A Concurrent Failure of Empathetic Resources

[milkshake_b]

Somehow, it seems like my longest posts and rants about House have more to do with the fandom than the show itself, have you noticed? This isn't really an exception.

Comments

[nostalgia_lj]

I wished House had got the meds legally just so he could have laughed in that guy's face for being a fuckwit,

[milkshake_b]

Fandom's speaking up for the Man. Why is fandom speaking up for the Man?

[nostalgia_lj]

Fandom has cruised over that shark?

[milkshake_b]

Fandom vaguely remembers there was a bump a while back. There may have been a fin sticking out of the water. It's not sure, and it honestly doesn't think it's that important.

[mayatawi]

Hmm. I've been wondering what your main objection to this episode was since you alluded to it, but I never got around to asking you.

I'm not sure how to start this without sounding overly defensive or "Oh, well, you're talking about ME, aren't you?" so, well, take it as read that I'm not a) personally offended or b) trying to start an INTERNET SMACKDOWN. (Seeing as my only comment on the situation, in its entirety, was "HOUSE. IN. HANDCUFFS.", I doubt that was enough to raise your ire anyway.)

I suppose the best way to put it is, I'm a fictional sadist. I enjoy watching my favorite characters get beat up or jerked around or what-have-you. There's probably something fundamentally wrong with that mindset, but after all this time, I'm at peace with it.

I'm enjoying the hell out of this particular plotline, not because I think House deserves it (I don't) or I don't realize the situation would suck balls in real life (I do), but because I'm not coming from a place where I empathize with the character. I love him to death and sometimes

Part One

[milkshake_b]

I spent a while trying to figure out a reply here, because you used a tactic--the "all my friends are gay!" defense--that really not that easy to discuss without looking something like an ass yourself, which is the point, I suppose. However, I eventually realized that it's almost entirely beside the point.

See, the thing I'm not sure I'm getting across is that I have no fundamental problem with non-con, or sadism for that matter. I actually rather enjoy a good dub-con myself. I don't think I'd ever go so far, having researched it, to list myself as an active member of the BDSM community, because my interests in the arena are more incidental than a focus, but I've spent more than my fair share of time defending it, and trying to explain to people the difference between fantasy and reality. So that's not the issue here, either.

Well, no, I take it back. The issue here isn't that I'm not grasping the difference between fiction and reality--the difference here is that the community seems to be lacking a nicety of awareness of where the

Part Two

[milkshake_b]

[continued from part one]

I'm asking this not in a condescending manner, but in all seriousness--have you read the posts in the PDH links list? I put a link in my post for a reason, but I suspect I didn't highlight it sufficiently; most people honestly don't seem to have gone looking. It's not the tone of the latter posts that's a problem; they're... different. It's the first ones. I want to offer some quotes from a few

Re: Part Two

[mayatawi]

I spent a while trying to figure out a reply here, because you used a tactic--the "all my friends are gay!" defense--that really not that easy to discuss without looking something like an ass yourself, which is the point, I suppose.

Oy. First of all, apologies for that. That is totally not what I meant. I just wanted to say I'm not coming at this from an entirely theoretical POV, that I do have some experience with law and abuses of prescription drug users. You're right, that was irrelevant, and I probably should have left it out. It wasn't supposed to be a "you can't argue with me because of THIS!" kind of tactic, and, well, I suppose it came off that way, so again... sorry.

I'm asking this not in a condescending manner, but in all seriousness--have you read the posts in the PDH links list?

I haven't, because I was trying (and failing, woe) to finish commenting before SPN started. You're right, those are pretty horrific.

Instead, they're trying to say that the reason they're enjoying this is it's right. House deserves this.Okay

[bironic]

Okay: I'm one of the people who enjoyed the dark sexual subtext between Tritter and House. And when I said so in my post-ep write-up, I didn't balance it out by mentioning what you focus on here, which is that the arrest was horribly botched and House needs those meds (even if he resorted to admittedly illegal methods to obtain them) despite what his increasingly antagonistic friends and colleagues believe, and yes, that situation in real life would be absolutely terrifying and infuriating, no matter what House did to piss off the cop. (I don't think he deserved what he got, by the way.) It is possible to feel that sympathy and at the same time distance yourself for some pleasure. I don't think you're disagreeing with that here. You have a fine point about the need for a reality check -- to take a moment and really think about what we're cheering, to comprehend and not ignore the gravity of the scenario while enjoying the slashiness, or the harrassment, whatever you want to call it. This is where things get tricky, because I also don'

[leaper182]

Hi, M_Butterfly! *waves*

I myself haven't seen the entire episode, but I did see about the last half of it, so I missed the cop coming into the clinic and dealing with House, but I saw the arrest.

I know that I was joking around comments about the cop manhandling House -- and heck, cops have to do that when they're handcuffing people, I know that -- but I hadn't realized that people would keep pills loose in their pockets or not use prescription bottles. I figured that keeping the pills in the prescription bottle would reduce the amount of, "OMG, YOU'RE ADDICTED" somewhat, but then again, people will say what they want.

I've noticed in House and in other fandoms (Law & Order, especially) that the way that the writers present the situations has as much impact on the audience as what the situation is. I'm sorry if I sound like I'm saying something obvious, but I had to realize it when I would make my own personal post about an episode of L&O, and then have people comment with, "Um, Jack McCoy was seriously out of line there, y'know

[leaper182]

Seriously?

Okay, now I need to see the first half of the episode.

*blink*

[nostalgia_lj]

I didn't see the slashiness at all. The examination stuff just clicks past my slash-goggles as clinical contact, which isn't sexual for me.

[kickair8p]

The cop plotline hit me mostly the same way as the Mr. Moneybags plotline -- annoying and boring. But, cop plotline also made me queasy. I think you've put your finger on why.

~