003 by line || Lois Lane || [Video completely open to all]
Congratulations.
Before you call me spineless and say I'm just soft, I'm an Army brat, I believe in the death penalty, I understand the necessity of death in wartime. But that is not what I saw this past week. This was no war, this was slaughter.
Untrained interns..yes interns for gods sake, some armed but most cowering in shadows hoping not to be seen, no more able to hurt the super powered warriors among us than a fly. These people, yes people, living breathing people with lives and possibly families, were torn apart. Most cases not even euphemistically merciful killings, but brutal cold blooded murder. Did you know any of these interns? Did you know why they did any of the things that happened here? Did you know which were running things and which just fixed the toilets? Did you even care?
I cared, I tried to help, thinking there had to be a place to hold them securely, apparently there is by the way a brig. All I wanted for them was a fair shot, a chance for a trial before someone took it upon themselves to decide who lived and died. Even terrorists get that, but no, we couldn't be bothered with anything so mundane. We, collectively, are murders and I can't paint it any prettier.
I tried to help, it earned me a beating that I almost didn't survive. And you know what? The person responsible? Killed every last one of the people I was trying to help. They didn't kill me, and I'm not sure why. I have a good guess this might make them rethink that though. But I would no sooner commit that person to death, even having witnessed them killing, than the interns they slaughtered. Why? Because it is not my right to be that judge. None of us as individuals have that right.
Does might equal right now? Because you are stronger you get to make the rules? You think you know what the best decision is for everyone? What happens to the next voice of descent? Will it be silenced with a blade? When I first came here I was told, by the last person in the world I would have expected to hear say it, that the so called heroes here were more of a threat than the people I called villains back home. I didn't want to see it, refused to believe it, but over the past month I can tell you, every word of what was said has come to pass.
We have one man bands of judge, jury and executioners walking among us, with nothing to stop them from deciding who is the next threat. Who is to stop them?
I've heard often how I don't know because I haven't been here long, and I admit that's true. But many people here came back when they died, usually there was a good chance they would come back. A chance, that's something these interns never had. No coming back from this, unceremonious cremations without thought or grief for the most part.
So, I've just about said all I will, and I do expect people to say their own back to me. I understand that, I want that, each of you deserves to be heard. But my last thought is this: What if this was all another experiment? A test of our humanity, what steps would we take to ensure our own survival and how far were we willing to go. I pray it wasn't, I want to think and take some sort of comfort in the idea that everything that happened was a necessary evil. But what if it wasn't?
I'm sorry I can't join you in celebrating, but I have a few more days bed rest and... after that I guess we'll all just wait and see. John F Kennedy said 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.' That works on both sides.
(OOC: Cut for length. Yes, I expect the hate, but it's Lois, she has to say it)
Before you call me spineless and say I'm just soft, I'm an Army brat, I believe in the death penalty, I understand the necessity of death in wartime. But that is not what I saw this past week. This was no war, this was slaughter.
Untrained interns..yes interns for gods sake, some armed but most cowering in shadows hoping not to be seen, no more able to hurt the super powered warriors among us than a fly. These people, yes people, living breathing people with lives and possibly families, were torn apart. Most cases not even euphemistically merciful killings, but brutal cold blooded murder. Did you know any of these interns? Did you know why they did any of the things that happened here? Did you know which were running things and which just fixed the toilets? Did you even care?
I cared, I tried to help, thinking there had to be a place to hold them securely, apparently there is by the way a brig. All I wanted for them was a fair shot, a chance for a trial before someone took it upon themselves to decide who lived and died. Even terrorists get that, but no, we couldn't be bothered with anything so mundane. We, collectively, are murders and I can't paint it any prettier.
I tried to help, it earned me a beating that I almost didn't survive. And you know what? The person responsible? Killed every last one of the people I was trying to help. They didn't kill me, and I'm not sure why. I have a good guess this might make them rethink that though. But I would no sooner commit that person to death, even having witnessed them killing, than the interns they slaughtered. Why? Because it is not my right to be that judge. None of us as individuals have that right.
Does might equal right now? Because you are stronger you get to make the rules? You think you know what the best decision is for everyone? What happens to the next voice of descent? Will it be silenced with a blade? When I first came here I was told, by the last person in the world I would have expected to hear say it, that the so called heroes here were more of a threat than the people I called villains back home. I didn't want to see it, refused to believe it, but over the past month I can tell you, every word of what was said has come to pass.
We have one man bands of judge, jury and executioners walking among us, with nothing to stop them from deciding who is the next threat. Who is to stop them?
I've heard often how I don't know because I haven't been here long, and I admit that's true. But many people here came back when they died, usually there was a good chance they would come back. A chance, that's something these interns never had. No coming back from this, unceremonious cremations without thought or grief for the most part.
So, I've just about said all I will, and I do expect people to say their own back to me. I understand that, I want that, each of you deserves to be heard. But my last thought is this: What if this was all another experiment? A test of our humanity, what steps would we take to ensure our own survival and how far were we willing to go. I pray it wasn't, I want to think and take some sort of comfort in the idea that everything that happened was a necessary evil. But what if it wasn't?
I'm sorry I can't join you in celebrating, but I have a few more days bed rest and... after that I guess we'll all just wait and see. John F Kennedy said 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.' That works on both sides.
(OOC: Cut for length. Yes, I expect the hate, but it's Lois, she has to say it)