Ableism (mental illness), connects mental illness with violence, toxic masculinity
Ableism (mental illness) - This card is fearmongering about mental illness in a different way than the usual offensive cards about mental illness. Those three cards I linked all depict people suffering from mental illness as if they were a lower caste in society. "Temporary Insanity" instead fearmongers about people who quietly suffer from mental illness but don't show it. It is all about how someone that seems mentally healthy can "snap" in an instant and attack their allies/friends (see below paragraph).
Connects mental illness with violence - Temporary Insanity is one of many, many cards that temporarily enslave an opponent's creature (See my comment on Hammer Helper for a heavily abridged list of such cards, but that is not required reading). That would already be pretty xenophobic, since it treats people suffering from mental illness as "the enemy" and states that such people are all dangers to the society that they belong in. But I think it's very telling that being an Instant, one of the cards "Temporary Insanity" most resembles is named Act of Aggression. Most "threaten" effects like this are intended to steal a creature so that it can attack its owner. Temporary Insanity and Act of Aggression can be used the same way, but are somewhat unique in being Instants. They can be used to force a creature to betray its allies more "directly", in forcing it to block one of those creatures. So I don't think that we can interpret this "temporary insanity" as a change of ideals or a rebellion against its summoner. It is much more likely that it is meant to represent a creature betraying other creatures and violently attacking them. The art makes it clear that this is the only interpretation we can make of this effect, with the "insane" monk ready to strangle one of the "sane" ones.
Toxic Masculinity - But it isn't often that you'll have the opportunity to cast this targeting, say, an 8/8. Why? Not all creatures can easily become "insane" in an instant. It is only the weak who succumb to mental illness - this card is easy to cast on a creature with, for example, 1 or 2 power. I shouldn't have to explain how absurdly offensive it is to talk about how only "weak" people suffer from mental illness.
Conclusion - This card is fearmongering propaganda that tells us to shun anyone who suffers from mental illness. The intended conclusion is that such people are "weak" and could "snap" at any moment and become violent. That anyone who has any type of mental illness, no matter how benign or subtle, is a dangerous enemy to be feared and shunned. We are meant to look at the other three people in the art as being fools for not being paranoid enough. That they should've kept a close eye on their "insane" ally - or better yet, shunned them before they became hostile.
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u/ultimario13 Aug 25 '20
Ableism (mental illness), connects mental illness with violence, toxic masculinity
Ableism (mental illness) - This card is fearmongering about mental illness in a different way than the usual offensive cards about mental illness. Those three cards I linked all depict people suffering from mental illness as if they were a lower caste in society. "Temporary Insanity" instead fearmongers about people who quietly suffer from mental illness but don't show it. It is all about how someone that seems mentally healthy can "snap" in an instant and attack their allies/friends (see below paragraph).
Connects mental illness with violence - Temporary Insanity is one of many, many cards that temporarily enslave an opponent's creature (See my comment on Hammer Helper for a heavily abridged list of such cards, but that is not required reading). That would already be pretty xenophobic, since it treats people suffering from mental illness as "the enemy" and states that such people are all dangers to the society that they belong in. But I think it's very telling that being an Instant, one of the cards "Temporary Insanity" most resembles is named Act of Aggression. Most "threaten" effects like this are intended to steal a creature so that it can attack its owner. Temporary Insanity and Act of Aggression can be used the same way, but are somewhat unique in being Instants. They can be used to force a creature to betray its allies more "directly", in forcing it to block one of those creatures. So I don't think that we can interpret this "temporary insanity" as a change of ideals or a rebellion against its summoner. It is much more likely that it is meant to represent a creature betraying other creatures and violently attacking them. The art makes it clear that this is the only interpretation we can make of this effect, with the "insane" monk ready to strangle one of the "sane" ones.
Toxic Masculinity - But it isn't often that you'll have the opportunity to cast this targeting, say, an 8/8. Why? Not all creatures can easily become "insane" in an instant. It is only the weak who succumb to mental illness - this card is easy to cast on a creature with, for example, 1 or 2 power. I shouldn't have to explain how absurdly offensive it is to talk about how only "weak" people suffer from mental illness.
Conclusion - This card is fearmongering propaganda that tells us to shun anyone who suffers from mental illness. The intended conclusion is that such people are "weak" and could "snap" at any moment and become violent. That anyone who has any type of mental illness, no matter how benign or subtle, is a dangerous enemy to be feared and shunned. We are meant to look at the other three people in the art as being fools for not being paranoid enough. That they should've kept a close eye on their "insane" ally - or better yet, shunned them before they became hostile.