Adventures In Moral History Time Travel
Year: 2600
The people of earth live in a voluntary society.
Scene – At a historical education center, people go in a time machine to experience history first hand. The historical guide for the next tour is meeting a small group of tourists and prepping them for the journey. They are in a large, vaulted atrium.
Guide: Welcome to the tour, everyone. My name is Miles. You’ve all chosen to see violent authoritarianism from history. The specific places we’ll visit today will be The Congo and what used to be called Belgium. Before we begin, have any of you time traveled before?
Guy In Fedora: Was that question meant to be paradoxical?
Miles (cringing): No, not at all. Ok, so here is how the tour works. Once we step into the time machine…
Lady In Sundress interrupts.
Lady in Sundress: Where is the time machine? I don’t see it.
Miles: The time machine will be revealed in just a moment. Now, please understand that we will actually be in the Congo in the late 19th century. We should be at a safe distance, but if we do come into close contact with people of that period, please refrain from telling them of future events.
Old Woman: Is that so we don’t destroy the fabric of space-time?
Miles: I’m not so sure the consequences would be so dramatic in the extreme, but yes, mussing the timeline is frowned upon, I’m afraid.
Chinese Man In Hawaiian Shirt: Hey, I can’t understand you.
Miles: Hmmm, perhaps there’s a malfunction with your instantaneous multi-lingual translator.
Guy In Fedora: How are we supposed to trust the time machine if you can’t even make a simple translator work?
Miles: Control panel, please. (a control panel appears before him) Ah, that’s it, widget number 2 was offline. (to Chinese man) Can you understand me now?
Chinese Man (content smile): Ah, very good.
Miles: Ok, now, where were we. I covered non-interference. Ah, yes, please don’t taunt the locals about their primitive belief in external authority. It may seem ludicrous to us now, but at that time people believed external authority to be as natural as water or air.
Lady In Sundress: That’s sad.
Miles: Indeed. Now, as a safety measure, we use invisible full body nano-armor, just in case someone decides to take a shot at you. I’ll now activate the armor. (presses button on control panel) The armor is now activated, and if there are no further questions, we will step into the time machine atrium.
Guy In Fedora: I don’t see the armor.
Miles (bites lip): That’s because it’s invisible. Ok, let’s go!
Miles walks towards a green archway. All follow. They pass through the archway and into another atrium, where there is a giant 21 foot penguin-shaped time machine.
Old Woman: What is that?
Miles: That’s the time machine.
Chinese Man: Why is the time machine a giant penguin?
Miles: I suppose because whoever built it really likes penguins?
Guy In Fedora: No need for huffy answers.
Miles: That wasn’t my intention. Now please, if everyone is ready, I invite you to step into the giant penguin-like structure.
Everyone walks in and is surrounded by kaleidoscopic lights. The penguin starts flickering and disappears. Moments later (or earlier, depending on your time-perspective) the penguin reappears in the Congo in 1899, near a caravan en route to the port of Boma. Dozens of lethargic people are plodding along the route, carrying heavy loads.
Lady In Sundress: What are they carrying?
Miles: It appears to be a substance called latex, which was harvested from trees during this period. It was used to produce industrial rubber.
Old Lady: Why are they in such sorry shape?
Miles: Because they were slaves and endured very harsh treatment.
Man In Fedora: From who?
Miles: In this particular case in the Congo, a violent clan of order-followers in uniforms called the “Public Force”. It was a specific military organization in this region at this time.
Chinese Man: They followed orders? Not conscience?
Miles: Not only did they not follow conscience, but nearly everyone from history didn’t know the difference between right and wrong behavior. You can’t follow conscience if you don’t what it is, now can you?
Chinese Man: Certainly not.
Miles: Let’s go now to their destination, a port city nearby called Boma. It is there that we will witness some of the evils of ignorance and order-following. Everyone back in the penguin, please.
Everyone gets back in the penguin and they are transported to the next day in Boma. The caravan has arrived and the cargo is being inspected by various violent rights-violators in uniform.
Miles: Control panel, please. (a control panel appears before him and he punches a few buttons) I just cloaked the penguin due to our proximity to the order-followers.
Old Woman: I thought we’re wearing armor, so what’s the point of that?
Miles: Yes, the armor will protect us physically, but I must protect the time machine as much as possible so that we might return to our time period without incident.
They start to watch the surrounding action going on outside. Most of the rights-violators are wearing uniforms, but some are dressed in suits.
Lady In Sundress: Who’s that guy in a suit, sitting in a fancy chair, and yelling?
Miles: That is a sort of middle man in the authoritarian hierarchy of the period, called a governor. He gives orders to the rights-violators in uniforms. However, he also follows orders from another person.
Lady In Sundress: Oh, my. I’ve never seen anyone’s face turn such a shade of red!
One of the rights-violators in uniform grabs one of the local slaves by the arm and leads him to a post. The rights-violator then takes a whip and starts flogging him. The time travelers avert their eyes.
Chinese Man: I’ve reviewed the history archives about stuff like this, but to actually see it happen!
