@magick'sgone
I want to make sure I understand.
I think it's a little unfair to be labelling the ex as manipulative, a bad guy, and all that. How is he expected to react? He is expressing what he believes to be a fact. It could be said that disclosing suicidal intent in such circumstances is a form of manipulation. We know that not to be the case, but it could be claimed.
I initially
perceived the quote as follows:
•Your opinion was that OP's ex has been treated unfairly on this thread by being labeled as manipulative.
•You seemed to me to have entered his mind and stated what he said and believed.
•You seemed to me to defend him by turning the tables: that it could be claimed someone could manipulate by disclosing suicidal intent.
• You stated we know OP did not do this, but it could be claimed. I wondered, by whom, then?
• If you and we know this, then it appears to me that you created a straw man ex and a straw man OP, in which the straw man ex was now a victim and the straw man OP was now a perpetrator.
Because I interpreted this as a passive accusation, yet also heard your claim that OP was innocent, I was confused by the contradictory statements and asked for clarification. You were kind enough to respond:
Ok, I don't know OP's exact circumstance so please take this as a general example of how things that aren't intended to be used as manipulation could be misconstrued as such.
I perceive your response may address the straw scenario.
The bit in italics [what I quoted at the beginning of this post] was just to illustrate the point that we perhaps often choose what we consider manipulative depending on whether or not they fit our narrative.
Whenever I see "we" and "our" and I don't want to be included because I am autonomous, I rephrase it so that I can better understand the speaker's autonomous perspective and better hear them. So I rephrase it to hear you say:
"The bit in italics was just to illustrate the point that I perhaps often choose what I consider manipulative depending on whether or not they fit my narrative."
That narrative follows in the next paragraph, which is in the following quoted text below. Your post addressed me. You created an imaginary scenario in which you and I are in an imaginary relationship and we share two children. I assume they are ridiculously attractive, intelligent, and talented, like off the charts. Our relationship ends, I find a new partner, you do not. I am happy, you are sad. You determine for me in this imaginary scenario that what I consider ideal is that we share parenting responsibilities but lead separate albeit connected lives. You advise me that you are having serious mental health problems and are considering suicide. I will soon be the sole parent and will be responsible for explaining to them and to others why they only have one parent, your death is a tragic event, and our children will likely want to know the cause.
Let's say that you and I had been in a relationship that produced 2 children. Over time our relationship changed and eventually came to an end, as many do. You have since found a new partner and things are going pretty sweet, whereas I have not, and am quite bummed out about the way it's gone. Ideally for you, we would share parenting responsibilities and otherwise get on with our own separate but permanently connected lives. However, I now let you know that I'm having serious problems with my mental health and am considering killing myself. Our children will soon be only your children. You will need to one day explain to them (and many other people over the years) why they have one parent. They will probably want to know what caused this tragic event.
Then you say:
This could be viewed as manipulative behaviour in the same way that you trying to convince me not to do it due to the harm it will cause could be.
Well, so far I haven't seen any evidence of manipulation on your part. You were unhappy about the breakup. You advised me that you are having serious mental health problems and are considering suicide, but you didn't mention anything about the breakup or me, only yourself. You didn't try to persuade me of anything.
If I tried to convince you to survive due to the harm I would cause, that would not be manipulation but persuasion.
I want to say here, I've been on this thread from the start, and I think you're missing a lot of backstory from previous threads about the OP and her ex. Rightly or wrongly, based on those previous threads, I am the one who initiated the accusation of manipulation
as a contributing factor in OP's desire to ctb, and when he wanted her to live, I rhetorically asked if he would be willing to change his manipulative behavior in order to make living feasible. I don't recall anyone on the thread saying his attempt to persuade her to live was manipulative.
Does that make better sense of things for you? As I said before in a previous post, I can see where there has been confusion.
I only make a point of highlighting this because I've seen friends of mine affected by similar circumstances. I've known 2 people who have had ex partners whom they have children with (one instance the male, the other the female) tell them they are going to kill themselves.
It put them in such a fucked up predicament and they did not know how to respond. They felt like the other person's life had been placed in their hands. One wrong comment and it could be the last thing you say to someone you once loved.
Both people resorted to telling the suicidal ex that their family members would be devestated if they did die and to think of the people who loved them. To us those words have become quite meaningless, but I can assure you that these people had no intentions of manipulation. They had been forced into saying them because they were mentally healthy people being dragged into unfamiliar territory.
What I take from this is that you were personally affected by situations with some correlation, and which caused strong emotional reactions for you, such that you conflated these people you loved with the OP's ex, and wanted to defend him to the point of almost-but-not-quite villanizing the OP, passively implying she intended to manipulate and has serious mental health issues. Creating straw men and imaginary situations created plausible deniability that you were doing so. Also, you claimed your friends were mentally healthy; OP's ex displays narcissistic traits, as discussed in previous posts. The situations simply are not the same.
Sorry, I've waffled on here. Excuse the formatting, I'm on my phone and tired AF. This isn't aimed at OP at all. Her's seems like a difficult situation for all those involved and I wish her the very best. It's always extra sad when kids are involved.
You end by claiming it was not directed at OP, but if not her, then who? At yourself as my imaginary ex-partner? At the exes of your friends? This closing returns to my initial perceptions and confusion that your statements are contradictory -- both passive accusation and absolution of any wrongdoing.
I keep in mind that I am not you, I have only perceptions based on what I've read and engaged with here, and I may be in error. What I perceive is that you were deeply affected by those other two situations and brought them here, and that they are the basis of the straw men situations you created to knock down because you were powerless to knock them down in real life.
I am so sorry you went through that, truly.
But the OP, her ex, and their kids are a totally different set of people in totally different circumstances. The thread is not about the people you knew, or how bad you wanna have my babies (j/k, a little humor).
I've made a lot of effort to understand what was happening here. I perceive you have been conflicted, and understandably so. Please forgive me for any error.