Season 4: Sam Chooses Ruby over Dean, strangulates his own brother into submission, kills and drinks a nurse, breaks the last seal via killing Lilith. Releases Lucifer and starts the apocalypse. Because he thinks that only he can kill Lilith, save the world. Dean tries his best to stop Sam, but fails. (whats with getting choked to half-death by Sam and all that)
Season 5: Sam and Dean are held responsible for starting the apocalypse. Castiel says so, the angels say so, the show says so. Dean accepts that he is indeed responsible and gets to the clean-up work.
Season 10: Sam goes against Dean’s explicit orders and uses witchcraft with the help of Castiel and Rowena. Dean is unaware of Sam’s actions. Sam doesn’t call off his mission even after he learns about the true nature and purpose of the Mark of Cain, which results in the release of the primordial darkness.
Season 11: Sam and the narrative successfully, subtly shift the responsibility on Dean, and blame Dean for the bond he shares with the darkness. Dean, once again, accepts that he is responsible for releasing the darkness, despite his clear innocence in the matter.
Season 11:
Dean is kidnapped by the darkness and is unable to contact Sam. Sam goes to cage to visit Lucifer against Dean’s explicit wishes. Because he thinks that he is chosen by God to lock up the darkness. As a result, Lucifer escapes, possessing Castiel.
Season 12: Sam says that “they let Lucifer out” implying Dean’s involvement in what Sam and Cas did. Dean doesn’t contest the truth of this statement and accepts the responsibility for the consequences of Sam’s actions.
As you can see from the above list, this is not an one-off situation. This is a pattern. Sam fucks up, Dean is held responsible for the consequences of Sam’s actions, either overtly or covertly. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s blatant –but this blame shifting and gas-lighting definitely happens. Every single season. Also note how Sam’s actions are fueled by his hubris. Again and again, Sam discards Dean’s advice, thinks that he is chosen, thinks that he knows the best –and when Sam’s choices and actions lead to a disastrous outcome like releasing Lucifer or the darkness, when the clean up time comes –then, Sam and the narrative shift the responsibility on Dean.
The cycle continues.
(Reblogged by @juppschmitz)
It is so blatantly obvious. How can anyone fail to see this?
Oh, there are a lot of people who refuse to see whats glaringly obvious—either intentionally or unintentionally. People also do a lot of mental gymnastics to support what they believe, to validate their pov. Talk about Sam breaking the last seal, they will bring up Dean breaking the first seal and falsely equate Dean’s actions under torture with Sam’s choices. Talk about Sam strangulating Dean and they will reason that with Dean’s distrust in Sam. Talk about Sam abandoning Dean in Purgatory and they will answer with imaginary head-canons full of suffering Sam. Talk about Sam releasing the darkness and they will cite Dean taking the mark as the sole reason for all the evil. The list is endless.
Sometimes I wonder – are we Dean girls just as bad when we defend Dean, or are we ACTUALLY right? I know it’s easy to lose sight of what’s actually happening if you tend to keep to your own echo chamber, but I really do think our reasoning makes more sense than theirs.
But then, it would, to me, wouldn’t it?
I’ve found that a lot of these things– perceptions, interpretations whatever you call them–are relative and not absolute in nature. So yes, there is a real chance that we may fall in the same trap when we defend Dean, that is why I think its essential to read and understand other povs with an open mind. (yeah I know, easier said than done, tell me to read another destiel meta now)
But then again, some things aren’t entirely based on interpretations.
Some truths are “there” in canon, and they are enough to validate certain positions.
Dean having an abusive childhood is a truth –the degree and type of said abuse is based on your interpretation. Dean breaking the first seal not being same as Sam breaking the last seal is another example. You can’t equate them because torture takes all of the agency from a person. So I think we should be safe as long as we learn to separate between what’s there and what’s an personal interpretation or head-canon.
Also, apart from the common “We love Dean” factor, us Dean fans aren’t all made up of same material. We certainly have different, sometimes conflicting views regarding the show and Dean. So I don’t think that we constitute an echo chamber in the strictest sense of the word, because conflicting opinions still exist and get hotly debated. Also, since Dean fans tend to see Dean as an “flawed character”, they are also better equipped to accept his faults, and not, say blindly worship him. Which absolutely adds more to self-introspection.
Of course, this is again coming from a Dean!fan, so take it however you want 😀
spn, dean winchester, very true,
I think the fact that all of us can admit that Dean is a flawed character while at the same time expressing our love for him implies that we lack a level of cognitive dissonance and bias that other sections of the fandom have. I’m a perfect case and point of this. I have a habit of romanticizing/sanctifying Dean, but I also think that he is a flawed character who has made poor choices, something that Sam fans who hold similar views about Sam would never admit to and would call actual blasphemy if such ideas were expressed.
We don’t view Dean through absolutes or dogma. We’re allowed to have dissenting opinions about Dean and we will respectfully debate those opinions. We also aren’t afraid of facts. We’re always there with sources to back up our claims. We don’t conveniently forget whole seasons worth of characterization or paint Dean with broad brush strokes to ‘prove’ our points.
If we don’t have to construct a narrative for Dean that is based on fallacious arguments and omitting facts about his character, if our first instinct is to discuss rather than hurl rocks at a person who is countering our arguments, that implies that our arguments are based in some kind of objective truth.
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