– those who understand binary
– those who understand ternary
– those who understand quartal
– those who understand quintal
– those who understand sextal
– those who understand septal
– those who understand octal
…
Yes, she could. That’s literally what Ruth was talking about a couple strips ago. Ruth’s covered for them both, but it was a one-time thing. However, Amber looks like she’s having a panic attack, so she’s not exactly thinking things through right now.
I meant expelled for threatening to stab a fellow student, not for getting in a fight with her
Tarnish
Sal is invading Aqmber’s personal space and she could make a serious case she’s in fear for her life. In that situation, threats are not illegal. What SAL is doing (disobeying a direct order from an RA, seeking out opponent in a fight…) It seems awful to suggest Amber, who is A), having a panic attack, B), having her expectation of privacy and safety in her dorm room strongly violated is exhibiting White Privelige. You might claim Sal has a right to be there since Dina let her in, but that exactly mirrors the situation with Blaine!
BBCC
First of all, ‘in fear for her life’ is often a seriously BS standard that is used particularly to excuse violence against PoC, especially black and Hispanic people (and, in Canada, Indigenous people). Lethal force being used against you or a third party justifies using lethal force in defence, but this vaguely defined ‘Oh, they SCARED me’ schtick is bullshit. It’s one of the things I hate most about the American criminal justice system.
The white privilege isn’t in the reason Amber’s freaking out Sal’s there, it’s in the fact that Amber is more likely to get away with threatening to hurt Sal than Sal would be vice versa.
I’d also say invaded is a deal strong here. Sure, Dina should have asked if Amber wanted Sal to come in, but she did let her in. And while they’re both people Amber wouldn’t want in her room that Dina let in, that’s as far as the similarities between Sal and Blaine go.
thejeff
Theoretically, absent everything else.
In practice, if anyone tries to expel her for this, the fight comes out and they both get booted. (And then Amazi-Girl gets revealed and Amber likely winds up in jail.)
You can’t treat the threat in isolation, because it’s all tied together. Amber doesn’t routinely threaten people with stabbing.
^^^ like, my first impulse is to say, “obviously, there’s more at play here” but that’s just kinda…like…fucked up to say. I really am uncomfortable with how much Amber just seems completely unaware of the racial dynamics that are being acted out here as a white girl, her own trauma being legitimate or no.
She is aware of the racial dynamic, which is what got her to back off when they had their encounter at a rally. Amazi-Girl got very uncomfortable with the crowd’s desire for her to beat up the “thug’ Sal.
I don’t think it’s even remotely relevant in this encounter, though, to be frank. Sal was told to leave Amber be, and Amber doesn’t *know* Sal is here in peace because she’s not afforded the view the readers get. For all she knows, Sal’s here to finish the job.
Race isn’t relevant to this threat, their fight is.
Cyrus
Sal’s demeanor here really doesn’t scream ‘coming to finish you off’. She seems so… I’m not sure what’s the right word. Weary? Unguarded? Maybe even vulnerable? Of course, Amber would have to be in a rational state of mind to notice that, which I’m guessing she’s not.
BBCC
The point here isn’t ‘Amber is mad at Sal because Sal’s black’. The point here is ‘Amber would be more likely to get away with stabbing Sal than vice versa and thus this is an example of white privilege, albeit an ignorant one (in the ‘lacking awareness’ sense)’.
Black people are more likely to be convicted than white people for the same crime and black victims are less likely to get their attackers brought to justice than white victims.
Emily
The thing about being black in America is that race is kinda always relevant.
Yeah I can’t imagine Sal getting away with threatening to stab someone :/ What Amber just did there is a huge no-no. All I had was a dude yell “I’m going to murder you!” and the cops got involved.
I think Amber is on a power trip, as she has been this whole comic really. She likes feeling in control and powerful, and she has a deathly fear of Sal because she’s the one person who makes her not feel in control.
She’s not on a power trip or at least I wouldn’t call it that. Nep is correct. Amber is falling apart and embracing the worst parts of herself. Trying to be her dad!
DailyBrad
Not really my takeaway. The times she has been like Blaine have been more along the lines of her terrifying behavior towards Danny before their breakup, and her recognizing she was talking to him the same way Blaine talked about her mom.
Blaine isn’t even remotely self-destructive, at least not in the sense of inviting consequences. He just smugly things he’s above it all.
Kris
I mean like Blaine in that he is clearly a man who prefers to solve things through violence. She thinks she’s just like him and has given in to that as evidenced by this off putting strip that has hard confirmed Blaine has force powers of projection!
