Kicking A Hornet's Nest

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got a little more of Alyce's adventure to share with you, today! Enjoy! :-)

Excerpt from sci-fi satire novel:
There was a building in the background with a fence in front of it. The robots on the inside of the fence were standing by the gate and letting some of the robots who approached in, but keeping many out. There was a crowd of other robots holding signs and with their mouths open, as if they had been frozen just as they were in the middle of shouting something. The robots who were being allowed through the gate were all female. They walked with their heads down and their shoulders hunched, as if in a futile effort to protect themselves from the cruel words about to be hurled by the angry mob. The recreation was so realistic I could almost hear the vile cacophony of hate and bigotry that should have accompanied such a scene.

"Oh, sugar," I breathed. "This is a serious hornet's nest, where I come from. Are you sure you want to be kicking it?"

Squid-boy blinked at me and snapped his beak at the robots on display. "I don't see why this issue should be any more emotionally charged than some of the others we have discussed."

I groaned and rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands. "More emotionally charge? No, probably not. We've talked about some of the deepest wounds in my society, so there're a lot of emotions running high with some of them. But, this…" I gestured at the scene before us. "Well, let's just say there can be good people on both sides of it."

Yax stepped up and crossed his arms over his chest. "Isn't that often true of most social debates?"

Sighing, I shook my head. "No. Not like this."

"Please explain."

"Look, when you're talking about racism, or homophobia, or even corrupt politicians selling out the electorate to their corporate masters, there's a clear line between the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys'. There's no real gray area with those issues. It's wrong to hate other people because of what they are. It's wrong not to treat everyone equally under the law. And it's wrong for people who have been hired by the public to work in the public's interest to instead work for their own interests and the interests of private corporations that have bribed them. There's no rational argument to be made in those cases, no legitimate debate to be had."

"But in this case… Well, there can be good, well-intentioned people on both sides. One side is still wrong, but their error isn't due to greed, selfishness, irrational hatred, or dishonesty. At least, not with all of the people on that side, it isn't. Some people use the controversy created by this issue for their own, selfish ends, but there are many people who sincerely are trying to act in a way that they consider moral and ethical. Which makes the whole thing…"

"Complicated," chorused my hosts.

I shrugged. "Yeah."