maskormenace

[ Oh, look, it's Kitty Jones. She seems a little tired - though you'd only know it by looking at her. Her voice is unchanged from normal. Indeed, she speaks with her typical firm bubbliness - a cheerful, kindly tone and an adorably youthful London accent obscuring the fact that her speech is (as usual) a bit on the manipulative/calculating/forceful/aggressive side. ]

Hullo, all. First, a job offer. I run a charity garage. It does pretty good work - we fix up and build really, really good cars, and sell 'em to the richer members of the local populace, and then the proceeds go to fund public transit in Heropa. Anyway. I recently... [ Just a little flicker in her smile. ] Lost an employee. So if there's anyone out there who's good with cars or mechanics or whatever, I definitely want you.

[ And now to the less businesslike portion of her announcement: ]

Anyway. Obviously there's been a lot of talk of elections lately, and there's also been a lot of cynicism about the whole electoral process. For obvious reasons. Since there are some politicians who are lunatic idiots. So I guess I just wanted to throw this out there, 'cause all of you have so much different experience from different worlds.

Who had power, where you're from? What was the government like? And were they good - just - or unjust? What do you think's the best form of government? How much power should the people in charge have?

And if you could build a government, build a country from scratch, what would it look like? Would you limit the freedom of the press, or would everyone have the right to speak? Would you build social programs, or would you leave people to fend for themselves? Would you go after warfare and expanding your borders, or would people live in peace?

[ These questions are a little bit leading. Perhaps. ]

Anyway. Share your thoughts, please.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Meaning an end to slavery? That's what I'd like. Yeah.

[ He's teasing slightly as he continues. No matter what Kitty might think of this, the Doctor's taking this little tete-a-tete as simply a mind joust. ]

Oooh, points off for Kitty! Slavery isn't exactly forcing to just like forcing someone to do something isn't exactly slavery.

[ And Kitty - no surprise - answers his lightness and joking with ferocity. ]

That's exactly what slavery is. Stripping someone of their agency and free will. Compelling them to do something and offering them no alternative. In this world, we tend to talk about institutional slavery - institutions robbing people of their freedom of choice - but slavery can also be technological - [ She gestures to the Doctor - ] Or magical. [ She gestures to herself. ] No matter what form it takes, though, it's still slavery.

[ Sorry Kitty, he...is not taking this as seriously as she is. ]

Or salaried employment. Or things required for your position. Or being a dad. You've got all sorts of options here if you just apply the tiniest bit of nuance.

[ Sarcastically: ]

If you think that being a father entails a real feeling of obligation, you must not have met many fathers. [ Anyway. ] All of those are things you can walk away from. What I'm talking about is a system in which an entire species was magically subjugated and tortured if they didn't comply. Forced to engage in tasks for thousands and thousands of years. Locked in tombs and forgotten about until they went mad with isolation and confinement. And I saw those poor mad creatures, fought against them, these things which were destroyed by the - not even the cruelty, the sheer arrogant indifference...It's nothing that's funny. These are real lives which were ruined.

[ There's the briefest of pauses before the Doctor answers, still a bit nonchalant. ]

Well you should have specified then. Rule number one of debating, if you've got a card like that, play it as soon as possible.

[ Huffily: ]

You didn't give me a chance to specify. You just assumed. And that's not how debating works at all, actually. You seem awfully shaky on rules overall, Doctor.

Following the rules are for boring people.

[ says the person who just said rule number one of debating, the Doctor is entirely unaware how much of a hypocrite he's being right now. ]

Oh, I don't disagree. But you oughtn't give rules and then immediately disavow them, you know.

Dunno. I'd say it all depends on the rule.

Hardly. If the rule's stupid, don't say it in the first place. And if it's good, stick to it.

If the rule's stupid, say it so other people can agree on how stupid it is.

Well done, then, stating that rule for how to go about things, because it's stupid.

Oh come on. Surely even you've had to had the moment where you're confronted with a rule so utterly ridiculous that you've got to make fun of it.

When I'm confronted with a very stupid rule, I don't tend to try to laugh at it. I tend to try to destroy it.

The two aren't mutually exclusive, you know.

Of course they're not. Obviously I know that. I've got a very good sense of humor about things, you know.

[ not really. ]

But ridicule doesn't help.

It helps yourself. And how're you going to save the world if you don't take care of yourself first?

By simply saving the world, of course. I don't see how the one depends on the other in the least.

The concept of a "mental health day" really is foreign to you, isn't it.

What's that even mean?

I'll show you.

Clear your schedule next Saturday, we're having a mental health day.

I already see a therapist, you know. I don't need another one.

I'm not that sort of doctor and I hate talking about feelings to begin with. Just trust me on this.

I suppose I could.

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