I don’t think this is a power trip. She JUST lost a pretty vicious fight with Sal only minutes ago, and suddenly Sal showed up at her room. Just look at Amber’s face in panel 4. She’s afraid Sal came to finish what they’d started and she’s panicking
She’s cornered, and she’s too exhausted to fight back or to run if Sal attacks her again, so she’s desperate and trying to scare Sal away or at least scare her into backing down.
It’s still shitty to threaten her like that of course, but if she was on a power trip I’d expect her to be stammering a bit less
thejeff
Exactly. And even her threat is a warning to not come closer, not anything more aggressive. She’s not saying she’s going to stab Sal or that she wants to. She’s not demanding anything except that Sal not come close enough to be more of a threat.
Sal might get away with it if Amber literally barged into her room mere minutes after a vicious fight. Both Sal and Amber have a right to expectation of privacy and safety in their dorm rooms, and by violating that after being explicitly ordered not to, it would be difficult to argue the invader was in the right. We might suspect Sal has realized that, but Amber is a traumatized wreck with no such knowledge.
It was definitely a factor in how Amber DIDN’T face major legal repercussions or at minimum mandated therapy for stabbing Sal.
Now… that would require Sal reporting it, and I doubt Ruth’ll be thrilled to hear Sal went to talk with Amber more after that fight. They really shouldn’t be together unsupervised (and Dina is neither an experienced mediator nor someone who could physically step in and stop a fight should it reignite.)
In general Amber has a lot of things that, if discovered, would probably get her expelled. (AG and changing Walky’s grades chief among them.) What’s really keeping her going there is luck and authorial guiding hand.
There were a lot of factors: Amber is a minor, Amber was a victim of a crime, and it might have been a condition for letting Sal off the hook with her parents making a deal.
DinaWho
This storyline especially has got me wondering if there was some double deal done involving both of them.
Amber isn’t thinking straight at all. White privilege is based on an assumption that the actor thinks they can get away with what they’re doing. Amber doesn’t care. She’s still seeing Sal as the robber she’s used as a mental crutch for years.
White privilege doesn’t need to be conscious to benefit a person, though I agree Amber’s not thinking in terms of ‘I’m white, I can get away with it’.
vlademir1
“White privilege doesn’t need to be conscious to benefit a person…”
Very much so. It’s not particularly relevant to the current comic, but I recently had that specific fact driven home to me when a coworker and friend gave me a ride home from work. I invited him in, and he declined citing concerns of being stopped for DWB if he left after dark (it was then sunset), which has apparently previously happened to him in my neighborhood when visiting other friends in the area. That was a concern I had never had cause to even stop and consider happening here for a lot of reasons.
As BBCC suggests, part of white privilege is the fact that you don’t have to think about certain things. Example: when you come across a crime, you don’t have to decide between calling the police or not getting involved. White privilege is in that lack of decision: you call the police without even realizing that a black person might get blamed.
So yeah, Amber has white privilege. Because she’s white. That’s the entire calculus. Whether or not it’s relevant is a whole other thing, and I’d agree that it really isn’t. It doesn’t get relevant until you factor in some third party who’d differentiate them based on race.
BBCC
Well, the OP is based on the idea Amber’d have an easier time getting away with stabbing Sal (or at least getting a lighter sentence) than vice versa. Presumably whoever’s in charge of that decision would be the third party there.
WonderRabbit
I actually would think twice before calling the police, as a white person. Getting involved is a hassle, and could escalate the situation. It does depend on the specifics though.
The point being, generalisations like that are risky, because all it takes is one white person who does / would / is whatever example to disprove the argument. It doesn’t disprove privilege, but some people will act like it does.
Emily
Yeah but your reason wouldn’t be “But will they shoot/arrest me when they get here” because white people just don’t face that kind of profiling. And also no, an anecdotal outlier does not disprove a general rule. An albino crow doesn’t disprove the fact that crows are generally black.
As someone who’s had that kind of problem with PTSD before, definitely not thinking straight, but I wouldn’t presume the presence or lack of consequences are relevant to her right now? Like, the actual lack of consequences are white privilege, but she may be feeling threatened enough that she’d do it even if she knew it meant Go Directly To Jail.
Then again, Sal might be right and she might just be talking shit.
Amber maybe could get expelled for this?
They could certainly both be expelled for the fight, so I’m not sure how much white privilege really plays into this.
And let’s be fair here, Sal was choking her a few strips back, the RA cut them a break and told them to stay away from each other. Now here Sal is, barging in on Amber. Is it any wonder Amber thinks she’s coming back to start up again?
