Hey Everyone! 😊
Happy Tuesday! I'm back today with another peek at Alyce's efforts to help shed a little light on current events. Enjoy! 😉
Excerpt from Answers from Alyce:
Squid-boy tucked his clipboard under one of his tentacles
and bent forward slightly, which I interpreted as a nod. "Yes, the
exhibits, such as they are, start in the room beyond." He stepped off the
walkway and headed towards the door. "Come this way, please."
I followed Squid-boy into another room full of life-size
dioramas and mechanized mannequins, which were all going through a series of
seemingly random jerky motions. After watching them for a few minutes, I
realized it looked like they were trying to contort themselves into some
standard yoga poses.
"What in the pink and purple heck do you have your
dummies doing, Squid-boy?"
He glanced up from his clipboard to see what I was talking
about and then turned back to what he was typing. "The androids require
fine-tune programming to refine their movement subroutines. For 'droids
constructed to mimic the physical form of your species, this series of
movements has been found to be the most efficient for facilitating such
adjustments."
"Intergalactic yoga robots. Who knew?"
He didn't bother looking up at that. "We have not left
your galaxy, so the term 'intergalactic' is inaccurate."
I snorted as I continued looking over the exhibits under
construction. To be honest, they were strange enough that I had a hard time
trying to figure out what they were supposed to represent. Besides,
the…people…working on them were a bit distracting.
Climbing all over the exhibits were creatures that looked
like Squid-boy's older, scarier brothers. They had so many arms, all of which
were in constant motion, that I had a hard time trying to count them. Instead
of the cute beak and large, almost cartoonish eyes that Squid-boy boasted,
these aliens had multifaceted eyes, like giant insects, and their mouths seemed
to consist of long, flexible looking tubes that were currently curled up tight
against their tubular bodies. I didn't know for sure, but for some reason I had
the feeling that the tips of those tubes would be sharp. The smallest of them
was at least seven feet tall, and their skin appeared to change colors to mimic
whatever background scenery they were near, which made studying them hard on my
eyes.
To ease the strain, I turned my attention to the smaller
aliens that were swarming about. The much smaller aliens. None of them
were larger than a hamburger patty. They seemed to range from semi-translucent
white to semi-translucent gray, and they looked more like large spiders than
small squids. Black beads ran from the top of their heads in two rows along the
length of their bodies.
"Are those decorations?"
Squid-boy glanced around. "What?"
"The black beads on the little fellas' backs. Are they
decorations? Do they have some meaning?"
Looking around some more, his gaze finally settled on the
spider creatures. "Do you mean the yruggles?"
"The little spider-looking ones."
He gave a honking snort. "Those are their eyes. They
are all highly skilled artisans who are extremely well-suited for fine-detail
work."
I blinked. "How can they see to work if their eyes are
on their backs?"
He rolled his eyes and returned to his clipboard. "They
have a mirror arrangement of eyes along the undersides of their bodies and
unusually dense clusters of neural fibers in their extremities."
"Oh." I looked around some more. "So, are we
just gonna stand here, or what?"
He glanced up at me. "Or what."
I crossed my arms over chest and glared at him. "Well,
then…?"
He gargled at me and then tucked his clipboard under one of
his tentacles. "Apologies, young human. I have been responding to the
multiple queries that my updates to the records concerning your planet have
prompted. But, you're correct, such things can wait." He stretched his
tentacles, craning his head to look over the exhibits. "Right now all we
need is… Ah! There he is."
At Squid-boy's exclamation, I turned to see what he was
talking about and gasped. Coming towards us was what looked like the embodiment
of the classic description of Satan. The alien towered above me, at least nine
feet of hard muscle and gleaming red skin, and I couldn't help it; I gaped at
him. My eyes kept running from the hooves that looked like they belonged on a
goat, up those backwards-turned legs, to the thick-muscled thighs that were
covered in black shorts, to the washboard abs, sculpted chest and broad
shoulders, to the pointed cleft chin, past the full lips and straight, pointed
nose right above them, up to the wide, tilted, blood-red eyes that were framed
by the black, glittering ram's horns curling out from the top of his head and
back again. Even for an atheist like me, the sight of such a creature
was…startling.
