Sectus
salad
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2019
- Messages
- 75
- Thread Author
- #1
An Interview
The television screen clicks on, its view fading in from black to reveal a smiling man in a brown suit with a collared shirt and sweater vest. The studio is quiet save for this man, who begins to speak while maintaining his gleaming smile. He speaks softly and appears reserved in his mannerisms.
“Hello everyone. We have a bit of a treat for you today here on Union Center. Now, normally we don’t do interviews on this show but today is a bit of an exception, we’ve invited in the wonderful Dr. Northbrook to the show to discuss one of her recent lectures on insurgencies, and the mindset that fuels them.”
The host raises a hand as if in warning, his expression shifting from warm and welcoming to rather serious as the topic matter changes.
“Now, before we switch over to the footage of the interview I’d like to warn the viewer that some of the subject matter here is fairly complex, and interspersed with interview footage will be topics related to violence. If you’re uncomfortable with the idea death and destruction I would highly advise you change to another recording. Thank you, and please enjoy.”
The screen fades to black with the host returning to his familiar smile. After a brief pause, the screen fades back into view, showing the same host in a different position from a side angle, speaking to someone who is apparently beyond the camera’s view. He is wearing different clothing, a darker and more formal suit with a tie. His hair is combed and more orderly than in the previous segment. He sits with crossed legs and clasped hands. He appears to be mid-conversation as the footage fades in.
“...suppose we already know each other, but for the sake of the recording I’ll introduce the both of us, shall I?”
An older female voice speaks from off camera. The voice sounds slightly amused, as though just having recovered from a slight bout of laughter.
“Go ahead. By all means.”
The host nods, smiling his familiar feux grin, turning gradually to look at the viewer, speaking up as though addressing them directly.
“I’m sure our regular viewers are already familiar, but for those that are new I am Charles Charnock, I’m the host of Union Center. Today we have the absolute pleasure of speaking with our wonderful guest, Dr. Cortana Northbrook.”
The camera, taking this as a que, switches to a view presented by a second camera aimed at a woman who was sitting across from the host. She is dressed smartly in formal attire, a light jacket with a white blouse, a skirt, with high heels on her feet, sitting cross-legged with her hands clasped together in her lap. Her light brown hair is tied into a ponytail, and she wears angular reading glasses upon her face, nodding a smiling to the host sitting across from her as she is introduced. She rather awkwardly raises a hand in greeting as though waving to the viewer, though this is short-lived and the hand soon returns to her lap.
With the view still fixed on the woman, the host continues speaking after a brief pause.
“She is a doctorate in law, of Harvard alumni, if I’m correct?”With the view still fixed on the woman, the host continues speaking after a brief pause.
The woman responds promptly, continuing to nod to the host off-camera.
“Yes, that is correct. Thank you.”
The view switches back to the host, who continues to present a friendly expression while speaking.
“She started out as a resident of Canada before moving to the United States where she had her formal education, and was quite obviously a prime candidate for administration. Now here today she’s quite graciously opted to join us for a brief interview about her experiences with this so-called resistance, and their mental state.”
The view oddly switches back to the woman for only a few moments, showing her nodding along with the description provided by the host before quickly switching back.
“Clearly you know your stuff, Dr. Northbrook, but for those of us who aren’t as familiar with your studies, what is it exactly that fuels the thought process of these …
The host pauses briefly, gesturing into the air as though struggling to find an adequate descriptive word for the subject matter. His expression appears conflicted.
...terrorists?”
The view once more switches back to the woman, who appears to pause briefly in contemplation, adjusting her positioning in the chair she sits in before speaking.
“Not terrorists.”
The host quickly responds, followed by a retort from the woman.
“Not terrorists?”
“No. Misguided, not terrorists.”
As the woman finds a comfortable position in her chair she raises a hand, briefly adjusting the glasses on her face before continuing to speak.
“Terrorist isn’t really an adequate word to describe them. They aren’t fighting to cause terror. You have to look at things from their perspective to better understand why they are doing what they are. Their actions might cause terror, yes, but that isn’t the intent.”
The view switches back to the host, who appears befuddled by this response. He gestures at the air further before speaking up in reply.
“Well, would you care to elaborate?”
Once again the woman is displayed. She sniffs briefly before speaking once more.
“Well, we all fight for … or at least attempt to advance the concepts or ideas we believe in, yes? Their staunchest of beliefs is that the old world was better. They insist that the time before the Benefactors came and elevated us to where we are now … was superior to current conditions. The difference of course being they seem quite inclined to use violence as a means of conveying this message.”
The host is now shown as more curious than befuddled. He grips his chin with a hand in contemplation, gesturing.
“What motivates that thought process … do you think?”
Again, the woman is shown.
“We all have a subjective understanding of what is good and what is bad. The younger members of these … outlying organizations tend to have a rather rash and narrow view of the world. They see the simple things … the variety of clothes, the phones, the internet, and what have you, and they go no further in their thoughts from there. They see only what was removed from them, and they see this as an injustice, and they go from there.”
The woman pauses, collecting a glass of water from off-screen, which she takes a sip of briefly before continuing to speak, setting the glass down once more.
“This of course leads them to neglect the benefits that have been provided to us that advance our society in the long term. I mean, look around you.”
The woman gestures to the air before continuing.
“The hazardous emissions that once plagued our planet? Gone. The global hunger problem? Entirely eliminated. War, famine, disease, destruction, all of it has been reduced to near or completely gone as a result of the interjection of the Benefactors.”
The view switches to show the host nodding along silently, before switching back to the woman.
“Most would argue that these things are worth making sacrifices for, but the youth of these non-conformist groups see only what was taken from them, and to them that is the greatest injustice that can be inflicted. Nevermind the suffering that their actions cause, the people that they kill. The peace that they steal from us. They don’t see that.”
She pauses in contemplation before proceeding again.
“They have a mindset that I refer to as a 2000s mentality. It was becoming far worse by the time the Benefactors intervened. They saw what we were heading toward better than any of us.”
The host is shown nodding along further as the woman continues.
“Imagine just for a second a world where … excuse me, specifically the Americas, but imagine … a society where every person has become so encapsulated in their own little world, their own view, surrounded by only people who agree with them and validate their opinions, that they don’t see someone on the opposite political isle as even human. They simply become so obsessed with this world view that they will even make excuses to push aside reality if it protects their opinion. That is exactly what this resistance suffers from. It becomes an earth-shattering revelation to come across someone who might dare disagree with you.”
The host appears impressed, nodding along.
“Horrifying,” responds the host.
“Indeed. Some of my colleagues and our protectors might … to an extent, disagree with my opinion in saying this, but I very adamantly believe that the best way to deal with this problem is simply to try our best to expand their perception of the world. To help them understand what parts of this new world it is they are neglecting.”
The woman gestures around the room once more.
“We all understand that we’ve moved on from the 2000s, we know this. We’ve moved on from the United States, from Russia, from Canada, Japan, what have you. But they do not. And while we would hope to help them understand, to show them why it is that they are wrong, some of them simply will never change. And while it is regrettable to come to that, we simply have to be willing to use force to protect what is right. We simply can’t allow ourselves to slip backward after making so much progress.”
The screen fades to black once more as the woman concludes her thoughts. The presentation seems to imply this was simply a clip of a larger interview, but the rest is not shown. The screen fades in to show the host from the introduction clip, still in his brown suit and still smiling.
“For more of this interview and others like it, we encourage you to subscribe to Union Center, the best place for your news, politics, and entertainment media.”
The screen once more fades to black. The screen clicks off.
