A Rant About Wander

We all know how obsessed/crazy Wander can get if he's not able to help people. It's how he acts in "The Sick Day," but also "The Helper," where we see a glimpse of Wander's heroic, black-and-white personality; the person he is without his core self:

For the first time, we see Wander look at Hater as a bad guy he has to "stop" and he can't believe that, behind all his evil deeds, he's a normal guy just trying to pick up his lunch. A similiar moment happens in "The Wanders," where Wander sees Hater as a heartless evil-doer and says: "I am a good guy, and he is a bad guy, and I stop him!" he's like Brad Starlight It's clear tunnel vision

When Sylvia tells Wander how it's good that people don't need his help all the time, he's curious as to why. Wander's so used to being the nice guy that he wonders why it's a bad thing that he's one to such an obsessive degree.

It's not just that he enjoys helping others or that he empathizes deeply with everyone due to his (unexplored) past; Wander also wants to feel worthy/good about himself. Look at this line from "The Big Job":

Wander feels WORTHLESS when he messes up, he feels worthless when he's not doing anything for other people. His desire to help stems not only from past pain but also feelings of not being good enough and he buries them deep deep DEEP down

As humble as Wander is, he enjoys being seen as a legendary hero because it makes him feel important. See how excited he gets here?

Hero Wander is even a part of him, as we see in "The Wanders"; there's no way he doesn't have savior complex/hero syndrome:

Wander never denies being 'the legend.' On the contrary, as soon as Hank starts describing "The Hero," he figures out he's talking about him and says "Oh, really?" like he's reveling in that fact:

He just goes with the kids' portrayals of him even though they aren't accurate. And he knows. He KNOWS that the Yonder galaxy thinks of both himself and Sylvia as heroes:

"The Family Reunion" shows exactly how well-known Syl and Wan are:

There's also this deleted scene from "The Hole... Lotta Nuthin'" where Wander pretty much reveals that he KNOWS he's very well-known and is being just a tiiiiiiny bit arrogant about it:

When Wander doesn't feel worthless, he acknowledges/ doesn't deny/enjoys being seen as a hero, but when he's down in the dumps, he'll straight up say he's not one, which is what he said in "The Big Job"

Then there's this moment in "The Good Deed" where he's being a show-off:

Wander not only has flaws, but he's actually no stranger to negative emotions either.

In "The Good Deed," he gives in to nihilism:

Wander was ready to drown himself in mud because he thought doing good was pointless in the end, that things will turn bad anyway no matter what he does. I never saw anyone talk about what this scene implies, but it's both really dark and really heartbreaking. WoY actually tackled it with care and a good moral about life, though

He's heartbroken when he thinks his good intentions didn't amount to anything ("The Gift 2: The Giftening"):

He feels hopeless after repeated failure and needs Sylvia to lift his spirits ("The Liar"):

In "The Show Stopper," he's so focused on getting Dominator to notice Hater's concert that he completely forgets to rescue the bunny folk (he probably came back for them later, but the thing about Wander is that when he's hyperfocused on a specific thing or goal, he's HYPERFOCUSED).

In "The Battle Royale," he gets so caught up in getting Hater and Dominator together that he accidentally creates an entire warzone, gets McGuffin fried, and becomes (temporarily) discouraged after he thinks he failed to set the two up (and soften Hater's heart):

And yet, no matter what happens, he always bounces back ("The Flower" shows this best), either with Sylvia's help, or on his own. Season three would have challenged him, though:

In "The Void," Wander is selfish and controlling and only thinks about what he wants to do, and what's interesting is how that was metaphorically shown by having him control Sylvia like she's a puppet:

This episode suggests that a part of Wander, at least subconsciously, sometimes wants control over Sylvia (best seen in "The Tourist," where he constantly neglects her need for rest so he could compete with Trudi). This ties in with another thing I want to talk about, and that's how there's a clue in "The Rider" that Wander didn't have a deep one-on-one friendship with anyone before he befriended Sylvia (even if he had other travel partners). He literally had to consult Frederick about how to handle the falling out between them:

