Dumbing of Age

@Heatth True in a way this whole thing is Joyce on a redemption arc granted one she didn't know she was going on at first. Well her among others.

The other thing about Rachel's speech is that it was, unintentionally, at least as deadly to Joyce as it was to Ruth. Joyce is someone whose entire idea of morality is built on a set of stories. If you tell her they aren't true, she's left with nothing.

So Joyce could never call Rachel effectively on what she just said. "Enjoy your fairytales about your imaginary friend."

She hinges a lot of her faith on specific stories (why Becky's faith was more resilient than hers even after she learned about dinosaurs and evolution). I'm not sure the same could be said for her morality. Which is changing anyways, she's questioning what her parents tell her, now that she's living.

edited 28th May '17 3:05:29 PM by phantom1

It's a line that someone like Rachel would use. It wouldn't work on all believers, but it would be pretty effective on one like Joyce.

Seems more like the sort that Walky would use.

Speaking of irredeemable...

I notice that as of yesterday's​ strip we've got a reference to the current chapter title. I still choose to believe it's a Jonathan Coulton reference.

Oh, God, look at Amber's face... Rachel's rant hit her hard.

Also, what exactly can Mary do because Ruth has been reinstated? I'm confused about why she's so smug.

Ruth is close to hand, and nominally responsible for events in the dorm. Therefore, Mary can attack her quite easily. Details TBD, but Mary can doubtless come up with something. And if she destroys Ruth, that hurts Billie.

I have to say that Mary seems to have gone over some edge at some point. She originally seemed to be a judgemental, puritannical, fundamentalist Christian; a horrible person, sure, but with a specific pseudo-moral agenda with some kind of internal consistency. Now, though, she's quite explicitly into hurting people For the Evulz. I guess that the comic can only have one judgemental antagonist with a consistent moral position at a time.

Yeah, she is gleeful because Ruth and Billie remain present and she can fuck with them. Although she probably would be just a gleeful reading a suicide obituary in the newspaper.

And yes, she's sliding down into total evil the more she is present and it is a screw up in the writing due to Willis' issues with christians.

edited 29th May '17 7:00:20 AM by Adannor

I...what?

I feel like Mary's position is pretty consistent here. She can't be her usual judgemental, puritannical, fundamentalist self because Billie threatened her. With Ruth back in the picture, Mary has leverage over Billie, nulling out the threat and allowing Mary to revert to form. She's not attacking Ruth because EVIL, she's attacking Ruth because doing so allows her to get out from under Billie's thumb.

Issues with Christian FUNDAMENTALISTS - the latter word is the important part. A lot of the fundie stuff in Willis' work is autobiographical and somebody like Mary doesn't strike me as that implausible.

edited 29th May '17 12:21:48 PM by DrunkenNordmann

Mary acts this way right now because she's a fundie. People like her are obsessed with hurting LGBT people, and her current favorite targets are Ruth and Billie, now that she seems to have moved on from Carla.

Dina: "GET OUT."

And because she's a caricature of the most extreme sort, of course.

Pfft, though this must be an odd, thing for Dina like it's not going to go anywhere for a long while, but still. Since she is of course going to respect her girlfriend's boundaries, but she isn't like doing abstinence for her sake.

edited 30th May '17 7:26:11 AM by phantom1

It seems Dina is less asexual than dinosexual.

I'm pretty sure she's Pan with a dino fetish. Hmm does Becky wearing a dino costume and seeing Dina's hair count as breaking abstinence? Probably not.

edited 30th May '17 9:02:14 AM by phantom1

Breakups are always so sad. *sniff*

Yes even with concepts? I dunno if they were friends.

Whelp

I call shenanigans. I don't see Ryan as a churchgoer.

Ecclesiastes 2:14, for the curious.

Well didn't he introduce himself to Joyce as a pastor's son or something? Knowing the scriptures would make it easier to play the part.

edited 1st Jun '17 12:46:59 AM by Medinoc

Nothing is really stopping that from being true. Of course, all the preaching would have gone onto deaf ears, except for when he could repurpose it as quips.

edited 1st Jun '17 12:48:45 AM by Adannor

If I recall, he actually did say that the part about being a pastor's son was true.