He’s not making many friends.
-EDIT- To my fellow webcomic authors and/or wordpress users reading the site, I hope you catch this, but please make sure your WordPress security plug-ins or other security measures are updated, that WordPress is updated, and all other security things are otherwise in working order. Based on notices from my own security plugin, someone is trying to brute force hack Selkie (trying random generic usernames and passwords until they get lucky and gain entry to Selkie’s wordpress).
Thus far I’ve been able to thwart their access attempts, but they’ve been trying for a few weeks now. Didn’t want to worry anyone but I felt I should say something so other WordPress users out there can take the opportunity to double-check their security systems.
I think he is in denile over the nature of humanity… or he’s religiouse and has that kind of an issue with Selkies kind. Humans are onivouse with a strong family structure. Sanorthi Are carnivirouse with a strong family structure. Both parents raise there children and as far as we have seen from the other two and the fairy tail. ‘Marige’ has the same horible histoy and restrctions as in our sosiety.
This will not end well for the a-… the jerk.
His actions toward Selkie should be construed as racism, Todd, and that isn’t going to go over very well with anyone.
I am not warming up to the possessor… and anyone who insults a child to their parent is not so wise…
This is definitely not going to end well. I predict Trunchbull will not only get a meeting from a certain agent but will also have nice little audit come tax time.
Actually, I’m more hoping for a loss in tenure. That has a bit more immediate and long term affects, with the added benefit that it could not be counteracted with an effective accountant.
Good point. Also I just realized something my theory about the phone being tapped and even if Todd doesn’t tell Agent Brown the fact Trunchbull actually helped the early parts of the integration means that he has to have had his phones tapped.
Tapped phones? Amateurs. If *I* was running this conspiracy to keep the Sarnothi secret I’d have body doubles of his family ready for when I have to have them “get a wonderful opportunity that they can’t possibly refuse” and have to leave. The next time they’d see the light of day is when they’re buried and that’s if it was an open casket funeral and the parlor had windows.
the whole point of tenure is that you can’t lose it over something like this. This is the kind of thing – someone being able to express their opinion, however repugnant – that tenure was invented to protect. If he was doing horrible experiments on Sarnothi in his lab or something, then sure, but the simple act of proving that he’s a jerk? Man, there’d be a LOT less tenured professors if that was a risk.
Frankly, I’d rather students learn from a less-brilliant but far-friendlier teacher than a tenured jack***. There’s quite a few scientific studies on the effect of excessive negative criticism and scathing remarks on students’ abilities to learn. And they all agree: Tell kids they’re worthless idiots all the time and [i]they will be crippled for life.[/i]
from what I remember his email contact info stated that he was an associate professor. doesn’t that mean he is non-tenure tract or is that just how my university was?
At my school, associate professors are tenured. Assistant professors are tenure track.
thanks for that little kernal or knowledge 🙂
Didn’t he mention a PTA meeting? I think he’s going to “out” Selkie and try to make her seem dangerous to the parents at the school!
Speaking of the PTA meeting: Remember when we first heard of the Trunchbulls?
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie320/
The Prof. was suggesting *mandatory* GPS implants for the kids. This tells me it’s not just Selkie he has issues with, he has a problem respecting the rights of everybody. Choosing to implant HIS son is one thing, forcing everyone to do it is another.
I think the issues starts with the notion of ‘his son’. Giving birth to or siring of a child in no way or shapes makes you actually suitable to raise a child. Its a basic biological function that most every crack head, sexual predator or murderer has as much as you or I. That its HIS son doesn’t make the idea any less abhorrent.
Right. Remember this?
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie312/
Abusive behavour is often cyclic: Maybe Truck is a bully because of what he has been put through at home and here we see him repeating the lines he has been fed by his father?
It isn’t an excuse for his behavior, though. He doesn’t get the right to do it to someone else. He doesn’t get to use it as an excuse, either.
I have to say I’m really in to this arc. Even this conversation is getting me really angry inside for Todd!
The old “us-vs-them” “different=bad” thing, yup, we can tell what you are Prof.
BTW: “But in the end, I had to withdraw my participation.”
That’s ego-speak for: They kicked me out for being a jerk.
Agreed.