Wander always had acquaintances, strangers he helped, and villains he reformed around him; he probably dated many people, too. But he never bonded with someone who genuinely liked being around him, who cared about his safety and well-being and who'd always have his back. He and Syl are found family siblings to me He's so used to either being by himself and doing whatever he wants or only making casual connections; it's understandable why he'd struggle with thinking about others' feelings at times. Yeah, Wander takes care of people in a practical sense, but intimate relationships where he sometimes has to sacrifice his autonomy are still new to him.

Tl;dr Wander looks silly and shallow but he's such a flawed, deep character when you peel back the layers.

WOY- Short Story

Lets take a moment to imagine this:

Peepers walks up to some printers in a white room. Two Watchdogs are whistling with hands behind their back. As Peepers walks past them with papers in his hands, they bolt out the door. Peepers reaches the printers, and to his surprise, all the printers are broken, and there is black ink everywhere. Peepers gets angry and mumbles to himself. He walks out the door and into a different room, only to be met with another broken printer. Again, he gets angry, storming out. This happens several times, Peepers only getting more and more frustrated. (You know, the little squeak he does when that happens). Finally, he knocks on Hater’s door.

Hater: No, go away.

Peepers: It’s Peepers.

Hater *groans*: What do you want?

Peepers *walking in*: Sir, all the printers are broken, and these papers are really important, they must be printed.

Hater *looking slightly sheepish*: Oh. Yeah. I-I tried making some cool posters, but the stupid things wouldn’t work.

Peepers: Sir! And you tried on every printer?!

Hater: Uh, yeah?

Peepers sighs: I guess we’re going to have to go to the copy store.

Hater: WE’RE?! I DON’T HAVE TO GO! WHY DON’T YOU GO BY YOURSELF!?!

Peepers: Because I didn’t break all the printers, did I?

Hater: But I don’t wanna go!

Peepers: Come on, sir. They do say copy stores are fun.

Hater: Who says that?

Peepers *shrugs*: Everyone.

Two Watchdogs walk past the doorway talking to each other.

Watchdog 1: Dude, I’ve heard the copier store is the best.

Watchdog 2: Yeah, I’ve heard so too. You know, I wish I could go there someday.

Watchdog 1: Yup, same here.

Their voices fade out as they continue walking down the hallway.

Hater *grunts* : Ugh, fine.

Peepers *hand Hater dollar bills*: I need you to hold these for me. Remember, once we get off the ship, we can’t come back to the ship because I ordered the Watchdogs to go get fuel before they pick us up, okay?

Hater *looks up*: Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.

When the ship drops them off:

Peepers: Okay sir, where’s the money?

Hater: M-money?

Peepers: Yes sir, the money I gave you in order to buy the copies.

Hater: Oh. T-that money.

Peepers: Yes, sir. Where is it?

Hater: Umm… On my bed.

Peepers: S-sir! We needed that! I told you we couldn’t go back because the Skullship needs fuel! Now what are going to do?!

Hater puts a finger on his chin and thinks. Finally, he removes it and smirks.

Hater *smirking*: I think I know this planet.

Peepers *looks up*: You do?

Hater: Yeah, and I remember there was a way of getting things for free.

Peepers: Really?!

Hater: Oh, definitely.

Hater bends down and whispers in Peepers ear [(?) side of head?]. Peepers looks shocked and slightly angry.

Peepers: No! There is no way I’m doing that! EVER!

Hater *points at Peepers threateningly with lightning*: That’s an order, Commander Peepers!

Peepers *sighs*: Y-yes sir. But are you certain there is no other way to do this?

Hater *rubbing hands together*: Oh, I’m certain, alright.

