4. Hate Vaccine
Once, Ransom went to the Superhuman league and saw more people there than he had ever seen before. About forty people standing around the forum. Half of them wee regulars, the other half were people he'd never seen before. A cloud hovered over the forum. Ransom realized that there were as many ghosts floating around as there were people.
Many people were arguing in realtime. Ransom spotted Data on the fringes of the crowd. He asked Data what was going on.
"Invasion." he answered.
Ransom rolled his eyes. The level of pettiness that people in telepresence will sink too has never ceased to amaze him. Why would people gather in groups and go to a forum just to make a nuisance of themselves? And Ransom wondered what a better place the world would be if people would just find better things to do with their time.
"It's another forum here recruiting for their group," continued Data, "a superhumanist forum called New Gene Nation. They've been spewing their idiotic memes here all day.
Ransom asked The League's server to replay for him the most heated of the day's arguments. Most of the yelling involved two people. A League regular named Aquinas, and a big guy he had never seen before, apparently from the other forum.
The big guy spoke with a low raspy voice, "This is typical. Typical follow the leader, herd mentality. You shout down and kick out anyone who doesn't automatically agree with your narrow world view."
Augustine shot back at him, "The reason we shout you down is because you are a bunch of uneducated hicks. All of you spouting off the same viral rhetoric invented by whoever started your stupid group. I'm sure that none of you have actually researched your views."
"On the contrary. I have a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology."
"Oh please." said Aquinas. "Anyone with an extra five grand in their credit can get a degree these days."
"I've put a great deal of research into founding New Gene Nation. I am well convinced that the best way for man to evolve into superhumanity is to use genomic research to improve man's breeding habits."
"Breeding habits. You're talking about us as if we're animals. Why don't you just call your beliefs by what they are? Eugenics."
"Well, I'm not going to sugar-coat things. If we research and try to find which human alleles will provide us with smarter, healthier, more productive human beings, then I'm sure most of these useful alleles will be found in Nordic, Teutonic, and Anglo bloodlines."
"Did everyone hear that? Does everyone see? I just want everyone to realize what a racist fuck this guy is."
"Would you sacrifice science in the name of political correctness?" said the Eugenicist. "There is empirical evidence that proves eugenics works. There is a group of people who have been eugenically improving their race for centuries. They've culled out genetic traits that they've deemed inferior through old-fashioned yet effective methods. The Jews have improved their own gene pool so that they excel in verbal and language skills. How else would you explain such a small minority having such a large influence over world media?"
Ransom had heard enough.
Ransom remembered when he was younger, about twelve or thirteen, he went shopping with his father at Wal-Mart, back when they still had Wal-Marts. Every time he went there, Ransom always maneuvered the shopping cart to a certain bank of self-checkout lanes where this cute customer service rep worked. She had black skin and braids, and Ransom had an obvious crush on her. His father was venting towards Ransom. He was angry at something some other woman, who also happened to be black, did or didn't do. He actually used the term "African-American" within earshot of the subject of Ransom's affections. Ransom was mortified. He wanted to crawl behind the display of Sam's Choice snacks and die. And for a few years thereafter, Ransom made sure that he wasn't seen out in public with Dad again.
Not that he thought his father was a racist, He knew that it was socially acceptable to use those crazy hyphenated-American terms back in his day. His father was just a product of his upbringing.
Ransom asked himself, could I have been an SS officer or a Klansmen if I had been raised in different times, different circumstances? He didn't turn out like those good old boys who lived in that same CenFlo trailer park where Ransom was raised.
Ransom considered leaving The Superhuman League. Avoiding it for a few days until this so-called invasion blew over.
But instead, for reasons that still remain unclear, Ransom followed a crazy impulse. He decided right then and there to stop the wallflower routine for once. He decided to argue. Loudly, and if necessary, belligerently, he would get his own personal point across. As soon as he decided what that was.
After reviewing the forum's recent history, Ransom turned his attention to realtime, and noticed Aquinas and Jesse were having a public argument.
"I don't see why you can't do something. Freeze new forum membership. Temporarily suspend everyone who joined in the past twenty-four hours. Something!" said Aquinas.
Jesse shrugged her shoulders. "I can't."
