older brother, Brian). Trauma scars us, without a good support system, the scars can be debilitating in terms of both psychological and sociological growth. This can prevent the proper development not only of a moral compass, but it can break down the ability to form lasting bonds with people.

Part III: The Nature Both of Dexter's biological parents had histories of deviant behaviors. His mother (Laura Moser) was a drug addict and possibly a prostitute. Later she became an informant for MPD Officer Harry Morgan. As for his biological father ("Joseph Driscoll") There is no in-series explanation of his criminal history, but as he has a jailhouse tattoo and appears to not exist before he turned 30 (this type of thing was far easier to do in 1976), it is speculated in the show that he had a military and criminal history. There is speculation that certain traits that lead to these behaviors have genetic factors (which, if that is true, explains a fair deal about me), however, to my knowledge, no specific genes have been identified or isolated. If I were to venture a guess that they would be close to the same genes that deal with addiction. There is no way to know this all for certain, specifically because I am just above a "layperson" with my understanding of these things, so all of this could be wrong.

Part IV: My Theory & My Conclusion Theory, Dexter is not a villain. He is not a hero either. He is not to be revered or reviled. Dexter Morgan (né Moser) is simply a force of nature, a balancing act. While I cannot, as a person of somewhat sound ethics, condone the actions, I cannot condemn them either. In reference to this I will quote another famous fictional serial killer, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, created by American novelist Thomas Harris, who said something incredibly profound about himself and people like him, as well as their relationship with society as a whole: "We live in a primitive time, don't we, Will? Neither savage nor wise. Half measures are the curse of it, any rational society will either kill me or put me to some use." I find this not only poetic, but deeply accurate. As a former therapist of mine will probably read this, I will end this on a positive, instead of going down the rabbit holes I am known for. In conclusion, this is all based on fiction and none of this is real,Sleep tight, kids! Bradley "Doc Holliday" Rozier

#nsfw #graphic #opinion #not medical advice #not legal advice

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docsnotes · 3 years

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Views on Cancel Culture, Woke-ness, Political Correctness & Other Related Issues From The Perspective of an Irrelevant Nobody: Why People Think it Helps & Why it Does Not. By Bradley “Holliday” Rozier I had hoped this first post would be a lot more light-hearted, but after an article and the related tweets I read yesterday, I had to write and share this. So, it is roughly November 2017, I decided to join Greenpeace because I felt it would be a great way to put my mind and anxiety to good use. Through the connections I made, I ended up with some really good friends and some people who I thought would be a positive asset to my growth and recovery, but ended up not being so. However, we will get to THAT part later. First I want to say, generally speaking, I am against most everything the “Woke” movement is against, I simply feel that, tactically speaking, it could and should be handled differently.I was born September 9, 1984 at 10 something PM at what was then “University of Florida Medical Center”, but is now called “UF Health Shands” (Named so after William Augustine Shands, fun fact, W. Shands was not a Doctor, but a politician) on 8th street in Jacksonville, Florida. I grew up in culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhood on the northside of town called “Highlands” (named so because it is at a slightly higher elevation than most of the rest of the city) as well as various other places (my biological mother moved, A LOT) so, from an early age, I was presented a multitude of other cultures and backgrounds to embrace and learn from. The most important factor in this point is my Grandmother, Geraldine Rozier, and my Aunt, Donna Ogle. Both of whom drilled two very important lessons. Love your neighbor as yourself. (Mark 12:31) Treat others as you want to be treated. (‎Matthew 7:12) Now, as many of you know, I have particular disdain for organized religion, as more often than not I see it bring out the worst in people, if you doubt my words, wait for the next thing I post. Yet, even I can find value in these teachings. These teachings also come into play with the topic at hand and I feel that this was a necessary preface for what may come out as being exceptionally harsh. I need you to understand: this is all coming from a place of love and compassion, though I understand how this may be hard to believe as this is my first blog post. This morning, as I drank my coffee and smoked my first cigarette of the day, I was reading a Revolver article about Glenn Danzig (who is easily one of my favorite musicians). The article was basically him talking about how punk rock could have never have happened in today’s sociopolitical climate. It received A LOT of hate, but the simple fact is, he was right. Think about this: The Ramones, New York Dolls, The Clash and The Sex Pistols all put out songs that were offencive to some people, however, that was kind of the point. In 1976 the Ramones put out their self titled debut, on this album was a song called “Beat on The Brat” the 6 repeated lines from this song involve beating some annoying kid with a baseball bat. On the 1973 self titled New York Dolls debut there is a track called “Looking For A Kiss” which is about pressuring someone to be intimate with the singer. The Clash, in 1977,again with the self titled debut, has a song called “Protex Blue” which is a song shaming a girl for not being “wholesome” enough. Finally, The Sex Pistols, who’s name alone may be enough to get them cancelled these days, finally straying from the “self titled” trend with their 1977 debut album “Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols” had a song called “God Save the Queen” which was about anything except saving the Queen. In today’s world, these bands would have been stopped dead in their tracks and with them, almost 50 years of other artists. Which brings me to what led me to start this and with it, I hope, a dialogue.

