Grrl Power #815 – Do what I say, and also what I do
Before anyone says that Tamatha’s word bubble in panel 8 has a typo: YouTube
Dabbler really has been stringing poor Tamatha along, hasn’t she? The last 3 pages basically ended with the same gag.
It’s fair to say Dabbler is a moral relativist. She says it’s what we do that matters, and she’s killed thousands of people. (depending on how you define ‘people’) Like laid waste to a whole mess of entities Diablo style, and she’s had sex with… I don’t know, I’m sure the number is well into quadruple digits by now, maybe even quintuple. She is nearly 180 years old after all.
If pressed to defend her actions, Dabbler would simply say, “The people I killed were bad, and the people I had sex with were sexy.” A moral absolutist would probably not find those justifications acceptable, but personally I think moral absolutism is naïve. Sometimes Nazis, the Covenant, Rage Virus Zombies, rabid marauding goblins, and sex traffickers need killing. Most of the time, really.
Despite her mountainous body count, Dabbler considers herself a good person. Not a saint, certainly, but she firmly believes her actions make the universe a better place. One of the greatest problems in all of history, of course, is getting people to agree on what “better” constitutes. :/
So that book I wrote (Tamer: Enhancer) has been edited with even more fixes, and there’s now a .PDF version as well for those of you who had trouble with the e-reader versions for whatever reasons. Check it out here!
If you’re just joining us and this is news to you, it has nothing to do with Grrl Power. It’s actually Tamer fanfiction – in that it uses the same setup but never crosses paths with the characters from the source books. Anyway, it’s about 120K words long, and it’s free! It has dinosaurs, action, humor, xenoanthropology, and smexy times.
Double res version will be posted over at Patreon. Feel free to contribute as much as you like!
“Stop cliffhanging me!” LOL.
Who here hasn’t had that thought? Dave’s a master at it.
And that’s why they call her… Cliff Haaaaaanger!
AAAaand in panel eight Aranea evaluates Hiro and is forced to admit to herself that “she might like to go there” too.
Not that she will admit it to anyone else.
But Dabbler can probably tell anyway.
Oh honey.
We ALL want to go there.
Speak for yourself.
I’m guessing that Aranea is one of those self righteous, religious types who would deny with her dying breath that she would ever countenance such a thought. Thoughts of the flesh are demonic, in her world view, especially involving anyone with anything to do with her view of what demonic might entail. Sydney’s assertion and Dabbler’s discussion would mean absolutely nothing to her, especially if any of it would be contradictory to her own beliefs; therefore, any one having anything to do with demons would, sine facto and sine testimonio, be evil, period; and thus, anything they said would be dismissed as Satanic lies. Explanations mean nothing to the religious zealot, they’re all parts of a Satanic plot to corrupt all of goodness and purity.
Judging by her previous speech and assertions, Aranea is a lost cause already. The problem is that her belief that demons are inherently evil is a part of her persona. You cannot logically argue someone out of what they were not lagically argued into in the first place. The internal inconsistency could, in fact, backfire, thrusting such a person deeper into such beliefs, or at worst, sow the seeds for complete mental breakdown.
In the real World, trying to get a Biblical literalist to stop believing in the existence of angels and demons is virtually impossible, the argument being, you can’t see them because you don’t believe in the. If you really believed in God, you would see all the evidence you need, but since you don’t believe, you are unable to see any evidence. The logic is circular and nonsensical, but is sufficient to allow a sheriff in Wisconsin to see a guardian angel protecting his new pickup truck, where anyone else sees a moth flying close to the lens of a security camera focused on said truck. It’s what allows the faithful to feel the tears of Christ landing on them from the leaves of a specific tree, whereas standing under any similar tree causes another person to be defecated upon by identical insects infesting the leaves of both trees.
There’s a to a person case by case basis for a sick person feeling horrible, telling everyone they are, and just generally looking wretched. being what they say they are for the duration.
Versus me as a personal example. having the flu. knowing I still have to do work in the house so I don’t infect anyone.
turning on my favorite uplifting music, taking decongestants and flu meds, keeping caffeine in my system.
