Strong Female Protagonist (No Relation to Hark! A Vagrant!)

She wasn't doing anything necessarily terrible on panel besides not backing down or apologizing. Oh is there a proposal going on?

It is more than a little terrible that Goat Lady isn't told off her for her reprehensible actions towards Kiele.

First of all: How is she terrible for looking guilty? Her expression makes it pretty clear that she's feeling bad. So . . . she's terrible?

Second: Of course Brad didn't yell at her. The whole point of the conference is to make sure everyone feels welcome, everyone feels safe, and everyone feels valid. So, no shit Brad didn't call her a heartless bitch and throw her out of the conference, or whatever the hell it is you think he should've done. He chastised her, and she definitely feels chastised, but he did it in a way that's diplomatic and makes it clear that he understand she's working through a lot of the same things everyone else is.

You seem to think the correct response is to attack her, but it's not. The correct response, in a situation like this, is exactly what Brad did. The approach he took didn't put her on the defensive, it didn't give her a reason to dig in her feet. It encouraged her to think of herself and Kiele as being on the same side. To think of Kiele as an ally.

The way this went, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Teresa did apologize to Kiele, either in the next strip or another one. She didn't apologize in this strip, but she didn't actually have a choice. By the time Brad finished his speech, any response she could have given was cut off by a loud "WOOO!" about a proposal being accepted.

Even if we don't see Teresa apologize to Kiele, it's pretty safe to assume she'll be withdrawing her complaint, and will be a bit more open and accepting going forward.

She shouldn't have to withdraw her complaint. She was a dumb shithead for making the complaint in the first place.

Her entire demand is that she wants a "safe space" based around barring people if they aren't within her acceptable parameters. Can you imagine Goat Lady saying this about any other group and getting treated this kindly?

edited 26th Aug '16 3:46:39 PM by Mr.Badguy

Here's the thing though; what is there to gain from being hostile toward her? All it would do is, as was stated, put her on the defensive and create a greater divide between her, Brad, and Kiele, and utterly miss the point Brad was trying to achieve, which is greater unity among all the people there. In almost all situations, there is damn near no logical or sensible reason to approach it from a hostile, overtly angry stance. Similar goals to the ones caused by angry responses can be achieved with much greater success through a more logical approach, and if a calm approach doesn't work, an angry one almost assuredly wouldn't. With rare exception, people are far more likely to stop being shitty to one another if you approach them in a non-shitty way, and by using said approach, Brad avoids a fight and instead opens a dialogue that can lead to a correction of her behavior for the future.

Brad's approach isn't "this behaviour is unacceptable, you should consider that and stop", it's to vaguely dance around the middle of the argument and not involve himself. Goat Lady's actions against Kiele, to deliberately single them out for harassment and misgender them out of a concern only for her own safety and not Kiele's, is reprehensible and does not deserve to be tolerated.

Bigots don't deserve hand holdings.

edited 26th Aug '16 4:44:01 PM by Mr.Badguy

You're right, she should clearly be shunned by all around her. They should make an example of her by kicking her out of the conference and letting her try to figure out how to live as a member of a marginalized group on her own. That is definitely the best way to handle these situations, and doesn't lead to any problems whatsoever.

Or, you know, help her to come to the realization for herself of why she was wrong, so that the revelation sticks with her better and makes her a better person going forward, so in the future, she sticks up for Kiele.

Either way works.

Here's the problem: Your approach doesn't work. Your approach just makes her dig in her heels and insist that she was right, and she's being persecuted for her beliefs. Your way causes her to resent both Brad and Kiele. And it causes her friends to resent Brad and Kiele. It creates greater tension in a place that is all about feeling safe.

Brad's approach is working. We can see it working. We can see on Teresa's face that it's working. We can see Teresa regretting her actions, and accepting Kiele as an ally. We can see her accepting that they're all on the same side. So in the future, she will be that much more willing to speak up in support of Kiele.

Your approach is emotionally satisfying because it's punishing a sinner. It scratches that base itch. That schadenfreude. But schadenfreude is a terrible feeling. And punishment? Punishment is such fucking bullshit. It really is. Punishment doesn't actually do any good. It doesn't make anything better for anyone, and usually just makes things worse. So your approach, while emotionally satisfying, is practically ineffective

What Brad's doing doesn't have the emotional high of seeing an enemy crushed. But it's effective, because it's not treating people as enemies to be crushed, but as people, flawed and mistake-prone, who can be brought together as friends. It's not about punishment, it's about improvement. It's not about appealing to base instincts, it's about appealing to higher reasoning.

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Clevin is either the world's luckiest guy...

...or the cleverest.

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I was so convinced Clevin was going to turn out to be a whinging nice guy.

Also, who's Michelle Becker?

The friend he's holding this benefit event for, to help her pay her medical bills.

So, Clevin's pretty great. He's got a fun sense of humour. Alison should really consider going on a date with him.

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Ooh... that one is a dilemma for Allison. I say she came out. She knows he has good intentions.

Oh it's from Patrick right? Templar Industries is him?

Yep.

Wish I could time-travel to Tuesday, because I want to know what the other documents in that envelope are!

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So, guesses as to whose dossier that is?

Okay so that's a no for having anything to do with Patrick.

It looks to be "personal information on prospective business associates" for Alison's Valkyrie project.

Patrick is the one who sent the envelope, if that's what you mean. "Yep" to your earlier question, as Galadriel said.

EDIT: Oh. I see now.

edited 15th Sep '16 11:23:46 PM by StateOfBedlam

I meant her ripping up the chequre means she doesn't want anything to do with Patrick.

Wait... so she tears up Patrick's check, but she's back to plead something from this asshat?

If I didn't know better, I'd think that Allison is about to blackmail this guy... 0_0