"Hello and welcome back to the second half of the Henderson
hour, I'm Jill Henderson. Upon the discovery that the dragons
are humans who have transformed, a heated debate has been
sparked within America. On one side of the debate we have those
who feel we should welcome them with open arms. On the other
side are those who are calling for retribution against the
dragons who ate human beings." A fair looking woman wearing a
blue pantsuit evenly intoned to the camera.
Behind her ran various videos from thousands of people
protesting on the streets of Washington. Their signs showing
various graphic depictions of the dragons as monsters. Other
signs spoke of asking for vengeance against them. Some even
called for any removal of the rights that the dragons had before
transforming.
Then the video showed other people, some in debates,
hearings, and a few shots from the dragons themselves. All
showed reasoned debate and even discussion.
While even more showed politicians from across the
political spectrum pontificating on the situation. Some were
calling for a careful response that respects the fact that these
dragons had once been human. Others were calling for the
outright banishment and even some sort of imprisonment. Though,
those who called for confinement couldn't articulate how they
would achieve it.
"Today with me in the studio we have two guests
representing each side of the issue," Jill spoke to the camera
as it panned over to the two people. One was an academic
looking man wearing what looked like a tweed sports coat and a
white buttoned shirt underneath. The other was a woman who wore
A purple jacket over a simple white t-shirt. "With me we have
Mike O'Clark, a fellow at the Winter Institute, and Wendy Grell,
a human rights advocate from the Transhuman Protection League.
Thank you both for joining me today," Jill introduced the two
people to the viewers.
Both thanked Jill before waiting for her first question,
"now there has been a long debate about whether human rights
still apply to the dragons?"
Mike took the lead, "thank you Jill, I feel that when these
people transformed into dragons, they lost all the rights
afforded to American citizens. That their choice to kill and
eat humans show they cannot be treated as normal human beings
afforded any sort of rights or protection under human laws."
Wendy slightly shook her head in disagreement, "I disagree
Mike. These people, and yes I call them people, had no choice
in their transformation. Let me restate this, they had no
choice in becoming dragons. Many had to leave their past lives
and families behind and now they have to live in a world that
sees them as monsters. Because of all that, they are the very
people our founding fathers wanted the civil rights and
protections applied too. Think about it, if we are willing to
remove their rights, who else's rights could we remove," Wendy
rebutted Mike's argument with passion.
"But here's the reverse for you, sure they were transformed
against their wills. However once they did transform, they
chose to eat people. That they saw us as food. If we are
willing to extend our civil rights to them, why not extend those
same rights to the bears, tigers, lions, and many other animals
that see us as food? If you find that a silly comparison and
won't extend those rights to the animals, then why should we do
that with these dragons. I say when they became dragons, they
lost all access to the rights we humans enjoy." Mike
pontificated to both Wendy and Jill, but also to the camera.
Wendy had to chime back in, "if you are willing to just
arbitrarily take away their rights, what else would you do to
them? Wall them off, execute them, banish them from the very
country they were born in? I say the best thing to do is not to
treat them like animals. That we need to extend them every
human courtesy they had before they transformed. I also suggest
we wait and learn more about their transformations. About why
they feel the need to live around our mountains."
Mike chuckled at Wendy's suggestions, "no, that's all just
foolish thinking. We know they are capable of eating us. That
at any moment they could swarm out of those peaks and destroy
our society. Destroy what our founding fathers worked so hard
to create. No I say we need to stop them. To bar them from
being able to harm us. Then after that, we bring justice to
those who ate people. To be called into account for their
actions."
"'Calling them to account' suggests they have rights," Jill
chimed in.
"No, when a dog hurts someone we take care of the dog. We
take it away from its owner and put it down. But doing that
doesn't extend the dog any human rights. No, we need to get rid
of any foolish suggestion that they have access to our justice
system. Heck, they couldn't even fit inside a court room in the
first place!"
"But isn't that a bit extreme," Jill proposed to him.
Wendy's face showed her utter distain for what Mike had
proposed.
"When these people transformed into man eating monsters,
any sort of pity or fairness went out the window. No, they ate
people, they terrorized us, they need to be reminded that they
are not human anymore. That while they might still talk like
humans, they're not human anymore," Mike replied resolutely.
"I've got to say what you just said is downright
disgusting. They are all still human at heart. They want to
reconnect with society and try to assume some sort of contact
with their families. What you just said is outright abhorrent."
Wendy quickly replied trying to summarize all her feelings and
thoughts in a short moment.
"You say they want to reconnect with their families, but
what about the families of the people they ate? Those people
want to reconnect with their lost loved ones, but can't anymore.
So why should these dragons have any contact with their families
either," Mike angry shot back.
"Well this conversation won't end any time soon. Thank you
both for coming on air to debate this issue," Jill commented
ending the conversation. Both guests thanked her for letting
them come on air.
