Elliot.... Look, I'm Sure The Man Had Nothing But Good Intentions And Truly Cared About Harley But Like

It's interesting to me how Harley genuinely seems to believe that he's doing the right thing but not for the right reasons.

(This is more of a ramble than anything so please excuse any mistakes)

He mentions in chapter four that: "The ONLY difference is that what I fight for actually gains humanity something."

You could just attribute this to Harley trying to turn us against Poppy but I do think he actually meant what he was saying.

We know that Harley lacks humility, yet the actual reason he was kicked from the Young Geniuses Program was more because he was only interested in progress for progresses sake. He only cared about whether he could do something, not whether he should.

Elliot mentions himself in the letter removing Sawyer from the program that: "Scientific progress should ALWAYS be to the benefit of humanity," and I actually do think Harley took that part to heart. Only, he still didn't care about humanity in the slightest and probably didn't have a reason to. He just wanted Elliot's approval. Or perhaps he was trying to spite him.

In Harley's eyes the biggest flaw humanity has is mortality. He describes it canonically as an inferno. A flame to be escaped. That was one of the ulterior motives he had when he created the BBI - a way to turn humans into living beings that would never age or grow sick.

He even says himself before he dies in chapter four: "I was the one that paved the golden path," which I'm fairly certain is a reference to the "Golden Path" in Dune; something that also ties into ensuring humanity's survival.

In the Icepick Arg too you can find this message:

Here Harley describes himself as being merciful, sparing humans from their inevitable fates and the limitations of their own bodies. However he isn't doing any of it for humanity's sake, only for the recognition, approval, and attention. And because Elliot told him to.

He justifies himself here again, fully believing he is in the right and that others will understand in a thousand years, once humanity is "saved" because of an immortality he discovered.

Also consider how Harley's last words are: "You...saved...nobody..."

I think he's talking to us, but also to himself. He's acknowledging that despite his brilliance and achievements, he wasn't the savior he believed he was.

In the end, Harley is such a fascinating character to me because he does believe he's doing the right thing but because he doesn't understand why he needs to do the right thing, he actually ends up hurting people more than he does helping them. Ironically enough, it is exactly what Elliot was afraid of when he removed Harley from the YGP:

"Progress made simply for the sake of progress often winds up hurting us more than it helps."

It's almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. And despite the fact Harley is an irredeemable, narcissistic psychopath, I think it's tragic that he and so many other people suffered because he fought so hard for a cause he didn't believe in. Not truly.

Thank you to this YouTube comment for this

you know i don’t think we often talk about how difficult it actually is to suddenly realize that a belief you thought was good and moral and correct was actually really fucking toxic. how you have to look at something and go ‘oh shit, oh i fucked up. oh this is going to take probably years at minimum to deprogram from my brain because of all the little ways this shit pervaded the rest of my beliefs’

so. to all the people picking up all the pieces of a recently shattered world-view and trying to figure out what is safe to keep and what has to be thrown away and started over

to all the people having to relearn how to even listen to other people

to all the people putting in the work to do better while struggling with the guilt that comes from finding out you were the asshole

i’m proud of y’all.

it’s hard to admit being wrong and even harder to change in the aftermath. just keep doing the best you can and just know that the effort is appreciated. everyone can change. everyone can do better. keep fighting.

Ya'll want to know the funniest shit?

I'm researching the era when Alastor was alive right now to get a better idea of both his character, the life he lived before Hell, and to hash out a backstory for him.

And so, apparently, Alastor lived through the Prohibition (which was basically the United States government illegalizing the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol because they thought it was the cause of a lot of domestic violence and child abandonment).

Alastor canonically died in 1933.

Do you know how long the Prohibition lasted?

From 1920-1933.

ALASTOR LITERALLY DIED THE SAME YEAR ALCOHOL BECAME LEGAL AGAIN. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW BITTER HE MUST'VE BEEN?

The Prohibition officially ended on December 5, 1933, and now my headcanon is that Alastor died December 6, 1933. Literally the day after he could legally drink all the booze he wanted.

I am learning a LOT about New Orleans and the era Alastor lived through (including the gay community in the city at the time) which has been a lot of fun, and I just wanted to share that tidbit because it is so fucking funny to me.

There was a young man from Peru

Whose limericks stopped at line two

In light of The Situation happening right now in the USA, I highly recommend retreating from social media as much as possible and immersing in real life to clean out the gunk of social media type activism

Try as best as you can to track down some old retired folks who have been doing the activism thing for decades. And just old retired folks who care about anything, anything at all.

This crap with labeling the generations and talking like "boomers" are this way and "gen Z" is that way, it's silly to the point of being dangerous.

Younger generations in USA kind of reject the whole thing about respecting and valuing your elders but the truth is, all different kinds of cultures have these values and they're right. Elders have more knowledge and understanding than you can ever find written down anywhere.

And they WANT and NEED young people to connect with them. Elders are suffering more from our society of isolation than anybody else. And they are energized and invigorated by having young people to share their knowledge, information, and stories with.

So often I have been in a room of people majority over 65, wondering where all the "politically aware" gen Z are. And the answer is, they're on social media, arguing with strangers and stressing themselves out, while the "boomers" are getting shit done.

Social media isolates young activists from the most experienced and knowledgeable of all. And it's a dangerous trap for people of all ages who feel lonely and afraid. Either radicalizing them into hateful ideology and cult-style groups, or convincing them of apathy and pointlessness.

go outside, find the elders that know everything, get shit done. This is my advice

And D16 delivered indeed‼️🫡

you didnt understand, and i couldnt explain.

being on my period makes me feel like a wounded forest animal trying to find a warm dark small place to die