It took me a minute, but I realized Squid-boy was talking to
the Devil incarnate as if he was just another person. "Greetings, Yaxurg,
this is the human that was brought to help with some of the exhibits. Are you
ready to begin?"
Satan turned to look at me, his gaze showing interest and
curiosity. His perusal made me feel like a roast he was considering having for
dinner. My eyes widened even more and my heart stuttered in my chest as a
forked tongue flickered out past his lips towards me.
"A human female,
Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham? I've heard of such creatures before.
According to rumor, they can be quite…friendly." His voice was a bass
rumble that raised the hair on the back of my neck.
Gazing down at me, he grinned, showing a row of pointed,
black teeth, and crossed his arms over his chest. I just continued to gape as
his biceps bulged and shifted. When I tore my eyes away from his chest and
focused on his face again, he winked at me.
Which was like a bucket of cold water over my head. I might
not know why the personification of evil was standing in front of me, but I
knew I was being rude. And my mamma raised me better than that.
I stepped forward and hesitantly raised my hand. "Sorry
for staring; your appearance is astonishingly similar to a mythological
creature from my culture and it surprised me for a minute. I'm Alyce."
His grin widened and it was all I could do not to step back
when confronted with that mouthful of cutlery. He gently took my extended hand,
his large fingers swallowing my own. I think I squeaked when I felt the tips of
his curved, black talons dimple my skin, but he was careful not to cut me with
them. Bending over, he brought his forehead down to touch the back of my hand,
and then released me and straightened.
"My name is Yaxurg, and think nothing of it. I've heard
of the mythology on your world that surrounds my kind. There's good reason for
it, apparently. Our history documents several occasions in the distant past
when renegade members of my species visited your planet and caused havoc. Those
incidents have led to some…interesting… interactions between your species and
mine through the last few centuries. Perhaps, after our work here is done, you
and I can spend some time together and get to know each other better."
After a heartbeat, my brain caught up with the conversation.
My jaw dropped as my eyes ran the length of his body again. He couldn't
possibly mean… But when I saw the look in his eyes, I knew that he did. Whoo,
boy! I've experienced many things in life, but I never thought I'd be
propositioned by Satan. Something he had said before about human women
registered, and I rolled my eyes. I guess I could see why getting
"friendly" with someone from his species might appeal to some women.
After all, wouldn't the Devil be the ultimate bad boy? But that's never been my
scene.
I couldn't help it, I laughed. "In the interest of
advancing interspecies understanding, right?"
His expression turned grave, but his eyes twinkled. "Of
course, what else?"
I shook my head. "Well, Yax, you certainly have the
Devil's own charm. But I think I'll have to pass."
He cocked an eyebrow. "Yax?"
Squid-boy chimed in. "She has an aversion to the use of
proper names."
I glanced down at him and snorted. "You don't have a
'proper name'; you have a random rearrangement of the entire alphabet."
Yax laughed. "Ah. At least I'm in good company,
then." Turning back to me, he smiled. "I understand. But if you
happen to change your mind, the offer stands."
I smiled back, but shook my head again. "I promise, if
I change my mind, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime…" I
gestured towards the exhibits.
After grinning at me for another heartbeat, Yax nodded and
turned back to Squid-Boy. "As the lady says, we have work to do."
Squid-boy gurgled at us both. "Indeed. Now that the
mammalian mating ritual is completed, by all means, let us get to work."
Yax guffawed and patted Squid-boy on the head. "Now,
Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham, I wouldn't think a scientist like you
would mind the opportunity for close study of the behavior of two such
exceptional specimens." He gestured from himself to me.
Squid-boy snapped his beak at Yax and slapped at his hand
with his tentacles. "You always did have an over-inflated opinion of
yourself."
I couldn't hold it back; I laughed at the two of them
together. "Why, Squid-boy, you didn't tell me you have a sense of
humor!"