Inside the copier store:

Peepers walks down the aisle. Hater stands in the back, snickering with his hands near his face. Peepers turns to look at Hater. Hater looks upwards, arm swinging to the sides. He looks at Peepers and gives him two thumbs up. Peepers sighs before looking forward again. Hater goes back to snickering.

Peepers *doing full-blast puppy-dog eye (not eyes)*: Can you please print me 100 copies of this?

Peepers hands over the papers.

Cashier Guy: Sure thing there, buddy.

A Few Minutes Later…

Cashier Guy: Here ya go. *hands over papers and copies*. Have a nice day.

Peepers *doing puppy-dog eye*: Thank you so much. Have a nice day!

Note: Hater was snickering into his hands the whole time.

Peepers walks out the door. Hater follows him. It was getting dark, the sun was setting. Outside, Hater bursts out laughing.

Hater *laughing a lot*: Y-you! Haha! You-you actually did it! Haha! Noo! Haha! And it actually worked! Hahaha!

Peepers *slightly shocked before he gets annoyed*: Y-you mean you- *sighs* Of course you did. Let us NEVER speak of this again!

Hater *calming down*: Haha. Sure thing, C.Peeps. This will be our own little joke. I couldn’t have anybody else in on it… But I never will forget about it.

Peepers *rolling his eye*: Of course you won’t.

They both walk into the arriving Skullship, and it takes off. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet…

Sylvia *looking at Peepers on her phone*: Oh! Haha! This will be the end of him! I’m NEVER letting him forget about this! Hahaha!

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shv2

1 year ago

Meta employees publish an open letter to management (see below) to show how meta has promoted the genocide. This is how the suppression happens

🧵

— Paul Biggar 🇵🇸🇮🇪 (@paulbiggar) May 7, 2024

Metamates For Ceasefire

Dear Mark Zuckerberg and Leadership, This letter is a follow-up to the letter that was circulated internally on Dec 19, 2023 and deleted and dismissed due to our Community Engagement Expectations (CEE) on what can be discussed internally. Hence, we are sharing our concerns externally. We, Meta employees, wish to express our disappointment and astonishment at the lack of acknowledgement and care the leaders of this company have shown toward the Palestinian community and its allies. In private conversations, we hear from our Palestinian colleagues about family members they have lost in Gaza and family they are working tirelessly to find safety for. However, any open support for our Palestinian colleagues or the millions facing a humanitarian crisis in Palestine is met with internal censorship of employee concerns, biased leadership statements showing one-sided support, and external censorship that is raising public alarm and distrust of our platforms. Internally, we have called out the months of silencing within our workplace forums. While we loudly display “Your voice is valued”, CEE is used as a guise to delete dissenting opinions and silence employees that may simply be seeking solace from their coworkers or raising awareness about building safer products. While in other companies, employees within Employee Resource Groups (ERG) are allowed to connect and speak freely with each other, ERG’s such as Muslims@ and Palestinians@ have faced so much censorship that an employee proposed just deleting the ERG altogether instead of giving the illusion that we can freely build community at Meta. CEE claims to reduce disruptions in our workplace, yet censorship from CEE has caused many of us at Meta to feel disrupted, unheard, and unsafe to the point that several of our Metamates have decided to resign. In the words of our former colleague, any mention of Palestine is taken down - Even when the post was from a colleague expressing their grief. Even when the post was to celebrate the UN International day of support to the Palestinian people. Even when the post is a link to a fundraiser to help the Gazans. Even when asking questions about product bugs that affect Palestinian voices.

