Tek. for the love of eel, Stop saying Jin’Sorai like it’s a bad thing. consider that the Jin’Sorai sitting next to you, who is better integrated and you are meeting for the first time, may have a better grasp on social mores than you do. The girl has been living a Human life for years.
also, you’re never going to be able to use a fork ‘likes humans’. You’re going to have to use them likes Sarnothi, unless you get radical surgery.
You must hold a fork very differently than I do to think so. 😛
I imagine there’s a fairly large sentiment against the Jin’sorai for instigating this war, even if the greater horrors were committed by the… (damn I will commit these clans to memory someday) The militant clan that remains in authority by force of arms.
If resisting the tyrant with the army feels unrealistic, suicidal and pointless… you might transfer your resentment towards the other side of the conflict, however irrationally, following the “it takes two to tango” rational.
Doesn’t mean you’re right to do so, but psychology is awkwardly pragmatic sometimes.
Utensils of all kinds shouldn’t be any harder to use than a pencil, and Selkie seems to have worked that out just find. Chopsticks might still be a problem, but forks and knives are held in the palm, not the fingers. Spoons are held in the thumb-crook much like a pencil, so the webbing could get in the way a bit there, but again they don’t seem to be terribly struggling with pencils.
This is probably a lot more to do with familiarity with the tool than anything. A fork is a curved weapon, and figuring out which angle to exert force at is non-trivial. Just look up a video of toddlers trying to stab a grape, we don’t learn this one fast.
Yeah, i think someone needs to do something about this. How do we pressure a select group of fans into providing character voices for the foreseeable future? And who know how to code voice files into hover text?
New thought; that would break Dave’s method of cartoon-cussing…. To use voices… We need a trumpet! Ala Schultz!
the way he says to me isn’t just bemusement, it’s a form of racism for them. being Native American I’ve had similar stuff said with the same attitude and tone
Though I know some of the other readers feel that Tehk is (so far) largely a jerk and/or racist, I do want to say that I actually don’t read his comment here as being intentionally malicious given his facial expression and eyebrows. I read it more as him making a matter-of-fact statement without any strong feelings about it one way or the other. Sure, he’s making a generalization about her clan – “That’s about right, Jin’Sorai usually say ‘Screw the rules'” – but most generalizations and stereotypes have at least a little basis in reality. If anything, I still feel that Selkie is being the primary instigator of a lot of the little spats we’ve seen so far and I kinda hope one of her peers eventually calls her out on it – that might actually get her attention more than Todd or one of the other adults telling her to be nice.
Just tossing a little support your way in that I also read this particular comment as a “matter-of-fact” statement on his part, for much the same reasoning you gave.
You know how one of Amanda’s chief vulnerabilities is “they’re gonna replace me or forget about me” — to the point where she sees Selkie as a threat purely on that basis, regardless of previous relationship or current ability to get along? Almost like a child being jealous of the new baby, because they’re losing out on privileges previously taken for granted, and/or they’re worried about being replaced.
Seems to me like Selkie might be having a little bit of that here, as well. “I’M the Sarnothi!” With the underlying, mostly subconscious idea that some new Sarnothi coming in makes her not as special, and that they might be able to turn people against her.
It’s possible that this is part of what’s making her react to the racism a little more than she otherwise would. Like, racism from humans is one thing, but racism from her own people is something she can’t tolerate or laugh off… especially since she doesn’t have enough knowledge to either properly counter it, or understand just how far it might go, so she’s defending herself against a threat whose full nature is unclear to her.
I agree. And if Sting is the King of Pain, Selkie is the local and widely acknowledged and accepted, reigning, Queen of Snark. And this Upstart, this Pretender to the Throne seems to have her on the prod, and off her game.
I sad!! DX
I am very uncomfortable with using the word ‘racist’ to describe clan distinctions among the Sarnothi, because it comes loaded with a whole lot of human (and specifically American) presumptions that may or may not — but probably don’t — apply to the situation.
Human “race” classifications are an arbitrary cultural invention, unfairly emphasizing certain natural genetic variations but not others, for no reason other than as an excuse to create out-groups that can be treated badly. That’s not what’s going on here. Though the Sarnothi do have actual biological “races” within their species, I think there’s a reason the word they use is not race, but clan.
There’s unfairness, but it’s a different kind of unfairness. Even though there are real physical differences between the clans, the stereotype Tehk is using here is more like the stereotypes the English and French traditionally flung at each other: the French said the English were stodgy, unemotional, and terrible cooks; the English said the French were flighty, overly dramatic, and ate weird foods. That’s prejudice, but it is NOT racism. Even if the French had periwinkle skin, it still wouldn’t be racism.