The reason people THINK that cancel culture, woke-ness and political correctness works is because it makes THEM feel warm and fuzzy inside. They got to “stand up” for the “little guy”. The reality is these people do this for themselves and that is what I am going to illustrate in the next part. The first point I want to make, which I almost didn’t because I didn’t want to seem nationalist, is the Freedom of Speech. Now, this is often something people mention when trying to explain how “America is the greatest nation on earth.” However, this is not strictly an American right, Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217A - 10DEC1948 Code-A/RES/3/217A) which was voted for by 48 Nations, and 8 nations abstained1 states that Freedom of Expression as a fundamental human right. So, I say this with the full certainty that it is absolutely imperative that ALL people should be allowed to express themselves.

My second point, it is insanely important that we teach ourselves that reality is sometimes offensive. The world does not walk on eggshells and people will be insensitive, it is a simple fact. Preparing our children (and ourselves) for this fact is a quintessential part of life. Now, it would be great if everyone was nice and perfectly well mannered all the time. If you prepare your children for a flat tire you should prepare them for hurt feelings, conversely, it is also a useful tool in teaching children how they should behave by showing them how they should not act. Using a negative to teach a positive can be a very effective method.

Third, let’s talk about being “woke” which will bring us back to one of the people I met through my Greenpeace affiliation who was a negative influence on my life. I have no desire to smear this person, so I will simply refer to her by her initials D.H. I met her at a coffee shop where we met to discuss racism in general, but, primarily in Jacksonville. Our introduction was uneventful, but informative for me. Over the next few months, we would communicate multiple times and meet up at multiple events. At one point she would call me “one of the most ‘woke’ white guys she ever met” which, at the time, I took as a great compliment. As time would pass we would start to disagree on certain things, mostly things of basic morality. The final straw was when a mutual “friend” of ours decided that it was morally acceptable to lie to someone who was going through a catastrophic period in her life. She made a comment that I completely agreed with in the general context, however in this exact situation it was incorrect. She said “He didn’t owe her anything”, which is correct, except for the fact that he broke a promise. I was raised that if you give your word, you honor it. So, yes, he owed her his word, if not,at least an answer as to why he broke it (which was all she wanted). I mention this to say the biggest problem/misconception with ”woke culture” and it is simply this: Being “woke” does not make you a good person. I also would like to point out that being “woke” 75% of the time does not undo the 25% that you are an asshole.In conclusion, the idea that “wokeness” and Cancel Culture will fix the problems of our society is absolute garbage. I feel that the only way we can actually fix things is with a dialogue, not by simply throwing people out when they say things that we don’t agree with. Alienation is not fixing anything, in fact, I would argue that it makes things worse. It is better to extend a hand than slam a door. Thank you for taking time out of your busy day to read this, I hope to see you next time.

1- For (48) - Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Siam, Sweden, Syria, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Against (0) - Zero

Abstained (8) - Byelorussian SSR, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian SSR, South Africa, Soviet Union and Yugoslavia ( artwork is by marisa deroma @marisa_deroma on instagram)

#politically incorrect #cancel culture #woke #politics #law #free speech

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