A Brave New World [OPEN]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Everyone
WHAT: The news of the world, brought right to your school!
WHERE: On any television, radio, or computer screen (assuming they're on a news site)
WHEN: Today
WARNING(S): if a thread goes into warning label territory, either throw it in the subject line or take it to a separate log.

"... 5 dead, 20 injured in today's bombing in London. Authorities and witnesses both claim that it was literally impossible for the bomb to have been placed where it was unless someone had the ability to literally teleport into the terminal. Several experts are drawing this incident's blame to ex-Brotherhood assassin and terrorist only known at large as 'The Vanisher'..."


"... increased security for his upcoming public address. Now more than ever, calls are incredibly loud and clear for some kind of Mutant Registration law. Alleged mutant terrorism has spiked recently internationally, and many in the US public feel that President Kelly needs to take a leadership position on this much like he did during his congressional career..."


"... Sublime was very forthcoming with his experiences growing up in a mixed human/mutant household and the struggles it created. He also detailed his thoughts on Mutant Registration, saying that he felt like it wasn't the solution to the problem, and that humanity could only move forward if they embraced unity between humans and mutants. He went on to say that his philosophy of the Third Species suggests that there will be a time when the entire planet is mutant, and peace can come from accepting this..."


"... shook the sporting news world with his announcement that he was indeed a mutant. Delroy Garrett, Jr was stipped of the medals he'd won in the 2016 Olympics and has been panned universally for what was, essentially, cheating in some of the worlds' most coveted sports. The triathlete said that he doesn't regret coming out, and that he had to be who he was in the world today or those medals would have been truly meaningless..."


"... proposed a Mutant Olympics, as well as European United Mutant Football Club and any number of mutant specific sporting events and clubs. 'Why not?' Captain America said, firmly siding with Garrett and his supporters. 'I don't see any reason why these athletes, who have trained and worked hard to represent their countries should be denied that right based on how they were born. It just isn't right.' Rogers was also asked about the growing tension between mutant nation Genosha, whom protested the Winter Olympics this year due to the anti-mutant rulings, and the United States. Rogers refused to comment..."

[[ ooc: Students and teachers are free to start their own threads in this log in response to one or more of these news clips, or even to things related but not specifically posted here. You can reference the Weekly Update posts for other world news events not covered here, as well. ]]

Comments

[icy_heavens]

His eyes always tend to stray toward this classroom when he passes it. Clearly, it's just because Mr. Hijikata is a bastion of sanity compared to the majority of teachers at this school. Either way, it's enough for the writing on the whiteboard to catch his attention, and he stops. Though he'd only been four when he'd moved to the States, Toushirou had learned how to read Japanese.

What he finds himself lingering on? "Seems like Sublime has been busy."

That man's words had made a poor impression on Toushirou five years ago, and they're continuing to do so today.

[koukai_kirai]

Hijikata hummed slightly in agreement with the comment, taking a moment to finish writing something down. He looked the sentence over, thought for a moment, drew a line connecting it to another box, and then finally looked up at Toshirou.

"He has. It seems he's amassed quite the following, recently."

[icy_heavens]

No sense in continuing to stand outside the door, so he steps inside, scanning the board in more detail. "Only recently? He'd seemed to be already doing pretty well there a few years ago."

There, no hesitation in calling attention to the passage of time. He was getting much better at this.

[koukai_kirai]

"They've grown."

Hijikata's eyes flicker briefly to the board, but also pay attention to Toshirou's reactions -- he already knows what he wrote, and he'll look at it much more before it's erased later, but someone else's perspective on it could be useful.

"In number as well as volume. The rhetoric has gotten somewhat blunter of late, as well."

[icy_heavens]

"I guess he can get away with that more now that he's softened people up."

Isn't that how it works? Lure people in with the pretty words, get them to believe in you, and then start in with the more insane bullshit? Not being the charismatic sort, that's about Toushirou's take on what goes on with Sublime's type.

He tilts his head, analyzes the points laid out on the board. "Is telling normals they're going to be extinct one day and we'll have taken over supposed to make them feel better? If that's his actual intent, that could seriously backfire."

He doesn't think it's the real intent. Sublime may be slimy, but he's never given Toushirou the impression of being stupid.

[koukai_kirai]

"No."

There, precisely why he doesn't mind people talking to him while he does this. His thought process benefits from a little input besides his own.

"No, I don't think he's saying something like that blindly. Could be that 'ending mutant-human strife' is just lip service... His aim is to make them afraid. There's no other reason to convince them of a thing like that."

Make them feel persecuted, and they could feel justified acting out in 'defense'. It was an old, old trick, and he felt his pulse pick up like a hunting dog catching a familiar scent. Pieces, he felt, were beginning to fall neatly into place. He approaches the board again, underlying key points in the Sublime quotes and fleshing the area out more.

[icy_heavens]

"Escalating the potential for war." That's all this is going to do. "Really, 'ending human-mutant strife' might be his way of saying one side wipes the other out. Can't be strife between two things if one of them doesn't exist."

It's an extraordinarily cynical thing to say, but there's a certain logic to it. Nothing they can actually pin on Sublime, though. The wording is common with movements that actually do want to bring people together and thus on the surface it sounds totally innocent, even naive.

[koukai_kirai]

"Or if neither of them do."

Sublime's rhetoric did have a way of very clearly delineating his ideal as apart from either group, after all. That wasn't to say he disagreed with Toshirou's overall assessment.