On Tue, 13 Apr 1999, The Apprentice wrote:

Actually I like him, more than just about any other character
in this story.  I'm reading the story to see more of Emerald, and

I despise him for thinking he knows what's best for humanity better than
the rest of humanity does.  Perhaps the man ought to ask himself why only
a bunch of people HE thinks of as lunatics and criminal scum want to
overthrow Crystal Tokyo. 

The problem with Serenity, and to a certain extent
Emerald as well, is that they aren't balancing things.
Her Majesty has decided that Safety (AKA Freedom
From) is far more important than Choice (AKA Freedom
To).  Emerald, on the other hand tends to have a bias

Has she?  We haven't actually seen anything from her viewpoint, just
Emerald's viewpoint.  Given the man is a lunatic, I'm not inclined to
trust his view of things.

 > towards Choice over Safety.  Still, Emerald seems to

at least be able to recognize, from time to time at
the least, that Safety has it's place too.  Serenity, at
least what we've been shown of her so far, doesn't
seem to share that trait in regards to her view of
Choice.

I find it rather implausible that Usagi could ever become a soul
destroying, freedom crushing monster. Of course, some of this gets into
the question of whether or not the freedom to do evil is true freedom or
just another form of slavery.  And given that everything we've seen of
Serenity is from Emerald's viewpoint, I doubt he's correct as to what she
wants.  

to have it foiled - mostly by Mars - time and again, time and
again, Time And Again, TIME AND AGAIN, and TIME AND
AGAIN!!!  Seeing the majority of the gelded sheep that
humanity has become sit snug and happy in the gilded cage
that is Crystal Tokyo, smug about the jeweled collars around
their necks and the leashes leading back to Serenity's hands.

Assuming Serenity is actually leading humanity around by the nose.  Which
we have no actual proof of except the ravings of a man who wants to
destroy peace for humanity's own good.  Supposedly.  I wouldn't trust
Emerald to tell me what color the sky was.  The man is a lunatic.
Ultimately, he'll sacrifice all of humanity's happiness to satisfy his own
personal vision of how the universe should be, even when no one else wants
it.  Oh, he'd assert that they just don't know what is good for them, that
Serenity has turned them into sheep.  But what he wants to do is
ultimately no different from what he accuses Serenity of doing:  molding
humanity to his vision.  If he thinks she is evil for what she's done,
then he's just as bad.




John Walter Biles :  MA-History, Ph.D Wannabe at U. Kansas         
ranma@falcon.cc.ukans.edu       
rhea@tass.org              http://www.tass.org/~rhea/falcon.html
rhea@maison-otaku.net      http://www.maison-otaku.net/~rhea/

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