RESPECT! RESPONSIBILITY! SAFETY! PERSONAL BEST! CARE! All these things and more can be found inside the mouth of a cat.
BLOWJOB CAT joins the ranks of Dumbing of Age Book 7 Kickstarter magnets! You can pledge for this 3″x3″ magnet separately (well, with a book), or expect him to be part of your COMPLETE MAGNET POWER pledge! There's also PICK 3 MAGNETS and PICK 5 MAGNETS pledge tiers if you want to mix and match.
Saw the URL, expected Chopper from Star Wars Rebels. 🙁
Needfuldoer
Manufactured drama, tons of shouting, somehow the projects always came through at the last minute…
American Chopper truly was harbinger of the “Yellin’ Guys Garage” genre that now dominates History and Velocity, wasn’t it. Oh the relative innocence of the early 2000s…
Also, B^U to that first post.
Dark
It was also the only good one.
Needfuldoer
Fantomworks is pretty good, though it would be better if it got fan edits that took out the repetition.
The only other good car TV shows are Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Gearz, Chasing Classic Cars, and Wheeler Dealers before Edd left. The rest fall into the same tired formula and focus too much on “shop drama” or celebrity cameos. They’re basically sitcoms set in car shops.
If you want good car videos you have to look online. Mighty Car Mods, Jay Leno’s Garage, Regular Car Reviews, Roadkill…
Raiju
Best use of the meme. Now it can end since no one can beat it.
Read it in Sarah/Joyce’s voice, or how my brain think they sound anyway. XD
Hey, Walky has a history with uptight intelligent blondes, and Jason has a history with people who look just like Walky give or take a chromosome or two, so it’s not like it would be entirely out of character for either of them.
As we see with the fact Faz isn’t a biological relation of Amber, we’re in uncharted territory! Like Sulu in Star Trek Beyond, the sexuality of characters is all in the air!
Maybe Walky is Bi! Jason could be Pan! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE LIMITLESS!
Joyce’ confidence is shook. Worst part is Sarah probably doesn’t even see what she’s doing as bad, so she’ll probably be super casual when she reveals her scheme
“WHAT, I’m not doing anything wrong and anyway I’m right to do it and anyway I’m doing you a favor and anyway Raidah deserves it and anyway who cares about anyone’s feelings and anyway you KNEW I’m a bongo so just lay off me, oh jeeeeeez.”
Fun fact: This was the first time in a long, long time I wrote “Bongo” rather than the word autocorrect switches to Bongo. I can’t believe after all this time I forgot about the bongo filter.
I think Sarah knows. Like, if Joe hadn’t confronted her, maybe she’d be more blase about it, but she knows what she’s doing is fucked up. She may think of it as just being shitty to do to Joyce, I doubt she gives a rat’s ass about Raidah and probably shouldn’t, but she knows she’s wronging Joyce and may also recognize it’s not fair to Jacob.
She should absolutely care that she’s being shitty to Raidah on top of Joyce and Jacob.
I honestly don’t know why the fanbase seems to buy into Sarah’s view of Raidah unquestioningly, Raidah is not only a supportive person to Jacob but seems like a genuinely good person. Like did everyone get amnesia about Sarah actually physically assaulting Raidah and Raidah letting it go without pressing any charges?
(And she was basically assaulting Joyce at the same time, physically trying to drag her away against her will.)
adjudicus
Raidah bullied Sarah for a whole year after the Dana incident, and was uninterested in hearing Sarah’s side of the story. That’s pretty shitty of her
doomska
In the context of behavior that’s actually demonstrated by characters in the comic, it’s hard to call insulting someone in passing when you happen to see them “bullying,” and if we do make that determination, then Sarah is one of the prime offenders.
This analysis is wrong anyway; Raidah *did* hear Sarah’s side of the story:
It’s just that, and I’m honestly staggered that so many fans who consider themselves such cutting-edge analysts of human morality and social justice fail to see this, Sarah’s side of the story is SHIT.
What Raidah sees is correct: Sarah narced on Dana, who had been a good friend to her, for doing “illegal drugs”- which as far as we can tell seems to strictly mean weed- getting her kicked out of college and taken to a home environment she knew little to nothing about, in respond to her depression spiral CAUSED BY THE FUCKING DEATH OF HER MOM causing Sarah’s midterm grades to underwhelm.
Like Sarah tries to dress this up as “saving Dana’s life” but there’s no actual evidence of that happening. What she actually says fairly explicitly is that her motivation was entirely selfish; her concern with her own grades and her deciding that her grieving roommate was too much of a distraction to that end.
