(no subject)
May. 30th, 2003 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
x_stormLadies and gentlemen.
Do you know why I am not with Magneto? Do you know why I believe in Charles' vision?
It is not because I believe that human nature (and we are all human) is inherently sweet, kind, loving, and co-operative.
It is not because I believe that humanity does not harbor fear and hatred towards mutantkind, or vice versa.
It's certainly not because I don't think human on mutant genocide is possible.
It is because I can see a society made of only mutants very clearly, and I don't see it being any freer of persecution than our current one. I see those with physical mutations being persecuted by (or persecuting) those without them. I see alpha level mutants rising to power solely because they are alpha level mutants. I see gamma level mutants reduced to grunts and manual labor. I see the same old human racial, political, national, religious, and tribal differences still holding sway. I see telepaths and empaths holding a great deal of power, and being feared and reviled by other mutants for what they can do. I can see shapeshifters being the victims of witchhunts for just the same reason. I can see a code of honor relating to the use of powers arising simply because such a thing is absolutely necessary for such a society to function enough to produce food, and I can see those who want power wantonly ignoring it.
Anyone who wants to accuse me of not having a sense of humor is perfectly welcome to do it to my face, and then I will show you exactly why this kind of behavior is refered to as a "slippery slope".
We do not do this kind of shit to each other, people.
This is supposed to be home. The one place that people like us - that anyone - can come to and get away from the kind of crap we face in the outside world.
Do you really think you're here to learn English Literature or Physics? Or even how to control your powers?
Wrong. We are here to learn how to be better human beings. All of us.
Cut this bullshit out. Right now. Everyone.
Do you know why I am not with Magneto? Do you know why I believe in Charles' vision?
It is not because I believe that human nature (and we are all human) is inherently sweet, kind, loving, and co-operative.
It is not because I believe that humanity does not harbor fear and hatred towards mutantkind, or vice versa.
It's certainly not because I don't think human on mutant genocide is possible.
It is because I can see a society made of only mutants very clearly, and I don't see it being any freer of persecution than our current one. I see those with physical mutations being persecuted by (or persecuting) those without them. I see alpha level mutants rising to power solely because they are alpha level mutants. I see gamma level mutants reduced to grunts and manual labor. I see the same old human racial, political, national, religious, and tribal differences still holding sway. I see telepaths and empaths holding a great deal of power, and being feared and reviled by other mutants for what they can do. I can see shapeshifters being the victims of witchhunts for just the same reason. I can see a code of honor relating to the use of powers arising simply because such a thing is absolutely necessary for such a society to function enough to produce food, and I can see those who want power wantonly ignoring it.
Anyone who wants to accuse me of not having a sense of humor is perfectly welcome to do it to my face, and then I will show you exactly why this kind of behavior is refered to as a "slippery slope".
We do not do this kind of shit to each other, people.
This is supposed to be home. The one place that people like us - that anyone - can come to and get away from the kind of crap we face in the outside world.
Do you really think you're here to learn English Literature or Physics? Or even how to control your powers?
Wrong. We are here to learn how to be better human beings. All of us.
Cut this bullshit out. Right now. Everyone.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 01:50 pm (UTC)Oh, never mind, I'll be in your office in a minute anyway.
Why I am not with Magneto...
Date: 2003-05-30 03:10 pm (UTC)It also renders a basic fallacy of thought: that they are human. They are not, and cannot be poured into that behavioral mould. If you fear the morality of mutancy, then you should disable their powers on entering and train them to be stockbrokers and physical trainers.
Or, you can accept the fact that their powers do make them different, and will accord a different mentality than a normal human.
Tell me something about your world, Monroe. Do the more intelligent wear neural scramblers to keep them distracted? Do the strong and nimble carry chains to bind them down? Do the wise and experienced stay drugged to disable their knowledge?
Humans are not the same. Humans who hold great power are often reviled and hated for what they can do. They do perpetuate that those who are not as bright, as beautiful, as strong, as wise will be consigned to manual labour, gifted with the illusion of choice. That is what being human brings us to.
Tell me, does Charles rape every person he uses his powers with? He intrudes on the most sacred of privacies; the mind, often without permission. Does Charles do wrong? He has wrapped his actions in an ethical construct that he and yourself included believes is right. It is not a human ethos. It is a mutant ethos which he has developed in recognition of his powers.
