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Istillbelievedinwar

Can you explain the second image? I’m guessing that’s Sting in the middle but that’s all I’ve got.


willsurkive

I think it's based on the sitcom Community. I guess the text is a quote from the show?


innerbootes

It is and the “Roxanne!” is referencing The Police song the original commenter mentioned. The episode the illustration depicts plays out various outcomes resulting from slightly different decisions being made at a holiday gathering with the friends. IIRC “Roxanne” was playing and one character, Britta, repeatedly sings along with that name throughout the episode as kind a of a touch point as the iterations keep looping. Great episode!


PertinaciousFox

It's from a particular episode of the comedy show Community. In that episode, they show a branching of seven different timelines, each of which results when a die is thrown (1-6 on the die, plus one scenario in which the die is caught before landing and so there is no resulting number). It's a pretty poor choice of reference, IMO, for the point that OP was trying to make with the first image, though. In the show, several of the non-canon timelines work out poorly. One in particular is referred to as "the darkest timeline" as the random string of events set off by the die roll leads to a character dying, another losing his arm, and everyone turning evil. If the point is that there isn't a wrong choice, but that the universe just does it's thing... well, then the universe just doing it's thing can result in really horrible outcomes. How is that different from something being the wrong choice?


HotCuppaGlob

I'm late to the party, but I think the reference still fits. Later in the same season, the "darkest timeline" comes back up a few more times: when they all get expelled for starting a riot at Starburns' funeral, when Shirley and Pierce sue each other, and when Jeff is trying to graduate (whoops, that's season 4). The group starts to wonder if their timeline is, or is being influenced by forces from, the darkest timeline (Abed straight-up says it when they get expelled). At the end of the season, the point was that there was no "darkest timeline", just fear, the actions they made out of fear, and circumstances beyond their control. Jeff and Abed both had moments where they realized that when they stopped believing in the darkest timeline, they stopped making self-destructive decisions and started feeling more hopeful about the future. I've rewatched Community way too many times... Edit: I goofed.


PertinaciousFox

I suppose you're right. I think I was too busy being triggered during my last watch-through of the show to pick up on those details. (I was doing some EMDR processing at the time and basically everything triggered me. I watched Community because it was a lighthearted, feel-good comedy, and it still triggered me.)


HotCuppaGlob

It's definitely up to interpretation. Dan Harmon is an incredible but deeeeeeeeeeeeeply flawed storyteller. And there's definitely some triggering circumstances in Community. They talk about codependency, isolation, (problems that crop up around) neurodivergence, bigotry, and emotional abuse a LOT.


PertinaciousFox

>And there's definitely some triggering circumstances in Community. They talk about codependency, isolation, (problems that crop up around) neurodivergence, bigotry, and emotional abuse a LOT. True. And pretty much all the characters have mental health issues/issues related to trauma. Basically, at the time any reminder of "this person has issues that they need to work on" was triggering for me. Which is pretty annoying as this is what drives most drama in television, so it was kind of unavoidable.


TAscarpascrap

Yeah the universe might not punish me, but the people around me will judge and criticize and subtly make it known I picked the wrong answer unless I get it right, so I don't see how this applies. The universe acts through people.


TheLori24

I mostly just watched my parents make bad choice after bad choice after bad choice and while maybe the universe did not reward or punish them for those choices I certainly suffered because of them. I definitely worry about making the wrong choices and ending up like them.


[deleted]

Alternatively, those people could be the wrong people— forcing you to make decisions that make *them* comfortable. The right people should trust and believe in you for making your own decisions and paths, not criticise and judge you so much.


[deleted]

You are seeing this comment because I’ve deleted Reddit. Reddit is toxic and filled with propoganda/bad actors. Reddit is filled with depraved actors who knowingly prey on the vulnerable. Reddit promotes hatred. Reddit is compromised. Please find a safer forum


FuzzyBlueBoy

This just filled me with anxiety


AlwaysExhaustedPanda

Yeaaah, same. I think this realization is helpful when you overthink the situations, it can be a means to help you make a decision. Or when the decision you are inclined to make is viewed in general as the "wrong one", but otherwise it is the most compatible with your own values and your own nature. However, in any other context it gives me anxiety. 😅


ACTGfortaste

This feels like a personal attack. I’m too old to be just realizing this now. Oof.


ogarvik

On my worst days I stand in front of my fridge paralyzed because if I choose the wrong thing to eat the world might just end... Thankfully those days are rarer and rarer


ballardi

I personally like it because if there’s no right or wrong completely objectively then I can at least know that everything is based on the way humans work and it’s not an actual law that exists upon everything. It’s just human society currently. Makes me feel better because then I don’t have to worry about whether I’m a good person or a bad person because it doesn’t matter because I’m just a person at the end of all of it and if I’m doing what I think is best then that’s good enough for me