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	<title>Comments on: Debunking the Anti-Twilight Propoganda Part I</title>
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		<title>By: Victor Velazquez</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-4748</link>
		<dc:creator>Victor Velazquez</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:53:32 +0000</pubDate>
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		<description>It just amazes me how Edward can&#039;t be classified as an controlling 

boyfriend even though there are plenty of times in the text where it is 

SHOWN, not told where he is being a controlling jerk. Never is it SHOWN 

where he is being nice. It is only told to us. I&#039;ll give examples of him being a 

controlling boyfriend after I give a definition to the phrase. 

The Top Ten Sides of a Controlling Boyfriend

He&#039;s Always By Your Side

&#039;If you are in a relationship where it seems that you have no time to 

yourself, chances are you have a controlling boyfriend. He never wants 

you to go anywhere without him. There is no more “girls night out” for you 

and your friends, unless he is with you. Doesn’t sound like a good time.&quot;

While Edward does &#039;give&#039; Bella time to hang out with Angela and Jessica 

he shouldn&#039;t have to &#039;give&#039; her time to spend with her friends. He never lets 

her make her own decisions unless someone from his family prevents him 

from controlling her.

And whenever she is having &#039;fun&#039; with her friends he&#039;s always around the 

corner with his Volvo to save her from the &#039;dirty rapists&#039; who want to hurt 

her. (Chapter 8 of Twilight)

Now it takes Alice and Jasper to prevent him from controlling her opinion in 

the end of Twilight. It takes Emmet and Alice to prevent him from sucking 

her blood in the beginning of the book. It takes Rosalie to prevent him from 

forcefully giving her an abortion in Breaking Dawn. 

See something wrong with this trend?

You Do What He Likes

&quot;When you do go out, it is to an event that HE chooses. You may not feel 

like going to a movie, but it is what he wants to do, for example. Also, his 

turning down an offer to do what you would like is a key sign that he is not 

flexible. It often leaves the impression that he does not care about your 

interests. He may, or may not, but he is not supportive either way.&quot;

When Bella is in Port Angeles for the first time and he &#039;saves&#039; her he 

forces her to go to a restaurant even though she&#039;d been looking for a 

bookstore. This can pretty much sum up the whole conversation.

&quot;Drink,&quot; he ordered.

I sipped at my soda obediently

She always does what he wants her to do. Forging her signature to go to 

Dartmouth, the Prom, the Wedding. These are things that she didn&#039;t want 

but he forced them upon her. Even if it is logical to want some of these 

things it doesn&#039;t excuse the fact that he forced them onto her. If a child 

agreed to being abused does that make it right for the abuser to abuse 

them? No.

You Do Things For Him

“Honey, go pick up some soda for me.” sounds like a genuine request for 

assistance. If your boyfriend is constantly asking you to run errands, 

without including you as the benefactor, this is another sign of the need to 

feel in control. Instead of “…pick up some soda for me.”, the request 

should be, “We’re out of soda. Can you go pick some up, please?”. Can 

you see the difference? WE are in need of soda, simply.&quot;

Very honestly I see nothing that he gives Bella in return for &#039;all the things&#039; 

she does for him. Her life would have been much easier without him 

returing again and again to give her another dose of the dazzle. 

No Manners

&quot;In the previous example, the “please” was left out intentionally. Your 

boyfriend will not be polite. He will not say “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, 

“please” or even “excuse me” to you. It is because he is expecting you to 

comply with his requests. He also feels as if you should be thanking him 

for allowing you to do things for him.&quot;

Whenever Edward does say please it&#039;s not polite. He doesn&#039;t have 

manners. He&#039;s not a gentleman. Honestly what sort of gentleman does this 

to a lady?

&quot;His long hands unexpectedly gripped my waist, and his foot pushed mine 

off the gas pedal. He pulled me across his lap, wrenching my hands free 

of the wheel, and suddenly he was in the driver&#039;s seat. The truck
didn&#039;t swerve an inch.&quot;

&quot;We were near the parking lot now. I veered left, toward my truck. 

Something caught my jacket, yankingme back.

&quot;Where do you think you&#039;re going?&quot; he asked, outraged. He was gripping a 

fistful of my jacket in one hand.

I was confused. &quot;I&#039;m going home.&quot;

&quot;Didn&#039;t you hear me promise to take you safely home? Do you think I&#039;m 

going to let you drive in your condition?&quot; His voice was still indignant.

&quot;What condition? And what about my truck?&quot; I complained.

&quot;I&#039;ll have Alice drop it off after school.&quot; He was towing me toward his car 

now, pulling me by my jacket.It was all I could do to keep from falling 

backward. He&#039;d probably just drag me along anyway if I did.

&quot;Let go!&quot; I insisted. He ignored me. I staggered along sideways across the 

wet sidewalk until we reached the Volvo. Then he finally freed me — I 

stumbled against the passenger door.&quot;

I hope I&#039;m not the only one seeing things wrong with this situation.


Questions, Questions

&quot;When you can finally break through the chains, and find some free time 

for yourself, be prepared:  your controlling boyfriend will interrogate you 

when you return. Putting himself in a “father figure” position will install 

more of a sense of control. Treating you like a child that went to the mall, 

prior to doing her homework, is the kind of humiliation in you he is trying to 

achieve.&quot;
 
Does anything need to be said about Edward&#039;s condescending attitude to 

her all of the time? And the countless probe sessions that he puts her 

through because he is unable to read her mind. 

No Questions, No Answers

&quot;Unlike the aforementioned subject, your boyfriend will come and go as he 

pleases, without answering to anyone – especially to you. If you try to 

question his whereabouts or activities, he will become defensive. The 

subject will immediately transfer from your asking, “where were you?” to 

his comeback remark about how you nag him too much, or something 

similar to that effect. He will ignore answering the question, and make you 

feel guilty for asking it. This is in hope that you will not do it again.&quot;

Edward is always denying her answers or asking a question in return to 

her questions. He fits the description quite accurately.

He’s Always Right

&quot;In an argument with a controlling personality, it is very difficult for him to 

accept defeat. The controlling boyfriend will get more defensive, change 

the subject, or bring up a past occurrence, when he was, indeed, correct, 

in order to prove his point with the issue at hand. He may not always be 

right, completely, but he is never wrong.&quot;

YES! Edward is always right no matter what in all of him and Bella&#039;s 

&#039;disagreements&#039;. She always bends to his will like a rubber band.

Can’t Buy Me Love

&quot;Fools gold has been around for centuries. However, a fool AND his gold 

have special meaning to the controlling boyfriend. He will buy you nice 

jewelry, take you to expensive restaurants and maybe even offer to pay a 

debt of yours. He will say it is because he loves you. Not true. He needs to 

feel superior to you. You now owe him, in his mind. Who is the fool? To 

him, you are.&quot;

YES! YES! AND YES! Edward is always buying her expensive gifts and 

giving her needless expensive things that won&#039;t do her any good. She 

hates having money squandered on her yet he does it anyway and allows 

his family to do so not realizing that it adds to her inferiority complex. 

You’re Worthless

&quot;Belittling your self-confidence can be have very serious consequences. 

Making you feel as if you are worthless without him, the controlling 

boyfriend will prey on times that you may be stressed the most. If you 

have just lost a job, or if you are experiencing normal hormonal reactions, 

this is the time he will strike. He wants you to feel as if life is not worth 

living without him. It’s hard to believe, but his confidence level is actually 

lower than yours.&quot;

Bingo. Do I even need to give an example of all the times Edward says that 

he can kill her with his big toe? This is not neccesary. It is also wrong for 

him to tell her to stay away from him and then say that he&#039;ll see her later in 

class. What sort of thing is that to say to someone?

No Means No

&quot;This is the most upsetting trait that a controlling boyfriend can display. If 

he forces you to do things, against your will, he is not in love with you. 

Whether it is going to a baseball game, when you hate outdoor stadiums, 

or, even more harsh an act, makes you perform sexually against your will, 

he is NOT in love with you. Not showing you the courtesy to respect your 

wishes is not a behavior that goes away. This will continue as an abusive 

relationship, where you will be treated as an object, instead of a person.&quot;

Bullseye! This is the trait that Edward displays the most. Whether it&#039;s 

forbidding her to see her friends by taking the motor out of her truck or 

forcing her to eat when she insists that she isn&#039;t hungry. This is controlling 

behavior and does not need to continue.