I’m usually walking back and forth in the living room talking on the phone with a fever of 100.
drinking juice or tea. making sure to pop cough drops as needed.
I have faith in the uplift of the music, I know my decongestants work better than they do for some people.
the flu meds are non-drowsy and as long as I’m active they don’t knock me out because non-drowsy means nothing to my system.
and I know dang well caffeine helps boost energy.
I’d rather be the one who can be up and keep working if need be. than a doddering depressed bedraggled wreck with a thermometer stuck in their mouth, a hot water bottle somewhere, a room that smells like marathon runners stopped bathing for a week after the run. and music that sounds like it belongs in a funeral parlor at 3am.
there’s also a case of every physical thing on the planet including us isn’t pure solid. at the highest most powerful microscope setting. each cell of any object including a space shuttle. is separated by space. Sure there is energy between them which is why it is physical. but we’re a bunch of cells that don’t touch walking around on the same.
in case you’re wondering. I covered “belief” that I could do my work regardless of being sick. and “faith” that the medicine and caffeine would do what I needed. Then belief and faith that we’re not going to sink because we’re not actually solid.
Of course, if the religious person was actually correct, they would have no way of convincing you, and you would be perpetually damned to a duller, grayer existence because of it.
We haven’t seen anything to indicate Aranea’s opinions abiut sexuality, if she has any.
Panel 8 Aranea: Stupid sexy supercop with amazing abs and a butt like a peach…
That Tamer story was really good. A lot of nice details and what sounds like a fairly realistic experience.
Moral absolutism isn’t naïve. You simply have to come to terms with the fact we all do evil things. Whether it is more or less evil than the alternatives is irrelevant. We simply dislike the idea of being “bad.”
Depends entirely on the type of “bad”, robbing a liquer store and kicking puppies, wrong “bad”. Knowing the kama sutra like the back of your hand and having a black belt in “silvertounge”, not to mention is a master of kinks, good “bad”, and possibly a kidnapping from our favourite succubus.
Even this is a morally relative “bad.” The problem with “bad” as defined by religious zealotry, is that all “bad” is equally evil. Just ask Christian apologist Ray Comfort (yes, I know he is considered a joke, but his followers number in the hundreds of thousands). If you once stole a piece of penny candy from a corner store as a child, you are a thief, just as much as if you swindled millions from stock buyers or robbed a liquor store at gunpoint, or so he claims, in God’s eyes. This is the level of intolerance one deals with when one encounters a “demon Hunter,” or so I would imagine.
Now in older Indian culture, knowing the Kama Sutra would actually be considered not merely good, but the height of cultural learning. Someone with the sexual knowledge and skill of Dabbler, Decollette or Core, would have been revered as at least a demigod. Especially since the their horns would identify them as non-human, but not necessarily bad or evil.
The identification of one who does not look typically human as not good, comes from the Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. All three of those religions hold that humans were created in the image of “God.” Of course, I’m curious how that was determined since, according to religious tradition, one cannot look at said God, without dying. What does God actually look like? The Bible was written by men, who obviously could not look at the face of God to see how it appeared.
Essentially, what I am arguing here is that the definitions of “good” and “evil” are culturally defined, and that most definitions that try to apply absolute definitions are doomed to failure. Examples: Genocide is considered to be universally evil, except the Fel conduct themselves in such morally reprehensible ways as to invite extinction when encountered. If you don’t wipe them out, they will wipe you out. Compared to the Fel, Succubi are, at worst, cultural nuisances to those with strongly conservative sexual mores.
I would argue that Moral absolutism is, in fact naïve, since its basic assumption is that what evil to one person, must therefore be evil for all people, and that the most minor violation is as equally bad as the worst. The idea that we all do wrong is a form of Calvinism that argues that none are deserving of the Kingdom of heaven, for all have fallen short. This philosophy both creates the need and provides the solution in one go.
You can guess, by my name, where I stand on this issue.
Everything is better with sauteed mushrooms.
This is the heart of Morel Absolutism.
Perhaps you’re thinking of Jefferson?
Moving on up to the east side.