He snapped his beak at me, and then drew himself up to his
full height and took two steps away from both of us. "Are you two quite
finished?"
Yax grinned, but I just shrugged. "Sure."
Squid-boy held us with his stare for another minute, and
then took out his clipboard and stabbed at it with one of his tentacles.
"Where do you wish to start?" he asked Yax.
The big alien turned and led us over to an exhibit that
looked like it was almost complete. It had several sections, each telling a
distinct part of the story. It took me a minute to get it, but once I put them
all together it was clear what this particular exhibit was supposed to be
describing. The funny thing was, they had it all wrong. But…they also had it
completely right.
"How about here?"
I looked the exhibit over again. It was set up like a giant
diorama with the background being an office setting on one side and a forest on
the other, with a divider in between the two sides. In the office, there were
two men wearing business suits. One was sitting behind a fairly standard wooden
office desk and the other was sitting in front of it. On top of the desk was a
briefcase with the lid open. Inside, there were stacks of money and the man in
front of the desk was pushing it towards the other man.
It was pretty clear what the exhibit was trying to portray
even without the narration that was playing in the background, especially when
combined with what was going on in the forest scene. Part of the forest had
already been razed and giant earth-moving machines were digging up the ground
with large pipes being laid in the troughs that were created. The rest of the
forest was being cut down and the trees loaded onto large, smoke-billowing
trucks. A little farther down, where the pipes had already been buried, black
sludge was pouring out of the end of one and into a river.
It was all so real I thought I could smell the water and the
chemicals polluting it. "How do you make it look so realistic?" I
gestured towards where the river seemed to simply disappear into a wall.
"It is a hologram with supplemental environmental
control equipment to complete the experience."
"So, I really am smelling the river? I thought it was
just my imagination because the image was so real."
"Yes. Scent stimuli are incorporated into the exhibit
so that the effect is complete. Some species rely more on their sense of smell
than they do on sight or hearing."
"That makes sense." I gestured at the office
scene. "So that's supposed to be a politician taking a bribe from the
company that is causing this destruction?"
"Correct. We thought that displaying the two scenes
side-by-side would help make the connection between them obvious."
"Well, the end result is what happens, but it's not
quite as obvious as just shoving a bunch of cash at someone. Usually, the
closest most politicians come to taking cash for favors is if they own a
business and someone¾generally
a corporate lobbying group or a rich individual who wants a favor¾chooses
to patronize the politician’s business, which results in them giving the
politician money. But it’s under the guise of being a customer and receiving a
product or service for their money. Though, under those circumstances, it’s
fairly common for the price of the product or service to be quite a bit higher
than comparable products or services from other vendors, conveniently enough.
Then the politician might look favorably on legislation that might benefit
their valued customer or unfavorably on legislation that would be detrimental
to them. But even that's not the most common way people bribe politicians.
There are other ways that are even less likely to come under legal
scrutiny."
"What do you mean?"
I pointed at the office scene. "There are laws
prohibiting that kind of thing, and even the type of laundered bribery I just
told you about is iffy. Some politicians might break those laws, but there are
ways around them that don't carry the risk of going to prison, so that's
usually what they do."
"Can you elaborate?"
"Well, the most common way for people to legally bribe
politicians is to make campaign contributions to them. They give them money the
politicians can use to help them get elected again. But there are laws limiting
how much money people can give directly to politicians so, a lot of the time,
corporations and rich donors who want favors from politicians will give money
to PACs¾Political
Action Committees¾that
work to help get politicians elected. Technically, politicians aren't allowed
to be directly involved with PACs or to coordinate election strategy with them,
but they can usually get around that because it's hard to track. Not that
anyone tries all that hard."
"So wealthy people give money to these PACs and then
politicians allow them to pollute your planet? And why does no one attempt to
investigate if a politician is not following the laws regarding these
PACs?" asked Squid-boy.