1.Attached At The Hip – many controlling boyfriends behaviour is sparked 

by their inability to trust. Someone who has to control another always 

needs to be around to watch what they are doing and to ensure that their 

partner is only having a “good time” when he is around. If you are in a 

relationship with someone who insists on always being there and not 

allowing you any time to yourself, then you are a victim of a controlling 

boyfriend.

2.On His Terms – if your boyfriend is always making plans without 

including you in the decision making process, then this is a major sign that 

he has controlling habits. If he is constantly turning down invites and 

opportunities to attend events that you have interest in and you always 

seem to be attending events he has interest in, then chances are you have 

a controlling boyfriend.


3.Interrogation – a controlling boyfriend is a great fan of interrogation. If 

you do find a moment to yourself, spend some time with the girls or arrive 

home a little later than expected, prepare to be asked a lot of questions as 

to where you were, who you were talking to and why you took so much 

longer than the average person would. Be careful of being in this type of 

relationship which usually makes you feel humiliated and as if you are in 

fact in the wrong.

4.Always Right – regardless of the situation or argument, the controlling 

boyfriend will never admit to being wrong. This is often also linked to 

breaking the partner down by making them believe that they are always 

wrong or doing something wrong. When in this type of relationship, the 

controlling boyfriend will swiftly change the subject to all the things you 

may do wrong or have done wrong in the past.

5.Confidence Battering – the controlling boyfriend will be well aware of 

when you are feeling stressed and a little down. He will use this as an 

opportunity to “save the day” or sometimes even ridicule you or make you 

feel silly for even believing you could do something successfully on your 

own. This can range from social situations to work decisions that you may 

have made. Breaking down ones confidence can have serious and long 

lasting effects.

6.Snooping – a controlling boyfriend is usually a professional snoop. He 

can often be found looking through your emails, sneaking a few peaks at 

your cell phone messages and even reading your mail. This type of 

behaviour in a relationship shows his need to control and always be in the 

know, along with a lack of trust.

7.Isolation - when you find yourself in a relationship with a controlling 

boyfriend, you will find that he will try and isolate you from your family and 

friends. This will start usually with general disinterest in them to obvious 

dislike and will sometimes even try to convince you that they do not love 

you or care for you and are possibly even out to get you.

Those are even more signs for you to decode and bash.

It such come as a red flag for you when Edwards name flashes across 

the screen whenever you type the phrase &#039;controlling boyfriend&#039; into 

google. 

There is nothing loving about his behavior.

While many say that it&#039;s ok because it&#039;s his first relationship and he doesn&#039;t 

know how to react that still doesn&#039;t make it ok.

Are all boys controlling in their first relationships? No.

Harry Potter was not abusive to Cho Chang. In fact it could be considered 

the exact opposite.

Bella has battered woman syndrome and there is no way to say 

otherwise.

Let&#039;s see some symptoms of an abused woman shall we?

&quot;DENIAL
	
The woman refuses to admit--even to herself--that she has been beaten 

or that there is a &quot;problem&quot; in her marriage. She may call each incident an 

&quot;accident&quot;. She offers excuses for her husband&#039;s violence and each time 

firmly believes it will never happen again.

GUILT
	
She now acknowledges there is a problem, but considers herself 

responsible for it. She &quot;deserves&quot; to be beaten, she feels, because she 

has defects in her character and is not living up to her husband&#039;s 

expectations.

ENLIGHTENMENT
 
The woman no longer assumes responsibility for her husband&#039;s abusive 

treatment, recognizing that no one &quot;deserves&quot; to be beaten. She is still 

committed to her marriage, though, and stays with her husband, hoping 

they can work things out.

RESPONSIBILITY
	
Accepting the fact that her husband will not, or can not, stop his violent 

behavior, the battered woman decides she will no longer submit to it and 

starts a new life.&quot;

There&#039;s one problem with this though. Bella hasn&#039;t moved on to the third 

stage. And she never will.

Here on some warning signs that Charlie and any other responsible adult 

should have picked up in their relationship ages before they got married.

&quot;The abused woman:

* shows guilt, ambivalence, and fear over living conditions.
* feels isolated and untrusting of others, even though she may be involved 

in the community.
* is emotionally and economically dependent.
* has a poor self-concept (this may not have been true BEFORE the 

relationship).
* has observed other women in her family being abused or may have been 

abused as a child.
* feels angry, embarrassed, and ashamed.
* is fearful of being insane.
* has learned to feel helpless and feels powerless.
* has unexplained injuries that may go untreated.

The abusive man:

* shows extreme jealousy and wants to keep the woman isolated.
* has an inability to cope with stress and shows a lack of impulse control. 

(This may not necessarily appear outside the home)
* shows severe mood swings.
* may have a history of abuse in his own family and may have been 

abusive in courtship.
* presents a history of personal and/or family discord; unemployment, 

cruelty to animals, abuse of alcohol or other substances, and other 

unexplained behavior.&quot;

Edward might not be abusive, but if he wasn&#039;t sure that he&#039;d kill her by 

smacking her around I&#039;m sure he would be. In all actuality he does cause 

her phyiscal harm on more than one occasion.

Was it neccasary to throw her out of the way before lunging onto Jasper?

Was it necessary to drag her around by her coat into his Volvo?

I won&#039;t even mention Breaking Dawn.

 12 Ways To Tell Whether Your Partner
May Turn Into An Abuser

   1. Heavy drinking or drug abuse (especially if he uses substances as an 

excuse for what he does: &quot;The alcohol made me do it.&quot;)

   2. Abuse during the courtship period is a guarantee of further abuse that 

will become more frequent and severe. Don&#039;t marry him with the belief that 

&quot;I can change him.&quot; You won&#039;t.

   3. Morbid jealousy. This may be a bit flattering at first, but will be a curse 

later on. You will never convince him that you are innocent of his 

accusations.

   4. Past child abuse and/or witness of marital violence. This happens in 

some cases. Children learn what they live. Boys tend to copy their fathers. 

Abused children discipline their own children as they were taught. He may 

be a &quot;violence carrier&quot;.

   5. Inability to handle frustration. If he blows up and explodes at small 

things, and reacts with a tantrum over minor things, he may act out 

frustration with violence in a marriage. How he deals with anger is the 

key.

   6. A violent temper. This speaks for itself. If you feel fear when he acts 

out his anger, that fear is a warning signal. Listen to it!
   7. Cruelty to animals, abuse and mistreatment of pets, great enjoyment of 

hunting for the sake of killing animals could help you to face this question: 

What makes you know he will treat you any differently?

   8. Preoccupation with weapons. They are an extension of self. A 

person is what she/he lives. If he ever &quot;playfully&quot; points a gun at you or 

ever gestures at you with another weapon, what could happen if he 

became very angry with you?

   9. Mental illness. A person with an unsound mind or without any sense 

of moral responsibility or guilt may not be in control of his actions. Does he 

act in ways that you feel are abnormal or strange?

  10. A poor self-image; insecurity about his own masculinity. If he feels 

compulsive about always being &quot;one up&quot; and dominating and he lives out a 

macho role at all times, you will be subject to his control and possibly 

treated like one of his possessions. He may feel he has the right to treat 

you like his property, to do as he pleases.

  11. A pattern of blaming others, particularly his wife, for his problems. If 

he never accepts his faults and responsibilities when things go wrong, be 

ready to be blamed for everything.

  12. Acceptance of violence as an appropriate problem-solving method. 

Do you want a man who talks out or acts out his anger?

Edward fits more than 6 of these characteristics. Is that the sign of the 

perfect boyfriend involved in a healthy relationship? No.

I understand that your a brunette and can picture yourself as Bella 

because others have &#039;known what&#039;s best for you&#039;.

But please don&#039;t say that Edward is nice, even when he&#039;s not, and that he 

is a good boyfriend. He is a controlling boyfriend and these need to be 

identified so that Generation Y doesn&#039;t end up screwed up by these 

books. As much as many people like to disagree, Fiction Influences Most 

Teenagers Lives. 

And by saying that a controlling, potentially abusive, boyfriend is a good 

thing for a teenage girl you are setting many bad examples for teens.

As for your mother the psychologist that supposedly anayzed Bella and 

Edward&#039;s relationship, maybe you need to check her degree because if 

she is indeed a good phsychologist why do you claim to have been a 

recluse in your youth?

