Are You an Xman? · 5:06am Dec 7th, 2014
So, it's been a slower day on campus as usual for the middle of final exams season, and due to a lengthy essay/research paper that essentially is my final due Monday, I've spent just about the whole day writing/researching said paper, tabbing over to fimfiction every now and then for the breaks, watching my beer, cola, and wine stock in the fridge as well as my pizza I ordered disappear, and keeping YouTube running in the background for music and other reviews. I know, right? I party hard on Saturdays.
As such, I've been leaving that YouTube tab running on some favorite music material and reruns of old episodes of reviews and think pieces by channels I'm bigger fans of. One of those people happens to be Bob Chipman, or "Movie Bob", who works for the Escapist web magazine in two shows: Escape to the Movies where he reviews mostly contemporary movies as they come out and The Big Picture which is mostly opinion pieces on subjects about geek culture or field trips back into the distant past of nostalgic parts of the same, such as old comics and classic video games.
I ran across an episode that I hadn't actually seen before and decided to take a listen anyways. Here's what I found:
Interesting stuff, right? The final question he asks in specific really got me wondering. If you were a mutant, which side would you choose? I'm sure most of you instantly blurted your answer in your mind before I even put the question mark there, but I want you to really stop for a second and reflect on what kind of person you are and where that would lead you.
Honestly, after thought, I came to the conclusion that I'd almost certainly be on Magneto's side in the whole thing. You see, given that all of you lovely people who follow me (with the exception of my IRL old high school chum Bo and my little brother Steven whose identities will remain anonymous) have never met me without the computer screen acting as a middleman, you probably don't get a big feeling of the kind of person I am except for small clues in my stories, blogs, and comments. IRL I try to be a fair and altruistic person when I can, and usually that works out. I was always taught as a child by my father and grandfather to say "Yes sir/no sir/yes ma'am/no ma'am", be kind and respectful to everyone you can, don't hold grudges or biases based on something out of someone's control, et cetera.
However, that breaks at a point and that point is when I've been truly wronged. Now, that's not to say if it's unintentional, like for instance someone accidentally spilling something on me and being genuinely apologetic of it, I'm going to go off on them. For me it's all about intent. If someone deceives, hurts, or threatens me or one of the handful of people I give a damn about, I can become one of the most vengeful and vindictive forces on the planet.
You can even see it in simulated circumstances with me. When I play a game that involves taking on a roll, I usually respond in this manner. In Mass Effect I'm almost solely renegade. In Dishonored I killed nearly every motherfucker who had a guard uniform or a target above them. Hell, Even in Black Ops II (Yes, I played the game. It's story was decent by COD standards) I killed Menendez purely out of spite. I think one of my character flaws is that vindictive attitude I take on when I see or experience wrongdoing.
Hell, even in real life you can see that attitude. As a lot of you know, I love the city of New Orleans and recently visited with my little brother Steven, and unfortunately there are a lot of people who are homeless in New Orleans. When I can spare a few bucks (I don't usually carry cash) I try to help them out because its the right thing and they're being genuine. However, this time, a guy who was pretending to be impoverished conned me out of twenty dollars, including an implied threat if I didn't cooperate. This infuriated me and, after he took off, I went looking for him, finally tracking him down across the French Quarter. When I found him again, I probably would have fought the guy, possibly seriously injuring or killing one or both of us, if not for my little brother dissuading me. In the end I still turned him in to the police over the incident. Looking back, it wasn't about the money- even though twenty bucks is a lot for a college kid looking to get by. It was because he had taken advantage of and lied to me, and I let my rage and thirst for revenge consume me in the moment.
Anyways, that's just what I would choose based on what I see in my own psychology. I hope you enjoyed this food for thought and look inside your loyal Pirate King's psychosis. Feel free to answer and discuss below. I'd love to see some of ya'll's opinions.
I would probably be independent and do good in general but you would not want to get me angry.
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I could see that as viable.