"Mostly no one investigates because the investigations
would be done by either law enforcement or the media. Law enforcement works
for, and is controlled by, politicians. And almost all politicians skirt those
laws, so they don't want to encourage investigations of that kind. Large
corporations that sometimes want to be able to legally bribe politicians own
the media; at least, they own the media that has the largest audience. So, they
don't allow their employees to pursue investigations into violations of those
laws, either. Or, more often, they just don't hire people who would be
interested in doing those kinds of investigations."
"As for your first question, it's not quite that
direct, either. It's not so much that politicians allow certain companies to
just pollute, usually. That can happen, but it's not how it's usually handled.
What they do is either repeal or refuse to pass legislation that would regulate
manufacturing practices, limits on emissions, and waste disposal. So, since
there's no law against dumping chemicals in rivers, and it's cheaper to just
dump the chemicals in the river than to dispose of them safely, corporations
end up polluting. Because from their perspective, there's no reason not
to."
"But don't your people wonder why their representatives
allow such a lack of regulation when it results in danger to your populace and
damage to your planet? How do they justify not having those laws?" asked
Yax.
"Well, that's kind of complicated, too."
He gave me his Devil's grin again. "We have time."
"It's a lot of things that combine to allow the status
quo to continue. First, people are pretty busy just trying to make a living.
It's hard for most people to take the time to really look into what's going on
and untangle it all. Especially since, as I said, the mainstream media doesn't
do much to enlighten the public because the companies that own them are often
involved in the corruption.
"Since people are so busy, they're mostly dependent on
what they hear on the news. And, generally speaking, the news just reports what
politicians say. It's rare that they do any fact-checking or challenge the
assertions politicians make. So a lot of people just think that what the
politicians say is true.
"But it often isn't true. A lot of them pretend that
there's no scientific evidence showing that the pollution damages the planet or
that the changes in the climate aren't caused by human activity. They lie and
claim that contaminated water doesn't make people ill, that there's some other
reason for people who live in areas where the water is polluted to be sick. Or
they lie and say the water isn't contaminated at all and try to prevent anyone
from testing it, or if it is tested they try to prevent the test results from
becoming public."
"That's incredible!" cried Yax. "How can
anyone believe them?"
"Some people believe them because they don't understand
the science and they don't want to believe the government would lie to them.
Most people don't believe them, but they're too busy to think about it much if
it doesn't affect them directly. And, again, the mainstream media doesn't do
much to bring it to their attention. Anyone who does try to bring public
awareness to these problems is discredited as hysterical or unreliable or
biased against business. Corporations spend a lot of money ensuring that
politicians won't regulate them and they don't want public outcry to override
their bribes, so they work pretty hard to make sure that people don't pay
attention to what they're doing."
"But I do not understand, how do they hide it? The
effects of their actions are being felt by your entire planet," interjected
Squid-boy, waving his tentacles around his head.
I shrugged. "The effects of climate change are just
starting to be felt by most people. And it's not as if what is happening is
new; it's just more intense and happening more often. Storms like hurricanes
and tornadoes, droughts, floods, wildfires¾these are all things that
have always happened. It's easy for politicians to lie and say that just
because the storms are larger and more frequent, or the wildfires happen more
often and in more places, it isn't evidence of climate change. Or, if it is,
that it isn't caused by anything humans are doing."
Squid-boy made a gurgling sound. "But that is patently
absurd! Even your own scientists are in agreement; the evidence is overwhelming
that the pollutants your species have been dumping into the environment for
more than a century are a direct cause of the changes in your planetary
climate. No rational dispute of these facts can exist!"
I snorted. "And what ever gave you the idea that human
beings are rational, sugar? A lot of people don't want to believe it because
their political opponents say it's true. And the politicians they like say it
isn't true. And the media they listen to either says it isn't true or doesn't
talk about it at all."
"So they disregard evidence and deny facts?
That's nonsensical!" exclaimed Yax.
I gave him a wry smile. "Welcome to America."
Squid-boy looked at Yax. "I'm not certain how to modify
the exhibit to reflect this additional information. The exchange of money for
political favors is straightforward and common throughout many civilizations,
though the fact that it is not a violation of their laws is rather bizarre. But
the contortions and convolutions these people go through just so that they can
continue to deceive themselves and deny reality is difficult to
conceptualize."