Just because Bella accepts it, that doesn&#039;t make it right!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It just amazes me how Edward can&#8217;t be classified as an controlling </p>
<p>boyfriend even though there are plenty of times in the text where it is </p>
<p>SHOWN, not told where he is being a controlling jerk. Never is it SHOWN </p>
<p>where he is being nice. It is only told to us. I&#8217;ll give examples of him being a </p>
<p>controlling boyfriend after I give a definition to the phrase. </p>
<p>The Top Ten Sides of a Controlling Boyfriend</p>
<p>He&#8217;s Always By Your Side</p>
<p>&#8216;If you are in a relationship where it seems that you have no time to </p>
<p>yourself, chances are you have a controlling boyfriend. He never wants </p>
<p>you to go anywhere without him. There is no more “girls night out” for you </p>
<p>and your friends, unless he is with you. Doesn’t sound like a good time.&#8221;</p>
<p>While Edward does &#8216;give&#8217; Bella time to hang out with Angela and Jessica </p>
<p>he shouldn&#8217;t have to &#8216;give&#8217; her time to spend with her friends. He never lets </p>
<p>her make her own decisions unless someone from his family prevents him </p>
<p>from controlling her.</p>
<p>And whenever she is having &#8216;fun&#8217; with her friends he&#8217;s always around the </p>
<p>corner with his Volvo to save her from the &#8216;dirty rapists&#8217; who want to hurt </p>
<p>her. (Chapter 8 of Twilight)</p>
<p>Now it takes Alice and Jasper to prevent him from controlling her opinion in </p>
<p>the end of Twilight. It takes Emmet and Alice to prevent him from sucking </p>
<p>her blood in the beginning of the book. It takes Rosalie to prevent him from </p>
<p>forcefully giving her an abortion in Breaking Dawn. </p>
<p>See something wrong with this trend?</p>
<p>You Do What He Likes</p>
<p>&#8220;When you do go out, it is to an event that HE chooses. You may not feel </p>
<p>like going to a movie, but it is what he wants to do, for example. Also, his </p>
<p>turning down an offer to do what you would like is a key sign that he is not </p>
<p>flexible. It often leaves the impression that he does not care about your </p>
<p>interests. He may, or may not, but he is not supportive either way.&#8221;</p>
<p>When Bella is in Port Angeles for the first time and he &#8217;saves&#8217; her he </p>
<p>forces her to go to a restaurant even though she&#8217;d been looking for a </p>
<p>bookstore. This can pretty much sum up the whole conversation.</p>
<p>&#8220;Drink,&#8221; he ordered.</p>
<p>I sipped at my soda obediently</p>
<p>She always does what he wants her to do. Forging her signature to go to </p>
<p>Dartmouth, the Prom, the Wedding. These are things that she didn&#8217;t want </p>
<p>but he forced them upon her. Even if it is logical to want some of these </p>
<p>things it doesn&#8217;t excuse the fact that he forced them onto her. If a child </p>
<p>agreed to being abused does that make it right for the abuser to abuse </p>
<p>them? No.</p>
<p>You Do Things For Him</p>
<p>“Honey, go pick up some soda for me.” sounds like a genuine request for </p>
<p>assistance. If your boyfriend is constantly asking you to run errands, </p>
<p>without including you as the benefactor, this is another sign of the need to </p>
<p>feel in control. Instead of “…pick up some soda for me.”, the request </p>
<p>should be, “We’re out of soda. Can you go pick some up, please?”. Can </p>
<p>you see the difference? WE are in need of soda, simply.&#8221;</p>
<p>Very honestly I see nothing that he gives Bella in return for &#8216;all the things&#8217; </p>
<p>she does for him. Her life would have been much easier without him </p>
<p>returing again and again to give her another dose of the dazzle. </p>
<p>No Manners</p>
<p>&#8220;In the previous example, the “please” was left out intentionally. Your </p>
<p>boyfriend will not be polite. He will not say “thank you”, “you’re welcome”, </p>
<p>“please” or even “excuse me” to you. It is because he is expecting you to </p>
<p>comply with his requests. He also feels as if you should be thanking him </p>
<p>for allowing you to do things for him.&#8221;</p>
<p>Whenever Edward does say please it&#8217;s not polite. He doesn&#8217;t have </p>
<p>manners. He&#8217;s not a gentleman. Honestly what sort of gentleman does this </p>
<p>to a lady?</p>
<p>&#8220;His long hands unexpectedly gripped my waist, and his foot pushed mine </p>
<p>off the gas pedal. He pulled me across his lap, wrenching my hands free </p>
<p>of the wheel, and suddenly he was in the driver&#8217;s seat. The truck<br />
didn&#8217;t swerve an inch.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;We were near the parking lot now. I veered left, toward my truck. </p>
<p>Something caught my jacket, yankingme back.</p>
<p>&#8220;Where do you think you&#8217;re going?&#8221; he asked, outraged. He was gripping a </p>
<p>fistful of my jacket in one hand.</p>
<p>I was confused. &#8220;I&#8217;m going home.&#8221;</p>
<p>&#8220;Didn&#8217;t you hear me promise to take you safely home? Do you think I&#8217;m </p>
<p>going to let you drive in your condition?&#8221; His voice was still indignant.</p>
<p>&#8220;What condition? And what about my truck?&#8221; I complained.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have Alice drop it off after school.&#8221; He was towing me toward his car </p>
<p>now, pulling me by my jacket.It was all I could do to keep from falling </p>
<p>backward. He&#8217;d probably just drag me along anyway if I did.</p>
<p>&#8220;Let go!&#8221; I insisted. He ignored me. I staggered along sideways across the </p>
<p>wet sidewalk until we reached the Volvo. Then he finally freed me — I </p>
<p>stumbled against the passenger door.&#8221;</p>
<p>I hope I&#8217;m not the only one seeing things wrong with this situation.</p>
<p>Questions, Questions</p>
<p>&#8220;When you can finally break through the chains, and find some free time </p>
<p>for yourself, be prepared:  your controlling boyfriend will interrogate you </p>
<p>when you return. Putting himself in a “father figure” position will install </p>
<p>more of a sense of control. Treating you like a child that went to the mall, </p>
<p>prior to doing her homework, is the kind of humiliation in you he is trying to </p>
<p>achieve.&#8221;</p>
<p>Does anything need to be said about Edward&#8217;s condescending attitude to </p>
<p>her all of the time? And the countless probe sessions that he puts her </p>
<p>through because he is unable to read her mind. </p>
<p>No Questions, No Answers</p>
<p>&#8220;Unlike the aforementioned subject, your boyfriend will come and go as he </p>
<p>pleases, without answering to anyone – especially to you. If you try to </p>
<p>question his whereabouts or activities, he will become defensive. The </p>
<p>subject will immediately transfer from your asking, “where were you?” to </p>
<p>his comeback remark about how you nag him too much, or something </p>
<p>similar to that effect. He will ignore answering the question, and make you </p>
<p>feel guilty for asking it. This is in hope that you will not do it again.&#8221;</p>
<p>Edward is always denying her answers or asking a question in return to </p>
<p>her questions. He fits the description quite accurately.</p>
<p>He’s Always Right</p>
<p>&#8220;In an argument with a controlling personality, it is very difficult for him to </p>
<p>accept defeat. The controlling boyfriend will get more defensive, change </p>
<p>the subject, or bring up a past occurrence, when he was, indeed, correct, </p>
<p>in order to prove his point with the issue at hand. He may not always be </p>
<p>right, completely, but he is never wrong.&#8221;</p>
<p>YES! Edward is always right no matter what in all of him and Bella&#8217;s </p>
<p>&#8216;disagreements&#8217;. She always bends to his will like a rubber band.</p>
<p>Can’t Buy Me Love</p>
<p>&#8220;Fools gold has been around for centuries. However, a fool AND his gold </p>
<p>have special meaning to the controlling boyfriend. He will buy you nice </p>
<p>jewelry, take you to expensive restaurants and maybe even offer to pay a </p>
<p>debt of yours. He will say it is because he loves you. Not true. He needs to </p>
<p>feel superior to you. You now owe him, in his mind. Who is the fool? To </p>
<p>him, you are.&#8221;</p>
<p>YES! YES! AND YES! Edward is always buying her expensive gifts and </p>
<p>giving her needless expensive things that won&#8217;t do her any good. She </p>
<p>hates having money squandered on her yet he does it anyway and allows </p>
<p>his family to do so not realizing that it adds to her inferiority complex. </p>
<p>You’re Worthless</p>
<p>&#8220;Belittling your self-confidence can be have very serious consequences. </p>
<p>Making you feel as if you are worthless without him, the controlling </p>
<p>boyfriend will prey on times that you may be stressed the most. If you </p>
<p>have just lost a job, or if you are experiencing normal hormonal reactions, </p>
<p>this is the time he will strike. He wants you to feel as if life is not worth </p>
<p>living without him. It’s hard to believe, but his confidence level is actually </p>
<p>lower than yours.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bingo. Do I even need to give an example of all the times Edward says that </p>
<p>he can kill her with his big toe? This is not neccesary. It is also wrong for </p>
<p>him to tell her to stay away from him and then say that he&#8217;ll see her later in </p>
<p>class. What sort of thing is that to say to someone?</p>
<p>No Means No</p>
<p>&#8220;This is the most upsetting trait that a controlling boyfriend can display. If </p>
<p>he forces you to do things, against your will, he is not in love with you. </p>
<p>Whether it is going to a baseball game, when you hate outdoor stadiums, </p>
<p>or, even more harsh an act, makes you perform sexually against your will, </p>
<p>he is NOT in love with you. Not showing you the courtesy to respect your </p>
<p>wishes is not a behavior that goes away. This will continue as an abusive </p>
<p>relationship, where you will be treated as an object, instead of a person.&#8221;</p>
<p>Bullseye! This is the trait that Edward displays the most. Whether it&#8217;s </p>
<p>forbidding her to see her friends by taking the motor out of her truck or </p>
<p>forcing her to eat when she insists that she isn&#8217;t hungry. This is controlling </p>
<p>behavior and does not need to continue.</p>
<p>1.Attached At The Hip – many controlling boyfriends behaviour is sparked </p>
<p>by their inability to trust. Someone who has to control another always </p>
<p>needs to be around to watch what they are doing and to ensure that their </p>
<p>partner is only having a “good time” when he is around. If you are in a </p>
<p>relationship with someone who insists on always being there and not </p>
<p>allowing you any time to yourself, then you are a victim of a controlling </p>
<p>boyfriend.</p>
<p>2.On His Terms – if your boyfriend is always making plans without </p>
<p>including you in the decision making process, then this is a major sign that </p>
<p>he has controlling habits. If he is constantly turning down invites and </p>
<p>opportunities to attend events that you have interest in and you always </p>
<p>seem to be attending events he has interest in, then chances are you have </p>
<p>a controlling boyfriend.</p>
<p>3.Interrogation – a controlling boyfriend is a great fan of interrogation. If </p>