Selkie has a sense of humour, and we can all sympathise with her experiences- and her reactions to, and thoughts on, those experiences. So, not so very alien, I think. I suggest that Trunchbull is xenophobic, and was kicked off the integration programme.
I remain optimistic about contact with the Sarnothi. One must, for they are only the first of the alien races with which we must ultimately interact.
Considering his opening line of ‘chance of a life time’ Yes I am inclined to agree he was asked to pressured to leave due to aggressive opinions and insistence of circulate logic. He has a professor ship but he clearly dose not think with scientific mind. Using the word sentient and then in the same breath saying they could never adapt is a contradiction of terms. Sentience means awareness of self and the ability to make reasoned choices that may not co inside with an instinctive or emotional opinion. So his clam that they can resion but not adapt is as i said a contradiction.
Gorram stupid xenophobes … yes, different species process information differently; yes, they may have goals and values different to ours; but that doesn’t mean they automatically do not have the same values as we do! The Sarnothi have clearly shown themselves to have values similar to humans! They have respect for life! They may express that in blood debts, but so have we in the past! They have respect for family! They have respect for clan! They have myths that teach the same things that we do (namely never to make deals with supernatural beings)! They are in fact incredibly like humans, a far more surprising and intriguing question than if they were not!
And would you like to know the reason the Sarnothi have kept themselves separate from us, Professor? They’re bastards, and we’re bastards, but they’ve seen both species’ being bastards, and they’ve realized the truth: we’re worse.
And you are a case. In. Point.
And furthermore, kudos to Todd for keeping on track. And I’m still hoping for him to say “If you know what my daughter is, you know that she was HOSPITALIZED because YOUR IDIOT BULLY OF A SON SHOOK HER VIOLENTLY thus removing THE HEATING PACKS THAT WERE KEEPING HER ALIVE. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that YOU’RE the apex predator who can’t function in society.”
… Man, I am really proud of myself for comparing Trunchbull to an apex predator. He is in so many ways.
Well humans are an apex predator. You are, I am, Dave is, the guy that sells ice cream during the summer is. And if it was any other story I would say yes, two apex predators cannot get along because we would start competing for resources. However, we have seen evidence to the opposite in this one.
apex depends on environment and the specific food chain. spend some time with sharks in the water without all of our protective gear and you’ell learn real quick we are not all ways the apex predater of the sea
This is true. But remember, we are also not a shark’s natural prey. Which coincidentally may be a good explanation why humans and the Sarnothi can integrate. That given a mix between us, the Sarnothi respond more with curiosity than aggression. And since they have hands and independent thought, they can explore with more than their teeth.
good point… 🙂
Great punchline! Way to go!
I have punchlines? 😉
Well, not always. But you can has punchline!
The book is great. Great job! Everyone should get it and enjoy the beginnings of Selkie.
Notice that he says Sarnothi standards are different from human standards, when it’s well established that his standards aren’t quite normal. I’m thinking he’s the type who thinks everyone is wrong but him.
I had that last sentence figured out from the moment I heard he was named “Trunchbull.”
With the most recent comic I’m now hoping we’ll get a flashback to when a sarnothi child he was working with used telekinetic powers to make him think he was being haunted by someone he’d wronged.
Keep at it Todd, fight that dimestore Lex Luthor. Whenever he speaks of the Sarnothi, it reminds me of Lex saying “the Alien” but with a lot less style or class. He’s egotistical and blind Todd, for all his strength and position, he’s in a weaker place than you. Refuse to be dominated by him and he’s screwed.
You can see the professor’s point, you really need to stay clear of sentient apex predators – OH CRAP, WE’RE EVERYWHERE!
Sure, we’re omnivores, but we’re still apex predators, so that panel just makes him look a little stupid. Which I’m fine with.
As for culture, humans have a pretty wide range of them already, so that’s not too much of a problem.
He’s right that there’s a reason why the Sarnothi stay away. He’s a fine example of that reason.
For those not in the know, an apex predator is the top predator on the chain. The one that has no natural enemies. Yes, we do die to other predators and some prey animals, but we have no real predators to deal with other than ourselves. Other apex predators include Lions, Tigers, Wolves, and Bears.