There is no Earthly reason why Raidah should accept this rationale or forgive Sarah, who has not even expressed any regret for her behavior. Her analysis of Sarah is totally correct and kind of validated by a ton of what we see of Sarah’s behavior; violence, misanthropy, lying and deceit.
Emily
There is no reason whatsoever Sarah should have been expected to endanger her scholarship for the sake of enabling Dana’s maladaptive coping mechanisms on the completely baseless assumption of some kind of abusive home life. Both Raidah and Sarah are at fault in this mess they’re just too pigheaded to see it.
doomska
> There is no reason whatsoever Sarah should have been expected to endanger her scholarship for the sake of enabling Dana’s maladaptive coping mechanisms on the completely baseless assumption of some kind of abusive home life
That should have been the basis. The basis should have been that, “My roommate smoking pot and grieving over her dead mother for a few weeks is causing my grades to dip a bit, time to narc her out” is fucking sociopathic and incredibly evil behavior.
Emily is right. What you’ve described is what Raidah saw.
Sarah’s grades didn’t just “dip a bit”, they were getting low enough to put her scholarship – and thus her ENTIRE FUTURE – at risk. It wasn’t something she did lightly, or without compassion.
thejeff
OTOH, Dana was being overwhelmed by the depression spiral and Raidah was and as far as we can tell still is, completely oblivious to that.
Sarah obviously should have done nothing, allowed the spiral to continue with no end in sight and, just as a side effect, lost her own scholarship and her only chance at college, quite ruining her own life as well. Maybe it was the wrong choice – the home situation worse than Sarah had any reason to believe, but what else was she supposed to do?
As for Sarah’s stated motivation – remember that Sarah tries hard to cloak her motivations. She can barely admit to caring about Joyce, though she clearly does. I’d be shocked if that same pattern wasn’t there in her telling the Dana story.
doomska
“spiral to continue with no end in sight”
My dude
1) We literally have no reason whatsoever that Dana’s “illegal drugs” are anything but pot. Which like lol at the idea of talking about spiraling out on that.
2) Sarah rats Dana out after midterms of their first semester. We know they must have spent several weeks in the described bonding period where Sarah was getting to know Dana and her friends. The *maximum* amount of time Sarah could possibly have given her is like, maybe a month. To get over her fucking *mom* dying. Like. No. Bullshit. I call bullshit on this entire premise of suicidal spiral. It’s absolute nonsense.
BBCC
“Spiral” can mean more than ‘more severe drugs”. Dana is using weed more and more, and in the dorm and is ditching her friends and staying home all the time. In other words, she is getting worse, not better.
BBCC
Emily and thejeff have covered most of it pretty well, but I’m just going to say if Sarah really were the cutthroat monster who didn’t give a shit about anything but her scholarship, she’d have reported Dana to the cops or the school on their first day together for having weed. If they got caught with that in the room, Sarah absolutely could be punished for it, even thought it wasn’t her’s and she very well could have lost her scholarship. She DEFINITELY would have when it got to the point Dana was smoking in their room. That would have been her ‘that’s it, that’s my last straw, get out or I’m getting you thrown out’ moment if Sarah really was the person Raidah described.
Calling Dana’s dad also wasn’t Sarah’s first step. She wanted Dana in therapy. Dana wouldn’t listen and her friends refused to believe there was a problem, so Sarah couldn’t get them to support her on that. Raidah and Carl in particular insisted she just needed time and ignored Sarah’s scholarship issue. She seems to have asked her friends for help MULTIPLE times, but they ignored her because Dana put on a happy face whenever she was functional enough to go out.
And even though, again, Sarah’s chance at going to school was in jeopardy, she did not inform the authorities or the school. She called Dana’s father and he took her home. It’s possible her dad is abusive, but we don’t know for sure and Sarah most definitely does not know. I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to assume people’s parents are abusive without knowing them or having a reason (bearing in mind Sarah was an 18 year old who doesn’t seem to be more than average in reading potential red flags).
So, should Sarah have let Dana stay and risk her own chance in college so that Dana can remain in school and not go back home? Why is Dana staying in college more important than Sarah getting to stay? Especially since Dana’s father seems independently wealthy and could probably afford to re-enroll her once she feels better (she was withdrawn, not kicked out or failed out) and that she probably would have flunked out anyways at the end of the year if her depression was keeping her from getting work done (and since all she did was smoke and cry, it probably was).
doomska
Absolute nonsense.
1) Can we not pretend that the American legal system is fair and that rich white kids of law firm owning parents get in actual legal trouble for smoking pot? Thanks. Notice that there’s no mention of police when Sarah DOES narc her out, she’s just taken home and maybe goes through rehab.