"The Hell you can. These guys are providing links to places that provide links to white supremacist sites."
"And is anyone forcing you to follow these links?"
"This New Gene Nation is an anathema. They are not superhumanists. They are specifically not recognized by the World Superhumanist Association. We have to do something to separate ourselves from them. They're bigots, racists. I even found a link posted in their forum that leads to a site that denies that the Holocaust ever happened. Aren't you Jewish?"
Jesse, annoyed, shot back at him, "I'm half Jewish. And that shouldn't make a bit of difference! In the past twenty four hours, no one has given me reason to ban them. I don't have to do anything."
"um, excuse me...." Ransom broke into the conversation with uncharacteristic rudeness. "My friend, Rod once came here. He was almost banned because he made a few sexual jokes. You won't even entertain the thought of banning these New Gene guys, but you threaten to ban him. That's bull crap." Ransom knew that his complaint sounded bad, but he was sick and tired of watching idly by while others made jackasses of themselves. He wanted to be a jackass too.
"Ransom, is it? Look, I don't know what your friend told you, but I can assure you that he was in no danger of being banned. I've never silenced anyone in my forum. I am a libertarian. And it would be quite hypocritical of me to run my forum differently from the way I want the government to be run."
"Oh..." Ransom didn't know what to say. "So, like, libertarianism. If it doesn't hurt anyone, it should be legal, right?"
Jesse didn't even respond. She turned back to Aquinas and took up her argument from where Ransom had interrupted.
Ransom was suddenly stabbed with feelings of embarrassment. He realized that this was his first time speaking to Jesse. The real live Jesse, and not her robot clone. He had seen the real Jesse speak before. But Ransom had never spoken to her, never felt the desire to speak to her. The administrator of The Superhuman League was good-looking and popular. Ransom didn't hate her for that. He just felt that with all the attention she received from the other nerdy guys in the forum, she could do without Ransom's. His feelings for her had been ambiguous. But now, with him addressing her directly, and her ignoring him, Ransom was filled with dreadful humiliation.
Jesse continued her argument in professional, unemotional tones. "...well of course I don't agree with what he says. How could you say that? His ideas of achieving superhumanity are complete nonsense. As soon as I get the time, I'm going to make an official statement of the forum's position on eugenics..."
"Hey! I think he has a point. Stupid people shouldn't breed." Ransom was interrupting again. Bothering this beautiful, intelligent woman, he felt like a twelve-year-old asking out his first girlfriend. Ransom's gut was filled with anxiousness. But he wasn't showing it.
"Huh?" Jesse was incredulous. Aquinas glowered.
"Uh, I mean, Stupid parents produce stupid kids. You don't need a degree in Anthropology or Genetic Counseling to know something so obvious."
Aquinas looked accusingly at Jesse. "This is what I anticipated. This eugenicist brings his virulent memes to our forum. The meme infection spreads and affects the least informed members of our forum. Not only has the damaging meme been spread, but we are complicit in the disease, because our forum is acting as a vector."
"Ha!" said Ransom. "What is this meme crap? You geek. Aren't you taking this pathology metaphor too far?"
Aquinas raged, "Why don't you take your idiotic opinions to the the New Gene Nation forum where they'll be more appreciated? We don't need your ilk here."
"I like this forum. I'd rather keep my idiotic opinions right here. I agree with Jesse. The eugenicists don't need to be banned."
"At least you realize that you're a fool. Now just admit your prejudices so that everyone will know to press their ignore button every time you open your idiotic mouth."
Ransom looked over Mr. Aquinas. He didn't look much older than Ransom. He was tall, like six-foot-ten, but really skinny. Yeah, thought Ransom, I could take him in a fight. "Tell me if this Eugenicist has said anything that can be proven false. If you want to dispel his virulent memes, just point out where his facts are wrong."
"It's all wrong."
"Oh. So there don't exist differences in average I.Q. scores between races? What about between nationalities? Or economic classes?"
Aquinas replied a little slower this time. "The studies you're referring to... that data is... irrelevant. Those studies belong in specialized academic texts. That data is not meant to be spread all over the Net, used to recruit those less educated into a modern day Third Reich."
"So what are you saying, Aquinas? Should the truth be banned?"