Instead of ‘racist’ I’d prefer to say ‘clannist’ (‘clannish’?) or ‘prejudiced’. We’ll find out as the story unfolds whether the more loaded word applies.
I think that may be part of the problem, actually. Selkie is used to American concepts of racism, which are ugly and dangerous and insulting, whereas Tehk is more used to a causal caste system, and prejudice/stereotypes thing are more acceptable and not malicious, although I also suspect that it depends on upbringing and stuff like that too
They just had a race based genecide. Ignoring that prof of racial tension, at no point has any society had any similar stratification without tribalism leading to a hierarchy, and no differences in psychology have even been implied.
We have no reason whatsoever to give him the benifit of the doubt because THERE IS NO DOUBT.
If someone says blacks just aren’t as smart as whites, you would be wrong to assume malicious intent. He just thinks it’s a simple fact.
Just because Tehk may see this as matter-of-fact, doesn’t mean it isn’t racist and harmful. This comes off as similar to the more oblivious white privilege types.
Consider, also, that it might not have even remotely entered his mind that racism could be considered rude. It could just be “how things are” in his culture.
Maybe it’s the offhandedness of it that she dislikes? But you have a point about Selkie- she’s touchy, I think- confrontational. Nothing to do with clan or country, it’s just her.
There is an element of truth in all the stereotypes. The typical Klingon is indeed militaristic, the typical Vulcan philosophical, the typical Cardassian is a xenophobe, the Romulan an Intriguer, the Bajoran spiritual.
Of course, I’ve never actually met a typical one…
…except of those Hu-Mans! They are ALL explorers, amiright?
Ya do realize that ‘matter of fact’ and ‘how things are’ is exactly how racism takes hold and rots society from the inside, right?
Casual speech is not always a good thing. Would you be comfortable if someone just casually started discussing their plans for slowly torturing and then killing your neighbor, making it clear they full expect to follow through?
I think you missed something in your knee-jerking, there, Zorlond. They’re not saying that it possibly being ‘matter of fact’ to the kid makes it a good or okay thing.
In fact, to your point, that’d make it all the more important to teach Tehk differently, not only because what’s acceptable in his culture of origin ISN’T in his new home, but because it is also indeed wrong. But nowhere did Sierra imply that that meant it was to be excused.
In my experience, people who offer explanations for why something is bad or in need of correction have no intention of doing so, and, intentional or not, are causing people to stop discussion entirely and thus not actually correct the issue. Why get more involved when someone has come by and ‘explained things’?
Just another example of why ‘matter of fact’ is not as innocent as it seems.
Ah, but I wasn’t trying to imply that it *didn’t* warrant further discussion or that it’s *not* a bad attitude/view to have. I largely posted because I genuinely believe, at least at this point, that Tehk isn’t as bad as Selkie thinks he is and wanted to offer my thoughts as to why. Sure, even innocent comments can be offensive and hurtful but the intent behind the comments matters to me. And I don’t actually think this time it was intentionally malicious. Now the ‘JinSorai are drama queens’ comment from that first day? *That* was malicious.
Additionally, Sessine offered a better explanation than I did and after I read it I have to agree that ‘racist’ doesn’t seem quite right. Cultural/clan stereotyping does seem like a better way to describe it, especially since we know from Pohl that the clans largely kept to themselves outside of the interactions needed to keep Sarnoth as a whole functioning. Heck, he even said he thought the Mor’Kama were a *myth* until he was what, 10? While this sort of thinking is offensive to the sensibilities of folks like Todd and probably a large number of us readers, it’s something that’s apparently deeply ingrained in Sarnoth culture – even Pohl, who has basically been nothing but kind and helpful and supportive asserted that it’s not really a big deal. So changing this sort of mindset that’s probably deeply ingrained in a large portion of the Sarnothi? An uphill battle, for sure. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a battle worth fighting and I’m sorry if my earlier comments made it seem that I thought otherwise.
You know that Zorlord’s comment was a reply to Ladile’s, right? And I have to disagree with your reading of Ladile’s comment, if you did in fact understand that.
A LOT of people (including me) HATE to be ‘classified’, even if the classification isn’t a bad thing. To me, it’s extremely insulting. It’s basically being dismissive of a person’s selfhood, their individuality– ‘oh, you’re not really a person with individual/valid tastes, opinions, and experiences, you’re just a _____.’ It doesn’t matter what fills in the blank, being reduced to a one-word description can be extremely painful and nullifying.