2) Holy shit this is such an absurd standard, as long as Sarah isn’t a pure monster then she’s not being shitty here and isn’t in the wrong re: Raidah? Yeah okay. This is clearly the same kind of standard that the comments section applies to Malaya, Joe, etc., not to mention freaking Raidah who you’d think murdered puppies based on the shit people say and try to justify Sarah’s shitty behavior towards her.
3) I again find it interesting that there’s so much nominal pretense of a social justice platform amongst most of the fandom here and this idea of supporting people with mental illness for instance, but there’s such an immediate and knee jerk defense of narcing out and ruining the life of someone dealing with serious grief and depression over a fucking GPA. Like. No, bullshit, someone who puts their GPA over their friends is just a jerk. I have stayed up nights and missed work and otherwise sacrificed performance at school and at jobs to help friends and family and I don’t consider this unusual or heroic, this is how normal people behave. And yes sometimes it does legitimately hurt your schoolwork for a semester to help a friend dealing with severe depression or grief. Suck it up.
4) Also the idea that Sarah was going to get kicked off her scholarship or face academic penalties for getting a C+ average in a semester where her roommate’s mom died is laughable. ffs just talk to your professors, talk to the dean’s office, like these things do in fact happen and people are willing to show some accommodation because they’re not monsters.
BBCC
1) Sarah can still face consequences for having the weed in her room. It has happened before. And unlike Dana, Sarah is not a rich, white girl. Also, Sarah didn’t narc Dana out to anyone who would have the authority to expel her or have her arrested even if it WERE statistically likely. All she did was call Dana’s dad and tell him Dana was an emotional wreck, which was true, and he withdrew her from school.
2) I never said Sarah wasn’t doing something wrong by trying to get Jacob and Joyce together. She absolutely is. I did say she’s not the cutthroat monster Raidah describes who doesn’t care at all about anybody. Also, probably bad examples to use since Malaya is one of my favourites and I like Joe (though I disapproved of his behaviour towards women before the list was leaked).
3) People struggling with mental illness deserve support. However, they are not entitled to any given individual taking care of them at their own expense. Sarah is not Dana’s mental health professional, there is no reason she should have been the only one taking care of her. However, she DID take care of her for long enough that it impacted her grades. When it was getting too much to handle, she went to Dana’s other friends and voiced her concerns. She also suggested they recommend Dana get a therapist, someone who could ACTUALLY help her. Dana’s friends brushed her off. And yet, Sarah CONTINUED taking care of Dana, even while she got worse (spending less and less time going out, crying and smoking more) until her grades came in. Yes, you should try to take care of your loved ones, but you have the right to take care of yourself and your own boundaries. If someone can’t take care of friend because they have to work and don’t want to lose their job, that’s not unreasonable. If people treat them like a monster because of it, THEY are the ones being jerks. Sarah is not Dana’s full time caregiver.
Second, your assertion that Sarah ruined her life is completely groundless. Dana was not arrested, charged, or kicked out. She was withdrawn by her father because she was distraught. That is hardly life ruining. There is no reason she can’t return if and when she feels better. Especially since she IS rich and well connected.
4) That may have been your experience, but it is not universal. My school, for example, only offers accommodations for family emergences and personal health crises. It would be a hard sell to get it for taking care of Dana. Besides, Sarah’s scholarship may not even be from the school. All we know is her scholarship is extremely demanding, strict, and unforgiving. It’s entirely possible they’d say ‘Nope, you’re done’. And Sarah relies on the scholarship to go to college. Scholarships, especially full rides like it seems Sarah’s is, are hard to come by, especially if she got one revoked already.
Classic Appa
I think it’s pretty impossible to pass judgement on the Sarah/Dana situation without being their seeing it go down. I think their is a threashold of depressive behavior that does warrant Sarah’s response, but figuring out where to draw the line is really really tricky. Without seeing it go down we have no way of knowing whether or not Dana going home is for the best.
thejeff
But there’s also a difference between whether it was for the best and whether Sarah is a horrible self-obsessed monster for doing it.
It’s quite possible that it was a bad call, but a reasonable one.
BBCC
We’d need to see what Dana’s going home TO as well.
thejeff
Also, the couple of glimpses we’ve seen of Raidah with her friends make her seem much less of a good person than when we’ve seen her with Jacob. Her condescension and their insults to Dina in that first scene and her more recent chat about Joyce’s threat to her and Jacob’s relationship makes it seem like much of her good behavior is just a front.
