Post Chad

Chad’s appearance has sucked all the atmosphere from the pub. Him leaving with Spencer doesn’t improve it. His anger, his words hang over the four of you remaining.

“I’m worried for her.” Abigail is the first to speak what you’re all thinking.

“He wasn’t like that before,” Anissa’s defence is half-hearted, more an attempt to defend her friend than her friend’s husband. “She says he was really considerate when they first started going out. It’s only in the last year that he’s got controlling.”

“Yes, they’re all considerate as they sink their claws into you. And you think that’s how they are. And then when the red flags start popping up, you dismiss them as paranoia. Until you realise it isn’t.” Abigail is going dark. You get the feeling she’s speaking from experience.

“He must be really good in bed, if she’s willing to put up with that,” is Krystal’s contribution.

“It’s nothing to do with how good he is in bed. They get into you, and you don’t want to see it, and then you think you’ve invested so much you don’t want that to go to waste, and by the time you realise you’re in a toxic relationship, it’s too late to get out of it.”

“It’s only since he’s been getting into those videos on the internet, you know, all about alpha males. You seen them, John?”

“Most of what’s on the internet is nonsense.”

“There’s educational material.”

“Yes, there is. And well done for those creators who make educational material. But it’s often drowned out by the nonsense. I mean, most of the nonsense is easy to see through if you know what you’re looking at, but… Look at the rise of Flat Earth, clear nonsense, but there’s so much out there now that some of those proposing it must believe it. And that’s not the most ridiculous conspiracy out there. There’s those that claim 300 years of years of history have been made up. How do they account for this? Conspiracy, involving thousands, from ancient authors to modern historians. One of the best skills we can teach the girls is how to spot nonsense they’ll inevitably run into on the internet.”

“And how do you do that?” Anissa asks, she sounds concerned.

“Critical thinking. What’s the evidence? Who’s telling you that? Do they have a reason other than disseminating knowledge for what their telling you? Some do it purely for financial gain. Some do it because they want to believe the world is as they claim.”

“Take as an example, there’s this theory, Fomenko’s New Chronology. A Russian nationalist, who claims that our understanding of history has been manipulated. He claims the stories of Rome are actually stories about Moscow, that Russia and Russians are the centre of all history. It’s nonsense, but there are people who actually believe it, because they want to. They’re Russian nationalists who want to believe that Russia is the centre of everything.”

“If Russia isn’t the centre of everything, where is?”

“There isn’t one. History is a series of events. Hindsight makes us think there’s a plan. No. It’s just a series of events. It happened that way. Different luck, different decisions, it would have happened differently. The only thing that is inevitable is the fall of existing empires, and the rise of new ones. But when the existing empires fall, and which new empires rise, is based on decisions by people and twists of fate, that only hindsight can predict.”

There’s a pause that is finally broken by Abigail. “How much have you had to drink?” She looks at your empty pint glass. “If you get like that after one pint, I dread to think how you are after several. I’m not ready for that. I’m off.”

“Oui, I should go as well,” Anissa chimes in.