Poem: "Not a Destination, But a Process"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem is spillover from the March 5, 2024 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from fuzzyred and chanter1944. It also fills the "Day Job" square in my 3-1-24 card for the National Crafting Month Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Shiv thread of the Polychrome Heroics series. It follows "Conscious of the Injustice" so read that first or this won't make much sense.


"Not a Destination, But a Process"


Liberty could hardly
believe her luck.

She had just gotten
into Omaha when she
met someone who had
helped her get a day job.

Shiv was a little weird,
sure, but he was solid --
and he didn't try to grab
her anywhere rude, so
that was even better.

Liberty was starting off as
an all-purpose cleaning girl,
since she already knew how
to mop and wash dishes.

That'd earn minimum wage,
which was enough to afford
a decent apartment, if she
could get some fake ID.

Meanwhile, Liberty was
set to couchsurf with
one of the waitresses.

She wouldn't be stuck with
cleanup work forever, though,
not if she wanted to learn more.

Cook had offered to teach her
actual cooking skills -- not just
recipes, but things like how
to use a knife so the slices
came out all the same size.

Liberty had pounced on that,
because job skills were valuable.

Right now, Shiv was showing her
how to fold napkins for the tables.

He had a binder with pictures of
the finished folds and lists of steps.

"See, napkins are cheap, and it don't
cost anything to fold 'em fancy, but it
makes the place look nicer," Shiv said.
"So we got the easy ones for every day,
the fancy ones for stuff like weddings,
and then all of the holiday styles."

"Bunny ears," Liberty said,
tracing the shape on the page.

"Yeah, them's for Easter,"
Shiv said. "We got flowers
too, and watermelon for
Juneteenth, a turkey for
Thanksgiving, and so on."

Liberty had to admit that they
looked cute, even if she wasn't
sure that she could fold them.

Then Shiv's head popped up,
and Liberty heard footsteps.

Coming toward them was
was a mousy-looking white guy
dressed in a woman's sweater
embroidered with sunflowers
and poppies, daisies and yarrow.

It even had a bunch of pudgy bees,
their tiny wings done in some sort
of shimmery thread that made it
look like they could really fly.

It was the silliest thing that
Liberty had ever seen, but
she wanted to touch it anyway.

Shiv bounded over and rubbed
himself along it like a big ol' cat.
"Hey, Dr. G," he said, grinning.

"Hello, Shiv," said Dr. G.
"Boss White thought that
someone here could use
a sympathetic ear."

"Ah yeah, Liberty's had
a bit of a hard time just
getting here," Shiv said.
"You want some space?"

"That would be nice, if
Liberty feels comfortable
with me," said Dr. G.

"It's a public place,"
Liberty said, shrugging.
"Sit down if you'd like."

"Thank you for the invitation,"
Dr. G said, and sat down at
the booth where they'd been
practicing the napkin folds.

"I'll go help Cook," Shiv said,
and skittered off to the kitchen.

"Boss White mentioned that
you've got your head in a bit
of a tangle," said Dr. G.

"Well, that's what he said,
and he's a telepath, so I guess
he should know," said Liberty.
"I don't feel any different, though."

"Do you ever feel like you want
to do one thing, but find yourself
doing another?" asked Dr. G.

"Yeah, sometimes," said Liberty.
"Doesn't it happen to everyone?"

"Possibly so," said Dr. G.
"What do you think about it?"

Liberty snorted. "That you're
another silly head-shrinker like
the guy at the community center."

"That's part of my job," said Dr. G.
"Can you think of anything that
you might like some help with?"

"Maybe fitting in here," she said,
tapping her fingers on the table.
"It's a mixed group, and I haven't
worked with white people a lot,
but I really need this job."

"Diversity skills," said Dr. G.
"Useful to know, applicable in
any career, and you couldn't have
picked a better place to learn them."

He popped open his briefcase
and passed her a few pages.

"These are some activities that
can help you stretch yourself and
learn more about other people,"
said Dr. G. "Start with fun ones,
and it will be easier to grow."

Liberty looked at the list.
Visit an art show from
another culture. Listen to
music in a foreign language.
Eat at an ethnic restaurant.
Read a book set far away.

"Really? This counts?"
she said. "It's not much."

"It's a start," said Dr. G.
"Don't overwhelm yourself."

"It's just ..." Liberty picked at
the corner of a page. "Boss White
made it sound like I'm kind of a mess."