"No. Not the truth. Just the hate."
"That's awful ambiguous."
"It sure is." The voice came from behind Ransom. It was the Eugenicist. "It's good to see someone interested in the truth. Ransom, you should visit the New Gene Nation forum. There's much more to be said about the lies of political correctness."
"Yes, please." said Aquinas. "Visit them, right now."
Ransom was enthusiastic. "I really wanna get in on this eugenics stuff. Why should those money-grubbing, hook-nosed, Christ-killing Jews have all the fun?"
Jesse, whose nose wasn't very hook shaped, just stood there, emotionless. Aquinas was actually shocked into silence. The Eugenicist replied, "Ransom, consider my invitation withdrawn. We do not allow racist comments like that. If you wish to discuss the difference between races, you will do so with respect."
"So you guys don't have a libertarian forum where people can say what they think?"
"New Gene Nation has an urgent and well-defined mission. We don't have time for such bigotry, whether you were joking or serious."
"Then I'll just stay right here then."
The Eugenicist was ringing his hands. Aquinas was slowly smoldering. But what really caught Ransom's attention was Jesse. He couldn't believe it. It was just a small movement in her lips. But Ransom was sure that she had just smiled.
"Then stay here with those who distort the truth." said The Eugenicist. "Stay here with the egalitarians, the Neo-Marxists, the environmentalists..."
"Wait a minute. Environmentalists? Do you mean to tell me that you hate Mother Nature too?"
"No, you troglodyte! By environmentalist, I mean people who spread the fallacy that the environment in which a child is raised determines IQ, rather than heredity."
"Well then that's where you're wrong. " said Ransom. "I'm not going to say that heredity plays no role in determining a person's intelligence. But nurture is far more important than nature. It has to be."
"You've been brainwashed. The facts don't support that opinion."
Aquinas was now as still as a statue. He apparently had lost interest in the argument. But Jesse was listening intently. Ransom said, "I don't think so, Eugene. You talk about the quote-unquote races as if they existed beyond the culturally imposed differences and the superficial differences, like hair curliness. But down at the hereditary level, there's very little difference. There's more genetic diversity in a single troop of chimpanzees than there is in the whole world of people." Ransom spread his arms wide. "The Human Race is the most racially pure species on the planet. So in a way, we are all racists."
There it was. Ransom saw it. Jesse smiled again. The Eugenicist, however, was not happy. "You're so-called memes are nothing more than a program of dysgenics. The power elite improves their gene pool, while political correctness causes society at large to become duller with each generation. And my name isn't Eugene, it's Mark!"
"Well check your facts again, Mark. People of all races are getting smarter. Or at least better at taking IQ tests. The Flynn Effect, I believe it's called."
Jesse opened her mouth, as if she was going to say something, but didn't. Mark did, "You said yourself that stupid parents have stupid kids"
"And I meant it. Human infants are very dependent on their parents. Human beings are more heterochronic than any other primate..."
"Heterochronic!" Jesse interrupted him. "What a cool word!"
"Um, okay... Well what I was saying is, humans are more heterochronic. The rapid brain development that completes itself so early in the brains of infant primates, is extended for a much longer period in humans. And humans spend much more time under the care of their parents than do other primates. This allows for the inheritance of intelligence that's more, um, mimetic, rather than genetic.
"Stupid parents do have stupid kids. But you don't need a low IQ to be a stupid parent. There are plenty of otherwise smart people out there who are stupid, lousy, neglectful parents. It was a wise man who once said, stupid is as stupid does."
Eugenicist Mark had nothing more to say. He just stood there. Then he disappeared. No, "Goodbye." No, "Fuck you." Such a thing is strange in realspace, but people do it a lot in telepresence.
Jesse had turned and walked away. Ransom had no one to gloat over the pointless victory of winning an argument on the Net. He thought about looking for a comic book to read. But then he heard her voice. "Ransom." It was Jesse. He turned around, but she was all the way at the other end of the forum, talking to someone else. "Wanna chat? Step into my office."
"Where is it?"
"Straight up."
Ransom pressed the "jump" button on his hand controller. His digital avatar flew straight to the top of the vaulted ceiling. A small door opened up next to a light in the ceiling, giving him access to the upper level, which looked a lot like the lower level, only smaller, and with windows looking out to the stars.