I think at this point she’s still justifying it to herself as Joyce and Jacob being a good match, and that hurting Raidah is just a nice side bonus. So I’m not sure she’s really seeing how this could end up hurting Joyce yet.
Sarah is easily one of the most self-aware characters in the comic. She knows EXACTLY what she’s doing is wrong, which will make it that much worse for Joyce.
Sarah will follow the script: I didn’t do it. Maybe I did. If I did it wasn’t that bad. I did and it was good thing. I did and it was the only logical move.
* Extreme surprise that Sarah, like Joe, would think she and Jacob would have a chance.
* Utter terror that such a relationship is possible and, therefore, possible to screw up.
* Mid-conversation derail into sexy daydream reverie.
* Shock and offense that Sarah would want to break up the happy relationship between Raidah and Jacob just to play matchmaker.
* Upset that Sarah was manipulating her.
* Recognition of the hypocrisy of either of the above.
* Wanting to tell Jacob.
* NOT wanting to tell Jacob.
* Praying to God for guidance and getting a different answer every time she asks.
I get the feeling Joyce knows Joe’s not full of shit on this, but wants him to either be wrong, or wants there to be some handy explanation for it that isn’t, “oh, I was a pawn in my friend’s scheme, and didn’t see it because maybe I WANTED it to succeed.”
Joyce: Dear Sarah, Joe is an awful awful person but he has this THING where if you make a commitment to someone then you’re supposed to honor it even if it stands in the way of TRUE WUV. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I mean, how selfish can Joe be! In any case, I’m going to go for the Jacob now.
I do imagine that’s why Joe is uncomfortable with Sarah’s plan, though. It’s his one big spot because his mother and dad had such a miserable marriage due to Joedad’s cheating.
There is too much of a chance that that wasn’t sarcasm.
It’s called growing a spine and ending your relationship before starting the one you want.
See? magically, the deceit and betrayal for convenience DISAPPEARS!
BBCC
Judging from the OP and C.T.’s past posts in the forums, they’re (? Sorry, unsure of pronouns here) definitely being sarcastic.
thejeff
Ah, but do you wait for the person you want to end their relationship, before starting your seduction attempt – even if you expect to break their relationship up before anything physical happens.
It’s not like Joyce is going to have sex with Jacob before he breaks up with Raidah, so it’s not really cheating, right? Even if there’s already deceit and betrayal involved.
Joyce isn’t going to have sex with Jacob until their married – or at least that’s what her intention would be if she admitted she wanted a relationship with him at all.
I think it’s kind of tragic that Joyce’s awakening to being a sexual and desirable person is coming from the fact she’s trying to break up a happy couple. It would be an awful way to begin two otherwise well-matched people (mind you, I would fully expect her parents to react horrifically because, well, the Obama as the Anti-Christ comic).
Keep in touch with Mama Kin (chung chung chung!)
Tell her where you gone and been (chung chung chung!)
Living out your fantasy (chung chung chung!)
Sleeping late and suckin’ tea!…
Discussion (141) - “Deletedelete”
Ana Chronistic
Sarah:
| ||
|| |_
Nomothehomo
god damn it
Doctor_Who
Being the eternal first comment should be used only for good! You were the chosen one!
Ana Chronistic
I had a better idea but SOMEBODY distracted me from finishing on time
Ana Chronistic
there you go
King Daniel
Saw the URL, expected Chopper from Star Wars Rebels. 🙁
Needfuldoer
Manufactured drama, tons of shouting, somehow the projects always came through at the last minute…
American Chopper truly was harbinger of the “Yellin’ Guys Garage” genre that now dominates History and Velocity, wasn’t it. Oh the relative innocence of the early 2000s…
Also, B^U to that first post.
Dark
It was also the only good one.
Needfuldoer
Fantomworks is pretty good, though it would be better if it got fan edits that took out the repetition.
The only other good car TV shows are Top Gear, The Grand Tour, Gearz, Chasing Classic Cars, and Wheeler Dealers before Edd left. The rest fall into the same tired formula and focus too much on “shop drama” or celebrity cameos. They’re basically sitcoms set in car shops.
If you want good car videos you have to look online. Mighty Car Mods, Jay Leno’s Garage, Regular Car Reviews, Roadkill…
Raiju
Best use of the meme. Now it can end since no one can beat it.
Read it in Sarah/Joyce’s voice, or how my brain think they sound anyway. XD
Plasma Mongoose
*reaches for the Loss Paddle*
legobil
Took way more research than expected to understand that “joke”. Welp, now I do.