"He saw some things inside you that
worried him," said Dr. G. "Ideally,
we'd like for a mindhealer to take
a look. Trouble is, neither of us
know one suited to this case. So,
I'm starting with simpler methods
that I already have in hand."

"And that'll work?" said Liberty.

"Whether it does or not, it will
tell us something useful about
the inside of your head," said Dr. G.

He pulled out a few more pages
and offered them to Liberty.

"These can help you think about
your beliefs and values," he said.
"You might find places where you
want something, but feel as if
you're getting pulled up short."

Liberty wrinkled her nose. "It
looks like homework," she said.

"It can be," said Dr. G. "Maybe
something more visual would appeal?"

Next he pulled out a colorful page
that made her more curious,
and text that explained it.

"A pie chart?" Liberty said,
leaning over to look at it.

She realized that the labels
were all about different parts of
her life and how they worked.

"Oh!" She tapped one of
the wedges. "I got a job!"

"Congratulations," said Dr. G.
"How do you feel about that?"

"Really great," said Liberty.
"I'm so proud of myself. I wasn't
sure I could get a decent job,
but I did. Cook even offered
to teach me some kitchen skills!"

"That's quite an accomplishment,"
said Dr. G. "That sounds like
your career section is doing
well. If you wish, you can think
about other parts of your life
and how well they stand up,
or what you'd like to improve."

Liberty looked at the pie chart
again. Family was a mess but
she didn't want to poke at it.
Romance didn't interest her.

Fun, well, she had a bunch
of new things to try out now.
Finances should be good
since she just got a job, and
social, sure, she had met
people who didn't suck.

"Yeah, I can work with this,"
she said. "You really think
this will get me to okay?

"Mental health is
not a destination, but
a process," said Dr. G.
"It’s about how you drive,
not where you’re going."

"I can't drive either,"
Liberty pointed out.

Dr. G chuckled. "That's
all right, it's another thing
you can learn if you like."

"Maybe I should start with
a bus pass," said Liberty.
"That's a lot easier to earn."

"An excellent goal," said Dr. G.
"That covers your transportation.
You have a job and income already.
Perhaps a fun goal and a practical one?"

"Cook's going to teach me knife skills,"
Liberty reminded him. She looked at
the pages again. "I could try eating
at an ethnic restaurant. It's gotta
be good to know the competition."

Dr. G made some notes on a page
of his own. "That's a plan," he said.
"I'll drop by here in a week or so, and
you can tell me about your adventures."

"Okay," said Liberty. "I think I'd like it.
I don't know many folks here yet."

"Then it's a deal," Dr. G said,
and so they shook on it.

* * *

Notes:

This poem is long, so its notes appear elsewhere.

Comments

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

Ysabetwordsmith cooked up this particular puzzle. I'm just noodling the possibilities. So, saying that, I'd also say that (a) there have to be several interconnecting factors all slanted the correct way to have the imprint repeat, especially so far down the reproductive path, and (b) having an incomplete imprint leads to "typically screwed up" thoughts and behaviors, not this... butchery.

I keep coming back to that word. These effects are horrifying. Epigenetics writ large, with a blowtorch.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

The metaphor I'm looking at is genetics. So it starts out 'pure' but gets more scrambled and diluted as it is passed down, the population outcrosses with non-carriers, etc.

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

Oh, I understood that. I just worry that there's such severe damage when the imprint copies out more than a few bits that it's better to wonder how few people out of the pool of descendants get even a 50% imprint.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

Well, it would be counterproductive to hobble people in a way that made them totally nonfunctional.

However, it could be analogous to certain genetic conditions that work well /in a specific context/ but become problematic outside those contexts. (I.e. Obedience and submissiveness being a good trait for a lower-class person prior to 1910, but a very poor fit for cutthroat modern America.)

Alternately, it could be like a fatal double recessive, where carriers can be impaired but functional, while their double-recessive kids would have more severe issues.

Or invert that, where heterozygous kids have more issues.

Or maybe the hacking provides a base, but personality and environment influence how it manifests.

...I think the last two seem most likely.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Well, it would be counterproductive to hobble people in a way that made them totally nonfunctional.<<

That's just it. They're not made nonfunctional, they're made more useful. Think about literal hobbles: their purpose is to prevent your horse from running away but let him feed and water himself until you want to ride him again. This is meant to do exactly the same to humans -- limit their ability to do things that annoy the masters, but allow them to maintain themselves so they will be readily available for use. Like Liberty's mother.

>> However, it could be analogous to certain genetic conditions that work well /in a specific context/ but become problematic outside those contexts.<<

True.