I laughed. "Oh, sugar, it can get much more complicated
than that."
"It can?" Squid-boy stared at me with wide, round
eyes. "How?"
"Well, another way politicians might pay back the legal
bribes a company gives them would be to give them 'incentives' to locate new
additions to their business in the politician's jurisdiction. They sometimes
use tax money to build, or help build, the facility the company needs. Or they
waive regulations and allow the company to ignore laws that protect the public
from unsafe construction and environmental damage. Sometimes they allow the
company to not pay taxes, or to pay almost no taxes, for a period of time. If
unions are strong in the area, the politician might try to pass legislation to
weaken the unions or help keep the employees of the corporation from joining a
union."
"And what possible justification can they give to their
constituents for such things?" demanded Yax.
I shrugged. "Jobs, usually. They promise people the company
will give them jobs. And since there are a lot of people who don't have jobs,
or who have jobs that don't pay enough to live on, they agree to it."
"But if the politicians and the corporations are
working to thwart organized labor, those jobs can't pay all that well."
I smiled at the handsome alien. "Yeah, well, somehow
that little detail never seems to get discussed."
"And if the corporation doesn't pay taxes, that means
the financial burden would have to be transferred to the people. Is that not correct?"
"Yep, Squid-boy, that's right. People pay taxes because
we all know we need certain things like roads, police, and firefighters, and
then the politicians give that money to private corporations so they can build
private buildings that the public can't use. Then, those companies get to come
in and hire desperate people at starvation wages. And for that privilege we get
to pay their taxes for them, too. A nice, tidy little racket, wouldn't you
say?"
"And your people allow this because they are desperate?"
asked Yax.
"Some are desperate. Our government has done a terrible
job of forcing corporations to pay their employees fairly, so a lot of people
have to work two or three jobs just to survive. Also, all the same things that
allow corporations to legally bribe politicians to let them destroy the
environment apply to this as well. People are busy just living their lives and
don't have extra time to think about these things. Or they don't know enough
about what's going on because the media doesn't do much to educate them. Also,
even when people do know what's going on, they often just don't know what to do
about it."
I pointed at an exhibit that was just beyond the one we were
discussing. "Not everyone has the energy or determination to do something
like that. And those who do often face terrible consequences for trying to
fight the corruption."
Yax looked where I was pointing and waved me over. "You
know what this represents even without the voice-over commentary?"
"Yes. Though, again, it's not quite right. But I can
tell what you were trying to show, here."
Yax nodded, looking at the exhibit thoughtfully. "Can
you tell us what parts aren't accurate and what you think needs to be changed
or added?"
I followed his gaze. "Well, this, right here, isn't
quite true." I pointed at a robot that was holding a sign while doing a
fair representation of a tree pose. "This says 'Destroy pipelines!' but
that's not what this political action was about at all." I reached for the
sign, but my arm wasn't long enough and I bumped into the robot's knee. Shaking
my head, I told the robot, "Put your leg down, sugar, and hand me that
sign."
It just stood there and looked at me. Putting my hands on my
hips, I turned to Yax and raised my eyebrows. That devil, he just grinned at me
and gave the robot an order in a language I didn't understand. The robot put
its foot back on the floor and brought the sign down where I could reach it. I
took it and handed it to Squid-boy. "Look…"
I broke off as the robot took advantage of the fact that its
hands were free to shift into a bridge pose. But something must have been wrong
with its motion controllers because, once it was in position, it kept thrusting
its hips up into the air. It was way too human-looking for that to be anything
but obscene.
I looked at my two escorts. Squid-boy seemed not to have
noticed, but Yax was almost vibrating with his effort not to laugh. I raised my
eyebrows. "This your doin'?"
At that he did laugh. "No. I'm sorry to disappoint you,
but that's just a glitch in the 'droid's movement subroutines. It's the reason
we have them go through these exercises; so we can find and fix these problems
before the exhibits go live."
