#callout posts

I’m planning to flesh out some of the info and themes in the Eureka rulebook about monster hunters, so I’m turning these thoughts into a proper post.

Where there’s monsters in modern fantasy, there’s monster hunters. It’s not actually quite that old of a trope, and often gets applied retroactively, (See: van Helsing just brings some guy who has read a lot about vampires in the original Dracula novel, but getting portrayed as a badass vampire hunting specialist in so many subsequent iterations) but whatever the case, the concept of a monster-hunting specialist will find its way into just about any setting with monsters.

These may many forms across different media.

Sometimes they’re for-hire almost like exterminators, sometimes they’re on the payroll of a secret government agency or a secret branch of The Church, sometimes they just do it because no one else will.

Sometimes they’re the good guys, vigilantes striking out against monsters that represent oppressive power structures, invading forces, dangerous problems that those in power turn a blind eye to, etc.

Sometimes they’re the bad guys, religious fanatics or government secret police who relentlessly pursue monsters representing some misunderstood, marginalized, and innocent group.

Sometimes they’re “one of the good ones,” hunting their own kind as a form of atonement.

Well, in Eureka, there is no global secret society run by monsters, nor a global secret society, government branch, or branch of the Church suppressing monsters.

Monsters are both a largely unknown - and legitimately dangerous - phenomenon to the general public, and yet still otherwise “normal” people with their own lives and problems. Read these posts for more on that subject.

If these are the monsters in Eureka, then who are the monster hunters? What kind of person becomes a self-described “monster hunter” in this context? Probably not a very good one. Now don’t get me wrong, monsters are very dangerous, but they also are so exceptionally rare that most monsters will have never met anyone else like them in their entire lives. Most people will never even unknowingly walk past one on the street.

So, first of all, to even believe that these monsters are out there and striking with such frequency that you could reasonably “hunt” them, you already have to be a little bit of a crackpot.

Now, there are dangerous people out there in Eureka and in real life. This is a work of art that strongly believes in the right to self-defense and ownership of the means of self-defense. What else are you going to do, rely on the police?

But for a self-described “monster hunter” in Eureka, this danger is not something they’re simply wary of and prepared for, it is something that, conscious or not, excites them. This isn’t “carries a gun just in case of the unlikely event of an attack” kind of “self-defense,” this is “drive three states over to a protest to make sure something happens” kind of “self-defense.” This is “hoping for any excuse and opportunity to rid society of undesirables from ‘the streets’ through violence” kind of “self-defense.”

And, in a world where monsters are so rare and also so hard to distinguish from normal people as in Eureka, what does “monster hunting” even look like? Well, it ain’t a good look. It means hypervigilantly scouring everyone you meet for any abnormality or sign of deviant or “dangerous” behavior. Then, when you’ve got what might be a hit, invade their privacy, stalk them, watch their every move for more evidence of the danger you know is there. Then, once they raise enough red flags, and you’ve got an opportunity, you attempt to destroy them.

Obviously most of these “monsters” are false positives, there just aren’t that many actual monsters out there, and their “tells” can often be identical to the behaviors of people who just don’t fit in with normal society for whatever other reason, and might even be huge assholes, but are ultimately not capable of causing much harm, if any.

Most “monster hunters” will have never encountered a single real monster, and if they ever did, they would probably be out of their depth, but they pat themselves on the back for their hard work keeping the community safe all the same. After all, a normal mortal who already has a stake through their heart can’t explain that they always ask to be invited in because they have OCD or anxiety. (And why should they even have to? Because you imagined they might be a vampire? Seriously?)

I don’t think most of you reading this carry guns IRL so I’m going to bring it a bit closer to home. In more online spaces, these are the same kind of people who start compiling “evidence” for callout posts as soon as they get a “bad vibe” from someone, or somebody is rude to or disagrees with them. It’s the same MO. Scan everyone for the slightest evidence “problematic” behavior, start stalking them and invading their privacy once you’ve got a hit, then move in to destroy.

Who cares if you stretch the truth a little bit? You know in your mind they’re problematic, so it’s up to you to protect the community from them by any means necessary, even lying, otherwise people might not take it seriously enough!

This is called "relational aggression" or "relational violence," by the way.

“But what about the real monsters who really eat people? Doesn’t somebody need to do something about them?”

Well, yes and no. It’s complicated, just like in real life. The posts I linked above explain the comparison between Eureka monsters and disabled people, with the fact that monsters eat people representing how disabled people can often eat up time, energy, and resources of those around them whether they like it or not. Some of them would be less of an issue if societal structures changed, others would not, and even within different categories of monster it’s pretty case-by-case. As much as these man-eating monsters have a right to life, the people they eat have a right to defend themselves from monster attacks. I don’t pretend to have the perfect solution to disability or to Eureka monsters, exploring the nuance therein is one of the things the game is about, but I do know that “we need to weed out and exterminate all people with harmful or burdensome needs for the good of society”, well, that ain’t it chief.

Be safe, be wary, but don’t be a monster hunter. Don’t go picking fights, don’t assume it’s your duty to cyberstalk and ostracize people whose backgrounds or behaviors are “suspicious” or less than squeaky clean, and do be skeptical of callout posts and related tools of ostracization. For every one legitimately, maliciously harmful person out there, there are a hundred more who are on the receiving end of this kind of treatment because they were an asshole to the wrong person, or because they caused a scene on a train car.

A self-righteous monster hunter is every bit as dangerous as the monsters they claim to hunt.

You gonna post a link or a wayback or a screenshot of ANY of these allegedly real allegations and responses or are you going to just keep beating around the bush and act like anyone who doesn't immediately take you at face value is clearly just as bad as the person you're trying to smear? Once more, with feeling:

Also don't take that smug smiley-face passive aggressive tone with me. I know you're like two seconds away from putting words in my mouth and claiming I'm "defending a groomer" or some shit. I know how you dipshits operate.

That being said, EVEN IF ANY OF THESE ALLEGATIONS (which you have yet to provide a source for) WERE TRUE, there's a way to present them to the general public that will not stir up anti-trans sentiment and the majority of these harassment blogs "calling out" people like PT are not doing that.

THAT is the core complaint here.

Much like the anon before (or maybe you're all the same person, fuck if I know), the blame and focus is not being put on the person, in this case PT, for (again, ALLEGED until proven) predatory actions, but instead on her gender identity and kinks.

And the reason this is a problem - taking the general reasons why callouts and targeted harassment don't work out of the equation - is because it shows an obvious disingenuous intent, not to warn and/or remove the potential predator from a community, but instead to smear a vulnerable demographic and/or kink community you don't like as being *inherently* predatory, because of *course* they would harbor someone who is a predator.

Do you understand now, why this is such a fucking annoying problem? Do you understand why I hate the fact that I'm even having this conversation? I don't even like PT. I for one hope she stays gone until she gets the procedure to remove her head from her ass.

Like can you imagine spending hours in one day focusing entirely on your hatred for a specific person or group of people? That sounds fucking exhausting. I don’t even have the energy to work spend all day hating systemic problems like queerphobia and ableism… or people in power like Trump or Musk or McConnell (may his retirement be hell)!