Okay, so let me expound on why the rabid Fathering Autism viewers, colloquially known here on Tattle as humpers or leghumpers, are the way they are.
In the last thread, I briefly talked about how they’re not blind, they’re not all intellectually disabled or “slow,” how they’re simply human doing human things.
I’ve talked quite a bit in previous threads about similarities between traditional cults and the way fans of some online influencers act in a cultlike manner
(and, for newcomers, my education and my real-life job centers on studying, monitoring, and writing about the ways people are manipulated via new media - online propaganda, in short)
and while there’s a ton to say about how humpers got to this point, I haven’t talked much about why they continue humping.
As I said previously, these humpers have invested significant time and emotional energy in the Maass family. They’ve almost certainly talked or posted about them to their family, friends, and/or online social media. They comment prolifically, often under their real names & real photos. Many have invested actual money - buying merch, subbing to the Patreon, gifts to the PO Box, Slimelife purchases, etc - as part of their membership in the Maass Squad tribe. Being a fan of this family is a part of their identity.
With so much invested, they unconsciously choose to disregard information that don’t align with the imaginary construct they’ve hitched themselves to. It’s a thing the human mind does. We’re all susceptible to it, and we all do it to some degree.
It’s painful and traumatizing to have to face the truth when a portion of a person’s very concept of self is based on lies or a false reality. Trust me, I’ve done it!!
Take, for example, something like flat earthers or people who believe JFK is still alive.
From the outside looking in, we’re like - holy shit, obviously the earth is round! There are dozens of ways to easily prove that it’s round! You could physically show a flat earther the curvature of the earth from a high altitude and that should clear it up, right?
Or obviously JFK isn’t still alive. He’s not going to show up at Applebees or in Dallas or anywhere else. Surely those people camping out waiting for him to show up will see the date come and go and they’ll realize they were wrong, won’t they?
….but, nope. Doesn’t work like that.
Some folks peel off. We still get people joining Tattle who are peeling off from the Abbie hysteria after years. But not everyone - in fact, a shockingly large number of people continue believing the earth is flat or that JFK is alive even in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary and significant social pressure from both strangers and those close to them. In fact, now they’re even more certain of the firmament or that Abbie’s a typical teen who will pack her lunch and drive the golf cart to work.
They’ve got too much of their identity tied to that belief. They’ve publicly espoused these beliefs, they speak with large, enthusiastic groups of likeminded people who reinforce these beliefs, they’ve made sacrifices in the name of these beliefs.
Whether it’s the FA patreon member who shares every Facebook post the Maasses make, or the homely woman in Priscilla’s downline who’s selling plasma to pay bills because that Slimelife success is just around the corner and she’ll show all her friends who told her not to join an MLM how wrong they are, or the elderly grandma who disowned her family and sold her paid-off home to go to Dallas for JFK’s return - they’ve all made sacrifices for and tied their identity to falsifiable bullshit. Yes, even easily identifiable bullshit like Asa & Priscilla spew.
To acknowledge the bullshit is to throw away their sense of self, lose their “community” (be that flat earthers or Maass Squad or whatever) and sense of belonging, and, for many, have to face the social and emotional repercussions in their actual day to day community. They’ve wasted money, they’ve neglected other responsibilities in real life in favor of the bullshit, they’ve probably spoken about the Maasses or JFK to people they see regularly so they can’t just pretend it never happened and they’ll be socially embarrassed. In extremes, they have cast off real world friends and/or family who maybe watched some of the FA vlogs and pointed out “hey, aren’t they exploiting this kid?” or “hey, it doesn’t seem like she’ll ever be able to fix herself lunch.”
Also, it really, really fucking sucks to fall for lies and you feel dumb for believing something so stupid, and no one wants to feel dumb ever.
So rather than acknowledge the bullshit and all the pain that would cause,
the humpers and the flat earthers and all them just disregard factual evidence to the contrary and latch further on to the bullshit. They’ve sunk way too much into it, and eventually something will prove they were right all along and their investments will be vindicated. Any day now, right? She’ll make a sandwich and bike to the park. The EAS will go off real soon. Abraham Lincoln will rise from the dead and prove that the earth is flat.
It has to happen, right?
Amusingly enough, it’s a similar story for Asa & Priscilla.
They’ve invested so fucking much into their little empire - financially, emotionally, socially, physically - that they cannot walk away.
To paraphrase one of my favorite thinkers, they’ve gazed long into the abyss and now the abyss is gazing right back.
For the humpers, once things blow up they’ll have a relatively minor struggle, in the grand scheme of things, to come to terms with their emotional distress. It’ll pass. They’ll be fine.
But for the Maasses, for those who gaze too long into the abyss, the fallout is nuclear.
So don’t think the humpers are somehow of low IQ, or on drugs, or somehow different or
less than you, or me, or anyone. They’re just as human as us. We are all susceptible to this exact phenomenon.
Surgery was at 8:30 a.m. the 25th. Had a few surprises. I was having decompression and fusion on L2- L5, and the possibility of S1. As they began the laminectomy and entered/opened my spinal column they found a large synovial cyst that had been smashed/hidden under my collapsed vertebrae and discs, unseen on MRI's. So on top of the severe stenosis they had to remove the cyst as well. I ended up with such extreme swelling I could not move or feel my legs or anything below the waist. At all. I was terrified and cried all night Friday and into the early hours Saturday. On Saturday they began injecting high doses of Decadrom (steroid) by IV to get the swelling off the nerves. This began working slowly Saturday, and yesterday I could move my legs again and oh yeah- control my bladder too. But of course, I needed more drama, right? Well the side effect of the steroid was uncontrolled blood sugar. I am not diabetic. My highest glucose reading was 366. So I am still here to manage the blood sugar with insulin while slowly being weened off the steroid and getting on my feet. Today I successfully stood and walked (with a walker and therapist with me) to the restroom. I was supposed to be able to do that Friday evening, so Im days behind but feel so accomplished now! If things continue to improve I can probably go home Wednesday. Yesterday was the original discharge date, but thats ok. Im feeling so blessed. I truly, truly thought I was going to be paralyzed. 
Think about that for a second. Literal farm animals have smaller asses than she does. I 
Sorry, not sorry... but I very much dislike this woman.. very much. So honestly, I just don’t care that she gets made fun of for her weight. Wanna judge me by that? I’ll stand right up and say it again.. the Pig doesn’t deserve any sympathy..