<p>you do find a moment to yourself, spend some time with the girls or arrive </p>
<p>home a little later than expected, prepare to be asked a lot of questions as </p>
<p>to where you were, who you were talking to and why you took so much </p>
<p>longer than the average person would. Be careful of being in this type of </p>
<p>relationship which usually makes you feel humiliated and as if you are in </p>
<p>fact in the wrong.</p>
<p>4.Always Right – regardless of the situation or argument, the controlling </p>
<p>boyfriend will never admit to being wrong. This is often also linked to </p>
<p>breaking the partner down by making them believe that they are always </p>
<p>wrong or doing something wrong. When in this type of relationship, the </p>
<p>controlling boyfriend will swiftly change the subject to all the things you </p>
<p>may do wrong or have done wrong in the past.</p>
<p>5.Confidence Battering – the controlling boyfriend will be well aware of </p>
<p>when you are feeling stressed and a little down. He will use this as an </p>
<p>opportunity to “save the day” or sometimes even ridicule you or make you </p>
<p>feel silly for even believing you could do something successfully on your </p>
<p>own. This can range from social situations to work decisions that you may </p>
<p>have made. Breaking down ones confidence can have serious and long </p>
<p>lasting effects.</p>
<p>6.Snooping – a controlling boyfriend is usually a professional snoop. He </p>
<p>can often be found looking through your emails, sneaking a few peaks at </p>
<p>your cell phone messages and even reading your mail. This type of </p>
<p>behaviour in a relationship shows his need to control and always be in the </p>
<p>know, along with a lack of trust.</p>
<p>7.Isolation &#8211; when you find yourself in a relationship with a controlling </p>
<p>boyfriend, you will find that he will try and isolate you from your family and </p>
<p>friends. This will start usually with general disinterest in them to obvious </p>
<p>dislike and will sometimes even try to convince you that they do not love </p>
<p>you or care for you and are possibly even out to get you.</p>
<p>Those are even more signs for you to decode and bash.</p>
<p>It such come as a red flag for you when Edwards name flashes across </p>
<p>the screen whenever you type the phrase &#8216;controlling boyfriend&#8217; into </p>
<p>google. </p>
<p>There is nothing loving about his behavior.</p>
<p>While many say that it&#8217;s ok because it&#8217;s his first relationship and he doesn&#8217;t </p>
<p>know how to react that still doesn&#8217;t make it ok.</p>
<p>Are all boys controlling in their first relationships? No.</p>
<p>Harry Potter was not abusive to Cho Chang. In fact it could be considered </p>
<p>the exact opposite.</p>
<p>Bella has battered woman syndrome and there is no way to say </p>
<p>otherwise.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s see some symptoms of an abused woman shall we?</p>
<p>&#8220;DENIAL</p>
<p>The woman refuses to admit&#8211;even to herself&#8211;that she has been beaten </p>
<p>or that there is a &#8220;problem&#8221; in her marriage. She may call each incident an </p>
<p>&#8220;accident&#8221;. She offers excuses for her husband&#8217;s violence and each time </p>
<p>firmly believes it will never happen again.</p>
<p>GUILT</p>
<p>She now acknowledges there is a problem, but considers herself </p>
<p>responsible for it. She &#8220;deserves&#8221; to be beaten, she feels, because she </p>
<p>has defects in her character and is not living up to her husband&#8217;s </p>
<p>expectations.</p>
<p>ENLIGHTENMENT</p>
<p>The woman no longer assumes responsibility for her husband&#8217;s abusive </p>
<p>treatment, recognizing that no one &#8220;deserves&#8221; to be beaten. She is still </p>
<p>committed to her marriage, though, and stays with her husband, hoping </p>
<p>they can work things out.</p>
<p>RESPONSIBILITY</p>
<p>Accepting the fact that her husband will not, or can not, stop his violent </p>
<p>behavior, the battered woman decides she will no longer submit to it and </p>
<p>starts a new life.&#8221;</p>
<p>There&#8217;s one problem with this though. Bella hasn&#8217;t moved on to the third </p>
<p>stage. And she never will.</p>
<p>Here on some warning signs that Charlie and any other responsible adult </p>
<p>should have picked up in their relationship ages before they got married.</p>
<p>&#8220;The abused woman:</p>
<p>* shows guilt, ambivalence, and fear over living conditions.<br />
* feels isolated and untrusting of others, even though she may be involved </p>
<p>in the community.<br />
* is emotionally and economically dependent.<br />
* has a poor self-concept (this may not have been true BEFORE the </p>
<p>relationship).<br />
* has observed other women in her family being abused or may have been </p>
<p>abused as a child.<br />
* feels angry, embarrassed, and ashamed.<br />
* is fearful of being insane.<br />
* has learned to feel helpless and feels powerless.<br />
* has unexplained injuries that may go untreated.</p>
<p>The abusive man:</p>
<p>* shows extreme jealousy and wants to keep the woman isolated.<br />
* has an inability to cope with stress and shows a lack of impulse control. </p>
<p>(This may not necessarily appear outside the home)<br />
* shows severe mood swings.<br />
* may have a history of abuse in his own family and may have been </p>
<p>abusive in courtship.<br />
* presents a history of personal and/or family discord; unemployment, </p>
<p>cruelty to animals, abuse of alcohol or other substances, and other </p>
<p>unexplained behavior.&#8221;</p>
<p>Edward might not be abusive, but if he wasn&#8217;t sure that he&#8217;d kill her by </p>
<p>smacking her around I&#8217;m sure he would be. In all actuality he does cause </p>
<p>her phyiscal harm on more than one occasion.</p>
<p>Was it neccasary to throw her out of the way before lunging onto Jasper?</p>
<p>Was it necessary to drag her around by her coat into his Volvo?</p>
<p>I won&#8217;t even mention Breaking Dawn.</p>
<p> 12 Ways To Tell Whether Your Partner<br />
May Turn Into An Abuser</p>
<p>   1. Heavy drinking or drug abuse (especially if he uses substances as an </p>
<p>excuse for what he does: &#8220;The alcohol made me do it.&#8221;)</p>
<p>   2. Abuse during the courtship period is a guarantee of further abuse that </p>
<p>will become more frequent and severe. Don&#8217;t marry him with the belief that </p>
<p>&#8220;I can change him.&#8221; You won&#8217;t.</p>
<p>   3. Morbid jealousy. This may be a bit flattering at first, but will be a curse </p>
<p>later on. You will never convince him that you are innocent of his </p>
<p>accusations.</p>
<p>   4. Past child abuse and/or witness of marital violence. This happens in </p>
<p>some cases. Children learn what they live. Boys tend to copy their fathers. </p>
<p>Abused children discipline their own children as they were taught. He may </p>
<p>be a &#8220;violence carrier&#8221;.</p>
<p>   5. Inability to handle frustration. If he blows up and explodes at small </p>
<p>things, and reacts with a tantrum over minor things, he may act out </p>
<p>frustration with violence in a marriage. How he deals with anger is the </p>
<p>key.</p>
<p>   6. A violent temper. This speaks for itself. If you feel fear when he acts </p>
<p>out his anger, that fear is a warning signal. Listen to it!<br />
   7. Cruelty to animals, abuse and mistreatment of pets, great enjoyment of </p>
<p>hunting for the sake of killing animals could help you to face this question: </p>
<p>What makes you know he will treat you any differently?</p>
<p>   8. Preoccupation with weapons. They are an extension of self. A </p>
<p>person is what she/he lives. If he ever &#8220;playfully&#8221; points a gun at you or </p>
<p>ever gestures at you with another weapon, what could happen if he </p>
<p>became very angry with you?</p>
<p>   9. Mental illness. A person with an unsound mind or without any sense </p>
<p>of moral responsibility or guilt may not be in control of his actions. Does he </p>
<p>act in ways that you feel are abnormal or strange?</p>
<p>  10. A poor self-image; insecurity about his own masculinity. If he feels </p>
<p>compulsive about always being &#8220;one up&#8221; and dominating and he lives out a </p>
<p>macho role at all times, you will be subject to his control and possibly </p>
<p>treated like one of his possessions. He may feel he has the right to treat </p>
<p>you like his property, to do as he pleases.</p>
<p>  11. A pattern of blaming others, particularly his wife, for his problems. If </p>
<p>he never accepts his faults and responsibilities when things go wrong, be </p>
<p>ready to be blamed for everything.</p>
<p>  12. Acceptance of violence as an appropriate problem-solving method. </p>
<p>Do you want a man who talks out or acts out his anger?</p>
<p>Edward fits more than 6 of these characteristics. Is that the sign of the </p>
<p>perfect boyfriend involved in a healthy relationship? No.</p>
<p>I understand that your a brunette and can picture yourself as Bella </p>
<p>because others have &#8216;known what&#8217;s best for you&#8217;.</p>
<p>But please don&#8217;t say that Edward is nice, even when he&#8217;s not, and that he </p>
<p>is a good boyfriend. He is a controlling boyfriend and these need to be </p>
<p>identified so that Generation Y doesn&#8217;t end up screwed up by these </p>
<p>books. As much as many people like to disagree, Fiction Influences Most </p>
<p>Teenagers Lives. </p>
<p>And by saying that a controlling, potentially abusive, boyfriend is a good </p>
<p>thing for a teenage girl you are setting many bad examples for teens.</p>
<p>As for your mother the psychologist that supposedly anayzed Bella and </p>
<p>Edward&#8217;s relationship, maybe you need to check her degree because if </p>
<p>she is indeed a good phsychologist why do you claim to have been a </p>
<p>recluse in your youth?</p>
<p>Just because Bella accepts it, that doesn&#8217;t make it right!</p>
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		<title>By: Brachinus</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-3975</link>
		<dc:creator>Brachinus</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 27 Nov 2009 21:02:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-3975</guid>
		<description>So he&#039;s known thousands of people, and the one person whose behavior he can&#039;t predict is the one whose behavior can be predicted by everyone who&#039;s ever known a teenage girl, or ever read a Judy Blume book?</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>So he&#8217;s known thousands of people, and the one person whose behavior he can&#8217;t predict is the one whose behavior can be predicted by everyone who&#8217;s ever known a teenage girl, or ever read a Judy Blume book?</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>By: Whitney</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-3887</link>
		<dc:creator>Whitney</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:46:02 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-3887</guid>
		<description>Oh! Oh! I am so excited to see this debate! You all are so interesting! I personally am on the pro-side, though I do of course qualify many anti arguements, as well. I am sick of being ridiculed for my interest in the series, but by people who&#039;s primary arguement is &quot;You&#039;re stupid.&quot; (No joke.)

