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buywithme[Click to a video of Prefect. He's sitting on a chair, holding a small stack of books, on the top of it, there's a dog eared copy of The Three Musketeers.]
This was the first book I read here on the barge, Comrades. Sam gave it to me... years ago now. [He pauses, leafing through the pages idly.] I haven't read many others. We didn't really have books like this where I'm from. I mean, Sometimes you saw people on tv reading them, and sometimes you could buy like... the book part of it, so that you could look like the people on tv, but the contents were always just advertisements.
[He turns The three Musketeers over in his hands, studying the synopsis.]
I don't really go to the library here much. I used to go there and get drunk in the historical agriculture section, when I needed a change of scenery, but I don't really get any books out. I mean, I liked this one? And I like parts of the Marquis's books although I do inevitably end up skipping most of them, but books... don't really have any kind of special significance to me. Burning them is just like... burning a cardigan that you were never really planning on wearing anyway.
[He tosses the book down onto the concrete floor of his cabin. The second book in the stack is a copy of Farenheit 451]
I understand that this isn't the case for most people here. I know that for Beatty, burning books is his job. He did it every single day, to wipe out something that he saw as harmful, it was his duty to protect the people of his society. I know that for most of you, burning books - and what Beatty did in his real life - is an act of oppression, and a threat against the authors of those books. It represents the destruction of free thought, and of totalitarian governments. So I can understand why seeing someone doing it makes you angry.
[He tosses down the copy of Farenheit 451, and it lands on the floor beside The Three Musketeers with an ominous little thunk. The final book in the pile is one that people could only recognize if they've been in Prefect's room. It's a thick, heat bound pile of papers, and looks more like an instruction manual than anything else.]
Beatty can't do any of those things here though. And he knows that he can't. He can't stop the books from being replaced, he can't stop you from buying more books in ports, he can't stop you from writing, or thinking, or reading. He hasn't done anything to oppress any of you. On the Barge, while living without freedom? Burning books isn't an act of oppression. It's an act of political protest. I don't care if you hate it, or if you hate what it's trying to say, or if you think that he should have been stopped, or that he should be punished for this...
[Prefect throws the last book down. The cover reads Acceptable Procedural Standards and Functions. Then beneath that, written in bold; Class: A+ Designation: Prefect. What remains in his hand, formerly hidden beneath the pile of books, is a lighter.]
...Non-violent protest is a right.
[It seems for a moment, like there's more he wants to say, but he stops himself. Instead, he grabs a bottle of gin, and douses the books with it, before reaching down with the lighter, and clicking it on, so that all three books are consumed into tongues of flame.]
FUN OOC NOTES: Prefect has shoved all his cardboard boxes to the far end of the room, and his cabin is made of concrete, so the fire shouldn't spread, annnnnd yes, all of these books are his <3
This was the first book I read here on the barge, Comrades. Sam gave it to me... years ago now. [He pauses, leafing through the pages idly.] I haven't read many others. We didn't really have books like this where I'm from. I mean, Sometimes you saw people on tv reading them, and sometimes you could buy like... the book part of it, so that you could look like the people on tv, but the contents were always just advertisements.
[He turns The three Musketeers over in his hands, studying the synopsis.]
I don't really go to the library here much. I used to go there and get drunk in the historical agriculture section, when I needed a change of scenery, but I don't really get any books out. I mean, I liked this one? And I like parts of the Marquis's books although I do inevitably end up skipping most of them, but books... don't really have any kind of special significance to me. Burning them is just like... burning a cardigan that you were never really planning on wearing anyway.
[He tosses the book down onto the concrete floor of his cabin. The second book in the stack is a copy of Farenheit 451]
I understand that this isn't the case for most people here. I know that for Beatty, burning books is his job. He did it every single day, to wipe out something that he saw as harmful, it was his duty to protect the people of his society. I know that for most of you, burning books - and what Beatty did in his real life - is an act of oppression, and a threat against the authors of those books. It represents the destruction of free thought, and of totalitarian governments. So I can understand why seeing someone doing it makes you angry.
[He tosses down the copy of Farenheit 451, and it lands on the floor beside The Three Musketeers with an ominous little thunk. The final book in the pile is one that people could only recognize if they've been in Prefect's room. It's a thick, heat bound pile of papers, and looks more like an instruction manual than anything else.]
Beatty can't do any of those things here though. And he knows that he can't. He can't stop the books from being replaced, he can't stop you from buying more books in ports, he can't stop you from writing, or thinking, or reading. He hasn't done anything to oppress any of you. On the Barge, while living without freedom? Burning books isn't an act of oppression. It's an act of political protest. I don't care if you hate it, or if you hate what it's trying to say, or if you think that he should have been stopped, or that he should be punished for this...
[Prefect throws the last book down. The cover reads Acceptable Procedural Standards and Functions. Then beneath that, written in bold; Class: A+ Designation: Prefect. What remains in his hand, formerly hidden beneath the pile of books, is a lighter.]
...Non-violent protest is a right.
[It seems for a moment, like there's more he wants to say, but he stops himself. Instead, he grabs a bottle of gin, and douses the books with it, before reaching down with the lighter, and clicking it on, so that all three books are consumed into tongues of flame.]
FUN OOC NOTES: Prefect has shoved all his cardboard boxes to the far end of the room, and his cabin is made of concrete, so the fire shouldn't spread, annnnnd yes, all of these books are his <3
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Private
Date: 2011-10-27 03:38 pm (UTC)Did something happen? I was in Zero.
[ooc: aaaand it's possible she still is, so let's play fast and loose with our tenses here. lol I need to talk to Mel.]
Private
Date: 2011-10-27 03:42 pm (UTC)Private
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:51 pm (UTC)In summation: go shove those burning books up your ass. In supporting him you're as bad as he is.
almost instantly redacted.
Date: 2011-10-27 03:57 pm (UTC)And you're as fucking bad as the rest of them, just calling him 'crazy' and dismissing it like he's not a human being and didn't rationally do it for rational reasons, just because it's a social construct you can't fucking get your head around.
Fuck you.
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Date: 2011-10-27 03:59 pm (UTC)You're just projecting your cultural history of book burning, and your ignorant, misinformed ideas about Beatty and about me onto this action.
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From:So, much tl;dr. Sorry Wanda, he was trying to give Beatty's actions context, now he's just pissed.
From:Re: So, much tl;dr. Sorry Wanda, he was trying to give Beatty's actions context, now he's just piss
From:and then Shego had a teacher relapse in Prefect's defense.
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From:Private - prefect hit a nerve :/ arthas goes opposite of tl;dr, though
From:Private - Sorry you have matching nerves to him, Arthas :c
From:Private - bah, arthas is a prick
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Date: 2011-10-27 05:10 pm (UTC)private
Date: 2011-10-27 03:59 pm (UTC)I never expected it, but thank you.
[paaaaaaaause]
You might want to ask Beatty to stop that spreading.
[pause number two]
They're never going to get it, you know.
private
Date: 2011-10-27 04:03 pm (UTC)...Sometimes I think we are the lesser evil.
[Little sigh.]
It's okay, Comrade, there's only three books there, and I have a tub of water in case I need to douse it.
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Date: 2011-10-27 04:41 pm (UTC)I haven't read many books either, but I do think about writing one sometimes, and I'll tell you the same thing I told Mr. Beatty, which is that I think it's sad to burn a book, because it is something someone has worked very hard on. I would also feel badly for burning a sweater, because some nice lady somewhere likely knitted it, and I feel she'd be sad to know that her craft was so poorly thought of.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-27 04:59 pm (UTC)I worked in the knitting production department for a short period. It was harrowing.
[Pause]
How would you feel about burning a book that was... bad, Comrade. Like a book telling people they should kill each other?
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Date: 2011-10-27 04:48 pm (UTC)[Private]
Date: 2011-10-27 05:10 pm (UTC)[PREFECT IS HOLDING THE FLUFFIEST LOOKING DUVET IN THE WORLD NOW. PLEASE COME AND STOP HIM FROM PUTTING IT ON HIS FIRE, ZUKO.]
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Date: 2011-10-27 06:15 pm (UTC)I mean, it's also my right to not like it; to call anyone who does it an asshole and a fascist. So I guess I'm not sure what your point is.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-27 06:24 pm (UTC)And it is your right to not like it, and your right to call him whatever you want. My point is that this wasn't an act of fascism, even if you call it that. So even if you still dislike it, and even if you still call him names because of it, then you might as well let it be for the right reasons.
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Date: 2011-10-27 06:50 pm (UTC)You should put that out before you asphyxiate. I agree with your point, but you should probably go about it in a way that doesn't involve fire. They're the worst thing that can happen on a boat.
edited for reading comprehension
Date: 2011-10-27 10:54 pm (UTC)Did you know he has magic fire powers, Comrade? They are quite impressive.
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Date: 2011-10-27 08:09 pm (UTC)To that extent, Beatty's actions may indeed have been non-violent, but they were oppressive, the same way that voicing dire threats against a person's life is oppressive.
It would be absurd to treat Beatty as if he had burned an actual, living person, but to call it merely an act of non-violent protest ignores some significant details. His act was destructive. It made others feel that their knowledge and culture was under direct attack and being threatened with annihilation. Regardless of Beatty's intent that was the actual result. The fact that Beatty could not have succeeded in carrying out the implicit threat, and that both he and the members of the Barge rationally know it, also is irrelevant, since threats and the incitement of fear by their nature bypass rationality and are often intended to do so.
no subject
Date: 2011-10-27 11:02 pm (UTC)I know that seeing him do that made people uncomfortable, I know that it made them angry, but it did not remove anyone's capacity to step back from the communicator and actually think before responding. It didn't force anyone to call him insane, or to accuse him of being a murderer, or of anything other than burning books.
People just did those things anyway.
...Comrade, I do understand what it is you're saying, but being afraid of something doesn't entitle people to do whatever they want.
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From:Private
Date: 2011-10-27 09:32 pm (UTC)Private
Date: 2011-10-27 11:04 pm (UTC)I hate it. I'll never really be human to them.
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Date: 2011-10-27 11:32 pm (UTC)Private
Date: 2011-10-27 11:49 pm (UTC)But... I don't think it's right for people to treat him like this. They were cruel.
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Date: 2011-10-28 04:33 am (UTC)[Hannibal being the only one Eddie is aware of, though, and most other people are making him go 'who dropped a piano on puppies while I wasn't looking??']
Thank you, Prefect. I appreciate your input.
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Date: 2011-10-28 11:10 am (UTC)[Because the Marquis is his homeboy, and therefore, the only person on the ship entitled to be offended by this :c]
That's all right, Comrade.
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Date: 2011-10-28 10:41 am (UTC)And that book is awesome, by the way. [Not that Barron remembers it. :c]
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Date: 2011-10-28 11:30 am (UTC)[He's gonna go get super drunk with Beatty and O'Brien, and grouse about you individualist jerkbags.]
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