You know, thinking it over…
Selkie has spent years being bullied, ignored, and talked about as “the fish” . Her self reduced to a one word description. A punchline. A way to remove the person and leave the object to be scorned.
With his constant “jin’sorai” comments, this kid is doing the same thing to her again, deliberately or not, maliciously or not. And worse, he is another sarnothi and “should” have been on her side by kid logic.
So both a low key “betrayal” and a pressing on a major sore point. No wonder Selkie is about to blow her top.
I’m also reading it as Selkie is ambivilent towards her Sarnothi roots; she knows very little about them and was abandoned as a child but still she takes a degree of pride in her heritage.
To have another Sarnothi disregard that or even treat her heritage as a point to be mocked, disdained or ignored would be a sore spot.
thats bound to be part of it, yeah. i mean, until recently she didn´t even know what she is, never mind her clan and its specific traits.
besides, if i were in her place, i´d be pi#ed off that every personality trait of me gets dismissed, as if NOT an individual but merely a stereotype or walking cliche
That’s also an angle that I hadn’t considered but seeing it laid out, it makes perfect sense that Selkie would want to be seen as ‘Selkie’ and not ‘the Jin’Sorai’ no matter how much pride she may or may not have for her clan.
All this discussion just goes to show that both Selkie and Tehk and basically every other sarnothi have plenty of baggage that they’re going to have to work through and some of it is probably beyond the scope of the comic to chronicle in full detail.
There might also be a difference in how they perceive the comments too. I really hated blonde jokes growing up since I thought it meant all people thought blondes were stupid, especially blonde females. People would try to shrug off my complaints by saying either I wasn’t blonde enough for it to target me or that they were blonde themselves (and possibly thought it applied to them as well as giving them the freedom to make the joke). Also Selkie might have been looking forward to being the “big sister” to the others and help them integrate and share her experiences.
I met a blonde Rocket Scientist, really, really smart, and blonde, definitely womanly. But since I came from a whole family of blonds, I never took blonde jokes personally.
It was the bad old days, everyone told jokes, about everyone’s groups, in school I heard jokes about Jews, Catholics, Witches, and Protestants, blacks, whites, Indians (both), English, Irish, Poles, Italians, and lots of French Jokes.
National Lampoon ran an article of 50 jokes insulting Martians! ::
Q: Hey, how can you tell if a Martian has been in your house?
A: All the lightbulbs in the house are missing and there are little lumps of quartz on the carpet!
I get the feeling that if Selkie’s Mom was here and she was hearing what Tehk was saying, she might reply with “Actually, Selkie, that’s totally what we’re like. He’s not wrong, you know. I mean, seriously: look at me.”
‘That’s very Jin Sorai” is like saying “That’s very American” or “That’s very British.” Selkie may be assuming it’s a dig, but given Tehk’s expression I don’t think he means it that way.
He may or may not mean it that way but it’s how it comes across. Just because you don’t mean for something you say to be insulting or hurtful doesn’t change that it is.
Meanwhile his past derogatory comments towards Selkie about being JinSorai undercut the idea he is simply being observational.
I had a buddy once, who, when he was on the prod, would take insult at anything you said, by twisting your words to make it into
an insult.
I complimented him on his Jacket, “Hey, that new jacket looks great on you!”
And he made it into an insult three different ways.
I’m beginning to actually want Sekie to put her pride aside and find out why Tehk feels this way… and what he ACTUALLY feels. He’s not shown much in the way of expression, physically speaking, especially compared to other male Sarnothi. I sense a backstory that will convert plenty of others to sympathizers for the Gruffboi.
Tek. for the love of eel, Stop saying Jin’Sorai like it’s a bad thing. consider that the Jin’Sorai sitting next to you, who is better integrated and you are meeting for the first time, may have a better grasp on social mores than you do. The girl has been living a Human life for years.
also, you’re never going to be able to use a fork ‘likes humans’. You’re going to have to use them likes Sarnothi, unless you get radical surgery.
You must hold a fork very differently than I do to think so. 😛
I imagine there’s a fairly large sentiment against the Jin’sorai for instigating this war, even if the greater horrors were committed by the… (damn I will commit these clans to memory someday) The militant clan that remains in authority by force of arms.