There&#039;s a fine line between non-conformity, in which people are wary of the books because many like it, and ant-conformity in which people aggressively oppose the books for the same reason. The latter falls in line with rabid fandom, in my opinion, and I am SO happy to see some pro and anti arguements here that are qualified!!!!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Oh! Oh! I am so excited to see this debate! You all are so interesting! I personally am on the pro-side, though I do of course qualify many anti arguements, as well. I am sick of being ridiculed for my interest in the series, but by people who&#8217;s primary arguement is &#8220;You&#8217;re stupid.&#8221; (No joke.)</p>
<p>There&#8217;s a fine line between non-conformity, in which people are wary of the books because many like it, and ant-conformity in which people aggressively oppose the books for the same reason. The latter falls in line with rabid fandom, in my opinion, and I am SO happy to see some pro and anti arguements here that are qualified!!!!</p>
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		<title>By: Kristina</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-2803</link>
		<dc:creator>Kristina</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 19:46:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-2803</guid>
		<description>Hookay, as you wish. :)

&quot;If he had sense talked into him, though, he should have left her as she was. He’s making decisions for her!&quot;

Um - I&#039;m assuming then that say, when people push other people out of the way of a moving car, or when a fireman removes a person from a burning house when they haven&#039;t SPECIFICALLY requested to be rescued - this is controlling behavior? Um, well technically I suppose. 

So your suggestion is that Edward should have just been like &quot;Oh, well James seems to want to eat you, sucks to be you, deal with it! See ya!&quot;

Yea...I can see that happening in ANY relationship.

Let&#039;s be clear about what&#039;s happening here. Bella knows James wants to eat her. She KNOWS she can&#039;t protect herself. She has absolutely NO problem with Edward whisking her away for her protection. Her whole issue here is he is ONLY thinking of her. She is thinking of everyone else BESIDES her. She wants to do this in the safest way possible for her father AND the Cullens.

You want to demonize Edward for this one? Really? What would you have done? This bloodthirsty monster is after your girlfriend. He can kill her with a finger. She has ABSOLUTELY no defense. At all. All James needs is 1 second in close proximity to her and she&#039;s gone. Done. Can&#039;t come back from that one. 

So he panics, and he grabs her and he runs. And once he&#039;s had a chance to take a few breaths they put together a solid plan - one that will keep Charlie as safe as possible. Which is ALL BELLA WAS ARGUING ABOUT. Everything else - she&#039;s fine with to an extent. I mean, don&#039;t get me wrong, if she could stop the Cullens from fighting for her, she would. (Which is somehow more understandable to people, hmm)

So...maybe I missed it in the umpteen times I&#039;ve read that book - where in that scene did he make a decision for her? I mean, yea at first he was going to take her away without taking her back to her father, but he ended up doing it her way...100%. It was all HER plan.

&quot;He actually is, and admits it at one point in the series. (I don’t have the exact quote, sorry.)&quot;

Um - yea, of course he&#039;s jealous. He&#039;s so jealous he can hardly see straight. (He says it to Jacob, in my very favorite chapter of the entire series &quot;Fire and Ice&quot;). What I said was he wasn&#039;t keeping her away from Jacob BECAUSE he was jealous. In other words, his jealousy was not what was prompting his actions - if it was, I would agree it is unhealthy behavior.

&quot;What about the unnamed singer girl that Emmet killed? Jacob probably fears about that, and does he prevent Bella from seeing Edward?&quot;

Yes - you&#039;re absolutely right. Jacob is not overprotective as Edward is. Instead, his faults lie in that he&#039;s manipulative and pushy. Two traits which, just as I don&#039;t blame Edward for being overprotective, I don&#039;t blame Jacob for doing whatever he needed to do (like FORCING a kiss on her, manipulating her emotions etc, etc, etc) to get her away from Edward. He just fights differently - he&#039;s no better than Edward.