We know she isn’t, but Amber doesn’t know anything about the revelations Sal’s had.
Yes, but not really in the way that sounds.
A bluff because she’s panicking and doesn’t have the energy for another fight. An empty threat because she wouldn’t actually do it, even if she could. And Sal knows that.
While I could see that, the lyrical meaning of the song is after all somewhat fitting of Amber’s & AG’s relationship(s) with Sal from their POV, Closer is, for me, only really fitting to use in a scene involving a romantic/sexual relationship with those types of elements which they certainly don’t have at this point.
365 thoughts on “Closer”
Ana Chronistic
“NOW who’s hard-headed geddit Pachycephalosaurus yuk yuk”
Ana Chronistic
now I have emo girl from Elf Only Inn in my head
“STAB STAB STAB!”
Just Karen
I miss that comic.
Azhrei Vep
Damn you for reminding me of that comic. Now I’m sad.
butts
gosh dangit
Deanatay
“Ah mean, there’s a lot o’ prehistoric BUGS ah lahk, but pachycephalosaurus is the best DINOSAUR. Ah lahk ‘is helmet.”
Kris
Wow! Way to go from 11 to 100 in less than a second Ambs!!!!!!
DailyBrad
In her defense, she has no idea *why* Sal’s here. Hoping the last panel will make it clear that Sal comes in peace.
NF
I don’t think Sal has any idea why she’s here either. Gotta poke that bear? (The bear being their intertwined tragic backstories, not Amber.)
Some1
Honestly though, very angry, brown hair, presumed love of honey and berries. Amber’s pretty much a bear.
Darkoneko
no, she know Amber won’t stab her because she always played “fair”. Probably there to make some sort of peace ?
DSL
Or: Sal’s not restrained. No authority figures present. Sal figures Amber’s not likely to attack.
ǝ snow ʍousɐ
Interpreted as binary numbers, that’s only adding 1!
Marsh Maryrose
You know what they say.
There are 10 kinds of people:
– those who understand binary
– those who understand ternary
– those who understand quartal
– those who understand quintal
– those who understand sextal
– those who understand septal
– those who understand octal
…
AnvilPro
Sal’s actually trying to calm down a big mess by just talking it out rationally.
I don’t just want more of this in DoA, or in webcomics, but in all media in general
Catman
This is… Minutes after she was choking her out.
Bathymetheus
Gasp! She’s DISOBEYING Ruth!
Jamie
Sal? Disobeying an authority figure? Say it isn’t so!
LookingIn
It must be a day that ends in “y”
Needfuldoer
She could be approaching it from a “now that we got that out of our systems…” mindset.
JoeCovenant
Yeah, That’s basically what I’ve been suggesting this might play out like…
(Sigh… I Love Sal!) 🙂
Kris
Or just in life. I’d settle for that in life.
Darkoneko
Sal’s also out of fight and flight
Alanari
Yeah, but in a different way. She decided it. Amber is just exhausted.
Koms
Sal wants to apologise
Agemegos
That’s my reading. So probably not true. 🙁
pollybee
I am a PALEONTOLOGIST
Regalli
That’s who I am, that’s who I am, that’s who I am…
Anon a Mouse
I like diggin in the dirt with just a pick and brush
Geneseepaws
And seive, don’t forget the seive!
Meta
Couldn’t Amber literally get expelled for this
NGL I’m getting strong white privilege vibes off her right now
Viktoria
Yes, she could. That’s literally what Ruth was talking about a couple strips ago. Ruth’s covered for them both, but it was a one-time thing. However, Amber looks like she’s having a panic attack, so she’s not exactly thinking things through right now.
Meta
I meant expelled for threatening to stab a fellow student, not for getting in a fight with her
Tarnish
Sal is invading Aqmber’s personal space and she could make a serious case she’s in fear for her life. In that situation, threats are not illegal. What SAL is doing (disobeying a direct order from an RA, seeking out opponent in a fight…) It seems awful to suggest Amber, who is A), having a panic attack, B), having her expectation of privacy and safety in her dorm room strongly violated is exhibiting White Privelige. You might claim Sal has a right to be there since Dina let her in, but that exactly mirrors the situation with Blaine!
BBCC
First of all, ‘in fear for her life’ is often a seriously BS standard that is used particularly to excuse violence against PoC, especially black and Hispanic people (and, in Canada, Indigenous people). Lethal force being used against you or a third party justifies using lethal force in defence, but this vaguely defined ‘Oh, they SCARED me’ schtick is bullshit. It’s one of the things I hate most about the American criminal justice system.