Doctor_Who
Well stop trying to set your mom up with Jacob, Sarah.
(Though that might actually work. SP!Jacob was not opposed to the occasional Mom.)
Bagge
Sarah’s mom: “Do you have anything you have to tell me?
…
Sarah’s mom: “Do you have an evil plan?”
Stephen Bierce
…How are your plans going for World Domination?
DarkoNeko
Oh thanks heavens. Every page of these interaction between Jason and Walky creeped me more than the last.
yay Sarah \o/
C.T Phipps
You were sensing their enormous sexual tension.
Doctor_Who
Hey, Walky has a history with uptight intelligent blondes, and Jason has a history with people who look just like Walky give or take a chromosome or two, so it’s not like it would be entirely out of character for either of them.
C.T Phipps
As we see with the fact Faz isn’t a biological relation of Amber, we’re in uncharted territory! Like Sulu in Star Trek Beyond, the sexuality of characters is all in the air!
Maybe Walky is Bi! Jason could be Pan! THE POSSIBILITIES ARE LIMITLESS!
Zach
Well screwing would certainly loosen Jason up, and Walky nees to get past those machismo ideas he has.
C.T Phipps
He already offered Jason a BJ so clearly Walky is down for it. Situational sexuality! The situation of wanting good grades.
Eldritch Gentleman
Seriously Walkerton twins need to realize that Jason’s dick isn’t an instant “A+” lever… and definitely not now.
AGV
My only concern here is who would be the one getting the stick
thejeff
I know shippers gonna ship, but ugh.
Jason screwing before didn’t loosen him up.
Those aren’t the kind of machismo ideas Walky has, so this wouldn’t help him get past it at all.
Walky’s got a girlfriend and the pause was a lie.
That Walky’s bisexual is fairly tenuous and there’s been no hints that Jason is at all.
And it still has all the ethical problems that Sal and Jason had in the first place.
C.T Phipps
It’s a terrible nonsensical idea…which is why it should happen!
AnvilPro
Joyce’ confidence is shook. Worst part is Sarah probably doesn’t even see what she’s doing as bad, so she’ll probably be super casual when she reveals her scheme
Bagge
I think it will edge more into defensive.
“WHAT, I’m not doing anything wrong and anyway I’m right to do it and anyway I’m doing you a favor and anyway Raidah deserves it and anyway who cares about anyone’s feelings and anyway you KNEW I’m a bongo so just lay off me, oh jeeeeeez.”
Bagge
Fun fact: This was the first time in a long, long time I wrote “Bongo” rather than the word autocorrect switches to Bongo. I can’t believe after all this time I forgot about the bongo filter.
Ana Chronistic
Though it’s still funny being bongo, I kinda wish it autocorrected to “batch” so it’d be grammatically correct pluralized or verbized =o
DailyBrad
I think Sarah knows. Like, if Joe hadn’t confronted her, maybe she’d be more blase about it, but she knows what she’s doing is fucked up. She may think of it as just being shitty to do to Joyce, I doubt she gives a rat’s ass about Raidah and probably shouldn’t, but she knows she’s wronging Joyce and may also recognize it’s not fair to Jacob.
doomska
She should absolutely care that she’s being shitty to Raidah on top of Joyce and Jacob.
I honestly don’t know why the fanbase seems to buy into Sarah’s view of Raidah unquestioningly, Raidah is not only a supportive person to Jacob but seems like a genuinely good person. Like did everyone get amnesia about Sarah actually physically assaulting Raidah and Raidah letting it go without pressing any charges?
(And she was basically assaulting Joyce at the same time, physically trying to drag her away against her will.)
adjudicus
Raidah bullied Sarah for a whole year after the Dana incident, and was uninterested in hearing Sarah’s side of the story. That’s pretty shitty of her
doomska
In the context of behavior that’s actually demonstrated by characters in the comic, it’s hard to call insulting someone in passing when you happen to see them “bullying,” and if we do make that determination, then Sarah is one of the prime offenders.
This analysis is wrong anyway; Raidah *did* hear Sarah’s side of the story:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/05-saturdays-all-right-for-slighting/better/
It’s just that, and I’m honestly staggered that so many fans who consider themselves such cutting-edge analysts of human morality and social justice fail to see this, Sarah’s side of the story is SHIT.
What Raidah sees is correct: Sarah narced on Dana, who had been a good friend to her, for doing “illegal drugs”- which as far as we can tell seems to strictly mean weed- getting her kicked out of college and taken to a home environment she knew little to nothing about, in respond to her depression spiral CAUSED BY THE FUCKING DEATH OF HER MOM causing Sarah’s midterm grades to underwhelm.