&quot;Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, hold the phone. So, he’s jealous of Jacob and Mike. He prevents Bella from seeing Jacob, and lets her go on with Mike. There’s something wrong with that. Do you see it? Because I do&quot;

Um, okay you&#039;re going to have to explain it to me. Jealousy is natural. To an extent, it&#039;s even healthy. If you&#039;re in a relationship and you don&#039;t feel jealousy at time, I&#039;d question your investment in that relationship. Remember - emotions are irrational. 100% of the time. Emotions are not something you can help. What you CAN help is how you react to them. So if Edward was a jealous ass, I wouldn&#039;t appreciate his character. Instead, Edward is jealous but he doesn&#039;t do anything about that jealousy. He never stops Bella&#039;s FRIENDSHIP with Jacob. Never stops her from calling him, etc - even though it obviously bothers him. And in ALL honesty it is his RIGHT as the boyfriend to say something about it - but he never does. I mean, he knows for dead FACT that this boy is after his girl. He has every right to bring that up to Bella, but he doesn&#039;t. 

Again - he only ever stops Bella from going to see Jacob because he believes, to the very DEPTHS of who he is, that Jacob is dangerous. Remember - not only is Edward&#039;s LOGICAL side screaming that Jacob is dangerous but his very NATURE is to fear for Bella&#039;s safety around Jacob. Think of a cat whose hackles are raised at a dog. It&#039;s not because the cat is racist against dogs. It&#039;s just nature. Nature is much stronger than any vendetta.  And Jacob IS Which is absolute truth. (Although - as you point out, just about as dangerous as Edward himself is).  

You also have to remember that this is all new to Edward. He&#039;s never been in a relationship before. And his little human is SO fragile he lives in CONSTANT terror that she is going to be ripped away from him. So yea, sometimes he overreacts. (remember New Moon?). But Edward also learns from his mistakes. When he figures out what he&#039;s doing is over the line, he stops. He apologizes. He promises never to do it again - and he never does.

Now - does his jealousy go away? Not at all. But Edward continues to watch Bella go off with Jacob. Knowing he&#039;s trying to take her away. Why are we not giving him any credit for learning and evolving? It seems unfair to me.

&quot;Repeatedly threatens to “stop” Bella if she goes off to do something he doesn’t want her to.&quot;

Ok - You&#039;re making it sound like he&#039;s threatening her. Like she&#039;ll be punished if she goes against his will. Yea - he threatens to stop her. He DOES stop her...with the truck and then later with Alice.  And he ONLY does this in regards to Jacob. A truly abusive, controlling person would do this in regards to ... anything. Anyone. Friends, clothing, whatever.

&quot;Again and again shows examples of how strong he is and how she wouldn’t stand a chance and how they shouldn’t date, but makes no effort to stop it.&quot;

Again, you&#039;re making it sound like he&#039;s threatening her. In Twilight, he shows her these things mostly in a desperation so she&#039;ll understand. Try to imagine - all the things he knows and is afraid about in Jacob are true about him as well. And he knows that. And just as he is desperate to keep her safe from Jacob, he&#039;s also desperate to keep her safe from HIMSELF. What do you MEAN he made no effort to stop it? Again, did we miss New Moon completely? Or the 6 weeks in Twilight when he tried to ignore her? He couldn&#039;t stay away. He was not that strong. Neither was she.  

As far as his strength, he never, EVER threatens her with it...but at the same time he doesn&#039;t hold it back - because she does need to know. She does need to understand what being with him means. Throughout most of the series Edward firmly believes he&#039;s a monster, that he doesn&#039;t deserve Bella, that he is destroying her soul. One of the things he almost doesn&#039;t forgive himself for is pursuing her anyway. Think of all the things he says. For instance &quot;I had no right to want you - but I reached out and took you anyway.&quot; This is part of the whole POINT of Twilight. In even wanting to be together they are, essentially, destroying each other&#039;s world. It&#039;s not logical. It&#039;s not supposed to be. If it was, it wouldn&#039;t be a struggle - and there would be no plot. LOL.

&quot;-Makes Bella lie to Charlie about their relationship.&quot;

Uh - ok. I&#039;ve tried to figure out what the heck you&#039;re talking about here and I just can&#039;t. You&#039;re going to have to back that one up.

&quot;Bella says she doesn’t want to go to Dartmouth. Edward ignores her, forging her signature on the papers.&quot;

Oh, yes, highly abusive. Aren&#039;t we getting a little nitpicky here? Ok, let&#039;s delve into this one a bit. 

First of all - Edward wouldn&#039;t give a damn if they went to the local community college. What he really wants is for her to have as many human experiences as possible. What he wants for her, more than anything, is for her to stay human. This in and of itself should PROVE that Edward isn&#039;t controlling. He wants her to stay human, and yet he has agreed to change her himself - against his wishes. Or if she prefers to have Carlisle do it, Edward will not act to stop it from happening. But he&#039;s going to do what he can to convince her otherwise. 

So, in essence, Dartmouth is just waving a bit shinier gift in front of her. There&#039;s a part of her, the human part, that does want to go. Especially for her mom and dad. Remember when she thinks about how proud and thrilled they will be? And Edward knows this. It&#039;s a means to an end for him. If she takes the bait, she gets a few more human years and more human experiences. 

I&#039;m going to make a comparison I&#039;ve made before. Here&#039;s the thing - as human beings we don&#039;t always know what&#039;s best for us. And yea, you can say everyone should be left to do exactly what they want and not be pushed, but then there&#039;d be no such thing as social interaction.

So onto my example. In my past - I was painfully reclusive. I didn&#039;t go out. I barely liked interacting with people. If you asked me I&#039;d tell you I preferred it, but I didn&#039;t realize how lonely and miserable I was. So - a friend of mine kept on pulling me out. Mostly against my will, kicking and screaming. Again, and again, and again...until I realized how important it is to be around people.

So, by your thinking, it would have been &quot;right&quot; for my friend to just leave me be - because that was my choice. Well, I&#039;m really glad she didn&#039;t. Let&#039;s just leave it at that. 

And I will say what I&#039;ve said before. In most relationships that are really - right, you will hear one partner say of the other that they pushed them when they needed pushing. It&#039;s part of what makes really good couples a great team.