>> (I.e. Obedience and submissiveness being a good trait for a lower-class person prior to 1910, but a very poor fit for cutthroat modern America.) <<

Modern America, like every other pyramid scheme, requires a large lower class and is more stable if that lower class doesn't fight too hard.

>>Alternately, it could be like a fatal double recessive, where carriers can be impaired but functional, while their double-recessive kids would have more severe issues.<<

It's not fatal when doubled, but it would express a more extreme form of the pattern. Liberty's mother is likely homogeneous but Liberty herself certainly is not.

>>Or invert that, where heterozygous kids have more issues.<<

Well, they have different issues, like Liberty -- more prone to feel like they're fighting themselves.

>> Or maybe the hacking provides a base, but personality and environment influence how it manifests.<<

It does.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

>>Modern America, like every other pyramid scheme, requires a large lower class and is more stable if that lower class doesn't fight too hard.<<

Fair enough.

However, the social perception is still different than a couple hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, quiet/obedient would have been the 'natural order' for women, servants, minorities, etc. Nowadays (and despite service workers needing those same traits) someone who is unfailingly quiet/obedient is usually seen as a pushover, and the subordinate position is seen as a consequence of the lack of, hmm, pushiness.

There's also the chattel slave/wage slave debate : in 1802, a smart master will make sure his slaves are fed, housed, etc, but in modern times wage slaves have to be self-advocating enough to meet those needs themselves, despite employers wanting to race to the bottom of the wage scale while rising to the top of the price scale. (Replace slavery with any other controlling power dynamic : your subordinates will do better work and be more loyal if their needs are met, ethical deliberations of the whole system notwithstanding.)

>>It's not fatal when doubled, but it would express a more extreme form of the pattern. Liberty's mother is likely homogeneous but Liberty herself certainly is not.<<

...now I'm wondering if Liberty might be biracial and/or a rape baby, and either one would open up other aspects of the problem.

>>Well, they have different issues, like Liberty -- more prone to feel like they're fighting themselves.<<

I was thinking of hybridization, specifically where you have two 'pure' lineages with specific personalities. Once you hybridize them, the resulting personalities of offspring can be rather erratic, and it can be hard to determine how much of the 'calm' or 'aggressive' personality will manifest. And it can be more complex once you get to third generation, and especially if the bloodlines are not being selected for. (I doubt Creepy Guy would have lived long enough to control more than two or three generations, fortunately.)

Also this sort of hybridization personality randomizing is far more risky with large or aggressive creatures, and human beings definitely qualify on both counts.

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

I think that the damage has leached through the later culture like antifreeze soaking into the aquifer.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

So:
1) Adress the issues in the wider culture: anti-racism stuff, diversity training, etc
2) Work on fixing the generational trauma.
3) work on soul-healing (once a compatible person is found.)

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

Which (generally) has to be done for a lot of people in Terramagne anyway. The difference is, there the world STAYS fixed for more than two minutes.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

Exactly. It's not just white people pushing black people down. It's other black people dragging each other down so they don't attract trouble.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

1) We'd have to look at the population dynamics to get an idea of how far it would spread. That math is over my head, although I might manage a start.

2) The imprint copies consistently unless fought or repaired. It's kind of like a little cloned piece. Copy-copies break down slowly.

3) Look at the effects and their impact on survival. It probably enhances their chance of not getting killed in a rebellion, because they are useful to the white ruling class. "Southerners don't care how close black folks get, as long as they don't get too uppity."

4) Consider how pervasive the same pattern is here, even without superpowers.

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

It's that very pervasiveness which means that no one is really LOOKING For the kind of damage underlying the behavior. It's been normalized for a certain race and economic class. Also, given the exodus to the North, especially Chicago and New York, after the Civil War, and the exodus west to California, Oregon and Washington state, especially during WW2, another after Hurricane Katrina, THEN the increasing flow of dark-skinned Americans becoming expats in Europe, China, and certain cities in the Middle East, (Dubai, starting about 1998, for example,) is it really POSSIBLE to trace down all the victims whose ancestors were given this "psychic adjustment"?

So, one possible element of the imprint would be to make the victim averse to moving out of a familiar area. If they're born in Florida, they'd move around, but stay largely IN Florida, as one example. Fighting that imprint well enough to go to Tuskegee University would help to dismantle that piece, but their descendants might instead become fiercely attached to "their" family alma mater.