Squid-boy had caught up by that point and gave me one of his
nod/bows.
I just looked at the two of them. "Riiight."
Shaking my head, I turned my back on the distracting robot. "Well,
that," I pointed at the sign Yax was now holding, "isn't what
this," I gestured at the exhibit full of gesticulating robots behind me,
"was all about."
"Then what was it about?" asked Squid-boy.
"It had nothing to do with wanting to destroy
pipelines. It was about protecting water sources and the rights native peoples
have on their own land."
"What do you mean by 'native peoples'?" asked Yax,
staring at the exhibit with a thoughtful expression on his face.
I sighed. "It has to do with the way my country was
formed. Do you know our history?"
Yax and Squid-boy both shook their heads.
I grimaced. "Well, it's a really long story and a lot
of stuff happened. But, briefly, people from several different European
countries invaded the continent I live on a few hundred years ago and, over
time, killed most of the people who had already been living there."
Squid-boy blinked at me. "Why?"
I closed my eyes and massaged my temples.
"Are you feeling ill?" asked Yax.
"Huh?" I looked up. "Oh, no, thanks for
asking. I'm okay. It's just this isn't a fun topic to talk about. Human beings
can be pretty brutal, sometimes."
The tall alien nodded. "I knew that from the stories of
what happened when some of my kind chose to engage your people over the
centuries."
I snorted and shook my head, marveling again at how closely
he resembled every classical rendering of Satan. "I can only
imagine."
"But why did some of your people kill so many others,
young human?" interjected Squid-boy.
I cocked an eyebrow at him. "One-track mind there, huh,
Squid-boy?" He opened his mouth to respond, but I waved it away. "No,
you're right. Back to business. Why did the Europeans go to the Americas or why
did they slaughter the natives?" I shrugged. "Either way, the answer
is a variety of reasons."
Squid-boy opened his beak and then closed it with a snap.
Gesturing with his tentacles he made a gargling sound and said, "I don't
understand."
Sighing, I said, "I could give you the official
explanations that they teach us all in school¾God, Gold, and Glory, and
all that¾but
honestly it all just boils down to greed. The Europeans wanted what the
indigenous people had and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to
take it. There were also some people from Europe who were fleeing persecution,
and who were just trying to find somewhere safe to live the way they wanted to
live. But that didn't stop them from trying to impose their beliefs on the
natives in the same way those they ran from had tried to do to them. And some
of the slaughter was accidental; there were diseases that the Europeans brought
with them.
“The Europeans had some immunity to these diseases, but the
people who were native to the Americas hadn't been exposed to them previously
and so had no resistance to them at all. They died by the millions. Of course,
over time, even disease was turned into a weapon. There were several instances where
the Europeans deliberately infected the indigenous people.
"But mostly the killing was done on purpose. It wasn't
all at once; it happened over a couple of hundred years, but eventually the
native peoples had been pushed back to small areas of land that the Europeans
found undesirable for different reasons. Then, as things progressed, the people
who had taken over started coveting what little the native peoples had left. By
that time, a government had been established in the US and there were some legal
contortions that those who wanted to steal from the indigenous people had to go
through, but it was all still just dressed-up thievery.
"One of the last examples of this eventually led to
what happened here." I gestured at the exhibit again. "The government
decided it wanted the land that had been granted to a tribe of indigenous
people by a treaty and offered them money to buy the land. The leaders of the
tribe rejected the deal and refused the money. They wanted to keep their land.
So the government put the money in a trust for the tribe, where it sits to this
day, and took the land anyway. But the tribe never accepted the money, so by
treaty the land still belongs to them.
"Then, the government gave a private corporation
permission to build an oil pipeline on the land that belongs to the tribe. The
pipeline runs underneath the river that the tribe uses as their water source.
Oil pipelines are notorious for leaking, which poisons the land and the water
around them, and the tribe never gave permission for the corporation to build
on their land. So they organized to try to protect their land and water. It
kind of snowballed when it became a symbol of people standing up for their
rights and the environment against government corruption and corporate greed."