Edward and Bella and Dartmouth - well, it&#039;s not precisely the same thing as there are many factors at work here. On the one hand, because he believes that in becoming a vampire Bella would be losing her SOUL, Edward is pushing her to experience as much of her humanity as possible. On the other hand, Bella knows that Edward will forever be 17. Her anxiety over getting to the vamp stuff ASAP has more to do with equality than anything else. They can&#039;t stay on equal footing if she ages out of her teens. It&#039;s not that Bella is dead set AGAINST college. Quite the contrary - she knows in choosing this life with Edward not only will she go to college but she&#039;ll go to college repeatedly. So for her, not wanting to go to Dartmouth is because she is choosing to begin her life as a vampire FIRST. That&#039;s her priority. Her goal. Edward is just trying to make humanity her goal and wrapping it up in as attractive packaging as is possible.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hookay, as you wish. <img src='http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' /> </p>
<p>&#8220;If he had sense talked into him, though, he should have left her as she was. He’s making decisions for her!&#8221;</p>
<p>Um &#8211; I&#8217;m assuming then that say, when people push other people out of the way of a moving car, or when a fireman removes a person from a burning house when they haven&#8217;t SPECIFICALLY requested to be rescued &#8211; this is controlling behavior? Um, well technically I suppose. </p>
<p>So your suggestion is that Edward should have just been like &#8220;Oh, well James seems to want to eat you, sucks to be you, deal with it! See ya!&#8221;</p>
<p>Yea&#8230;I can see that happening in ANY relationship.</p>
<p>Let&#8217;s be clear about what&#8217;s happening here. Bella knows James wants to eat her. She KNOWS she can&#8217;t protect herself. She has absolutely NO problem with Edward whisking her away for her protection. Her whole issue here is he is ONLY thinking of her. She is thinking of everyone else BESIDES her. She wants to do this in the safest way possible for her father AND the Cullens.</p>
<p>You want to demonize Edward for this one? Really? What would you have done? This bloodthirsty monster is after your girlfriend. He can kill her with a finger. She has ABSOLUTELY no defense. At all. All James needs is 1 second in close proximity to her and she&#8217;s gone. Done. Can&#8217;t come back from that one. </p>
<p>So he panics, and he grabs her and he runs. And once he&#8217;s had a chance to take a few breaths they put together a solid plan &#8211; one that will keep Charlie as safe as possible. Which is ALL BELLA WAS ARGUING ABOUT. Everything else &#8211; she&#8217;s fine with to an extent. I mean, don&#8217;t get me wrong, if she could stop the Cullens from fighting for her, she would. (Which is somehow more understandable to people, hmm)</p>
<p>So&#8230;maybe I missed it in the umpteen times I&#8217;ve read that book &#8211; where in that scene did he make a decision for her? I mean, yea at first he was going to take her away without taking her back to her father, but he ended up doing it her way&#8230;100%. It was all HER plan.</p>
<p>&#8220;He actually is, and admits it at one point in the series. (I don’t have the exact quote, sorry.)&#8221;</p>
<p>Um &#8211; yea, of course he&#8217;s jealous. He&#8217;s so jealous he can hardly see straight. (He says it to Jacob, in my very favorite chapter of the entire series &#8220;Fire and Ice&#8221;). What I said was he wasn&#8217;t keeping her away from Jacob BECAUSE he was jealous. In other words, his jealousy was not what was prompting his actions &#8211; if it was, I would agree it is unhealthy behavior.</p>
<p>&#8220;What about the unnamed singer girl that Emmet killed? Jacob probably fears about that, and does he prevent Bella from seeing Edward?&#8221;</p>
<p>Yes &#8211; you&#8217;re absolutely right. Jacob is not overprotective as Edward is. Instead, his faults lie in that he&#8217;s manipulative and pushy. Two traits which, just as I don&#8217;t blame Edward for being overprotective, I don&#8217;t blame Jacob for doing whatever he needed to do (like FORCING a kiss on her, manipulating her emotions etc, etc, etc) to get her away from Edward. He just fights differently &#8211; he&#8217;s no better than Edward.</p>
<p>&#8220;Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, hold the phone. So, he’s jealous of Jacob and Mike. He prevents Bella from seeing Jacob, and lets her go on with Mike. There’s something wrong with that. Do you see it? Because I do&#8221;</p>
<p>Um, okay you&#8217;re going to have to explain it to me. Jealousy is natural. To an extent, it&#8217;s even healthy. If you&#8217;re in a relationship and you don&#8217;t feel jealousy at time, I&#8217;d question your investment in that relationship. Remember &#8211; emotions are irrational. 100% of the time. Emotions are not something you can help. What you CAN help is how you react to them. So if Edward was a jealous ass, I wouldn&#8217;t appreciate his character. Instead, Edward is jealous but he doesn&#8217;t do anything about that jealousy. He never stops Bella&#8217;s FRIENDSHIP with Jacob. Never stops her from calling him, etc &#8211; even though it obviously bothers him. And in ALL honesty it is his RIGHT as the boyfriend to say something about it &#8211; but he never does. I mean, he knows for dead FACT that this boy is after his girl. He has every right to bring that up to Bella, but he doesn&#8217;t. </p>
<p>Again &#8211; he only ever stops Bella from going to see Jacob because he believes, to the very DEPTHS of who he is, that Jacob is dangerous. Remember &#8211; not only is Edward&#8217;s LOGICAL side screaming that Jacob is dangerous but his very NATURE is to fear for Bella&#8217;s safety around Jacob. Think of a cat whose hackles are raised at a dog. It&#8217;s not because the cat is racist against dogs. It&#8217;s just nature. Nature is much stronger than any vendetta.  And Jacob IS Which is absolute truth. (Although &#8211; as you point out, just about as dangerous as Edward himself is).  </p>
<p>You also have to remember that this is all new to Edward. He&#8217;s never been in a relationship before. And his little human is SO fragile he lives in CONSTANT terror that she is going to be ripped away from him. So yea, sometimes he overreacts. (remember New Moon?). But Edward also learns from his mistakes. When he figures out what he&#8217;s doing is over the line, he stops. He apologizes. He promises never to do it again &#8211; and he never does.</p>
<p>Now &#8211; does his jealousy go away? Not at all. But Edward continues to watch Bella go off with Jacob. Knowing he&#8217;s trying to take her away. Why are we not giving him any credit for learning and evolving? It seems unfair to me.</p>
<p>&#8220;Repeatedly threatens to “stop” Bella if she goes off to do something he doesn’t want her to.&#8221;</p>
<p>Ok &#8211; You&#8217;re making it sound like he&#8217;s threatening her. Like she&#8217;ll be punished if she goes against his will. Yea &#8211; he threatens to stop her. He DOES stop her&#8230;with the truck and then later with Alice.  And he ONLY does this in regards to Jacob. A truly abusive, controlling person would do this in regards to &#8230; anything. Anyone. Friends, clothing, whatever.</p>
<p>&#8220;Again and again shows examples of how strong he is and how she wouldn’t stand a chance and how they shouldn’t date, but makes no effort to stop it.&#8221;</p>
<p>Again, you&#8217;re making it sound like he&#8217;s threatening her. In Twilight, he shows her these things mostly in a desperation so she&#8217;ll understand. Try to imagine &#8211; all the things he knows and is afraid about in Jacob are true about him as well. And he knows that. And just as he is desperate to keep her safe from Jacob, he&#8217;s also desperate to keep her safe from HIMSELF. What do you MEAN he made no effort to stop it? Again, did we miss New Moon completely? Or the 6 weeks in Twilight when he tried to ignore her? He couldn&#8217;t stay away. He was not that strong. Neither was she.  </p>
<p>As far as his strength, he never, EVER threatens her with it&#8230;but at the same time he doesn&#8217;t hold it back &#8211; because she does need to know. She does need to understand what being with him means. Throughout most of the series Edward firmly believes he&#8217;s a monster, that he doesn&#8217;t deserve Bella, that he is destroying her soul. One of the things he almost doesn&#8217;t forgive himself for is pursuing her anyway. Think of all the things he says. For instance &#8220;I had no right to want you &#8211; but I reached out and took you anyway.&#8221; This is part of the whole POINT of Twilight. In even wanting to be together they are, essentially, destroying each other&#8217;s world. It&#8217;s not logical. It&#8217;s not supposed to be. If it was, it wouldn&#8217;t be a struggle &#8211; and there would be no plot. LOL.</p>
<p>&#8220;-Makes Bella lie to Charlie about their relationship.&#8221;</p>
<p>Uh &#8211; ok. I&#8217;ve tried to figure out what the heck you&#8217;re talking about here and I just can&#8217;t. You&#8217;re going to have to back that one up.</p>
<p>&#8220;Bella says she doesn’t want to go to Dartmouth. Edward ignores her, forging her signature on the papers.&#8221;</p>
<p>Oh, yes, highly abusive. Aren&#8217;t we getting a little nitpicky here? Ok, let&#8217;s delve into this one a bit. </p>
<p>First of all &#8211; Edward wouldn&#8217;t give a damn if they went to the local community college. What he really wants is for her to have as many human experiences as possible. What he wants for her, more than anything, is for her to stay human. This in and of itself should PROVE that Edward isn&#8217;t controlling. He wants her to stay human, and yet he has agreed to change her himself &#8211; against his wishes. Or if she prefers to have Carlisle do it, Edward will not act to stop it from happening. But he&#8217;s going to do what he can to convince her otherwise. </p>
<p>So, in essence, Dartmouth is just waving a bit shinier gift in front of her. There&#8217;s a part of her, the human part, that does want to go. Especially for her mom and dad. Remember when she thinks about how proud and thrilled they will be? And Edward knows this. It&#8217;s a means to an end for him. If she takes the bait, she gets a few more human years and more human experiences. </p>
<p>I&#8217;m going to make a comparison I&#8217;ve made before. Here&#8217;s the thing &#8211; as human beings we don&#8217;t always know what&#8217;s best for us. And yea, you can say everyone should be left to do exactly what they want and not be pushed, but then there&#8217;d be no such thing as social interaction.</p>
<p>So onto my example. In my past &#8211; I was painfully reclusive. I didn&#8217;t go out. I barely liked interacting with people. If you asked me I&#8217;d tell you I preferred it, but I didn&#8217;t realize how lonely and miserable I was. So &#8211; a friend of mine kept on pulling me out. Mostly against my will, kicking and screaming. Again, and again, and again&#8230;until I realized how important it is to be around people.</p>
<p>So, by your thinking, it would have been &#8220;right&#8221; for my friend to just leave me be &#8211; because that was my choice. Well, I&#8217;m really glad she didn&#8217;t. Let&#8217;s just leave it at that. </p>
<p>And I will say what I&#8217;ve said before. In most relationships that are really &#8211; right, you will hear one partner say of the other that they pushed them when they needed pushing. It&#8217;s part of what makes really good couples a great team.</p>
<p>Edward and Bella and Dartmouth &#8211; well, it&#8217;s not precisely the same thing as there are many factors at work here. On the one hand, because he believes that in becoming a vampire Bella would be losing her SOUL, Edward is pushing her to experience as much of her humanity as possible. On the other hand, Bella knows that Edward will forever be 17. Her anxiety over getting to the vamp stuff ASAP has more to do with equality than anything else. They can&#8217;t stay on equal footing if she ages out of her teens. It&#8217;s not that Bella is dead set AGAINST college. Quite the contrary &#8211; she knows in choosing this life with Edward not only will she go to college but she&#8217;ll go to college repeatedly. So for her, not wanting to go to Dartmouth is because she is choosing to begin her life as a vampire FIRST. That&#8217;s her priority. Her goal. Edward is just trying to make humanity her goal and wrapping it up in as attractive packaging as is possible.</p>
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		<title>By: Kandi</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-2789</link>
		<dc:creator>Kandi</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 00:14:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-2789</guid>
		<description>I, as an anti, find some validity in this argument. The argument against him being overprotected is all I find wrong.


