we’re here because we’re not all there

Jacks from a set of playing cards included in the Japanese cassette pressing of Mark Mothersbaugh's Muzik for Insomniaks (1985).

He was a cook at the restaurant/bar I was a bartender at, and almost punched a costumer once because he overheard him talking about how women belong in the kitchen. Told me he thought women should stay out of kitchens, that cooking is a man's job and when I asked him what he thinks women should be doing, he went quiet for a moment, then proceeded to explain to me the following

"I trust a bitch to run a kitchen as much as she can run a country, they should do shit like plumbing. Or electricity. Something you can just learn to do and don't need to lead, you know?"

We had an openly gay coworker who looked like it (crop tops, dyed hair, make-up) and he was often harassed by the waiters from the football bar next door. The gay dude had the same name as the Guy, who insisted that we would specify the he isn't gay, so they just became "Name" and "Not Gay Name". He was fine with that.

Boss gave us one meal from the menu a day as a job bonus, and we had this very shy seventeen year old working with us who was already nervous around men, but Our Guy was a 6'3 dude who only stopped yelling and cursing when he was not speaking at all. If he was the one cooking that day, he'd peek out of the kitchen an hour before he'd start closing it up, and would shout at you if you haven't ordered your meal yet because he hated cooking once he already cleaned. The waitress was scared shitless of him, and so whenever he would yell at her to "fucking order already", she'd panic and just pick something.

She didn't eat much but the first time she tried to throw out almost the whole plate, he got so personally insulted that he berated her for not picking something she'd like, and demanded to know what he did wrong. He got really upset about apparently not being able to cook something that this kid would like and I'm pretty sure he started putting in extra effort to make sure she would eat it this time? It lead to him quite literally standing over her like a hawk when she ate to "see her reaction" and demand an immediate review to see what he can improve.

My friend thought he was really funny before I explained to them that I'm pretty sure he thought he was being mean (but hey he it wasn't misgendering so yay)

I like how his issue isn't with the "that shit ain't in nature" thing he mentioned, but the idea that being nonbinary is some form of self-deprivation and that they deserve a gender like everyone else.

i remember sky it was blue as ink or at least i think i remember sky

At the end of Severance it was revealed that the files that MDR was refining were actually Gemma's consciousness.

In particular, they were removing her 4 Tempers: Woe, Malice, Frolic, and Dread. Every refined file corresponds to a new blank-slate innie for a new room.

Many speculate that Lumon is trying to perfect their severance procedure. They can already remove someone's memories from them, and they aim to also remove their personalities, make them sheepish and malleable and ready to obey whatever command they're given without question and without resisting.

I think this theory has merit. The four tempers correspond to sadness, fear, playfulness and cunning spitefulness, all things that make innies more resistant to their oppression.

Waking up in a strange room full with strangers with no memories is definetly scary. Makes people want to escape or fight. Being locked in an office with no option to leave without ever seeing the sun or the sky definetely makes people sad, making them yearn to leave. Playfulness makes people want to, well, play and have fun instead of working. A certain amount of malice aids in formulating an effective escape plan/fight your opressors back.

If you remove all of the above, you get the perfect worker. The perfect plialable, trusting person you can exploit how you want with minimal hassle. It's a very useful feature in the product Lumon is trying to sell:"Make this other person do all the boring, scary, painful, anxiety-inducing things in your life. Also don't worry, they feel no fear and no sadness so you don't need to feel guilty. Also they are very easy to train and will not cause problems".

It's basically the perfect product.

And I'm sure they'll sell it as an enlightenment thing. Kier tamed the 4 Tempers, after all. This is nothing but a technological shortcut to do the same, right? And if Kier did it, then it must be a good thing.

Kier is seen, as many cult leaders are in real life, as an extremely wise man, who was able to rise above and gain perfect self-control over his emotions. By taming the 4 tempers. Of course there is no actual proof he was a righteus man. And many fans suspect Imogene was a child bride (and I also think that). He was probably the furthest thing from a righteous man, and yet, as it happens in real life, he was able to fabricate this image of "Enlightened man", and gain a massive following because of it.

The Severance procedure helps you tame your 4 tempers. But this is not used for enlightenment. It is used for exploitation. It doesn't help people be free from their emotional problems. It makes them more easy to abuse.

Also, it's note worthy to me how the 4 Tempers are something to tame (something you want to free yourself from) while the 9 Principles are something to embrace (something you want to always be). But these things are oftentimes in conflict with each other.