Many people were arguing in realtime. Ransom spotted Data on the fringes of the crowd. He asked Data what was going on.
"Invasion." he answered.
Ransom rolled his eyes. The level of pettiness that people in telepresence will sink too has never ceased to amaze him. Why would people gather in groups and go to a forum just to make a nuisance of themselves? And Ransom wondered what a better place the world would be if people would just find better things to do with their time.
"It's another forum here recruiting for their group," continued Data, "a superhumanist forum called New Gene Nation. They've been spewing their idiotic memes here all day.
Ransom asked The League's server to replay for him the most heated of the day's arguments. Most of the yelling involved two people. A League regular named Aquinas, and a big guy he had never seen before, apparently from the other forum.
The big guy spoke with a low raspy voice, "This is typical. Typical follow the leader, herd mentality. You shout down and kick out anyone who doesn't automatically agree with your narrow world view."
Augustine shot back at him, "The reason we shout you down is because you are a bunch of uneducated hicks. All of you spouting off the same viral rhetoric invented by whoever started your stupid group. I'm sure that none of you have actually researched your views."
"On the contrary. I have a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology."
"Oh please." said Aquinas. "Anyone with an extra five grand in their credit can get a degree these days."
"I've put a great deal of research into founding New Gene Nation. I am well convinced that the best way for man to evolve into superhumanity is to use genomic research to improve man's breeding habits."
"Breeding habits. You're talking about us as if we're animals. Why don't you just call your beliefs by what they are? Eugenics."
"Well, I'm not going to sugar-coat things. If we research and try to find which human alleles will provide us with smarter, healthier, more productive human beings, then I'm sure most of these useful alleles will be found in Nordic, Teutonic, and Anglo bloodlines."
"Did everyone hear that? Does everyone see? I just want everyone to realize what a racist fuck this guy is."
"Would you sacrifice science in the name of political correctness?" said the Eugenicist. "There is empirical evidence that proves eugenics works. There is a group of people who have been eugenically improving their race for centuries. They've culled out genetic traits that they've deemed inferior through old-fashioned yet effective methods. The Jews have improved their own gene pool so that they excel in verbal and language skills. How else would you explain such a small minority having such a large influence over world media?"
Ransom had heard enough.
Ransom remembered when he was younger, about twelve or thirteen, he went shopping with his father at Wal-Mart, back when they still had Wal-Marts. Every time he went there, Ransom always maneuvered the shopping cart to a certain bank of self-checkout lanes where this cute customer service rep worked. She had black skin and braids, and Ransom had an obvious crush on her. His father was venting towards Ransom. He was angry at something some other woman, who also happened to be black, did or didn't do. He actually used the term "African-American" within earshot of the subject of Ransom's affections. Ransom was mortified. He wanted to crawl behind the display of Sam's Choice snacks and die. And for a few years thereafter, Ransom made sure that he wasn't seen out in public with Dad again.
Not that he thought his father was a racist, He knew that it was socially acceptable to use those crazy hyphenated-American terms back in his day. His father was just a product of his upbringing.
Ransom asked himself, could I have been an SS officer or a Klansmen if I had been raised in different times, different circumstances? He didn't turn out like those good old boys who lived in that same CenFlo trailer park where Ransom was raised.
Ransom considered leaving The Superhuman League. Avoiding it for a few days until this so-called invasion blew over.
But instead, for reasons that still remain unclear, Ransom followed a crazy impulse. He decided right then and there to stop the wallflower routine for once. He decided to argue. Loudly, and if necessary, belligerently, he would get his own personal point across. As soon as he decided what that was.
After reviewing the forum's recent history, Ransom turned his attention to realtime, and noticed Aquinas and Jesse were having a public argument.
"I don't see why you can't do something. Freeze new forum membership. Temporarily suspend everyone who joined in the past twenty-four hours. Something!" said Aquinas.
Jesse shrugged her shoulders. "I can't."
"The Hell you can. These guys are providing links to places that provide links to white supremacist sites."
"And is anyone forcing you to follow these links?"