Another possibility, as seen in Liberty, is to make them mistrustful of other 'races,' sticking to the areas most heavily populated by Blacks. She's breaking the 'color' association by trying to work with the Ebonies and Ivories.

Someone might break one aspect, but not the other. If they get together and have kids, THEY could end up with the recessive "repaired" aversions, and settle back in the usual areas. Or, conversely, the kids could have both broken versions, and move from Louisiana to Seattle to attend college, then decide to settle happily in a mostly white, conservative town like Ellensburg. (Note, that community may not be quite as Republican, white and conservative any more. I haven't visited for forty years.)

Now, for the sociological golden ring: HOW can a layperson or even a trained psychologist, spot the pattern among other known patterns? Education and income tend to be self-leveling in modern culture. If my cousins all went to college but I didn't, I'm an outlier in the family. If my cousins were all blue-collar workers in a chicken processing plant (abattoir), then I'm an outlier if I go to college. If I'm part of a family of color who are comfortable marrying "out," with Hispanic or White in-laws, how much of the family imprint sticks with the BIPOC kids?

Look at the process purely on income attainment, and it's still not going to be easy to spot. The single largest predictor of a kid's success in life is their parents' income level when they were growing up. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases-and-statements/2015/07/23/parental-income-has-outsized-influence-on-childrens-economic-future

Do note that the regions with very high populations of POC, are usually those with lower overall income ratings, as well.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/racial-inequality-in-the-united-states#:~:text=In%20addition%2C%20Black%20and%20Hispanic,as%20shown%20in%20Figure%204.

So, I end up grateful that Boss White found ONE victim, but --

But.

Knowing that it exists, and getting that information to soul healers, telepaths, empaths, and well-trained therapists like Dr. G isn't going to solve the problem, either. At best, it's a starfish problem.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>It's that very pervasiveness which means that no one is really LOOKING For the kind of damage underlying the behavior. It's been normalized for a certain race and economic class.<<

Much has, but the descendants will show a stronger pattern than others. Once you know to look for it, then it jumps out.

>> is it really POSSIBLE to trace down all the victims whose ancestors were given this "psychic adjustment"? <<

All, no. But you can spread the word to check for it, and that will help.

>> So, one possible element of the imprint would be to make the victim averse to moving out of a familiar area. If they're born in Florida, they'd move around, but stay largely IN Florida, as one example. <<

That would make sense if part of the imprint was meant to make it harder for slaves to run away.

>> Fighting that imprint well enough to go to Tuskegee University would help to dismantle that piece, but their descendants might instead become fiercely attached to "their" family alma mater.<<

Yeah, breaking the root tendency altogether would be harder than just shifting it.

>>Someone might break one aspect, but not the other. If they get together and have kids, THEY could end up with the recessive "repaired" aversions, and settle back in the usual areas. Or, conversely, the kids could have both broken versions<<

Possible.

>> Now, for the sociological golden ring: HOW can a layperson or even a trained psychologist, spot the pattern among other known patterns?<<

Aside from superpowers being able to detect it quite clearly, there are at least a couple other clues: 1) a stronger and crisper imprint compared to others, and 2) the dog-chain effect of someone trying to move but being jerked up short.

>>Knowing that it exists, and getting that information to soul healers, telepaths, empaths, and well-trained therapists like Dr. G isn't going to solve the problem, either. At best, it's a starfish problem.<<

It can't be solved quickly, but it can be solved. The more you work on fixing it, the smaller it will get.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

>>We'd have to look at the population dynamics to get an idea of how far it would spread. That math is over my head, although I might manage a start.<<

Two descendants a generation for seven generations would be roughly ~250 people total. The last generation would be roughly ~130 people. Considering people used to have a lot more children... And then you add in people who are impacted without having the imprint.

Yeah, adding free screenings for mental tampering as they do with genetic disorders is probably a good idea.

Incidentally, could someone copy-paste over the imprint from a healthy donor mind, as they do with organ transplants or gene therapy? (Granted, resources might be limited, or the treatment might be culturally squicky...)

>>Copy-copies break down slowly.<<

Like a grandchild, or if someone tried to copy it over to an unaffected person?

>>Look at the effects and their impact on survival. It probably enhances their chance of not getting killed in a rebellion, because they are useful to the white ruling class.<<

That would also increase the chance of it spreading to white-passing descendants, because... >.<

And that...might explain a lot.

Would a white-passing descendant manifest as obedient and submissive, or would they be aggressive? Or would they just follow whoever slotted into the 'leader' role?