What kind of weirdos does he think the Sarnothi are, a bunch of nutters who worship bacon and attack others for no real reason? Oh wait, those are humans…
Hey Dave, I have a suggestion to keep the bruteforce attempts at logging into your page to a minimum. I’ll send you an email later, since I’d rather keep this semi-private so the wrong people don’t figure it out. 😉
Thanks!
Blind, more like blatantly racist. Seriously, this sounds like the way white people used to refer to so-called ‘inferior’ races. This is word-for-word the basis for eugenics; inferring that certain races, or people with disabilities are simply incapable of rational thought and are somehow sub-human. This guy is making me physically ill.
To be fair, it’s technically xenophobia, not racism. The latter is a prejudice against different branches of your own species, and the former is an irrational fear toword an entirely different species.
Also, eugenics implies that you want to IMPROVE a species through selective breeding, while the proffesor is simply anti-intergration. (I agree that he’s a majer turd, though.)
Please wrap up this story-arc soon, the thing on the other end of Todd’s phone is beginning to counteract my medication.
Everyone seems convinced that the professor is a lying sob, but as a scientist I can see why he is defending his position. I don;t think his position is right, but from his point of view, he was presented with a certain amount of data, presumably on Sarnothi psycology, and come to the conclusion that it is a bad idea to integrate the two species.
I’m particularly intrigued by what he is referring to as a “sarnothi truth” There is already disagreement just between humans as to when it is ok to tell a white lie (or other colored lie). There is no reason to expect that standards would be identical between sentient species.
He left the project because clearly he came to a different conclusion than the rest of the group, and early results show that his conclusion may not have been the right one.
Where his fault lies is that he is completely wedded to his hypothesis/conclusion and reacts angrily if anyone doubts his authority. I think what he learned about sarnothi psychology scared him, but he is completely convinced that his (bigoted, xenophobic) view is the scientifically correct one.
You’re assuming he would have believed or acted any differently if he had been presented with a different data set. Unfortunately, there are many ‘scientists’ who let their personal politics and (lack of) ethics dictate what they think is scientific fact. They’ll twist perception and pretend it’s truth, even if you throw a mountain of evidence to the contrary in their faces.
It’s even entirely possible that his conclusion was chosen simply from contrarianism. Everyone else voted integrate, thus he demanded separation. Normally, contrarianism is simply a means to make everyone aware of alternative views, or the downsides to the heavily-favored one. Taken to extremes, however, they end up contrary simply for the sake of it, and cannot comprehend that they might be wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxYiLzWee84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeB2vVBOLOw
Trunchbull needs to update his knowledge of species integration.
Ever read the 31 issue sci-fi comic book series Strikeforce Morituri and it’s 5 issue followup Electric Undertow? Both are great reading.I’ve read them and I give them a 10 out of 10 and 2 thumbs up.
Oh, AND he’s a speciesist! Who’s surprised?
Just realized something. Aren’t humans Apex Predators?
Wait now…
If Truck was remembering things his parents (presumably father) said when he got mad at Selkie…
…What if his father, having insider info on the Sarnothi…
….and not liking them one bit…
What if those things weren’t said to TRUCK?
What if Truck has been told in one way or another that the Sarnothi are targets of opportunity?
Geez Dave, you’ve hurt my brain again. 🙂
*goes back to lurking*
Whereas humans don’t have any predatory instincts. That’s why everyone’s vegan and Todd, as a vegetarian who wishes to consume animal byproducts like cheese, is so unusual. That’s why Selkie has to hunt all her own food, because meat is not available for sale. And that’s why it is IMPOSSIBLE for little Tommy to have been the aggressor in a confrontation with a sarnothi.
Well now I think less of this guy. While his views on his son’s inolvement in the incident are not wrong (by the information he has.) he clearly is boased against Selkie’s species. Also I like how Todd said ‘mine’ when referring to Selkie. Your what? Daughter? Because ‘mine’ sounds more like an object. As if Selkie is more like a foreign exchange student or something. Maybe he got caught up in the moment because Trunchbull was using the same stance of something not welcomed in our culture, but I think Todd goofed there.
I like the allusion to Roald Dahl’s villain from Matilda, Miss Trunchbull. No mistaking Truck’s dad as not the bad guy! BTW, I just started reading Selkie a few days ago and LOVE it!