"Our records indicate there were some violent conflicts
surrounding this incident," said Squid-boy.
I nodded. "There were. But the violence came from the
government and from the corporation. The people protecting the water were
largely peaceful in their tactics."
"If they weren't violent, what did they do?" asked
Yax.
"Well, they formed a large camp near where the pipeline
was being built and thousands of people congregated there." I pointed at
the exhibit. "That's what you seem to be trying to portray here, but the
people in the camp were there to protect the water and the rights of the native
people. Not to destroy anything."
"So they just built temporary housing near where the
pipeline was being built? Why would your government react violently to
that?"
I snorted. "The government tends to react violently
anytime anyone points out that what they're doing is wrong. But, no, they
didn't just camp near the pipeline. They took action to try to stop
construction. Some of them chained themselves to equipment so it couldn't be
used. Some of them stood in groups, blocking the way of the construction. There
were also marches to try to draw attention to what was going on. Also, after
the corporation destroyed the tribe's ancestral burial ground, there was a
prayer march."
"Your government allowed this corporation to disturb
these people's dead? That's heartless!" cried Squid-boy.
"Why did the corporation object to prayer?" asked
Yax.
"They objected to anything that brought attention to
what they were doing," I answered. "And considering what the
government has done to indigenous people in the past, does it really surprise
you that it has no respect when it comes to native cemeteries?"
"But common decency…" objected Squid-boy.
"Isn't something corrupt politicians or greedy
corporate officials concern themselves with too often," I interrupted.
He made a buzzing sound in the back of his throat but didn't
reply.
"And all this is the result of the corruption you told
us about?" asked Yax.
I nodded. "Probably. The governor and both senators of
the state the native reservation is in have taken a lot of money from the oil
and gas industry." I shrugged again. "'One hand washes the other', as
they say."
"And this happens often?" asked Squid-boy.
Grimacing, I answered. "It used to happen all the time,
then the laws got stricter and the protections against corporate abuse got
stronger. But lately the laws have been going back in the other
direction." I gestured at the exhibit again. "What happened here with
private corporate security working hand in glove with the police reminds me a
lot of what the Pinkerton Gang used to get away with. These fossil fuel
companies are pretty aggressive when it comes to fighting dirty to get what
they want from land that belongs to other people. Heck, the fracking boys have
even been after me and my land."
"After you? They're trying to take your property?"
asked Yax.
"What is this 'Pinkerton Gang'?" asked Squid-boy.
"They're trying to force me to give them permission to
put a pipeline under my land. I don't want to, but they're pretty
persistent."
"Will they win?"
I looked at Yax and shrugged. "Dunno. I like to think I
can protect what's mine, but it's hard to fight people who have billions of
dollars and the government behind them. I guess it'll depend on if the people
in my country are able to take back control of our government or if we fold and
just let the corporations run everything."
"Which do you think will happen?"
I shrugged again. "The jury's still out." I jerked
my chin towards the exhibit that had already been shifted to better show how a
group of regular citizens had joined together in peace to stand up against
those who wanted to take their rights from them. "Things like this will
answer that question."
I turned to Squid-boy who was gazing at the exhibit with a
strange expression on his face. When he realized I was looking at him, he
turned his eyes to meet mine. "Your species is at an interesting
crossroads. You are a complex people, capable of both astonishing selflessness
and devastating selfishness. I hope, for your sake, that the better parts of
your nature prevail."
I reached down to pat him on his back. "Me too,
Squid-boy. Me too." I took a last look at the representation of some of my
fellow citizens' stand against tyranny and turned away. Taking a deep breath, I
shook my head and said, "The Pinkerton Gang, to answer your question, was
a private security firm that was active in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. They were infamous for union-busting, strikebreaking, and intimidating
workers into submission. There were several violent conflicts between them and
union laborers that resulted in deaths on more than one occasion. Though, they
also did other kinds of security work, tracking criminals, and such. They sort
of morphed and merged over the years, not being as involved in conflicts with
organized labor as the laws changed to protect unions and workers' rights.