And if it is manifesting in white folks as being, essentially, racist attack dogs (or alternately abuse victims) they'll need to screen for it in those populations as well, which will be a pain and a half. Also, I am not sure if anyone will think of that part of the problem until something else goes wrong.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> Yeah, adding free screenings for mental tampering as they do with genetic disorders is probably a good idea.<<

T-America is better at that than here. But you have to have at least some free treatment available, or else a free screening is just bait and switch. This is a tricky condition to treat, but bottoms rungs could include modules on internalized racism, historic trauma, tolerance, etc.

>> Like a grandchild, or if someone tried to copy it over to an unaffected person? <<

Either, although the inherited version seems surprisingly stable over time, unless deliberately attacked to break it down.

>> That would also increase the chance of it spreading to white-passing descendants, because... >.<

And that...might explain a lot.<<

Nailed it.

>> Would a white-passing descendant manifest as obedient and submissive, or would they be aggressive? Or would they just follow whoever slotted into the 'leader' role?<<

It could go either way.

>> And if it is manifesting in white folks as being, essentially, racist attack dogs (or alternately abuse victims) they'll need to screen for it in those populations as well, which will be a pain and a half. <<

Because none of them will be willing to admit that possibility.

>>Also, I am not sure if anyone will think of that part of the problem until something else goes wrong.<<

Dr. G and Boss White will. It's pretty obvious if you know anything about Southern history.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

I would say that one copy is enough to replicate the imprint, but two likely makes it even worse. It doesn't dilute automatically -- someone has to fight it for years to break it down.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Ysabetwordsmith cooked up this particular puzzle. I'm just noodling the possibilities. <<

I'm enjoying the hell out of watching this discussion as you poke at the pieces. :D By all means, prompt for more. I don't know what next year's themes will be, but something should fit.

>> So, saying that, I'd also say that (a) there have to be several interconnecting factors all slanted the correct way to have the imprint repeat, especially so far down the reproductive path, <<

That matches my observations. Also, look at how scarily well it worked in local-America, and then imagine how much more it would work with actual superpowers.

>>and (b) having an incomplete imprint leads to "typically screwed up" thoughts and behaviors, not this... butchery.<<

I could imagine that, if someone put diligent effort into breaking free, their offspring would have less of the imprint -- would perhaps be missing the parts that parent worked hardest to overcome. So passing down through stubborn people, generations later you might just have a handful of average biases.

However, you also have to account for how society reinforces that imprint. A partial one might be increased through institutionalized abuses.

>>I keep coming back to that word. These effects are horrifying. Epigenetics writ large, with a blowtorch.<<

Yyyyeah. You can see why Boss White freaked.

I do think this manifests partly in epigenetics, and that's one of the easiest parts to clean up, if someone wants it combed into better orientation.

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

One of the easiest ways to combat crappy epigenetics is with good nutrition. If there's a decent after school program with lots of fresh fruit and veg on the plates, that will help, but a program like WIC will do even more because they can start boosting nutrition in the womb.

Access to health care is another help, because it usually contains a large element of patients' education. (This is prediabetes, and this is how to adjust diet to help reduce the risk of diabetes, for example.)

Stress reduction and mental health care are another good way to reduce epigenetic influence, and eventually switch off the stress-activated genes.

So, even without knowing about this particular historical butchery, there are existing efforts that can help.

The problem first becomes connecting a descendant with the programs they can most use and then is influenced by quality of care and other incidents in their lives.

Which means, good news, that the imprint can be broken crumbling off bits of it one by one through improving the overall local culture. It also means, bad news, that people can inadvertently or unconsciously sabotage themselves by moving into less-enhanced areas, EVEN if the new area is considered "better" by the average income and crime rates.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>One of the easiest ways to combat crappy epigenetics is with good nutrition. If there's a decent after school program with lots of fresh fruit and veg on the plates, that will help, but a program like WIC will do even more because they can start boosting nutrition in the womb.<<

WIC is a crappy program, it's too hard to get in, it kicks people out, and it puts way too many restrictions on what they can do.

T-America has better options. Most towns have an "eat healthy" organization. There's My Diet with all its bargain boxes. Doctors in many areas can write prescriptions for fresh whole foods. At events, food trucks with at least some healthy foods get the best slots, with junk food relegated to farther locations. And so on.

>>Access to health care is another help, because it usually contains a large element of patients' education.<<

Yep. Doctors there usually offer recipes and recommendations tailored to current complaints.