One of the original core values of Facebook was to “Be Open” and our current values claim that “We create a culture where we are straightforward and willing to have hard conversations with each other.” Employees have always been first responders to surface issues raised externally to those internally with the power and knowledge to fix them. However when over 450 colleagues came together to sign a letter similar to this one in December, CEE was used to delete the letter and restrict one of the writers from their work devices for over two months while the workplace, product, and policy concerns brought forth were completely ignored. Employees have attempted to raise product concerns related to the conflict only to have their posts and comments censored or dismissed throughout internal channels. Most recently, questions about investigative reports indicating the possibility of governments, ISPs, and coordinated bad actors using Whatsapp data for military targeting have been met with dismissive and insufficient responses or outright deleted throughout internal forums. Meta leaders have posted numerous strong statements of support for our Israeli colleagues along with condemnation of the attack on Israel on October 7th that took the lives of ~1,200 civilians, both on internal and external platforms. Mark stated on his public Facebook - “The terrorist attacks by Hamas are pure evil. There is never any justification for carrying out acts of terrorism against innocent people. The widespread suffering that has resulted is devastating. My focus remains on the safety of our employees and their families in Israel and the region.”

However, bias and inequity is painfully apparent when those same leaders do not similarly share support for our Palestinian colleagues and allies nor condemnation of the attacks on Palestine, which have now taken ~35,000 civilian lives and created a humanitarian crisis of displacement and starvation for ~2 million Palestinians. This has created a hostile and unsafe work environment for hundreds of our Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, anti-Zionist Jew, and anti-genocide colleagues at the company, who have felt consistently alienated and uncomfortable at work. Many have tried to articulate this through posts on Workplace only to be censored, rebuffed, and/or penalized. Feedback shared directly with leadership on Workplace Chat has been met with dismissiveness. Bias and inequity for the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Gaza is also apparent when compared to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which there was an outpouring of leadership support on all fronts, including additional resourcing and investment through various social impact initiatives. The lights in the Dublin office were even painted with the colors of the Ukraine flag. Leadership must do better to achieve true equity and inclusion. Externally, when it comes to Palestine, the dismissive tone and lack of investment by Meta is not new and the company has consistently failed to thoroughly take action on years of evidence of suppression of Palestinian voices on our platforms worldwide. In 2024 the company is still slowly addressing the findings of an independent audit influenced by Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) 2021 letter to Meta on the Palestinian conflict 3 years ago. In the wake of October 7th, Meta has ignored reasonable requests for transparency on our content policies from Senator Elizabeth Warren and other lawmakers around the globe. Numerous civil rights organizations, some of whom are Meta partners, have been met with dismissal on the censorship concerns brought forth - leading to external petitions such as one against Meta’s proposed policy of treating “Zionist” as a proxy for "Jewish”, which collected over 52,000 signatures. While Meta denies any Palestinian censorship or bias to the public, internally groups of employee volunteers have found numerous product and policy issues with disparate impacts to Palestinian, Muslim, and Arab communities since October 7th. The few improvements that have been made were achieved only by appealing to isolated product teams, with minimal senior leadership support or resources. Furthermore, in the wake of global criticism of censorship and moderation, leading into the biggest year for democracy in history, Meta has updated its policy to no longer recommend ‘political content’ by default across Instagram and Threads without clear guidelines of how this would impact content originating from global conflict zones. Meta has continued to fail the Palestinian community through its policies and lack of investment.

“Meta.Metamate.Me.” We believe we are all Meta and are committed to respectfully working together to address the issues internally and externally, while holding firmly to the demands we have been echoing for months: We demand an end to censorship - stop deleting employee’s words internally in order to foster an inclusive environment where all communities feel seen, heard, and safe We demand acknowledgment - share internal acknowledgments of support for Palestinian colleagues and acknowledge the lives lost in the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza to recognize our shared humanity We demand transparency and accountability - allocate dedicated resources to investigate issues of censorship and biases on our platforms and openly disclose findings to build trust among employees and the public We implore you to end the silence - issue a public statement urging for an immediate, permanent ceasefire in Gaza As tech workers, we have a tremendous privilege to work on products that serve the world, and with that comes tremendous responsibility. We have been proud to work at Meta – and want to continue believing in its mission to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together.

If you're a current or former Meta worker please sign the letter here