log 010, video

[thestarspangledman]

[Steve's been playing 'let's catch up on seventy years of history' again, slightly augmented by that trip to Risa. By which we mean, he got to experience technology in the future. But here he is, settled down with a pile of books and looking just a tad disconsolate.]

I know it's 2012. I really do. But even here, I -- feel like I'm gonna have to turn on a radio and wait for it to warm up. Or like I could pick up a newspaper and check the next time the Dodgers are gonna play down at Ebbets. Just -- it's enough to know that what we fought for was worth it, but I've been looking at the library again; and it's ....

Let's just say this isn't the future I expected. Kinda figured -- well, hoped -- we'd get over setting differences on people because of the color of their skin, or where they're from, or because of something they can't do a damn thing about. I guess it was too much to hope for, even seventy years later. Sometimes I think that everything's changed, then I realize some things haven't, and I -- don't know how to help it. Wish I could.

Comments

[Private]

[batmanschmatman]

Keep doing the work that you do. People need role models.

[imfollowinghim]

You're in a good mood.

[wedonot]

Just because there's still much that needs improvement doesn't mean we haven't made impressive steps in the right direction.

ivy stop hanging out with magneto

[chlorophylliac]

Human nature doesn't change. It remains subject to the same tribalism and mistrust and fear that it always is and always has been. Why did you think it was something your species could simply 'get over'?

[bob_fraser_rcmp]

Don't put up with it, son. That's all you can do. Don't let it stand when you see it.

[Private]

[thestarspangledman]

I don't have any plans on stopping. It's just -- kind of disheartening, I guess.

[thestarspangledman]

Have a look at these books and you'll be in about the same mood, I figure.

[Private]

[batmanschmatman]

Yeah, I'll give you that, but there's always good stuff along with the bad. Sometimes it's harder to see, but it's there, and just remember that's not going anywhere, either.

[thestarspangledman]

Well, yeah, I just ....thought we'd be a little further along.

[Private]

[thestarspangledman]

Yeah, but ....there's been a lot of bad.

[19centconstable]

Perhaps it's due to my being from 114 years earlier, but to me, things seem incredibly changed on that front.

[Private]

[batmanschmatman]

There's been a lot of good, too.

steve might have to dislike you on general principles if that's the case :c

[thestarspangledman]

I just figured people would learn from their mistakes, eventually. Looks like it's not exactly the case.

[thestarspangledman]

I don't intend to.

[thestarspangledman]

They've changed a hell of a lot, it's true, but --even so.

[Private]

[thestarspangledman]

Yeah, I know. I've been reading.

hey hate her for her own crazy reasons >:C

[chlorophylliac]

People might. But they die. Societies, cultures? They simply stumble from one form of xenophobia to the next and congratulate themselves on being more enlightened than their predecessors.

[19centconstable]

Well, wouldn't one be correct to theorize that they would continue to change, and for the better?

[trenchcoatedly]

Humans have had cyclical history for much, much longer than fifty years.

[Private]

[batmanschmatman]

Anything in particular getting you down?

[imfollowinghim]

Maybe it's time to put 'em down and do something else.

[scentbombed]

She's right, I'm afraid, Mr. Rogers. But there are good people within that. In my world, I was starting to see a few more as we came into the Century of the Anchovy... so maybe that's true in your 2012 as well.

[buildindreemz]

It seems really easy for people with the fewest scruples to end up in positions of power, too.

Though, I think the human nature argument is a little too simplistic. I mean, maybe it's in our nature to develop prejudices and fight with each other, but... it must also be in our nature to do really good things, too. Otherwise we wouldn't have all the good people we do. And we do have some.

[omar]

2006 seem pretty good to me, but I s'pose that depend on your definition of "good." [Probably most people who dislike crime would not enjoy it, for example!]

[Private] :| Kay is a strange sort of optimist.

[most_feared]

It's 2010 for me, son.

And like I was telling your inmate, people are dumb, panicky animals. People as a group, that is. But you take a person, one single person, and you have something you can change and make a difference.

Don't worry about all that stuff you're readin'. It's about people. They don't have much about everyday guys like cops or soldiers or waitresses or anyone else in those things- just famous types that screwed up and are one in a million.

We're a far stretch better than we were. Not perfect, but we gotta work at it.