Do not seek to cripple these children by teaching them to be better humans. They can no more be human than a chimpanzee can. Let us focus on teaching them to be better sentient, fully aware of their powers and their place in the world. We have stripped away their names to accord them with ones based more so on their state of 'being', to still from Zen; their 'nowness'. Iceman, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Colossus, Archangel: these are states of being, and not genealogical denominations. Their families will be the ones they find, and the basic identification of mutancy is not a rubberstamp for that. Your wayward pyrokinetic is proof of that.
The actions of Ms Pryde and Mr Madrox, whether meriting a lecture, a laugh or a severe punishment, have indicated an important flaw in this school. If it is going to serve as the best hope for the future, to keep a horror like Magneto's world from coming to past, it must first become the future, and cannot do so without re-examining every human assumption and expectation it holds for validity.
Re: Why I am not with Magneto...
Date: 2003-05-30 04:07 pm (UTC)My dad taught me two sayings, that power corrupts and that responsibility comes with power. Well, we've all got power, or we wouldn't be here. If we don't learn to be better humans then we're going to prove my dad's first saying right. I don't want that.
I don't think that learning to be better human beings cripples us. I think it makes us a lot stronger.
And I really thought your lecture was interesting, sir.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 05:11 pm (UTC)It also renders a basic fallacy of thought: that they are human.
If this is truly what you think, I cannot even begin to understand why you are at this school, let alone why Charles is permitting you to stay here.
Are we homo sapiens sapiens? No.
Are we human? Yes.
Actually, in point of precise genetic and biological fact, we are still homo sapiens sapiens, which you as a geneticist should certainly realize: humans and mutants are cross-fertile.
We live in a human society - there are no "mutant industries", no mutant medical establishment. No mutant-powered Social Security, DMV, legal system, or economy. With my own very small personal exception, there is no mutant agriculture.
Another reason I am not with Magneto: if all of baseline humanity died tomorrow, even with all our powers at our disposal, it would take centuries to restore civilization and society to their former heights, even in simple economic terms.
For that, if for no other reason, we are bound in and bound by human society, and human ethical codes.
I can control the weather, and make barren land more fertile, still the harshest of storms and alleviate drought with a thought; I am a one-woman agricultural miracle.
But at the end of the day, I still buy my food at the Safeway and I take Greymalkin to Main to get there, in my truck, and that makes me human.
Does Charles do wrong? He has wrapped his actions in an ethical construct that he and yourself included believes is right. It is not a human ethos.
Wrong.
The morals that we derive our code of conduct from are human morals. Privacy is a human moral value. The fact that modern technology makes it easier to invade privacy doesn't mean that credit card companies are following a "technological" ethos as to who they release information to.
We have stripped away their names to accord them with ones based more so on their state of 'being', to still from Zen; their 'nowness'. Iceman, Cyclops, Storm, Rogue, Colossus, Archangel
No, we have given ourselves codenames to protect our privacy.
Bobby is Bobby. Scott is Scott. Marie is Marie. Piotr is Piotr. Warren is Warren.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 09:44 pm (UTC)Thank you, for both the opinion you expressed so strongly in this post, and for making that distinction. If you're not busy this evening, I'd like to discuss these recent events with you; I'll also be free for the majority of the weekend, should you be busy tonight.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 10:05 pm (UTC)This evening is good. I'll bring the coffee. Here, or do you want to head into town?
no subject
Date: 2003-05-30 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-05-31 08:58 am (UTC)And in twenty years, we will have a mutant industry, legal code and economy, one which will be driven not from a coherent basis of philosophy, but an ad-hoc perversion of existing structures because we shy away from addressing it. Mutants are different, and the more we preach ignorance to that reality, the more will find their only way of coming to terms with themselves within Magneto’s fold.
Mutancy and the powers that come with it represent a paradigm shift in thought, ethics, and social structure. When you have individuals with the ability to pull apart the fabric of reality at whim, you cannot blithely assume that a moral code which has never had to deal with such a state can adapt without changing. You speak of ethics as derivative; something obtained or deduced from something else. Mutant ethos will derive from human thought and ethos, but not at the exclusion of the physical realities that mutation brings.
I do not ignore how mutation can change these children, their minds, their beliefs. I will not expect them to suppress their gifts to arrange a ‘level playing field’, any more than I would advocate the intelligent to be drugged to a normal mind can keep up. I will encourage them to challenge each system and belief for its validity, and not to merely accept it.
You question my being here? Perhaps it is because I do not fear to look at a post-human world with all the harshness that can exist there, and what steps are needed to prevent it from experiencing the genocide, holocaust, bigotry and injustice of this one. Perhaps I believe it is time for our minds and ideals to evolve with our bodies.