Possibly, just was sure one of the Presidents had a child with a slave
From what I recall reading up on it, researchers did DNA tracing/analysis on descendants of a president (can’t recall which) and concluded someone in his immediate family had a child with a slave, but that given that it was several generations on they couldn’t conclusively state if it was the president r a brother or uncle or something. However as that doesn’t make nearly as sensational a story, the disclaimers get dropped in reporting and repetition.
Fairly sure it was a widely known fact, not something ‘hush-hush’
Heck, could even have been the great British General, Washington
if i recall from taking american history in university, it was indeed Jefferson.
Thank you, not a USAsian so barely even know who ruled North American after King George III
More than likely Thomas Jefferson with his slave Sally Hemings, who was, in fact, half sister to Jefferson’s late wife Mary (Wayles) Jefferson. After Mary’s death, Sally allegedly had six children with Jefferson.
Yeah, no. here’s the Wiki page. It’s… even more fucked-up than what you thought was sensationalist.
Not only is he very probably is the father of her six children, but she was his late wife’s half-sister.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Hemings
I would have put it shorter:
What is evil is defined by what the community, or the individual, wants it to be. Yes, you have an appetite for sex. That in and of itself isn’t evil for practically every morality. How you go about getting it, or what else you do, determines if you’re evil. Just because the other species with their social outlooks made a stereotype doesn’t mean it’s true.
That’s like saying hyu-mons have an appetite for oxygen: succubae literally require sex to feed on, or they will starve
Also true. I am sure that if Succubi were allowed to make all the laws back when (insert your country) was founded, or at least be 50% of the voting bodies, your culture would naturally be more understanding and accepting of a Succubus’s needs. Maybe not to the point of public display or pedophilia to feed the young ones directly, but I can see marriages allowing the Succubi to cheat so she doesn’t drain her husband.
There is a distinction between moral absolutism and moral universalism/objectivism. It is similar to the difference between moral relativism and moral nihilism.
Dabbler you made Tammi cry, bad succumbs, bad!
And No! not the fun kind of “bad”, quit getting excited when I scold you!
Ignoring the fact that they DO drain energy to the point of disabling a physical type super (barberarian) I suspect that most young Sucubbi have several “Incidents” that their Mentors have to dispose of…… “Well that juice bag can’t be refilled”
Anyone going to call out the crusades reference? I’ll go with the inquisition as a dark time, but the crusades were what happens after 400 years of turning the other cheek.
Actually, the Crusades happened because of CURRENT leaders in the Area of the Holy land at the time.
It’s actually worth noting there was a lot of peaceful trade and intermarriage between Crusades between the Middle East and Europe. Hell, most of the Stained Glass in the Vatican was done by Persian Craftsmen.
Christians and Muslims love to claim Crusade/Jihad and that it’s Strictly for religious reasons, but at the end of the day, it’s the guys in charge who start the wars.
How are the crusades baggage?
Major war between east and west with some religious zealotry thrown into the mix, not a great time. Especially given it happened several times and I believe during one of them a city got razed for pretty shady reasons.
it’s aggravates me that people think it’s a good thing to punch a nazi. when more good can be done by punching or better yet killing in job lots, communists. and before you get your panties in a bunch. the folk Hitler killed aren’t even a pimple on the ass of the number of folks killed by communists.
Actually… Communists only just under twice as many as the Nazis.
Ten Million Ukrainians. And that was specifically under Stalin, who OTHER Communists thought was fucking nuts.
Six Million Jews is far from a “pimple on the ass.”
Fact is, either way, Authoritarian Governments who execute people are assholes. As are people who blanket statement an entire group by the actions of a few, who frankly are the ones who need to be shot. The willfully ignorant and judgemental.
It’s a good thing to punch a Fascist because they’re a goddamned Fascist.
btw, you’re getting Communists confused with Stalinist Russia. Which was very much an Authoritarian Dictatorship.
and FYI, Ten Million Ukrainians being offed by the guy does not make Six Million Jews a “pimple on the ass.”
And if you’re a Holocaust denier, you can go fuck yourself.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
Thank you for playing, you may pick up your consolation prize of our home game on your way out.
ah, but you’re confusing nazism with Hitlerish Germany. Pure nazism has never been tried.