>>Stress reduction and mental health care are another good way to reduce epigenetic influence, and eventually switch off the stress-activated genes.<<

T-America has a lot more free health care available. You can visit any community clinic for a module on things like tolerance or self-esteem.

>>So, even without knowing about this particular historical butchery, there are existing efforts that can help.<<

That's because the efforts were designed largely for the wider problems, a blurrier version of the precise imprint. And the reason people demanded work on that goes back to the civil rights movement, which saw a lot of people breaking cultural and super imprints. They do connect.

>>The problem first becomes connecting a descendant with the programs they can most use and then is influenced by quality of care and other incidents in their lives.<<

True.

>>Which means, good news, that the imprint can be broken crumbling off bits of it one by one through improving the overall local culture. <<

There's been progress on that.

>>It also means, bad news, that people can inadvertently or unconsciously sabotage themselves by moving into less-enhanced areas, EVEN if the new area is considered "better" by the average income and crime rates.<<

Yeah, being around racism is especially bad for them.

Re: Liberty

[dialecticdreamer]

WIC is marginally better than not having it. Here, everything is incredibly regional, so one food bank might have nothing but canned goods and pork sausage, while another in the next city over is supplied by the local farmer's market and is 90% fresh fruit and veg, and more than half of it is organic.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

It would be much more helpful to have a network of places that offer food or other services, so people could find what they need. And require all of them to have at least some things available for special dietary needs, which tends to make food half again or twice as expensive.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

>>I don't know what next year's themes will be, but something should fit.<<

Since the world's a mess, how about "Fix what's broken?"

>>Also, look at how scarily well it worked in local-America, and then imagine how much more it would work with actual superpowers.<<

The Hunger Games is a brilliant example of hoe American racism was invented...I have a rant on that. One of these days I should type it up.

>>So passing down through stubborn people, generations later you might just have a handful of average biases.<<

Maybe it's possible to redirect parts of the bindings at themselves? Frex, if we have "be obedient" and "hate other races" could you hack at the latter by, say, becoming a follower of an activist or joining a peace-and-love church? Also, what happens if your leader orders you to work on independence and self-improvement and you obediently do so?

>>However, you also have to account for how society reinforces that imprint. A partial one might be increased through institutionalized abuses.<<

Compare with how stuff like abuse, mental illness, and general personality cycle through families.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> The Hunger Games is a brilliant example of hoe American racism was invented...I have a rant on that. One of these days I should type it up.<<

Go for it!

>>Maybe it's possible to redirect parts of the bindings at themselves? Frex, if we have "be obedient" and "hate other races" could you hack at the latter by, say, becoming a follower of an activist or joining a peace-and-love church? <<

Possibly?

>> Also, what happens if your leader orders you to work on independence and self-improvement and you obediently do so? <<

That should work. At least, it works with most magical bindings, so it should work with psionic ones. It's not necessarily comfortable, though -- when imperatives cross each other, that causes friction.

>>Compare with how stuff like abuse, mental illness, and general personality cycle through families.<<

True, and this issue feeds right into those.

Re: Liberty

[see_also_friend]

>>That should work. At least, it works with most magical bindings, so it should work with psionic ones.<<

That sounds like a possible avenue to explore, storywise, and especially since there is real-world data that can be used for research. I think it will be interesting!

>>It's not necessarily comfortable, though -- when imperatives cross each other, that causes friction.<<

Well, most things that complicated/ingrained aren't easy, though I imagine anyone trying to change will already be at a stage where the bindings are detrimentally chafing.

Look at The Best of Enemies - he didn't come around until he had a whole mutual respect thing with his nemesis, and that only came around because they had enough in common that she was helping to protect his family from stuff the rich folks (and rich white folks who were 'supposed' to be his leaders) didn't care about or really even notice.

Re: Liberty

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Well, most things that complicated/ingrained aren't easy, though I imagine anyone trying to change will already be at a stage where the bindings are detrimentally chafing.<<

Anyone for whom it truly doesn't fit will chew at it obsessively like an animal trying to escape a trap. It's just that most people aren't that wild.

Plus of course, anyone with farmemory should be able to ooze around it. Also, the stronger your personality and memories, the stronger the burn-in gets as you force traits to manifest regardless of what the blueprint says.

>> Look at The Best of Enemies - he didn't come around until he had a whole mutual respect thing with his nemesis, and that only came around because they had enough in common that she was helping to protect his family from stuff the rich folks (and rich white folks who were 'supposed' to be his leaders) didn't care about or really even notice.<<

True.