Like Sarah tries to dress this up as “saving Dana’s life” but there’s no actual evidence of that happening. What she actually says fairly explicitly is that her motivation was entirely selfish; her concern with her own grades and her deciding that her grieving roommate was too much of a distraction to that end.
There is no Earthly reason why Raidah should accept this rationale or forgive Sarah, who has not even expressed any regret for her behavior. Her analysis of Sarah is totally correct and kind of validated by a ton of what we see of Sarah’s behavior; violence, misanthropy, lying and deceit.
Emily
There is no reason whatsoever Sarah should have been expected to endanger her scholarship for the sake of enabling Dana’s maladaptive coping mechanisms on the completely baseless assumption of some kind of abusive home life. Both Raidah and Sarah are at fault in this mess they’re just too pigheaded to see it.
doomska
> There is no reason whatsoever Sarah should have been expected to endanger her scholarship for the sake of enabling Dana’s maladaptive coping mechanisms on the completely baseless assumption of some kind of abusive home life
That should have been the basis. The basis should have been that, “My roommate smoking pot and grieving over her dead mother for a few weeks is causing my grades to dip a bit, time to narc her out” is fucking sociopathic and incredibly evil behavior.
Fart Captor
Emily is right. What you’ve described is what Raidah saw.
Sarah’s grades didn’t just “dip a bit”, they were getting low enough to put her scholarship – and thus her ENTIRE FUTURE – at risk. It wasn’t something she did lightly, or without compassion.
thejeff
OTOH, Dana was being overwhelmed by the depression spiral and Raidah was and as far as we can tell still is, completely oblivious to that.
Sarah obviously should have done nothing, allowed the spiral to continue with no end in sight and, just as a side effect, lost her own scholarship and her only chance at college, quite ruining her own life as well. Maybe it was the wrong choice – the home situation worse than Sarah had any reason to believe, but what else was she supposed to do?
As for Sarah’s stated motivation – remember that Sarah tries hard to cloak her motivations. She can barely admit to caring about Joyce, though she clearly does. I’d be shocked if that same pattern wasn’t there in her telling the Dana story.
doomska
“spiral to continue with no end in sight”
My dude
1) We literally have no reason whatsoever that Dana’s “illegal drugs” are anything but pot. Which like lol at the idea of talking about spiraling out on that.
2) Sarah rats Dana out after midterms of their first semester. We know they must have spent several weeks in the described bonding period where Sarah was getting to know Dana and her friends. The *maximum* amount of time Sarah could possibly have given her is like, maybe a month. To get over her fucking *mom* dying. Like. No. Bullshit. I call bullshit on this entire premise of suicidal spiral. It’s absolute nonsense.
BBCC
“Spiral” can mean more than ‘more severe drugs”. Dana is using weed more and more, and in the dorm and is ditching her friends and staying home all the time. In other words, she is getting worse, not better.
BBCC
Emily and thejeff have covered most of it pretty well, but I’m just going to say if Sarah really were the cutthroat monster who didn’t give a shit about anything but her scholarship, she’d have reported Dana to the cops or the school on their first day together for having weed. If they got caught with that in the room, Sarah absolutely could be punished for it, even thought it wasn’t her’s and she very well could have lost her scholarship. She DEFINITELY would have when it got to the point Dana was smoking in their room. That would have been her ‘that’s it, that’s my last straw, get out or I’m getting you thrown out’ moment if Sarah really was the person Raidah described.
Calling Dana’s dad also wasn’t Sarah’s first step. She wanted Dana in therapy. Dana wouldn’t listen and her friends refused to believe there was a problem, so Sarah couldn’t get them to support her on that. Raidah and Carl in particular insisted she just needed time and ignored Sarah’s scholarship issue. She seems to have asked her friends for help MULTIPLE times, but they ignored her because Dana put on a happy face whenever she was functional enough to go out.
And even though, again, Sarah’s chance at going to school was in jeopardy, she did not inform the authorities or the school. She called Dana’s father and he took her home. It’s possible her dad is abusive, but we don’t know for sure and Sarah most definitely does not know. I don’t know about you, but I don’t tend to assume people’s parents are abusive without knowing them or having a reason (bearing in mind Sarah was an 18 year old who doesn’t seem to be more than average in reading potential red flags).
So, should Sarah have let Dana stay and risk her own chance in college so that Dana can remain in school and not go back home? Why is Dana staying in college more important than Sarah getting to stay? Especially since Dana’s father seems independently wealthy and could probably afford to re-enroll her once she feels better (she was withdrawn, not kicked out or failed out) and that she probably would have flunked out anyways at the end of the year if her depression was keeping her from getting work done (and since all she did was smoke and cry, it probably was).
doomska
Absolute nonsense.