"This New Gene Nation is an anathema. They are not superhumanists. They are specifically not recognized by the World Superhumanist Association. We have to do something to separate ourselves from them. They're bigots, racists. I even found a link posted in their forum that leads to a site that denies that the Holocaust ever happened. Aren't you Jewish?"
Jesse, annoyed, shot back at him, "I'm half Jewish. And that shouldn't make a bit of difference! In the past twenty four hours, no one has given me reason to ban them. I don't have to do anything."
"um, excuse me...." Ransom broke into the conversation with uncharacteristic rudeness. "My friend, Rod once came here. He was almost banned because he made a few sexual jokes. You won't even entertain the thought of banning these New Gene guys, but you threaten to ban him. That's bull crap." Ransom knew that his complaint sounded bad, but he was sick and tired of watching idly by while others made jackasses of themselves. He wanted to be a jackass too.
"Ransom, is it? Look, I don't know what your friend told you, but I can assure you that he was in no danger of being banned. I've never silenced anyone in my forum. I am a libertarian. And it would be quite hypocritical of me to run my forum differently from the way I want the government to be run."
"Oh..." Ransom didn't know what to say. "So, like, libertarianism. If it doesn't hurt anyone, it should be legal, right?"
Jesse didn't even respond. She turned back to Aquinas and took up her argument from where Ransom had interrupted.
Ransom was suddenly stabbed with feelings of embarrassment. He realized that this was his first time speaking to Jesse. The real live Jesse, and not her robot clone. He had seen the real Jesse speak before. But Ransom had never spoken to her, never felt the desire to speak to her. The administrator of The Superhuman League was good-looking and popular. Ransom didn't hate her for that. He just felt that with all the attention she received from the other nerdy guys in the forum, she could do without Ransom's. His feelings for her had been ambiguous. But now, with him addressing her directly, and her ignoring him, Ransom was filled with dreadful humiliation.
Jesse continued her argument in professional, unemotional tones. "...well of course I don't agree with what he says. How could you say that? His ideas of achieving superhumanity are complete nonsense. As soon as I get the time, I'm going to make an official statement of the forum's position on eugenics..."
"Hey! I think he has a point. Stupid people shouldn't breed." Ransom was interrupting again. Bothering this beautiful, intelligent woman, he felt like a twelve-year-old asking out his first girlfriend. Ransom's gut was filled with anxiousness. But he wasn't showing it.
"Huh?" Jesse was incredulous. Aquinas glowered.
"Uh, I mean, Stupid parents produce stupid kids. You don't need a degree in Anthropology or Genetic Counseling to know something so obvious."
Aquinas looked accusingly at Jesse. "This is what I anticipated. This eugenicist brings his virulent memes to our forum. The meme infection spreads and affects the least informed members of our forum. Not only has the damaging meme been spread, but we are complicit in the disease, because our forum is acting as a vector."
"Ha!" said Ransom. "What is this meme crap? You geek. Aren't you taking this pathology metaphor too far?"
Aquinas raged, "Why don't you take your idiotic opinions to the the New Gene Nation forum where they'll be more appreciated? We don't need your ilk here."
"I like this forum. I'd rather keep my idiotic opinions right here. I agree with Jesse. The eugenicists don't need to be banned."
"At least you realize that you're a fool. Now just admit your prejudices so that everyone will know to press their ignore button every time you open your idiotic mouth."
Ransom looked over Mr. Aquinas. He didn't look much older than Ransom. He was tall, like six-foot-ten, but really skinny. Yeah, thought Ransom, I could take him in a fight. "Tell me if this Eugenicist has said anything that can be proven false. If you want to dispel his virulent memes, just point out where his facts are wrong."
"It's all wrong."
"Oh. So there don't exist differences in average I.Q. scores between races? What about between nationalities? Or economic classes?"
Aquinas replied a little slower this time. "The studies you're referring to... that data is... irrelevant. Those studies belong in specialized academic texts. That data is not meant to be spread all over the Net, used to recruit those less educated into a modern day Third Reich."
"So what are you saying, Aquinas? Should the truth be banned?"
"No. Not the truth. Just the hate."
"That's awful ambiguous."