The white privilege isn’t in the reason Amber’s freaking out Sal’s there, it’s in the fact that Amber is more likely to get away with threatening to hurt Sal than Sal would be vice versa.
I’d also say invaded is a deal strong here. Sure, Dina should have asked if Amber wanted Sal to come in, but she did let her in. And while they’re both people Amber wouldn’t want in her room that Dina let in, that’s as far as the similarities between Sal and Blaine go.
thejeff
Theoretically, absent everything else.
In practice, if anyone tries to expel her for this, the fight comes out and they both get booted. (And then Amazi-Girl gets revealed and Amber likely winds up in jail.)
You can’t treat the threat in isolation, because it’s all tied together. Amber doesn’t routinely threaten people with stabbing.
bladecleaner
^^^ like, my first impulse is to say, “obviously, there’s more at play here” but that’s just kinda…like…fucked up to say. I really am uncomfortable with how much Amber just seems completely unaware of the racial dynamics that are being acted out here as a white girl, her own trauma being legitimate or no.
DailyBrad
She is aware of the racial dynamic, which is what got her to back off when they had their encounter at a rally. Amazi-Girl got very uncomfortable with the crowd’s desire for her to beat up the “thug’ Sal.
I don’t think it’s even remotely relevant in this encounter, though, to be frank. Sal was told to leave Amber be, and Amber doesn’t *know* Sal is here in peace because she’s not afforded the view the readers get. For all she knows, Sal’s here to finish the job.
Race isn’t relevant to this threat, their fight is.
Cyrus
Sal’s demeanor here really doesn’t scream ‘coming to finish you off’. She seems so… I’m not sure what’s the right word. Weary? Unguarded? Maybe even vulnerable? Of course, Amber would have to be in a rational state of mind to notice that, which I’m guessing she’s not.
BBCC
The point here isn’t ‘Amber is mad at Sal because Sal’s black’. The point here is ‘Amber would be more likely to get away with stabbing Sal than vice versa and thus this is an example of white privilege, albeit an ignorant one (in the ‘lacking awareness’ sense)’.
Black people are more likely to be convicted than white people for the same crime and black victims are less likely to get their attackers brought to justice than white victims.
Emily
The thing about being black in America is that race is kinda always relevant.
Roger
yeah
Nep
I would agree with you, except I think she’s trying to self-destruct.
Nep
Not to say that Amber hasn’t been saved a lot in her life so far by white privilege.
Suzi
Yeah I can’t imagine Sal getting away with threatening to stab someone :/ What Amber just did there is a huge no-no. All I had was a dude yell “I’m going to murder you!” and the cops got involved.
I think Amber is on a power trip, as she has been this whole comic really. She likes feeling in control and powerful, and she has a deathly fear of Sal because she’s the one person who makes her not feel in control.
Kris
She’s not on a power trip or at least I wouldn’t call it that. Nep is correct. Amber is falling apart and embracing the worst parts of herself. Trying to be her dad!
DailyBrad
Not really my takeaway. The times she has been like Blaine have been more along the lines of her terrifying behavior towards Danny before their breakup, and her recognizing she was talking to him the same way Blaine talked about her mom.
Blaine isn’t even remotely self-destructive, at least not in the sense of inviting consequences. He just smugly things he’s above it all.
Kris
I mean like Blaine in that he is clearly a man who prefers to solve things through violence. She thinks she’s just like him and has given in to that as evidenced by this off putting strip that has hard confirmed Blaine has force powers of projection!
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/04-the-do-list/proved/
The self destruction is just a side effect.
Fart Captor
I don’t think this is a power trip. She JUST lost a pretty vicious fight with Sal only minutes ago, and suddenly Sal showed up at her room. Just look at Amber’s face in panel 4. She’s afraid Sal came to finish what they’d started and she’s panicking
She’s cornered, and she’s too exhausted to fight back or to run if Sal attacks her again, so she’s desperate and trying to scare Sal away or at least scare her into backing down.
It’s still shitty to threaten her like that of course, but if she was on a power trip I’d expect her to be stammering a bit less
thejeff
Exactly. And even her threat is a warning to not come closer, not anything more aggressive. She’s not saying she’s going to stab Sal or that she wants to. She’s not demanding anything except that Sal not come close enough to be more of a threat.
