TM: Catching up
What's better: democracy or monarchy?
Democracy is a strange thing. In theory, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside: liberté! Égalité! Fraternité! What a wonderful concept! The reality, however, is quite disappointing.
Let's just take a look at my people. Technically, we should have the same rights as the rest of humanity, shouldn't we? Why is it then that I cannot choose where I want to live? What to do? Whom to vote for? Why, of course, you will reply, because I'm a nasty telepath and you are scared that I could read your thoughts and even, oh, the horror, manipulate them! You're just glad that your government, the government you voted for, is making sure that I can't do any of that. Maybe you will even add that you're all for the old saying of you and me being "separate but equal". Obviously it never occurs to you that your pesky little mundane thoughts might be of no interest to me.
Thinking about it, maybe the concept of democracy doesn't really make feel all that warm and fuzzy inside; the thought that my life is governed according to the opinion of mundanes isn't very reassuring, really. The idiocy of humans tends to increase exponentially with the size of the crowd, and I don't particularly feel like following a herd of sheep on their way to the cliff.
Which leaves monarchy, at least according to your little poll. I, myself, would've preferred dictatorship, really. This works quite well for Psi Corps, doesn't it? Well, back to your question. Monarchy. Let's see: would I like to be governed by someone whose only qualification is his family tree, and I'm not talking about genetics here? What do you think? Exactly. Just take a look at the fine examples of aristrocracy that several hundreds of years of inbreeding have produced.
What would your life be, if it were a movie? Comedy, horror, drama, sci-fi? And who would play you?
Many years ago, long before I became a Psi Cop, I made a very stupid mistake that almost got me killed. What can I say, I was young and foolish. Fortunately - at least from my point of view, I'm afraid my enemies wouldn't quite agree with me on that - I survived. I was lucky enough to be saved by a man who not only stopped a psychopathic Blip from murdering me, but also took me under his wing and introduced me to many things Psi Corps had failed to show me up to that point. He became somewhat of a mentor to me, almost like the father I had never met and that Psi Corps never entirely managed to replace, despite being my mother and father, officially. Sadly our time together didn't last as long as I would've liked, but I guess this isn't the right time and place to talk about these matters. Let's just say that those responsible got what they deserved.
One day when I was being punished (and rightfully so, looking back at it) for above mentioned mistake, I got very angry at the general unfairness life, and especially so at those people in Psi Corps who had chosen my penalty.
My mentor saw this, and all my thoughts about that matter, and wanted me to understand that there was more to my situation that I could see from my point of view. He showed me an old vid called "Rashomon". Maybe you've seen it sometime, I hear it's a classic. The story itself is quite simple, and yet very confusing at the same time. It left me feeling very unsure of myself and the way I had perceived the world I was living in so far.
To this day I believe that my life resembles this movie very much. Over the course of all these years I have played many roles; I was the child, the student, the intern, the teacher, the subordinate, the leader, the husband, the father, the lover, the traitor and the hero, and I'm sure that there are many more roles awaiting me in the future.
My answer to your question will have to be "Rashomon", because of all this. It's the only answer I can think of.
What is good and what is evil?
I belong to an organization that many humans tend to perceive as "evil", so obviously that experience has taught me that thinking in such simple black and white patterns can be both stupid and very dangerous. However, I, like most people, can't say that I didn't fall for such simple solutions when I was younger. I get the impression that most people tend to think I'm narrow-minded because of my upbringing; maybe this will show them that even I will change my opinion from time to time:
When I was a child, I was taught that my cadre, my teachers, and all the other people in Psi Corps were good, that protecting normals was good, and that Blips were evil.
When I grew up, I realized that although the people themselves couldn't be trusted entirely, the Corps itself was still good, and that the mundanes were evil. I wasn't that sure about Blips anymore.
When I got older, I found out that out there are things out there fare more evil than mundanes could ever be, and that not all of Psi Corps is good. This was a hard lesson to learn, even harder than the previous one.
Nowadays, I believe that my idea of Corps is good. My telepaths are good, and the future I have planned for them is good.
Blips can be good if they can be reeducated; if not, they should at least be given a chance to be of use to Psi Corps.
Mundanes are dinosaurs, and soon to be extinct. They haven't realized it yet, of course, and until they meet their fate they will remain our enemy; most of them aren't smart enough for me to consider them evil, however.
Evil, truly evil is everything and everyone related to the Shadows. They and their henchmen must be eradicated. This is my main objective right now, and I will not rest until they have paid for what they did to Psi Corps and my lover.