If resisting the tyrant with the army feels unrealistic, suicidal and pointless… you might transfer your resentment towards the other side of the conflict, however irrationally, following the “it takes two to tango” rational.
Doesn’t mean you’re right to do so, but psychology is awkwardly pragmatic sometimes.
I hold the fork in the joint between my thumb and forefinger. y’know… right where the Sarnothi have webbing. See link associated with my name above.
Utensils of all kinds shouldn’t be any harder to use than a pencil, and Selkie seems to have worked that out just find. Chopsticks might still be a problem, but forks and knives are held in the palm, not the fingers. Spoons are held in the thumb-crook much like a pencil, so the webbing could get in the way a bit there, but again they don’t seem to be terribly struggling with pencils.
This is probably a lot more to do with familiarity with the tool than anything. A fork is a curved weapon, and figuring out which angle to exert force at is non-trivial. Just look up a video of toddlers trying to stab a grape, we don’t learn this one fast.
In fairness, the expression on his face strikes me as more “bemused” than anything. Tone of voice is notoriously hard to read.
Particularly from a comic page with no sound! ^_^
Yeah, i think someone needs to do something about this. How do we pressure a select group of fans into providing character voices for the foreseeable future? And who know how to code voice files into hover text?
New thought; that would break Dave’s method of cartoon-cussing…. To use voices… We need a trumpet! Ala Schultz!
the way he says to me isn’t just bemusement, it’s a form of racism for them. being Native American I’ve had similar stuff said with the same attitude and tone
Though I know some of the other readers feel that Tehk is (so far) largely a jerk and/or racist, I do want to say that I actually don’t read his comment here as being intentionally malicious given his facial expression and eyebrows. I read it more as him making a matter-of-fact statement without any strong feelings about it one way or the other. Sure, he’s making a generalization about her clan – “That’s about right, Jin’Sorai usually say ‘Screw the rules'” – but most generalizations and stereotypes have at least a little basis in reality. If anything, I still feel that Selkie is being the primary instigator of a lot of the little spats we’ve seen so far and I kinda hope one of her peers eventually calls her out on it – that might actually get her attention more than Todd or one of the other adults telling her to be nice.
Just tossing a little support your way in that I also read this particular comment as a “matter-of-fact” statement on his part, for much the same reasoning you gave.
You know how one of Amanda’s chief vulnerabilities is “they’re gonna replace me or forget about me” — to the point where she sees Selkie as a threat purely on that basis, regardless of previous relationship or current ability to get along? Almost like a child being jealous of the new baby, because they’re losing out on privileges previously taken for granted, and/or they’re worried about being replaced.
Seems to me like Selkie might be having a little bit of that here, as well. “I’M the Sarnothi!” With the underlying, mostly subconscious idea that some new Sarnothi coming in makes her not as special, and that they might be able to turn people against her.
It’s possible that this is part of what’s making her react to the racism a little more than she otherwise would. Like, racism from humans is one thing, but racism from her own people is something she can’t tolerate or laugh off… especially since she doesn’t have enough knowledge to either properly counter it, or understand just how far it might go, so she’s defending herself against a threat whose full nature is unclear to her.
I agree. And if Sting is the King of Pain, Selkie is the local and widely acknowledged and accepted, reigning, Queen of Snark. And this Upstart, this Pretender to the Throne seems to have her on the prod, and off her game.
I sad!! DX
I am very uncomfortable with using the word ‘racist’ to describe clan distinctions among the Sarnothi, because it comes loaded with a whole lot of human (and specifically American) presumptions that may or may not — but probably don’t — apply to the situation.
Human “race” classifications are an arbitrary cultural invention, unfairly emphasizing certain natural genetic variations but not others, for no reason other than as an excuse to create out-groups that can be treated badly. That’s not what’s going on here. Though the Sarnothi do have actual biological “races” within their species, I think there’s a reason the word they use is not race, but clan.
There’s unfairness, but it’s a different kind of unfairness. Even though there are real physical differences between the clans, the stereotype Tehk is using here is more like the stereotypes the English and French traditionally flung at each other: the French said the English were stodgy, unemotional, and terrible cooks; the English said the French were flighty, overly dramatic, and ate weird foods. That’s prejudice, but it is NOT racism. Even if the French had periwinkle skin, it still wouldn’t be racism.
Instead of ‘racist’ I’d prefer to say ‘clannist’ (‘clannish’?) or ‘prejudiced’. We’ll find out as the story unfolds whether the more loaded word applies.