"It sure is." The voice came from behind Ransom. It was the Eugenicist. "It's good to see someone interested in the truth. Ransom, you should visit the New Gene Nation forum. There's much more to be said about the lies of political correctness."
"Yes, please." said Aquinas. "Visit them, right now."
Ransom was enthusiastic. "I really wanna get in on this eugenics stuff. Why should those money-grubbing, hook-nosed, Christ-killing Jews have all the fun?"
Jesse, whose nose wasn't very hook shaped, just stood there, emotionless. Aquinas was actually shocked into silence. The Eugenicist replied, "Ransom, consider my invitation withdrawn. We do not allow racist comments like that. If you wish to discuss the difference between races, you will do so with respect."
"So you guys don't have a libertarian forum where people can say what they think?"
"New Gene Nation has an urgent and well-defined mission. We don't have time for such bigotry, whether you were joking or serious."
"Then I'll just stay right here then."
The Eugenicist was ringing his hands. Aquinas was slowly smoldering. But what really caught Ransom's attention was Jesse. He couldn't believe it. It was just a small movement in her lips. But Ransom was sure that she had just smiled.
"Then stay here with those who distort the truth." said The Eugenicist. "Stay here with the egalitarians, the Neo-Marxists, the environmentalists..."
"Wait a minute. Environmentalists? Do you mean to tell me that you hate Mother Nature too?"
"No, you troglodyte! By environmentalist, I mean people who spread the fallacy that the environment in which a child is raised determines IQ, rather than heredity."
"Well then that's where you're wrong. " said Ransom. "I'm not going to say that heredity plays no role in determining a person's intelligence. But nurture is far more important than nature. It has to be."
"You've been brainwashed. The facts don't support that opinion."
Aquinas was now as still as a statue. He apparently had lost interest in the argument. But Jesse was listening intently. Ransom said, "I don't think so, Eugene. You talk about the quote-unquote races as if they existed beyond the culturally imposed differences and the superficial differences, like hair curliness. But down at the hereditary level, there's very little difference. There's more genetic diversity in a single troop of chimpanzees than there is in the whole world of people." Ransom spread his arms wide. "The Human Race is the most racially pure species on the planet. So in a way, we are all racists."
There it was. Ransom saw it. Jesse smiled again. The Eugenicist, however, was not happy. "You're so-called memes are nothing more than a program of dysgenics. The power elite improves their gene pool, while political correctness causes society at large to become duller with each generation. And my name isn't Eugene, it's Mark!"
"Well check your facts again, Mark. People of all races are getting smarter. Or at least better at taking IQ tests. The Flynn Effect, I believe it's called."
Jesse opened her mouth, as if she was going to say something, but didn't. Mark did, "You said yourself that stupid parents have stupid kids"
"And I meant it. Human infants are very dependent on their parents. Human beings are more heterochronic than any other primate..."
"Heterochronic!" Jesse interrupted him. "What a cool word!"
"Um, okay... Well what I was saying is, humans are more heterochronic. The rapid brain development that completes itself so early in the brains of infant primates, is extended for a much longer period in humans. And humans spend much more time under the care of their parents than do other primates. This allows for the inheritance of intelligence that's more, um, mimetic, rather than genetic.
"Stupid parents do have stupid kids. But you don't need a low IQ to be a stupid parent. There are plenty of otherwise smart people out there who are stupid, lousy, neglectful parents. It was a wise man who once said, stupid is as stupid does."
Eugenicist Mark had nothing more to say. He just stood there. Then he disappeared. No, "Goodbye." No, "Fuck you." Such a thing is strange in realspace, but people do it a lot in telepresence.
Jesse had turned and walked away. Ransom had no one to gloat over the pointless victory of winning an argument on the Net. He thought about looking for a comic book to read. But then he heard her voice. "Ransom." It was Jesse. He turned around, but she was all the way at the other end of the forum, talking to someone else. "Wanna chat? Step into my office."
"Where is it?"
"Straight up."
Ransom pressed the "jump" button on his hand controller. His digital avatar flew straight to the top of the vaulted ceiling. A small door opened up next to a light in the ceiling, giving him access to the upper level, which looked a lot like the lower level, only smaller, and with windows looking out to the stars.
posted by Graham at 5:26 AM
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