Miles: So, just to be clear, the so-called governor gave orders to a uniformed rights-violator, called a soldier, to use violence against the poor man being whipped.
Man In Fedora: But why did they follow orders? Why did they inflict such atrocious harm?
Miles: Fear and ignorance, sir, fear and ignorance were the main culprits.
Old Woman: Why don’t those poor people defend themselves or disobey?
Miles: Fear was one reason, but their violent oppressors also possessed superior technology.
Chinese Man: But didn’t they know that it was better to die on your feet than live on your knees?
Miles: Sadly, no.
Man In Fedora: So who gave orders to this gang-boss called a governor?
Miles: I’m glad you asked, as it’s time to move onto the final part of our historical journey. We’re going to a geographical location that was at this time called Belgium.
The kaleidoscopic lights start again, and within moments the giant penguin time machine appears just outside the Royal Palace of Brussels.
Miles: Ok, this is the final part of the tour. We will now go see a man who was known as King Leopold II. Can anyone tell me what a king was?
Lady In Sundress: I remember reading about it. A king was an authoritarian man, who lived off of extortion and barked orders.
Miles: That’s a fair enough definition, I suppose. Don’t forget that they held mind control over thousands or even millions of people. Now please, everybody out of the penguin.
They all file out of the penguin. Miles pulls small cubes from his pocket and tosses them on the ground. They instantly start transforming into one-person pods.
Miles: These are your personal flight pods, which will be cloaked so we can hover over Leopold and his associates and hear them clearly without being seen.
Old Woman: Why don’t we use jetpacks?
Miles: Good question. If we were to use jetpacks, the people we’re witnessing might be able to hear us. We do this to ensure that any bursts of indignation you have will go unnoticed.
Old Woman: Because if we’re noticed, it could tear the fabric of space-time and forever alter the universe?
Miles: Yes, something like that. Now please, we only have 2 minutes until Leopold will be in his garden courtyard with his criminal associates.
They get into the pods and zip over to the “royal gardens”, where Leopold is lounging on a plush outdoor sofa and gorging himself on fine fruits and cheeses. His fellow criminals are standing near him.
Leopold (pointing angry finger at one of his fellow criminals): Tell me again why we did not meet the rubber quota?
Criminal: Well, your Grand Poobahness, slaves are dying faster than the usual rate.
Leopold: And why is that?
Criminal: Many die from starvation and disease.
Leopold (scoffs, pops grape into mouth): Such weak savages. (starts to choke on grape and cough violently)
Criminal: Are you ok, your high royalness?
Leopold coughs repeatedly, turns dark red, grabs chest, then slowly recovers.
Leopold: Whoever obtained these faulty grapes will feel my wrath! Now, as I was saying, rubber production must go up, so I need you to motivate those savages!
Criminal: When you say motivate, you mean threaten and beat more, right?
Leopold: Of course. Do I have to spell everything out for you? (turns to face another criminal) And you! Why is ivory production down?
Criminal 2 (nervously): Well, your crown-wearing-ness, elephants are harder to find these days and it is believed that their population is waning.
Leopold (throws wine goblet against nearby tree): Likely story! Blame it on the elephants!
Criminal 2 cringes.
Leopold: You get ivory production up by next year, or you’ll be replaced in a very unpleasant manner!
Another criminal steps forward.
Criminal 3: Would I be next in line to replace him?
Leopold: Perhaps.
Criminal 3 smiles and rubs hands together. Criminal 2 frowns.
A few moments later, the tour group is back in the time machine.
Miles: Comments?
Man In Fedora: Appalling.
Chinese Man: Sad and confusing.
Lady In Sundress: I can’t believe the human race survived.
Old Woman: It’s a good thing we were in those pods, or I woulda been tempted to give that tyrant a piece of my mind!
Miles: Yes, that’s one reason we use the soundproof, invisible pods.
Lady In Sundress: So lemme get this straight. That angry little tyrant shouts orders and threats at people. Those people follow his orders, and give orders to other people, usually in uniforms, who commit immoral acts that are usually violent. And nobody cares if the actions are right or wrong? Or knows the consequences of their actions?
Miles: That’s a fair summary of a violent, authoritarian hierarchy. But I should add that even if they did care, they were ignorant of true morality. Not only that, but they were all moral relativists. They applied different standards of morality to different people.. It was inconsistency and contradiction of the most deplorable type.
Chinese Man: So how many people died in the Congo during this time period because of violent actions committed by ignorant order-followers?
Miles: Many millions. And that was just here in the Congo. Remarkably, for a few hundred years, mass death like this was blamed solely on the tyrant in history records. For example, a 21st century history book might have said “Leopold II of Belgium killed millions in the Congo”.
Old Woman: You’re got to be joking! That’s absurd! It took countless people following immoral orders to commit such an atrocity in the aggregate!
Miles: Logically. But the language used to describe such things was very deceptive up until the collapse of external governments. On that note, next week I’ll be giving a tour of early 21st century slavery. In some regards it was less brutal, but in other ways, more insidious.
End Episode 1
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