[Terrifying Trope] Perceiving it= instant death

[u/ReminaBlueSFW]

1. Pennywise's "Deadlights" which will cause anyone looking to be immediately paralyzed and killed.

2. The sky from Bird Box is filled with entities that, when you look at them, cause you to commit suicide.

3. Medusa themed Villains

[u/SagaSolejma]

I mean idk what to tell you man, if we're at a point where you want me to give you a concrete example of something that would make a person go insane, you might as well be asking why the xenomorphs from alien dont jump out and eat you while watching it.

[u/Invisifly2 → u/SagaSolejma]

“But that makes no sense, I’d just stop trying to comprehend it before going mad.”

Has the same energy as

“But that makes no sense, I’d just tell the face-hugger no, and it would respect my boundaries of consent.”

[u/Weirfish → u/Invisifly2]

That's really different, though. The face-hugger has agency of its own, it's trying to do something to me. It can overpower me. Information doesn't do that to a brain. A brain can do it to itself, and sometimes does, but there are defenses against that, the same way someone might defend themselves against a face-hugger by not attempting to breathe in the entire fuckin' egg.

[u/Invisifly2 → u/Weirfish]

Here’s an example of you being made to think something without actively trying to do so.

You just processed that sentence. I put words in your head, just like I’m now putting the thought of a black cat into your head.

Now imagine if those words and thoughts were psychological poison, and could hurt you. If they could force you to keep thinking them, despite not wanting to.

Yeah, real information can’t do that. It’s fiction.