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[worsetodie]

Can I count myself among the probable many who are not shocked this last disaster was mostly averted by the efforts of Inmates? 

Comments

Private

[timesbureaucrat]

[This is usually where Narvin would go into a high pitched rant. But he's trying to practice tact and slightly better social skills. So after a few deep breaths, he tries a novel approach instead: honesty.

He sets the filter to private.]

I've tried to organize it. I've tried to organize a discussion of warden rules and consequences, I've tried to hold wardens accountable. But with half the wardens being anarchists, loners, and fiercely independent, short of setting up cage matches to find an alpha male or female who will beat everyone into order and submission, there's not much hope of it ever happening. [Which, while it might be entertaining, probably wouldn't work very well in the long term.]

After two and a half years, I've given up. And you're right; I have everything to lose and every incentive to make the system work. My planet is on the line. The survival of my entire species.

But the wardens have no common vision, and no common goals, not even the graduation of inmates, since what leads one inmate graduation may in the process cause another to backslide. Some want strengthened security, others want total privacy and autonomy. We will be forever working to different agendas. We aren't a community and we never will be.

And I despise that this is the way it is. That the Admiral has the power to save lives, save civilizations, but will only do so if we play his game and then gives us so few resources to succeed. But I don't see any way to change it.

Private

[megamind]

....oh God in evil heaven, you're an idealist bureaucrat. No wonder you're married to Kay.

[ This was a ...sort of compliment, really. But now it makes sense, it makes horrible, terrible sense. ]

You mean like Rorschach's graduation giving me a lot of questions about just how one gets from breaking fingers in a stairwell to being a warden over a seventeen year old boy? [ He's a little snappy here, now. ] Look, I know. It know it's hard. But someone has to try. And keep trying. You don't just give up because it's hard.

You fail. You learn from your mistakes and you move on. You're a good guy! That's the point!

Private

[timesbureaucrat]

[He cocks his head. Blinks. That wasn't the response he was expecting.]

We...make a good team. [He's not used to talking about his marriage and doesn't know how to respond. The rest isn't Personal and is therefore a bit easier to talk about. Personal is hard.]

I've seen that sort of thing happen often. Once an inmate graduated immediately after having kidnapped and held another inmate prisoner for days. A reevaluation or regret in the wake of a misdeed appears to sometimes be a trigger for graduation, but it leaves no justice for those who were victims.

[His brows furrow slightly.]

I'm not entirely sure I qualify as a good guy. In fact, I'm fairly sure everyone back home would laugh at the suggestion. But your point is made. And I would hate to lose my reputation for being stubborn.

Private

[megamind]

Hey, one thing I've learned? Good guy doesn't always mean 'nice guy', especially here. Even at home, Metro Man was a good guy -- liked babies and kids and all that, even. But I can't say I ever thought he was a nice guy.

[ Bullies are that way. That's why he ended up dead. ]

Well, good. Be stubborn. Just be stubborn for the right reasons! Don't stubbornly refuse to try something because it's hard!

Private

[timesbureaucrat]

Then what does make a person a good guy? If it's liking babies, I definitely wasn't one of them back home. Unless it's mine...or possibly a close friend's...I can't abide the little spawns until they're old enough for rational thinking. [Although he'd certainly save children in danger, and feel particularly rageful at someone callus enough to hurt children. He just isn't comfortable interacting with them.]

private

[megamind]

As I understand it?

Doing the right thing. Even when other people think you shouldn't, or when it might be really hard.

I just use babies as a qualifier that he treats people nicely.

private

[timesbureaucrat]

And what happens when both sides are equally convinced that they're doing the right thing? Is it intent or results that matter?

private

[megamind]

That's one of those moral dilemmas that I, as a villain, don't have to deal with.