Oh that’s an interesting way to look at it! To be honest, I think he was mostly off his game because he was somewhat…resentful. He didn’t want to “replace” Shiro, and even begs Black not to choose him. It takes a lot of convincing for him to actually agree to it. And when he does step in to lead–people start to fight him on it, and he gets pissed. Because it’s very clear this is something he didn’t want, and he’s got all this anger and self-loathing built up that he’s just redirecting. “Please, no.” “First you want me to lead, then you complain about how I do it.” “I never wanted to be the leader! That’s just what Shiro wanted!” “You wanted me to be the leader? This is how I lead.” It’s kind of like saying, “You asked for this, so just deal with it.”
He didn’t want for this. He didn’t ask for this. He hates himself for having to do this. So when he’s forced into this position of authority against his will and then faces opposition–from the very people who put him there in the first place–he lashes out again. The way Keith fights with the others over “teamwork”–“Everyone stay out of my way!” that is just as much apart of the grieving process as his relentless search for Shiro. They tell him move on and then try to pull him back right after. When Keith starts throwing his life–and his team–away on careless risks, single-mindedly chasing after his goal, he throws his teammates’ words right back at them.
“But our mission is bigger than any one individual. Even those who are completely irreplaceable.” “It’s not about the team. We have a mission that’s more important than any one of us.” They want him to put the mission before Shiro? Fine. Then the mission takes priority over everyone and everything else too. I don’t think anyone except for Allura really understood the gravity of what Keith was sacrificing. When he agreed to lead Voltron, he felt like he had nothing else to lose.
His one constant, the one person who never abandoned him, who he undoubtably loved–they were gone, and all Keith had was the mission. So of course he throws himself into it headfirst with everything he’s got. This is what happens when you push someone before they’re ready, when you tell them to move on when they’re still shattering.
I think that, at the beginning, Keith is so volatile and aggressive because he’s still working through the grieving process. And while it’s clear there is this innate desire to make Shiro proud and not let him down–“I know this is what you wanted for me, Shiro” “This one’s for you, Shiro”–it’s overridden by his his own inner turmoil. Does he want to fulfill Shiro’s last “dying” wish? Of course. Keith feels he owes him at least that much. But more than anything else he wants to run out and find Shiro and bring him back. If he can’t do that, if he’s told he has to sacrifice everything for the mission then, well–then the others shouldn’t be surprised when thats what he does.
do you ever catch yourself thinking of something so weird and fucked up that you have to stop mid-thought and your face is
our thoughts aren’t always from us. Sometimes random thoughts are our brain trying to process and understand concepts we’ve heard from other people. Your reaction to that thought shows your true feelings on the subject
this actually makes me very relieved
That information is very important for people suffering from intrusive thoughts. Thank you
Abusive men pave the way for lazy men to get wives and girlfirends.
Lemme clarify, how many times have you heard your overworked female friends and relatives say “Yeah, Jerry drinks beer every evening after work while I cook dinner and clean up after everyone and does the bare minimum to help me raise the kids but he’s such a nice guy. He’s never beat me in my life. I couldn’t ask for a better guy in my life.”
Like no, Sally, your husband is a common stone among turds and you know it.
I try to explain this conceptually to people as a thing that happens not saying that this is good but it’s a thing that happens.
This is what male privilege is and how all men benefit from it.
This is why you are not exempt from statements about “all men” even if you are overall good.
You benefit from the bar constantly being lowered by systemic issues within the gender.
The expectations on you are always lower than they should because “at least you’re not X”.
That…is the best response I’ve seen to the “not all men” thing. Thank you.
“a common stone among turds” is a beautiful phrase. thank you for it.
straight culture is that trope in dog movies where the male owner has a crush on a girl and the girl has a female dog that the male owner’s male dog has a crush on
I feel like there has to be some kind of botany joke in the similarity between the words “areoles” and “areolas”
I mean this is literally a cactus that exists so (that’s Montrose Myrtilocactus geometrizans)
Also there’s an entire genus of popular cacti, Mammillaria whose name legit means “nipple”
Also after brief googling, it seems the words are related, areole coming from areola. The areole is actually the little bud that cacti spines sprout from. Botanists have been looking at cacti for centuries and going “ah… a titty”
me, a 1800s botanist: *is first to name a beautiful result of evolution that has been evolving for longer than my brain can feasibly imagine*
Cadet-For-Your-SpaceRescue 