I think that may be part of the problem, actually. Selkie is used to American concepts of racism, which are ugly and dangerous and insulting, whereas Tehk is more used to a causal caste system, and prejudice/stereotypes thing are more acceptable and not malicious, although I also suspect that it depends on upbringing and stuff like that too
They just had a race based genecide. Ignoring that prof of racial tension, at no point has any society had any similar stratification without tribalism leading to a hierarchy, and no differences in psychology have even been implied.
We have no reason whatsoever to give him the benifit of the doubt because THERE IS NO DOUBT.
If someone says blacks just aren’t as smart as whites, you would be wrong to assume malicious intent. He just thinks it’s a simple fact.
That “he’s the mor’kama” bit kind of shows that yea, this is probably not malicious but just how he sees things, as Pohl explained earlier.
I’m more curious about how come Te Fahn hasn’t done anything like that yet.
Just because Tehk may see this as matter-of-fact, doesn’t mean it isn’t racist and harmful. This comes off as similar to the more oblivious white privilege types.
He’s absolutely racist (or clanist if you want to split hairs), this just shows that he’s deliberately antagonizing Selkie.
gah, *not deliberately.
Consider, also, that it might not have even remotely entered his mind that racism could be considered rude. It could just be “how things are” in his culture.
Maybe it’s the offhandedness of it that she dislikes? But you have a point about Selkie- she’s touchy, I think- confrontational. Nothing to do with clan or country, it’s just her.
There is an element of truth in all the stereotypes. The typical Klingon is indeed militaristic, the typical Vulcan philosophical, the typical Cardassian is a xenophobe, the Romulan an Intriguer, the Bajoran spiritual.
Of course, I’ve never actually met a typical one…
…except of those Hu-Mans! They are ALL explorers, amiright?
Dondonesque: You ARE right. I recognize how deeply clever your comment was… On multiple layers, and Great Punch Line!
Shucks!
Ya do realize that ‘matter of fact’ and ‘how things are’ is exactly how racism takes hold and rots society from the inside, right?
Casual speech is not always a good thing. Would you be comfortable if someone just casually started discussing their plans for slowly torturing and then killing your neighbor, making it clear they full expect to follow through?
I think you missed something in your knee-jerking, there, Zorlond. They’re not saying that it possibly being ‘matter of fact’ to the kid makes it a good or okay thing.
In fact, to your point, that’d make it all the more important to teach Tehk differently, not only because what’s acceptable in his culture of origin ISN’T in his new home, but because it is also indeed wrong. But nowhere did Sierra imply that that meant it was to be excused.
In my experience, people who offer explanations for why something is bad or in need of correction have no intention of doing so, and, intentional or not, are causing people to stop discussion entirely and thus not actually correct the issue. Why get more involved when someone has come by and ‘explained things’?
Just another example of why ‘matter of fact’ is not as innocent as it seems.
Ah, but I wasn’t trying to imply that it *didn’t* warrant further discussion or that it’s *not* a bad attitude/view to have. I largely posted because I genuinely believe, at least at this point, that Tehk isn’t as bad as Selkie thinks he is and wanted to offer my thoughts as to why. Sure, even innocent comments can be offensive and hurtful but the intent behind the comments matters to me. And I don’t actually think this time it was intentionally malicious. Now the ‘JinSorai are drama queens’ comment from that first day? *That* was malicious.
Additionally, Sessine offered a better explanation than I did and after I read it I have to agree that ‘racist’ doesn’t seem quite right. Cultural/clan stereotyping does seem like a better way to describe it, especially since we know from Pohl that the clans largely kept to themselves outside of the interactions needed to keep Sarnoth as a whole functioning. Heck, he even said he thought the Mor’Kama were a *myth* until he was what, 10? While this sort of thinking is offensive to the sensibilities of folks like Todd and probably a large number of us readers, it’s something that’s apparently deeply ingrained in Sarnoth culture – even Pohl, who has basically been nothing but kind and helpful and supportive asserted that it’s not really a big deal. So changing this sort of mindset that’s probably deeply ingrained in a large portion of the Sarnothi? An uphill battle, for sure. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not a battle worth fighting and I’m sorry if my earlier comments made it seem that I thought otherwise.
You know that Zorlord’s comment was a reply to Ladile’s, right? And I have to disagree with your reading of Ladile’s comment, if you did in fact understand that.
Not necessarily a bad thing, Selkie.
