came up with this today & am not sure what to make of it:

THE WATCHMEN: a PERIOD PIECE

A lot of us had to admit, there was a lot of sense in what they said.

They put the case forward very reasonably & succintly:

America, they said, You're sick, you're broken.

You're dying.

We're the strongest nation on the planet, we said. We're strong, we're righteous, we're feared & respected, we said.

You're like a wounded animal, they said. In your sickness you have become a danger to yourselves & the rest of the world, they said.

Some of us became angry, belligerent. Those of us who knew ourselves to be innocent listened closely, attentively--perhaps there was some sense in what they said. Besides, they were too powerful, & too sensible, to be ignored.

They continued, sometimes asking questions that they already knew the answers to, sometimes asking for clarification on points that genuinelly confused them, sometimes they merely stated the obvious:

We have noted your enormous & varied arsenal--you have put a truly fantastic amount of ineguity, effort & money into this arsenal, which is indeed the envy of all nations, they said. We are impressed..

We need to protect ourselves, we said. We have many enemies, we said.

We see, they said.

Why do you have many enemies, they said. Who are these enemies, they said.

There are many in the world that hate freedom, we said. They hate it in us, they hate it when it appears elsewhere in the world, we said.

We see, they said. Freedom is not unique to you then, they said.

No, we said. But we are the most visible pinnacle of it--we are known by all peoples as a champion of freedom, we said. It's what makes us powerful, we said. It's also what makes us hated, we said.

We see, they said.

These enemies want to take away your freedom, they said.

It's much more complicated than that, but yes, we said.

Complicated, they said. We see, they said.

We notice that many of you have arsenals of their own, they said.

Well, yes, we said. It's one of our basic freedoms, we said.

We see, they said. You have these arsenals to protect yourselves against enemies of freedom, they said.

Well, yes, we said--growing a bit defensive, but it was hard to argue with their sheer reasonableness, their sincerity--That, we said, & to protect ourselves from--well, each other.

We see, they said. We understood that it is the duty of the government, of the police--to protect the innocent, they said.

Well, we said--yes, but sometimes--

Sometimes you need to protect yourselves from each other. It seems to us that some feel the need to protect themselves from the government, from the police, they said. Do you deny this, they said.

We didn't know what to say.

The innocent should have nothing to fear, they said.

We don't deny this, we said. That's why it's sometimes neccessary to arm ourselves--to arm our country.

To protect the innocent, they said. To protect freedom, they said.

We see, they said.

Well, yes, we said. That's it exactly, we said.

But it seems there is still much fear, they said.

We're not afraid, we said. But to protest our freedom, we must be vigilant, we said. we must be strong, we said.

We see, they said.

This freedom, they said. It is absolute, they said.

Of course not, we said. We have laws to protect the innocent, but we decide these laws--you can't rape, you can't steal, you can't kill, you can't do drugs..

We see, they said. Yet we see these things happen every day, they said.

Well, we're not perfect, we said.

And the innocent suffer, they said...

They were very reasonable. Much of what they said was so sensible, any attempts to defend our actions sounded foolish. They presented our excesses, our destructive behaviour--our abuse of the innocent, the environment, civilization. They presented an old term not used much anymore but known to every child lurking behind our more conventional euphemisms, Mutually Assured Destruction, as evidence of our sickness.

There demands were very reasonable. Civilization could not proceed in this atmosphere of fear. With the advent & pursuit of nuclear weapons & the willful creation of diseases--the situation had become critical. Our sickness threatened not just the innocent, but all life. The sickness must be contained--erradicated.

They asked for our arsenal.

Who will protect us from our enemies? we asked.

We will, they said.

A bit uneasily, we did what we were asked. It was foolish to resist. It was--it must be said--impossible, but there was no sensible reason to try.

Then they asked for the personal arsenals--millions gave them up readily, & millions resisted. Reasonably explaining that there is a bit of unpleasantness involved in removing a tumorous growth or a gangrenous limb to keep the body healthy--those that resisted were removed. It went against all reason to protest, was, indeed, suicide--but what was the sudden suicide of a dangerous portion of the country compared to the slow suicide we had been subject to?

The innocent have nothing to fear, they said.

We kept our flag. We kept our laws. We kept the freedom to pray as we wish & say what we wish & although there are occasional outbreaks of the sickness, it is cauterized, it is contained.

And all they ask--& this is very reasonable, considering how bad things had gotten & how much that they truly wanted what was best for us--is that we lick their hands, & remain innocent.