Democracy is a strange thing. In theory, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside: liberté! Égalité! Fraternité! What a wonderful concept! The reality, however, is quite disappointing.
Let's just take a look at my people. Technically, we should have the same rights as the rest of humanity, shouldn't we? Why is it then that I cannot choose where I want to live? What to do? Whom to vote for? Why, of course, you will reply, because I'm a nasty telepath and you are scared that I could read your thoughts and even, oh, the horror, manipulate them! You're just glad that your government, the government you voted for, is making sure that I can't do any of that. Maybe you will even add that you're all for the old saying of you and me being "separate but equal". Obviously it never occurs to you that your pesky little mundane thoughts might be of no interest to me.
Thinking about it, maybe the concept of democracy doesn't really make feel all that warm and fuzzy inside; the thought that my life is governed according to the opinion of mundanes isn't very reassuring, really. The idiocy of humans tends to increase exponentially with the size of the crowd, and I don't particularly feel like following a herd of sheep on their way to the cliff.
Which leaves monarchy, at least according to your little poll. I, myself, would've preferred dictatorship, really. This works quite well for Psi Corps, doesn't it? Well, back to your question. Monarchy. Let's see: would I like to be governed by someone whose only qualification is his family tree, and I'm not talking about genetics here? What do you think? Exactly. Just take a look at the fine examples of aristrocracy that several hundreds of years of inbreeding have produced.
What would your life be, if it were a movie? Comedy, horror, drama, sci-fi? And who would play you?
Many years ago, long before I became a Psi Cop, I made a very stupid mistake that almost got me killed. What can I say, I was young and foolish. Fortunately - at least from my point of view, I'm afraid my enemies wouldn't quite agree with me on that - I survived. I was lucky enough to be saved by a man who not only stopped a psychopathic Blip from murdering me, but also took me under his wing and introduced me to many things Psi Corps had failed to show me up to that point. He became somewhat of a mentor to me, almost like the father I had never met and that Psi Corps never entirely managed to replace, despite being my mother and father, officially. Sadly our time together didn't last as long as I would've liked, but I guess this isn't the right time and place to talk about these matters. Let's just say that those responsible got what they deserved.
One day when I was being punished (and rightfully so, looking back at it) for above mentioned mistake, I got very angry at the general unfairness life, and especially so at those people in Psi Corps who had chosen my penalty.
My mentor saw this, and all my thoughts about that matter, and wanted me to understand that there was more to my situation that I could see from my point of view. He showed me an old vid called "Rashomon". Maybe you've seen it sometime, I hear it's a classic. The story itself is quite simple, and yet very confusing at the same time. It left me feeling very unsure of myself and the way I had perceived the world I was living in so far.
To this day I believe that my life resembles this movie very much. Over the course of all these years I have played many roles; I was the child, the student, the intern, the teacher, the subordinate, the leader, the husband, the father, the lover, the traitor and the hero, and I'm sure that there are many more roles awaiting me in the future.
My answer to your question will have to be "Rashomon", because of all this. It's the only answer I can think of.
What is good and what is evil?
I belong to an organization that many humans tend to perceive as "evil", so obviously that experience has taught me that thinking in such simple black and white patterns can be both stupid and very dangerous. However, I, like most people, can't say that I didn't fall for such simple solutions when I was younger. I get the impression that most people tend to think I'm narrow-minded because of my upbringing; maybe this will show them that even I will change my opinion from time to time:
When I was a child, I was taught that my cadre, my teachers, and all the other people in Psi Corps were good, that protecting normals was good, and that Blips were evil.
When I grew up, I realized that although the people themselves couldn't be trusted entirely, the Corps itself was still good, and that the mundanes were evil. I wasn't that sure about Blips anymore.
When I got older, I found out that out there are things out there fare more evil than mundanes could ever be, and that not all of Psi Corps is good. This was a hard lesson to learn, even harder than the previous one.
Nowadays, I believe that my idea of Corps is good. My telepaths are good, and the future I have planned for them is good.
Blips can be good if they can be reeducated; if not, they should at least be given a chance to be of use to Psi Corps.
Mundanes are dinosaurs, and soon to be extinct. They haven't realized it yet, of course, and until they meet their fate they will remain our enemy; most of them aren't smart enough for me to consider them evil, however.
Evil, truly evil is everything and everyone related to the Shadows. They and their henchmen must be eradicated. This is my main objective right now, and I will not rest until they have paid for what they did to Psi Corps and my lover.