[8FOLD/HCC] Journey Into #17 (HCC44)

[Tom Russell]

Excellent stuff, and a whole lot of fun!

On Saturday, May 10, 2014 11:31:06 AM UTC-4, Saxon Brenton wrote:

>      It also occurs to me that there might also be a only a fine sematic 
> 
> handwave between the 'there's no such things as mind control' that Tom 
> 
> has been using over in _Jolt City_ and the 'turning people evil' and 
> 
> body snatching used here.

We-ell... you have a point.

Body-snatching, as used here, and body-hijacking, as being used by FEVER in the pages of JOLT CITY, are identical in terms of results to "mind control", as the nominative owner of said body is not controlling what that body does. But that person isn't really there any more (in the case of the body-snatch) to be "controlled", or if they are (the FEVER hijacking), they're watching passively and unable to do anything about it because on a mechanical level their body is no longer responding to their brain. Which to me is deeply unsettling and violating.

Whereas with "true" mind control, the person has his memories and personality, and thus the illusion of free will and agency. Brainwashing, experimental brain surgery, that doesn't bug me, but the whole Mesmero/Puppet Master/Lorelei thing does. Which might be more unsettling and more a violation than the body-hijacking or -snatching, but there you go. (I think what also bugs me about it is its use as a trope to absolve characters of responsibility for their actions.)

So, like you said, a largely semantic difference. :-D