1) Can we not pretend that the American legal system is fair and that rich white kids of law firm owning parents get in actual legal trouble for smoking pot? Thanks. Notice that there’s no mention of police when Sarah DOES narc her out, she’s just taken home and maybe goes through rehab.
2) Holy shit this is such an absurd standard, as long as Sarah isn’t a pure monster then she’s not being shitty here and isn’t in the wrong re: Raidah? Yeah okay. This is clearly the same kind of standard that the comments section applies to Malaya, Joe, etc., not to mention freaking Raidah who you’d think murdered puppies based on the shit people say and try to justify Sarah’s shitty behavior towards her.
3) I again find it interesting that there’s so much nominal pretense of a social justice platform amongst most of the fandom here and this idea of supporting people with mental illness for instance, but there’s such an immediate and knee jerk defense of narcing out and ruining the life of someone dealing with serious grief and depression over a fucking GPA. Like. No, bullshit, someone who puts their GPA over their friends is just a jerk. I have stayed up nights and missed work and otherwise sacrificed performance at school and at jobs to help friends and family and I don’t consider this unusual or heroic, this is how normal people behave. And yes sometimes it does legitimately hurt your schoolwork for a semester to help a friend dealing with severe depression or grief. Suck it up.
4) Also the idea that Sarah was going to get kicked off her scholarship or face academic penalties for getting a C+ average in a semester where her roommate’s mom died is laughable. ffs just talk to your professors, talk to the dean’s office, like these things do in fact happen and people are willing to show some accommodation because they’re not monsters.
BBCC
1) Sarah can still face consequences for having the weed in her room. It has happened before. And unlike Dana, Sarah is not a rich, white girl. Also, Sarah didn’t narc Dana out to anyone who would have the authority to expel her or have her arrested even if it WERE statistically likely. All she did was call Dana’s dad and tell him Dana was an emotional wreck, which was true, and he withdrew her from school.
2) I never said Sarah wasn’t doing something wrong by trying to get Jacob and Joyce together. She absolutely is. I did say she’s not the cutthroat monster Raidah describes who doesn’t care at all about anybody. Also, probably bad examples to use since Malaya is one of my favourites and I like Joe (though I disapproved of his behaviour towards women before the list was leaked).
3) People struggling with mental illness deserve support. However, they are not entitled to any given individual taking care of them at their own expense. Sarah is not Dana’s mental health professional, there is no reason she should have been the only one taking care of her. However, she DID take care of her for long enough that it impacted her grades. When it was getting too much to handle, she went to Dana’s other friends and voiced her concerns. She also suggested they recommend Dana get a therapist, someone who could ACTUALLY help her. Dana’s friends brushed her off. And yet, Sarah CONTINUED taking care of Dana, even while she got worse (spending less and less time going out, crying and smoking more) until her grades came in. Yes, you should try to take care of your loved ones, but you have the right to take care of yourself and your own boundaries. If someone can’t take care of friend because they have to work and don’t want to lose their job, that’s not unreasonable. If people treat them like a monster because of it, THEY are the ones being jerks. Sarah is not Dana’s full time caregiver.
Second, your assertion that Sarah ruined her life is completely groundless. Dana was not arrested, charged, or kicked out. She was withdrawn by her father because she was distraught. That is hardly life ruining. There is no reason she can’t return if and when she feels better. Especially since she IS rich and well connected.
4) That may have been your experience, but it is not universal. My school, for example, only offers accommodations for family emergences and personal health crises. It would be a hard sell to get it for taking care of Dana. Besides, Sarah’s scholarship may not even be from the school. All we know is her scholarship is extremely demanding, strict, and unforgiving. It’s entirely possible they’d say ‘Nope, you’re done’. And Sarah relies on the scholarship to go to college. Scholarships, especially full rides like it seems Sarah’s is, are hard to come by, especially if she got one revoked already.
Classic Appa
I think it’s pretty impossible to pass judgement on the Sarah/Dana situation without being their seeing it go down. I think their is a threashold of depressive behavior that does warrant Sarah’s response, but figuring out where to draw the line is really really tricky. Without seeing it go down we have no way of knowing whether or not Dana going home is for the best.
thejeff
But there’s also a difference between whether it was for the best and whether Sarah is a horrible self-obsessed monster for doing it.
It’s quite possible that it was a bad call, but a reasonable one.