Eventually, they were bought by a different security company and aren't really
called the 'Pinkertons' anymore."
I jerked my head back towards the exhibit. "The
mercenaries here were deployed by the company building the pipeline. That
company bribed the police by offering to pay for the costs incurred by the
police department during this protest, if the police agreed to collaborate with
the company’s mercenaries; the company wanted them to share information and
collude to create a strategy for how the police would respond to the people
trying to protect the water. That kind of shady, cozy relationship between law
enforcement and private, corporately-owned armies reminds me of the stories
about how the unions used to have to fight with 'the Pinks'."
"At least, no one was killed this time," observed
Yax.
I shook my head. "No. No one was killed. But the
company did attack the people protecting the water with dogs. And the police
used tear gas and water cannons against peaceful marchers, even though the
weather was cold enough to make hypothermia likely when their clothes got wet.
A woman was permanently blinded in one of her eyes from tear gas and another
woman's arm was badly damaged when a tear gas canister hit her. So there was
violence, though not by the people protecting the water.
"Also, even though the corporate media ignored what
happened, there were several independent journalists who covered it. If they
hadn't been there, recording what was happening, the violence from the
corporation and the police might have been even worse. Knowing that what they
did would end up on the Internet and result in calls to DC might have moderated
their behavior, a bit."
The big alien frowned and shook his head. I'd never seen a
devil look sad before.
"I still can't believe your government allows private
interests to get away with such abuses. Or to influence their own police forces
so blatantly," said Squid-boy.
I shrugged. "Like I said before, the corruption in our
government is an open secret. The corporations have a lot of money. As the
saying goes, 'money talks' and our politicians' hearing is quite good when it
comes to that money. Not so much when it comes to everyone else, though."
"But, surely, at some point, the people who elect these
politicians must get frustrated and refuse to elect them again," exclaimed
Squid-boy, his beak snapping.
I rubbed the back of my neck and winced. "Yeah, that's
how we got our current Disaster In Chief. People were fed up with the same old,
same old and decided anything would be better, even a monster."
"That doesn't seem like the correct solution to the
problem," Squid-boy pointed out.
"Well, now, sugar, I agree with you. Unfortunately,
enough people didn't see any alternative that it happened anyway."
"The failures of your current leader aside, though I'd
be interested to hear more on that topic later, that still doesn't explain why
your politicians would be willing to alienate their supporters for short-term
gains. What happens when they can't get elected anymore and they lose their
jobs?" asked Yax.
"Oh, that's all tied up nice and tight for them. It's
the other part of the bribes they get. Like I said before, the bribery that
happens in our political system isn't usually just a bag of cash shoved at
someone. When the politicians who have allowed the corporations to legally
bribe them leave public office, the corporations hire them."
Squid-boy blinked at me. "Hire them to do what?"
I shrugged. "Anything. Nothing. It doesn’t matter. It
isn't about them doing an actual job; it's about paying them back for the job
they've already done."
"And this is legal?" gasped Squid-boy.
"Yep."
Squid-boy waved his arms around his head. "No wonder our researchers decided representations of your political system belong in our Museum of Galactic Oddities. If I hadn't met an at least nominally reasonable example of your species," he said, gesturing towards yours truly, "I'd be tempted to believe you're all insane." He pointed several tentacles back at the exhibits we'd been reviewing. "The system you describe is certainly bizarre enough to support such a hypothesis."
I rubbed the back of my neck again. "Well, now, sugar, I can't rightly argue with you much, there."
Yax cleared his throat and Squid-boy and I both looked at him. "While I sympathize with my colleague's dismay," he said, nodding at Squid-boy, "we do have a number of other exhibits to get to. Perhaps we can all continue this discussion over refreshments later?"
Squid-boy's beak snapped and his head turned a light purple. "Of course. I'm being unprofessional. Young human, if you will?" He gestured towards some more exhibits farther down the row.
Want to find out what other delights are in store for Alyce? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊
