On What Happened Today (Capital Issues)

 On What Happened Today (Capital Issues) 

I have mixed and upset feelings tonight. As I was considering the news of today’s events (where some people foolishly rushed the Capital building instead of standing peaceably outside) an epiphany occurred. I realized that a certain quest from Cyberpunk 2077 accurately described my feelings.

Before I get started, I need to say that I have real problems with the game- not the glitches and unfinished programming, but rather with the content. The writers hate Americans, hate conservatives, and are bigoted. In a very tangible way. They portray all people with conservative views as redneck jerks who live in literal massive trash heaps outside the city. That is putting it nicely. There are more issues, but enough about that.

This particular quest has to do with two monks who are brothers. As monks, they eschew all cyberization, that is, replacing of their body parts with mechanical ones. The protagonist, known as “V,” happens upon one of these monks at the docks. This monk has been brutally misshapen due to a gang known as Maelstrom, who misuse mechanical prostheses in themselves to the point of grossly distorted and inhuman features- cutting off their faces to implant geometric, structured neon devices that sense light, etc. This poor monk had been set upon by the gang, and now against his will had an artificial arm, electric nodes that covered his bald head, a Borg like implant that covered one of his eyes, and what skin was still there was crisscrossed with scars, discolored and sunken in from where flesh had been removed.

V asks what happened to him, and the monk explains that the Maelstrom gang had abducted him and forced him to have these modifications. But they did not stop there, the monk relates. They cursed and harassed him, insulted him over and over, and found joy in putting him down, making fun of him and “making him pay” for having the audacity to question cyberization.

The monk then relates that the same gang had abducted his brother at the docks and planned the same fate for him. V rushes off to save the monk, that he might avoid the tragedy that befell his brother. If one completes the mission without killing the Maelstrom gang, they are given a small bonus reward.

That is kind of how I feel. I am being told that I MUST accept the abortion of babies one day before they are due to be born, in horrible, unspeakable ways. That I MUST accept celebrating and worshiping melanin, and that I am a racist if I do not. That I MUST accept commies in all but name that will bring our country to certain ruin. That I MUST adopt certain ideologies and thoughts in order to “conform.”

There is a certain liberal acquaintance that I recently praised due to his tact when posting on others threads. On his own threads however, it is a different story. He puts down others who disagree with him. He makes fun of them and encourages others to do the same, laughing, harassing and insulting them. And me. Just like the Maelstrom gang.

I will not conform in order to gain acceptance. I will not lightly dismiss my own mind and thoughts just to be approved. I will not accept the new social order that demands adherence. Finally, I will never ever trust the news media again. I know there are others who think like me, but sometimes I feel kind of alone.

(Picture Above) The monk who was saved from the Maelstrom gang prays on the dock after being saved.

G. Houtchens

Armchair Coach

Amateur Historian