Latent Blue - Ch. 36

[MangaDex]

 

[athabm]

People like her frustrate me so much. I hope she grows up and grows a backbone

 

[Leonhart93]

@athabm Yeah, but she is actually the better one among all of his classmates, weirdly enough. So how much do the rest of them frustrate you?

 

[comeonnow0]

@Leonhart93 My problem is that people like her are so often easily forgiven. Doesn't matter that she is doing a lot of the same as the other classmates, complicity at best and actual participation at worst. She'll have this great opportunity for character growth and change, and then it's all fine and forgiven, without her facing any issues.

 

[josepiza3008]

Maybe she is the best in his classmates (at least didn't bully him, but she is a idiot blind), an the other are really trash

 

[sixfish11]

Bro people say the American school system is shit, and they're probably right, but at least we don't produce students that are that blind to bullying. These countries that turn their kids into worker bee's produce some of the most socially unresponsive and uncaring shits I've ever seen. I hope the image we get from manga isn't that close to reality.

 

[comeonnow0]

@sixfish11 You apparently don't read enough about bullying in the US if you think similar, if not worse, things do not happen in the US.

 

[Tomas28]

Dou, this is really harsh. She seems to seek a happy enviroment like an ideal, and so denies anything that could put that in risk. The normalization of violence is the worst thing that can happen ever in any context. We should't either normalice the marginalization and unequal treatment in terms of value of a person. I don't have much more to say, love and care for others, peace.

 

[sixfish11]

@comeonnow0 I'm aware brutal bullying happens in the US, but on average i can assure you American kids aren't as blind to it. I chalk it up to the thousands of hours of anti-bullying PSAs shoved down our throats throughout k-12 and in our cartoons. Even when our kids are sociopath assholes you'll find fewer of them saying shit like the girl in this chapter around here. Don't get me wrong, I had it bad in school too, i'm just saying the culture of moralizing brutal bullying isn't as prevalent.

 

[IRIGAMAGORI]

part of the problem

 

[the_descolada]

jesus

 

[looops]

erm. its not okay gurl. (

 

[Space_Cannoli]

@sixfish11

Columbine, sandy hook, Virginia tech just to name a few

 

[Stoner]

That chapter was weird

 

[Leonhart93]

@comeonnow0 Hmm? I didn't see any complicity here. Sure, she is guilty of inaction, other than weekly attempting to ask him what is wrong. But how many times are we guilty of inaction as well? Times when there was a possibility we could do something, but we don't care / don't want to take the risk?
When you distribute guilt, you need to make sure that those that deserve it most are the first ones branded with it. Otherwise you get what we call a "bias" 😅.
And also you could say she is guilty of a lack of empathy because she can't put herself in his shoes, but in actuality no one is ever faulted for that in human society. The hidden intent of a person is never punished or rewarded (for good reasons lol), just the apparent actions of what comes out of it.

 

[Lo0py]

Ah........projection.

She is better than her classmates but that doesn't make her innocent.

 

[nandemonaiya]

I didn't find it weird... I thought it was a pretty good chapter, actually. A short aside on how Xiaodao came to be in this position, and a painful but realistic glimpse of how those around him turn a blind eye to it, even the seemingly well-meaning types.

And I thought it was clever to show it from his classmate's perspective rather than his own, too, since we have this "reader's privilege" of knowing all the things about him that they don't, and this kind of takes us out of that.

 

[comeonnow0]

@Leonhart93 I say this with all due respect, but you are just explicitly wrong on a lot of things. On complicity, she very, very clearly knows that he is suffering from bullying. I think there's no disagreement on that. She has a duty to try to stop that. This is in two ways. First, she's a student. I'm would be really surprised if there is no actual duty to report these things. Second, she HERSELF wants this idealized school life that doesn't have bullying in it. She is failing to accomplish her own goal by not even trying to do something. Obviously, she doesn't want to become a potential target herself, but that is still literally what complicity is.

As to hidden intent, there is no other way to say it but that you are wrong. Look up the crimes of conspiracy. Intent is the MAIN factor in conspiracy to commit crimes. In fact, depending on where you are, conspiracy can be a crime even where there is only one person who actually intends to commit the crime. This comes up when an undercover agent poses as a co-conspirator. You use the apparent actions as evidence of the crime, but the hidden intent is literally what the world carers about.

 

[Leonhart93]

@comeonnow0 I think you misunderstood what I meant by "hidden intent". Of course intent matters when it comes to law punishment. If a crime is committed without intent, then it's an accident and the punishment is lower. By "hidden intent" I meant the intent that is never found out, therefore no one knows to punish. If no intent is found out, then it's considered accident/un-involvement.
Consider the current situation without being in her head like in the story, since that is impossible in reality. She was the only one in the class that actually asked him what he thinks about it. That's the only thing you would know. To someone watching, she is pretty much the only one that is not guilty from all of her classmates. Is this part clear?

Now, for the things we do know. Yeah, she does know what he goes through even as she asks him. All is well in her head, because she can have the fake peaceful school life.
However, what I don't get is why she specifically makes you mad, and more exactly madder than the rest? I mean, she is pretty pitiful as a person but it's not her actions that are the most grave here. It's the actions of the classmates that are the core of the problem. So you should be mad at those first and foremost. This is what I meant by distributing the guilt to those that deserve it most first.
And I said it was bias since you jumped directly on her completely ignoring the real problem here😅

Remember, just because someone is pathetic that doesn't make them automatically at fault for something. When I saw her in the story all I could think of is that she is inconsequential to what is happening, you could remove her and nothing will be different.

 

[comeonnow0]

@Leonhart93 "She was the only one in the class that actually asked him what he thinks about it." That is by no means true. It's completely possible that other students also asked him the same thing and that he gave them similar answers. You're reading this chapter about her and assuming that she must be somehow special, even though that is not guaranteed at all.

And I still disagree. I would say that she is still guilty. She specifically asked him and knows that he is lying. His wounds are all healed? She can see it on his face, literally. And yet she chooses to do nothing. I could actually make the argument that she is more guilty than all of the other classmates if she is the only one to ask him because she actually knows and consciously chooses to ignore it. Let me be clear that I am not actually making that argument. I am just saying she is also guilty.

I never said that she makes me madder than the rest. I gave the argument above, but that doesn't mean that I actually do think that she is worse than the other classmates. I am undecided on that issue. I am just responding to you because you said she is not guilty. I am saying she is guilty, similarly to the other classmates.

I did not "jumped directly on her". I talked about her because this chapter is about her. Yes, very definitely, the other classmates are also guilty. That doesn't mean that she is absolved of guilt either.