part 16

Hello again. There are some things I’d like to speak to you about today, but first of all, I must confess I have nothing to offer by way of commentary or analysis on the situation we find ourselves in. This event has left me without the means to speak to it in any manner that begins to approach the magnitude of its virtually infinite, sickening details or endless cascade of horrific, terrifying consequences. Words do not suffice. There is nothing I can think of to say that sounds anything other than hackneyed and cliched and utterly, ridiculously, inadequate. I am neither journalist, philosopher, historian, poet, nor psychologist. I am an engineer by education and inclination and that influence is the lens through which I view the terrible landscape before us, a landscape governed by chaos and fear. Every aspect of human life is in shambles. The remains of the dead threaten disease and contamination, the distribution systems for food and water and utilities are ruptured, communications are fragmentary, even where there is electrical power. We’re working on some of these problems. A month ago we began to assemble a network to dispense food and water and medical supplies. Much of the structure of this agency is still intact and although it operates on only a fraction of the scale necessary to address current needs, we’re using it as a foundation for a more comprehensive organization to disseminate information and keep continental, national, and regional elements of the system connected and functioning. Following my address, we will commence continuous broadcasting of the details of this operation, which, as of the moment, has no formal name. I will now turn my attention to the source of this ongoing human nightmare and some of my recent conduct related to him. A month ago, near the end of an interview with Alan Whitcomb and Patricia Chen, I found myself delivering something of a short diatribe regarding the motives of the Avatar. During the process, I took on some rather atypical voice and speech patterns. I did notice the changes while I was speaking, but as I was in an emotionally heightened state, I didn’t attach any meaning to it. Unfortunately this was interpreted by some people as evidence I was actually channeling the voice or presence of the Avatar, or even that of God himself. This assertion is, of course, ridiculous. Sadly, just four days ago, this phenomenon repeated itself, and in this case I have only a vague recollection of it. Once again, many of you became convinced that once again I had become possessed by the spirit of God or the Avatar, who used my physical body as some kind of literal meat puppet to give voice to authentic divine edicts of some kind. I would caution you against this interpretation. I would call your attention to the fact that I was in the final throes of a six-month long emotional disintegration and that moments later I was standing before the Hammer himself with a loaded revolver pointed at my head, utterly convinced that by presenting his programming with the mortal paradox that to stop me from blowing my head off he was going to have to blow my head off, would somehow cause his circuits to overload and burn out like it does in the movies, or at least keep him from achieving one lousy objective on his endless global itinerary. I was in the act of putting a bullet through my brain just to see if I could ruin his day. I’d suggest that kind of behavior is a clear and unambiguous argument against the conclusion that the mind that produced it was operating in a sane or reliable manner. Every mental institution and homeless shelter has a contingent of seers whose pronouncements are every bit as passionate, compelling, and credible as the ones you’ve heard from me. Now let me clear up a few things. There is nothing supernatural about the Tin Man. He’s a robot, a machine. He was not born, nor was he called into existence by magic at the behest of some divine being. He was manufactured. Designed, fabricated, programmed. I assume he operates at the beck and call of one or more organic creatures of some kind, but who knows? Maybe he’s a product of other artificial intelligences. But he is not, I repeat, he is not a god nor is he the agent of a god. He’s a machine and his purpose here is to kill us. His actions were well supported by most of us in the beginning but I’m guessing all of you who bought your children Avatar pencils and Avatar toothbrushes and Avatar backpacks filled with Avatar crap aren’t so enthusiastic about his operation anymore. We’ve all speculated about his motives and intentions, but one thing seems to me to be more clear than ever. His tactics are bankrupt. However deranged my recent tirades, they were twisted together out of the fabric of a simple but clear observation. Death is a tool to be used in self defense and only in self defense. As a proactive tool for social engineering it is insanity. License to kill people because they don’t act the way you want them to has no natural boundary, it’s all movement within a field. The only limits are arbitrary and subject to withdrawal. To kill someone and their family because they worship a particular way is not a categorically different act than killing someone and their family because they chew gum, it’s only a matter of degree, and not much of one. If you start at one end of that continuum, where do you stop? To kill people because they don’t think the way you do only leads to one outcome because there’s a point at which ultimately everyone thinks differently than you. That’s a comment on a given radical but generic strategy for change. Let me be more specific about one agent of that strategy. The Avatar is not a religious icon. The Avatar is not a steward. The Avatar is an extraterrestrial assassin. The Avatar is the enemy of mankind and his activities on this planet constitute a war against humanity. It’s probably time to fight back, but I don’t see how to even begin to go about it. All I can suggest right now is that you do what you can to live another day. Good luck.