Tarnish
Sal might get away with it if Amber literally barged into her room mere minutes after a vicious fight. Both Sal and Amber have a right to expectation of privacy and safety in their dorm rooms, and by violating that after being explicitly ordered not to, it would be difficult to argue the invader was in the right. We might suspect Sal has realized that, but Amber is a traumatized wreck with no such knowledge.
bleepbloop
This whole Thing between them has given me that vibe
Regalli
It was definitely a factor in how Amber DIDN’T face major legal repercussions or at minimum mandated therapy for stabbing Sal.
Now… that would require Sal reporting it, and I doubt Ruth’ll be thrilled to hear Sal went to talk with Amber more after that fight. They really shouldn’t be together unsupervised (and Dina is neither an experienced mediator nor someone who could physically step in and stop a fight should it reignite.)
In general Amber has a lot of things that, if discovered, would probably get her expelled. (AG and changing Walky’s grades chief among them.) What’s really keeping her going there is luck and authorial guiding hand.
C.T Phipps
There were a lot of factors: Amber is a minor, Amber was a victim of a crime, and it might have been a condition for letting Sal off the hook with her parents making a deal.
DinaWho
This storyline especially has got me wondering if there was some double deal done involving both of them.
Falcon
Amber isn’t thinking straight at all. White privilege is based on an assumption that the actor thinks they can get away with what they’re doing. Amber doesn’t care. She’s still seeing Sal as the robber she’s used as a mental crutch for years.
BBCC
White privilege doesn’t need to be conscious to benefit a person, though I agree Amber’s not thinking in terms of ‘I’m white, I can get away with it’.
vlademir1
“White privilege doesn’t need to be conscious to benefit a person…”
Very much so. It’s not particularly relevant to the current comic, but I recently had that specific fact driven home to me when a coworker and friend gave me a ride home from work. I invited him in, and he declined citing concerns of being stopped for DWB if he left after dark (it was then sunset), which has apparently previously happened to him in my neighborhood when visiting other friends in the area. That was a concern I had never had cause to even stop and consider happening here for a lot of reasons.
Jamie
As BBCC suggests, part of white privilege is the fact that you don’t have to think about certain things. Example: when you come across a crime, you don’t have to decide between calling the police or not getting involved. White privilege is in that lack of decision: you call the police without even realizing that a black person might get blamed.
So yeah, Amber has white privilege. Because she’s white. That’s the entire calculus. Whether or not it’s relevant is a whole other thing, and I’d agree that it really isn’t. It doesn’t get relevant until you factor in some third party who’d differentiate them based on race.
BBCC
Well, the OP is based on the idea Amber’d have an easier time getting away with stabbing Sal (or at least getting a lighter sentence) than vice versa. Presumably whoever’s in charge of that decision would be the third party there.
WonderRabbit
I actually would think twice before calling the police, as a white person. Getting involved is a hassle, and could escalate the situation. It does depend on the specifics though.
The point being, generalisations like that are risky, because all it takes is one white person who does / would / is whatever example to disprove the argument. It doesn’t disprove privilege, but some people will act like it does.
Emily
Yeah but your reason wouldn’t be “But will they shoot/arrest me when they get here” because white people just don’t face that kind of profiling. And also no, an anecdotal outlier does not disprove a general rule. An albino crow doesn’t disprove the fact that crows are generally black.
not someone else
As someone who’s had that kind of problem with PTSD before, definitely not thinking straight, but I wouldn’t presume the presence or lack of consequences are relevant to her right now? Like, the actual lack of consequences are white privilege, but she may be feeling threatened enough that she’d do it even if she knew it meant Go Directly To Jail.
Then again, Sal might be right and she might just be talking shit.
thejeff
Amber maybe could get expelled for this?
They could certainly both be expelled for the fight, so I’m not sure how much white privilege really plays into this.
And let’s be fair here, Sal was choking her a few strips back, the RA cut them a break and told them to stay away from each other. Now here Sal is, barging in on Amber. Is it any wonder Amber thinks she’s coming back to start up again?
We know she isn’t, but Amber doesn’t know anything about the revelations Sal’s had.
newllend(henryvolt)
A bluff in an empty threat and she called that out immediately.
thejeff
Yes, but not really in the way that sounds.
A bluff because she’s panicking and doesn’t have the energy for another fight. An empty threat because she wouldn’t actually do it, even if she could. And Sal knows that.
Stephen Bierce
All we are saying
Is Give Peace a Chance!…
jeffepp
I would have gone with NIN “Closer”, but, OK.
vlademir1
While I could see that, the lyrical meaning of the song is after all somewhat fitting of Amber’s & AG’s relationship(s) with Sal from their POV, Closer is, for me, only really fitting to use in a scene involving a romantic/sexual relationship with those types of elements which they certainly don’t have at this point.
Regalli