A LOT of people (including me) HATE to be ‘classified’, even if the classification isn’t a bad thing. To me, it’s extremely insulting. It’s basically being dismissive of a person’s selfhood, their individuality– ‘oh, you’re not really a person with individual/valid tastes, opinions, and experiences, you’re just a _____.’ It doesn’t matter what fills in the blank, being reduced to a one-word description can be extremely painful and nullifying.
You know, thinking it over…
Selkie has spent years being bullied, ignored, and talked about as “the fish” . Her self reduced to a one word description. A punchline. A way to remove the person and leave the object to be scorned.
With his constant “jin’sorai” comments, this kid is doing the same thing to her again, deliberately or not, maliciously or not. And worse, he is another sarnothi and “should” have been on her side by kid logic.
So both a low key “betrayal” and a pressing on a major sore point. No wonder Selkie is about to blow her top.
Ooooh, good catch
I’m also reading it as Selkie is ambivilent towards her Sarnothi roots; she knows very little about them and was abandoned as a child but still she takes a degree of pride in her heritage.
To have another Sarnothi disregard that or even treat her heritage as a point to be mocked, disdained or ignored would be a sore spot.
Plus he knows more about being Sarnothi than she does, because she was in the orphanage so early. I bet she resents his knowledge.
thats bound to be part of it, yeah. i mean, until recently she didn´t even know what she is, never mind her clan and its specific traits.
besides, if i were in her place, i´d be pi#ed off that every personality trait of me gets dismissed, as if NOT an individual but merely a stereotype or walking cliche
I could not agree more with this logic. Nice work!!
That’s also an angle that I hadn’t considered but seeing it laid out, it makes perfect sense that Selkie would want to be seen as ‘Selkie’ and not ‘the Jin’Sorai’ no matter how much pride she may or may not have for her clan.
All this discussion just goes to show that both Selkie and Tehk and basically every other sarnothi have plenty of baggage that they’re going to have to work through and some of it is probably beyond the scope of the comic to chronicle in full detail.
There might also be a difference in how they perceive the comments too. I really hated blonde jokes growing up since I thought it meant all people thought blondes were stupid, especially blonde females. People would try to shrug off my complaints by saying either I wasn’t blonde enough for it to target me or that they were blonde themselves (and possibly thought it applied to them as well as giving them the freedom to make the joke). Also Selkie might have been looking forward to being the “big sister” to the others and help them integrate and share her experiences.
That, or kinda show off and be like “look how well I fit in, follow my example, peons! Bow to your queen!”
Seems more diabolically-HER.
I met a blonde Rocket Scientist, really, really smart, and blonde, definitely womanly. But since I came from a whole family of blonds, I never took blonde jokes personally.
It was the bad old days, everyone told jokes, about everyone’s groups, in school I heard jokes about Jews, Catholics, Witches, and Protestants, blacks, whites, Indians (both), English, Irish, Poles, Italians, and lots of French Jokes.
National Lampoon ran an article of 50 jokes insulting Martians! ::
Q: Hey, how can you tell if a Martian has been in your house?
A: All the lightbulbs in the house are missing and there are little lumps of quartz on the carpet!
I get the feeling that if Selkie’s Mom was here and she was hearing what Tehk was saying, she might reply with “Actually, Selkie, that’s totally what we’re like. He’s not wrong, you know. I mean, seriously: look at me.”
Activating lazers! Arming pufferfish! Prepare to engage!
Seriously dude? You don’t need to be a little turd all the time. Maybe you should keep some of this to yourself? Why you gotta act like this?
DX How can Te Fahn stand him?
‘That’s very Jin Sorai” is like saying “That’s very American” or “That’s very British.” Selkie may be assuming it’s a dig, but given Tehk’s expression I don’t think he means it that way.
He may or may not mean it that way but it’s how it comes across. Just because you don’t mean for something you say to be insulting or hurtful doesn’t change that it is.
Meanwhile his past derogatory comments towards Selkie about being JinSorai undercut the idea he is simply being observational.
I had a buddy once, who, when he was on the prod, would take insult at anything you said, by twisting your words to make it into
an insult.
I complimented him on his Jacket, “Hey, that new jacket looks great on you!”
And he made it into an insult three different ways.
I’m beginning to actually want Sekie to put her pride aside and find out why Tehk feels this way… and what he ACTUALLY feels. He’s not shown much in the way of expression, physically speaking, especially compared to other male Sarnothi. I sense a backstory that will convert plenty of others to sympathizers for the Gruffboi.
…I can see Sarnothi actually having a pufferfish mode.