Early nazism was almost indistinguishable from socialism, and included welfare-state, free education, healthcare and lots of other goodies. We should therefore attempt again, although the last time failed horribly.
There is a reason why early Nazism was almost indistinguishable from socialism: it was socialism, National Socialist Party is the correct (and original) name
The only ‘problem’ (and not saying it was a horrendous one) is how ruthless they got towards their opponents
Perhaps a point worth keeping in mind ~ but that’ll be kinda pointless if you’re ^unsuccessful^ at getting enough people to distinguish the fanaticall ideology (and the ^enforcement^ thereof) of Himler & his SS from the the NaziNazi ^Party^‘s Stalinistic methods of retaining power!
The problem with punching a Nazi is that, as soon as you decide that it’s right and proper to punch Nazis, everybody you’d like to punch magically starts looking to you like a Nazi.
And claiming that six million Jews (many of whom were turned in by their own kind, including family members) are worth more than ten million Ukrainians makes you a racist arsehole
@Guesticus
It is NOT claimed here that Jews are worth more than Ukrainians!
What is said is that 6 million is not insignificant (a pimple) compared to 10 million.
@ Guesticus
“many of whom…….” is a blatant lie, often heard from neo-nazis and holocaust deniers, Guesticus.
The problem, as I see it at least, is that the Nazi party is (was) an authoritarian political party. It had rolls, you were either a member or you were not. This is objective fact.
Communism, on the other hand, has never actually been a practiced governmental form. There have been plenty of ‘people’s revolutions’ which have kicked out one set of asshats in exchange for another, and in every single case the people who took power then held power for the sake of power, and did not implement communism. This makes pointing at ‘communists’ as bad people or at communism as a bad governmental form a far less objective reality, since Stalin was not ever a communist. He was a member of and leader of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, but that is quite a different thing from being a communist.
I don’t think anyone claimed 6M Jews were worth more than 10M Ukrainians. What I read was that 6M Jews are not an insignificant number of victims even when compared to 10M Ukrainians. But I think it is worth noting that both Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia were awful places if you didn’t fit the archetype.
No disagreement from ^me^, as fas ^that^ goes. (At least I can’t think of any ^reason^ to disagree. [ツ] )
I’m not gonna lie, I certainly want to go there too…
RE: “moral absolutism is naïve”
Sure, but wasn’t the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil forbidden? Therefore isn’t being naïve the original state of man? Didn’t Jesus teach us not to judge (Matthew 7:1)? Isn’t the act of calling a thing “evil” judgment?
Isn’t it typically the position that religion advocates moral absolutism? Is then moral absolutism the position of being naïve? Or do we ignore what is said in favor for our prejudices?
What is moral absolutism? Is it not the ignoring of motive in favor of the certainty of judgment? What is the motive of moral absolutism?
As “devil’s advocate” I am not saying anything nor do I mean anything except that we as individuals should think and ponder on what it is that we think we know. “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” 1 Corinthians 8:2
((And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. — Matthew 12:7
And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” — Mark 2:17
To put it simply: Morality without forgiveness isn’t moral.
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” — Matthew 10:34))
Does “Age appropriate” really mater to a species that is immortal (or at least lives until it’s killed)?
Does “Age appropriate” really mater to a species that is immortal (or at least lives until it’s killed)? and considering how succubi drain their sexual partners, wouldn’t it be harmful for their first time (probably a clumsy, uncontrolled feeding) to be with an inexperienced teen? also, wouldn’t an early experience with a succubus ruin that teen for all future non-demonic lovers?
The crusades were NOT a bad time for Human History. I don’t know why people keep saying that. It’s like you don’t know anything about the period or something.
No, a bad period in humanities history would be the 1400 year Jihad. Or the Trans-sahara salve trade. Or the sacking of the Hind.
Nazis, the Covenant, Rage Virus Zombies, rabid marauding goblins, and sex traffickers are moral absolutists. Well, maybe not sex traffickers. They might be better defined as “Immoral Absolutists”. They are all about profit and don’t give morality a thought. Like Donald Trump. But moral absolutists are he ones most likely to “need killing”.