&quot; In Twilight, he very nearly whisks Bella away quite against her will after James starts his hunt. But it only takes a few minutes for Bella, Alice and Emmett to talk some sense into him.&quot;
If he had sense talked into him, though, he should have left her as she was. He&#039;s making decisions for her!

&quot;Then the whole Jacob issue. It’s not as if Edward is keeping Bella away from Jacob out of jealousy.&quot;
He actually is, and admits it at one point in the series. (I don&#039;t have the exact quote, sorry.)

&quot;Knowing what he does about werewolves, his fear is that she’ll end up like Emily, or worse.&quot;
What about the unnamed singer girl that Emmet killed? Jacob probably fears about that, and does he prevent Bella from seeing Edward?

&quot;Bella’s friendship with the completely harmless Mike Newton would be non-existent. After all, Edward admits numerous times to his jealousy of the boy and yet he never attempts to stop their friendship.&quot;
Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, hold the phone. So, he&#039;s jealous of Jacob and Mike. He prevents Bella from seeing Jacob, and lets her go on with Mike. There&#039;s something wrong with that. Do you see it? Because I do.

And Jacob being a werewolf and Edward a vampire is no excuse for Edward to stop her from seeing her friend. It&#039;s like an Englishman preventing his girlfriend to visit an American friend.

And there are MANY other examples of abuse and control besides that.
-Repeatedly threatens to &quot;stop&quot; Bella if she goes off to do something he doesn&#039;t want her to. (Visiting Jacob in Eclipse, for example.)
-Again and again shows examples of how strong he is and how she wouldn&#039;t stand a chance and how they shouldn&#039;t date, but makes no effort to stop it.
-Makes Bella lie to Charlie about their relationship.
-Bella says she doesn&#039;t want to go to Dartmouth. Edward ignores her, forging her signature on the papers.

And those are only a few examples. I want to see if you can counter them.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I, as an anti, find some validity in this argument. The argument against him being overprotected is all I find wrong.</p>
<p>&#8221; In Twilight, he very nearly whisks Bella away quite against her will after James starts his hunt. But it only takes a few minutes for Bella, Alice and Emmett to talk some sense into him.&#8221;<br />
If he had sense talked into him, though, he should have left her as she was. He&#8217;s making decisions for her!</p>
<p>&#8220;Then the whole Jacob issue. It’s not as if Edward is keeping Bella away from Jacob out of jealousy.&#8221;<br />
He actually is, and admits it at one point in the series. (I don&#8217;t have the exact quote, sorry.)</p>
<p>&#8220;Knowing what he does about werewolves, his fear is that she’ll end up like Emily, or worse.&#8221;<br />
What about the unnamed singer girl that Emmet killed? Jacob probably fears about that, and does he prevent Bella from seeing Edward?</p>
<p>&#8220;Bella’s friendship with the completely harmless Mike Newton would be non-existent. After all, Edward admits numerous times to his jealousy of the boy and yet he never attempts to stop their friendship.&#8221;<br />
Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, hold the phone. So, he&#8217;s jealous of Jacob and Mike. He prevents Bella from seeing Jacob, and lets her go on with Mike. There&#8217;s something wrong with that. Do you see it? Because I do.</p>
<p>And Jacob being a werewolf and Edward a vampire is no excuse for Edward to stop her from seeing her friend. It&#8217;s like an Englishman preventing his girlfriend to visit an American friend.</p>
<p>And there are MANY other examples of abuse and control besides that.<br />
-Repeatedly threatens to &#8220;stop&#8221; Bella if she goes off to do something he doesn&#8217;t want her to. (Visiting Jacob in Eclipse, for example.)<br />
-Again and again shows examples of how strong he is and how she wouldn&#8217;t stand a chance and how they shouldn&#8217;t date, but makes no effort to stop it.<br />
-Makes Bella lie to Charlie about their relationship.<br />
-Bella says she doesn&#8217;t want to go to Dartmouth. Edward ignores her, forging her signature on the papers.</p>
<p>And those are only a few examples. I want to see if you can counter them.</p>
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		<title>By: Mike Wilton</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-2013</link>
		<dc:creator>Mike Wilton</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:39:30 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-2013</guid>
		<description>Eric, that is a great parody.  I&#039;ve seen it before and have always like it.  Thanks for commenting about Twilight and thanks for sharing!</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Eric, that is a great parody.  I&#8217;ve seen it before and have always like it.  Thanks for commenting about Twilight and thanks for sharing!</p>
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		<title>By: Eric Levin</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-2012</link>
		<dc:creator>Eric Levin</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2009 07:18:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-2012</guid>
		<description>hey, I was kinda bored, so I went on youtube looking up twilight spoofs for a kick. You really have to see this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MKz0gkcgAo. It takes about 2:10 seconds in pick up, but I found myself laughing.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>hey, I was kinda bored, so I went on youtube looking up twilight spoofs for a kick. You really have to see this one <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MKz0gkcgAo" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MKz0gkcgAo</a>. It takes about 2:10 seconds in pick up, but I found myself laughing.</p>
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		<title>By: Kristina</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-1988</link>
		<dc:creator>Kristina</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:44:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-1988</guid>
		<description>Oh dear. I&#039;m very protective of my Bella, not that she needs it by the way, but honestly I love her. 

And while I don&#039;t agree with the abusive moniker at all - I will digress on this point. Lol. Wrong perhaps, but not abusive. It&#039;s just too strong a word for me.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Oh dear. I&#8217;m very protective of my Bella, not that she needs it by the way, but honestly I love her. </p>
<p>And while I don&#8217;t agree with the abusive moniker at all &#8211; I will digress on this point. Lol. Wrong perhaps, but not abusive. It&#8217;s just too strong a word for me.</p>
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		<title>By: Eric Levin</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-1986</link>
		<dc:creator>Eric Levin</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:34:36 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-1986</guid>
		<description>HA!!!! I think i found a compromise that we can both agree on!!!!!! (maybe you can use this as the opening statement in your textbook)

The mistakes Edward makes in his relationship with Bella during the Twilight series can be considered abusive, but that does not classify him as an abusive boyfriend.</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>HA!!!! I think i found a compromise that we can both agree on!!!!!! (maybe you can use this as the opening statement in your textbook)</p>
<p>The mistakes Edward makes in his relationship with Bella during the Twilight series can be considered abusive, but that does not classify him as an abusive boyfriend.</p>
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		<title>By: Eric Levin</title>
		<link>http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/musings/debunking-the-anti-twilight-propoganda-part-i/comment-page-2/#comment-1985</link>
		<dc:creator>Eric Levin</dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:29:46 +0000</pubDate>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/?p=467#comment-1985</guid>
		<description>I have looked at the other two, and believe me when I say you haven&#039;t seen the last of me! :)  I have a few thoughts on Bella....</description>
		<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I have looked at the other two, and believe me when I say you haven&#8217;t seen the last of me! <img src='http://www.musingsforadarkenedroom.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif' alt=':)' class='wp-smiley' />   I have a few thoughts on Bella&#8230;.</p>
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