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NOTES FROM OTHERS:

Lemming 11/23/14 3:32

I don't care for this, at all. Weaver is not just being mischievous, he is being a bully. He is teaching Amanda to be one, too:
It's okay to do mean things to someone, as long as they aren't too popular with the group. As long as we, the perpetrators, say it's only a joke, everybody else has to agree. If he doesn't like us doing rude things to him, it's only because he doesn't like fun things. We can just say that he's no fun, and it can be more reason not to like him, for trying to spoil our fun when we are making his day unpleasant.
Adelle waking up and basically rolling her eyes at him, is like every teacher who ever sheltered a bully. I didn't care for her thought processes on it, either. Yes, Amanda is dangerous because of the level of her powers vs the amount and quality of socialization she's had, combined with her age.
That wasn't all, or even most, of her reason for dismissing him, though. She specifically knows that he's being "picked on", and him being angry about it and wanting it to stop is "casting himself as the victim".
This dynamic--that it's okay to have someone be the butt of everyone's jokes, comments, pranks, and general derision, so long as they aren't well liked, is all too common.
Weaver's reasoning that Amanda will need a friend/ally/partner-in-crime could be sound. Only time will tell. The problem is, he is planning to focus all of their little 'pranks' on just one person: Alix. If he were actually being altruistic, he'd point it towards the entire group.
Think how well that would go over? And consider that: that it's okay to do these things to Alix, but if it were being done to everyone else, at any time whether they felt playful or not, the group might feel differently about it.
That's why this isn't okay. Alix is correct. He's being singled out and bullied, and he has every right to be angry about it.
In terms of Amanda's socialization and development of empathy for others, the pranks themselves aren't even the problem. Mischievous isn't necessarily bad, even if it can be singularly annoying.
The problem is that they are teaching her a social dynamic in which it's okay to treat some people with disrespect and meanness, and others not so much, because we like them more.
With this example to follow, I shudder to think how a child with her power would turn out, in the morals department.

Stuart Gathman 11/28/14 10:03

Alix is like spam or junk mail. Because his demands for attention are so constant, no one can respond to them all, or even a fraction, no matter how much they wish the best for Alix - we have only a finite capacity for attention. They are forced to triage his communications - with the result that that vast majority are ignored and disrespected. And this is entirely the fault of Alix.
And who hasn't sent the credit card applications back to the sender in the prepaid envelope - with maybe a penny or two to up the cost and maybe jam up their machine. There is a place for giving a habitual abuser a taste of their own medicine. Pelting Alix with nuts is actually a pretty good analog to how he pelts others with complaints.

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Lemming	11/23/14	3:32
I don't care for this, at all. Weaver is not just being mischievous, he is being a bully. He is teaching Amanda to be one, too: It's okay to do mean things to someone, as long as they aren't too popular with the group. As long as we, the perpetrators, say it's only a joke, everybody else has to agree. If he doesn't like us doing rude things to him, it's only because he doesn't like fun things. We can just say that he's no fun, and it can be more reason not to like him, for trying to spoil our fun when we are making his day unpleasant. Adelle waking up and basically rolling her eyes at him, is like every teacher who ever sheltered a bully. I didn't care for her thought processes on it, either. Yes, Amanda is dangerous because of the level of her powers vs the amount and quality of socialization she's had, combined with her age. That wasn't all, or even most, of her reason for dismissing him, though. She specifically knows that he's being "picked on", and him being angry about it and wanting it to stop is "casting himself as the victim". This dynamic--that it's okay to have someone be the butt of everyone's jokes, comments, pranks, and general derision, so long as they aren't well liked, is all too common. Weaver's reasoning that Amanda will need a friend/ally/partner-in-crime could be sound. Only time will tell. The problem is, he is planning to focus all of their little 'pranks' on just one person: Alix. If he were actually being altruistic, he'd point it towards the entire group. Think how well that would go over? And consider that: that it's okay to do these things to Alix, but if it were being done to everyone else, at any time whether they felt playful or not, the group might feel differently about it. That's why this isn't okay. Alix is correct. He's being singled out and bullied, and he has every right to be angry about it. In terms of Amanda's socialization and development of empathy for others, the pranks themselves aren't even the problem. Mischievous isn't necessarily bad, even if it can be singularly annoying. The problem is that they are teaching her a social dynamic in which it's okay to treat some people with disrespect and meanness, and others not so much, because we like them more. With this example to follow, I shudder to think how a child with her power would turn out, in the morals department.
Stuart Gathman	11/28/14	10:03
Alix is like spam or junk mail. Because his demands for attention are so constant, no one can respond to them all, or even a fraction, no matter how much they wish the best for Alix - we have only a finite capacity for attention. They are forced to triage his communications - with the result that that vast majority are ignored and disrespected. And this is entirely the fault of Alix. And who hasn't sent the credit card applications back to the sender in the prepaid envelope - with maybe a penny or two to up the cost and maybe jam up their machine. There is a place for giving a habitual abuser a taste of their own medicine. Pelting Alix with nuts is actually a pretty good analog to how he pelts others with complaints.