BBCC
We’d need to see what Dana’s going home TO as well.
thejeff
Also, the couple of glimpses we’ve seen of Raidah with her friends make her seem much less of a good person than when we’ve seen her with Jacob. Her condescension and their insults to Dina in that first scene and her more recent chat about Joyce’s threat to her and Jacob’s relationship makes it seem like much of her good behavior is just a front.
Benwhoski
I think at this point she’s still justifying it to herself as Joyce and Jacob being a good match, and that hurting Raidah is just a nice side bonus. So I’m not sure she’s really seeing how this could end up hurting Joyce yet.
Schpoonman
Sarah is easily one of the most self-aware characters in the comic. She knows EXACTLY what she’s doing is wrong, which will make it that much worse for Joyce.
Larkle
I think Sarah will admit to it and offer an apology for manipulating Joyce and Joyce will easily forgive her.
hof1991
Sarah will follow the script: I didn’t do it. Maybe I did. If I did it wasn’t that bad. I did and it was good thing. I did and it was the only logical move.
electriccombines
Not sure what’s gonna be worse, Sarah having to admit the plan, or Joyce’s reaction if/when Sarah admits what’s up.
newllend(henryvolt)
What would be Joyce’s reaction?
Reltzik
Let’s see here. The possibilities are:
* Extreme surprise that Sarah, like Joe, would think she and Jacob would have a chance.
* Utter terror that such a relationship is possible and, therefore, possible to screw up.
* Mid-conversation derail into sexy daydream reverie.
* Shock and offense that Sarah would want to break up the happy relationship between Raidah and Jacob just to play matchmaker.
* Upset that Sarah was manipulating her.
* Recognition of the hypocrisy of either of the above.
* Wanting to tell Jacob.
* NOT wanting to tell Jacob.
* Praying to God for guidance and getting a different answer every time she asks.
…. I’m predicting “all of the above”.
Derek
she’s still in denial eh?
DailyBrad
I get the feeling Joyce knows Joe’s not full of shit on this, but wants him to either be wrong, or wants there to be some handy explanation for it that isn’t, “oh, I was a pawn in my friend’s scheme, and didn’t see it because maybe I WANTED it to succeed.”
ValdVin
Joyce is making the best faces Sarah will never see.
Adj
Awww, Joyce…
Fart Captor
:C
C.T Phipps
Joyce: Dear Sarah, Joe is an awful awful person but he has this THING where if you make a commitment to someone then you’re supposed to honor it even if it stands in the way of TRUE WUV. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I mean, how selfish can Joe be! In any case, I’m going to go for the Jacob now.
C.T Phipps
Joe should understand cheating is a GOOD thing as long as the two parties aren’t married or in love.
Schpoonman
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha no.
C.T Phipps
I do imagine that’s why Joe is uncomfortable with Sarah’s plan, though. It’s his one big spot because his mother and dad had such a miserable marriage due to Joedad’s cheating.
Zach
There is too much of a chance that that wasn’t sarcasm.
It’s called growing a spine and ending your relationship before starting the one you want.
See? magically, the deceit and betrayal for convenience DISAPPEARS!
BBCC
Judging from the OP and C.T.’s past posts in the forums, they’re (? Sorry, unsure of pronouns here) definitely being sarcastic.
thejeff
Ah, but do you wait for the person you want to end their relationship, before starting your seduction attempt – even if you expect to break their relationship up before anything physical happens.
It’s not like Joyce is going to have sex with Jacob before he breaks up with Raidah, so it’s not really cheating, right? Even if there’s already deceit and betrayal involved.
Joyce isn’t going to have sex with Jacob until their married – or at least that’s what her intention would be if she admitted she wanted a relationship with him at all.
C.T Phipps
I think it’s kind of tragic that Joyce’s awakening to being a sexual and desirable person is coming from the fact she’s trying to break up a happy couple. It would be an awful way to begin two otherwise well-matched people (mind you, I would fully expect her parents to react horrifically because, well, the Obama as the Anti-Christ comic).
So, yes, very sarcastic.
Stephen Bierce
Keep in touch with Mama Kin (chung chung chung!)
Tell her where you gone and been (chung chung chung!)
Living out your fantasy (chung chung chung!)
Sleeping late and suckin’ tea!…
@zombieundergrnd
Text to Sarah: How do you feel about Utah?
Walky_Talky
Is Joyce the puppy or the hedgehog?
MM
Puppy, obvs. Sarah’s the hedgehog.
Cattleprod
Damn it, you got me thinking of what Sarah’s Sonic OC would look like.
Felgraf
nothing personnel, kid