Truth or Consequences

The other night, I re-watched a powerful episode of Doctor Who. (Major Doctor Who fan. If you don’t believe me, you clearly haven’t seen my Instagram.)

In this particular episode, The Zygon Invension, (it’s a two-parter, with The Zygon Invasion being the first one, but I’m focusing on the second part for this post) the Zygons, an alien race capable of replicating human faces (meaning, they can become anyone), has decided to seek war against humanity. Well, that’s not entirely true. Some Zygons want to invade and destroy Earth, and, to quote Bender: “Kill all humans”.

Most of the Zygons want to continue living on Earth in peace. They enjoy their human ‘counterparts’ and human lives. They don’t want a war; they want peace. They don’t want humans to die; they have grown to love and respect humanity.

However, one of the Zygons who has (SPOILER ALERT!) taken Clara’s identity and “morphed” into her (the Zygon is also known as the Commander, or less favourably, Bonnie) has decided the Zygons don’t have a choice. She wants to reveal all the hidden Zygons to everyone on Earth, therefore creating panic, fear, and – of course, the human reaction to everything – war.

Doctor Who, Season 9, Episodes 7 & 8

How does the Commander plan to achieve this?

By the Osgood box.

In a previous episode (season eight, also involving Zygons) the Osgood human and the Osgood Zygon create two boxes (another spoiler) to help create a treaty between the Zygons and humanity.

The boxes are hidden in secret at UNIT (think of a sci-fi version of MI5. Or maybe SHIELD, cause they’ve already done it.). The spoiler alert I mentioned earlier is that there are two boxes – Bonnie doesn’t know this when she firsts goes after the Osgood box.

One box is red and one box is blue.

And each box has two buttons: Truth or consequences. The catch? One box, with one button, can save humanity by releasing a gas that will kill all Zygons. Or, if in that same box the ‘wrong’ button is pressed, all the Zygons will be revealed – causing the war that the Commander so desperately wants.

The second box also contains the same two buttons (as previously said) and, if the wrong one is pressed, a nuclear warhead will be detonated in the middle of London, killing hundreds and destroying UNIT.

Most likely also causing a war, as you can imagine.

Kate, the head of UNIT, is desperate to hit a button in the hopes of destroying the Zygons (she’s the “good” guy in this situation – she didn’t want to, but she’s afraid the Commander will hit a button first, and if she doesn’t act, then humanity will lose. You can see her dilemma).

Bonnie, the Commander, is also desperate to hit a button. Any button, really, no matter the consequences, in the desperate hope to get revenge on humanity – even if it means the destruction of all Zygons (and even if those same said Zygons don’t actually want to go to war).

My point? Other than giving away major spoilers of an episode you should absolutely see? And a TV series that you are definitely missing out on (assuming you haven’t started watching it already)?

This perfectly relates to what is happening right now, in our society. Everyone wants someone to blame, to other, to hate – and frequently, Muslims are the predominant targets of our unrelenting hate, with politicians like Fraser Anning Tweeting about how Muslims deserved to die after the horrific Mosque massacres this year in New Zealand.

This reminds me of the time when I legit for-real had to teach a Nazi, and after questioning “whether the Holocaust was even real or not” (because “The Jews” faked that shit), but then followed it up with, “Well, the Germans must have had a good reason.” Yes, ze Germans had a very good reason for mass-murder and genocide. They wanted power and money, like all good people, and felt that mass-murder and widespread genocide was a good way to achieve it. They probably learnt that lesson from Columbus. 

Unfortunately, many people are blaming the wrong people for these malicious terrorist attacks. Many people are blaming refugees, and are refusing to allow refugees asylum because they’re afraid that these people are terrorists. (Yes, because terrorists are going to try and “sneak” into a country that doesn’t want them by pretending to be a refugee. They wouldn’t at all be getting into the country in a more well-founded way by any chance.) Or, people are afraid that, by allowing refugees into this country they are “taking away” from said country.

Sidebar: If you watch The Looming Tower, you’ll see that Osama Bin Laden specifically hired Saudi Arabian terrorists because they would easily gain access to the US. If nothing has changed, including Trump’s dismissing of the Saudia Arabian government/royal family murdering Jamal Khashoggi, therefore exonerating Saudia Arabia and Mohammed bin Salam. I don’t know about you, but when an American journalist is murdered inside a fucking embassy, and there is at least fucking audio recording of said murder that implicates the Royal fucking family, in particular Mohammed bin Salam, and the rest of the world carries on as if this isn’t a big fucking deal.

Firstly, and most importantly, than any politician’s ridiculous and ignorant claims (there have been so many, it’s sometimes hard to keep count) it is not illegal for refugees to seek asylum here. It is also not illegal for them to arrive in Australia by boat. Seriously, you can google it – it’s completely legal.

And, by turning them away, we’re creating a bigger problem. And most likely even sending innocent people to their deaths.

Think of Muslims as Zygons. Yes, some Muslims are terrorists. Some Muslims are bad people (but not terrorists – the two actually don’t go hand in hand). Most Muslims (or Zygons) just want to live in peace.

And we are denying them that (yeah, cause white people are all innocent and never, ever committed any terrorist attacks – here’s looking at you Soviet Russia, IRA, America and the KKK, just to name a few). Like Kate, in Doctor Who, we are blaming all Muslims for the actions of a few.

Secondly, and most importantly, we need to remember the Doctor’s words in this situation: cruelty begets cruelty.

Which is funny, because that’s exactly how WWI and II ended (well, the war in the Pacific sort of didn’t quite end that way, but the war in Europe did. It was just aided by Hitler’s suicide). What I mean is, they always end with discussions and treaties. Before the first atom bomb was even dropped on Hiroshima, Japan was already in surrender talks. It’s a little complicated, and if you’d like me to dive further into Hiroshima, let me know in the comment section.

But after WWI, we had The Treaty of Versailles. After WWII, we had that fucked up Germany situation with the wall, and a Cold War where no one fucking talked about not killing the entire world before deciding, “Let’s agree on mutual destruction NOT being in our best interests.” 

We need now, more than ever, to listen to the Doctor.

Truth, or consequences.

Because an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.

What do you want to see featured here? What do you want to learn? Let me know in the comments section or send me a message on Facebook or Instagram, or via my email, thingscarlaloves@gmail.com. 

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