Normally I don't read SM fics. They're just not me.
On occasion I do, and the ones I have are usually ones that
I like-- so perhaps I'm just a little fussy or something.
	So why did I read this one, when I'm so behind on other
things? I don't know-- maybe it was looking at some of the
replies to it (which, since I hadn't really thought about
reading it, was rather odd for me).

	I'm not going to say that we need evil to survive, I'm not
sure that that is true. I'm also not sure that we can eradicate
evil, and that perhaps the struggle to do so is more important
than the goal. I'm also not going to ask the question, "what is
evil," because that is a whole other kettle of fish. Mr. Biles
touched on an something important though, when he noted that
evil, in the Sailor Moon universe, is a far different concept
than it is in, Ranma 1/2 or ours, for example. To decide whether
or not evil is necessary, we first have to agree upon what exactly
evil is, and how it is applied.
	Besides, Dumond is not, to me at least, fighting for evil, but
instead fighting for choice, for freedom. He is fighting for the
right, or the ability, to _choose_ to be/do good, to decide for
one's self whether or not to do good or evil. He is not so much fighting
for the existence of evil as he is for the ability to make a very
basic choice. This Purification then, is the negation of this choice,
at least that is how it would seem to me.
	Actually, the whole thing reminds me somewhat of the Orion manga,
by Shirow, in which they try to gather up all the bad karma in the Empire
to one location and then destroy it. The desire to destroy the bad karma,
however, is in itself an act of bad karma, as it turns out....

	Someone mentioned why Serenity did not ask Dumond about some
of the atrocities committed in the past. The Inquisition and the Holocaust
were two prominent examples. Okay, let's look at them, and the motives
behind them.
	The Inquisition was an attempt to root out heresy in the Church. They
thought they were doing good, purging the Church and the world of evil
and heretics. The Holocaust? again, it was thought to be a good thing by
those who planned it. Funny, the things people will do in the name of
good and in the name of purity (I have argued before that purity is not
necessarily a good thing, nor always desirable).
	Do you see any similarities then between those two acts and the
alleged Purification? There are differences, though-- physical laws
and such which delineate how evil operates in Sailor Moon, mainly. But
do you see how this Purification, especially if reinterpretted into our
universe with its laws, could be considered an evil act? Yes, there
are good intentions, but do you not recall an old saying about the
road to Hell, and what it is paved with?	
	(Oddly enough, Dumond references Milton and Paradise Lost. By
eliminating evil, isn't Serenity trying to return us to a Garden of
Eden state, basically? And do you remember the last lines of Milton,
about a greater and better Paradise being possible for us now? Damn,
now I want to reread Paradise Lost-- it's been a few years....)

	With regards to the Black Moon family, well a) a few hundred
years of exile in a wasteland isn't going to make them very
happy-go-lucky people, and I think they have a legitimate right to
be cheesed off at Serenity for that. Could you blame them if they're
a bit twisted and cruel and want to get back at those who sent them
there? Of course, wanting and doing are two different things, and 
one should remember that things can be done to excess: be excessive
only in moderation! 

	So I think I like this story, and not just because it appeals to
certain sensibilities of mine, but because it also questions certain
assumptions, some widely held and some not. It makes us think about
how we interpret the series and about larger questions. I like that.
That's what interests me in stories-- I want them to force me to think,
to make my mind go down different paths that it normally would not,
or to take a look at it from a different angle. It's all about ideas,
you see....

Matthew Lewis is:
	Matt on IRC
	Sojiro_Seta on Kawaiimuck
	maybeso@ican.net
	a casualty of causality
	experimenting with a webpage at:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/9345/index.html
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Reality and I have this arrangement, see?
I ignore it, and it ignores me. we're quite happy
with the way it works, really.
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