In the ruins

[itbelongsinamuseum]

[After the battle in the Iraqi desert as the bodies had been cleaned up, Alex could be found walking around the dig site. Stopping to look at newly broken statues or just around where the battle had been. It wasn't really a very big site all told, but did that really matter?]

It's weird. This place has been lying quietly for millennia and war returned to it like this...At least it didn't turn into a full-blown massacre.

Comments

[itbelongsinamuseum]

(Like that other thread, replying in case you're interested in continuing. I totally understand if you aren't.)

There isn't any realistic chance of locating another Enki.

And a purely functional view of the world like that diminishes our culture and makes it less resilient to threats. I mean, look at Sumerian mythology. Nobody would have thought it had any relevance for anything if you'd asked them half a year ago, now it's become a threat to all of human society.

On a less absurd scale, the more we know about past societies, the better we can understand those that came after all the way up to our own. The past has power over the present, wars are fought over the outcome of wars centuries ago and people draw on the imagery of the past to push political agendas.

[broken_puppet]

The past is done and cannot be undone, why would they put so much weight on that and not make the most efficient choices to achieve their goals? Politics and national pride mean nothing if an enemy threat destroys your entire people. If there is a valuable resource then trade for it or fight for that area there is no need to commit genocide if a more controlled engagement could achieve your stated goal.

I don't see how petty historical rivalries and grudges can help in the face of invasion by extra-terrestrial forces. It's not like our history provides insight to the threat and their stated goals are annihilation or harvest of our population for resources.

As for the "realistic" chance of finding a Enki, the forces were in a desperate enough situation that it was their only chance of turning the tides. Even a 1 in 10,000,000 chance is still better than zero. Is that not what the Unity Group has been doing up to this point, marshaling forces to better play the long odds in what our world has become?

[itbelongsinamuseum]

People are going to squabble over those things anyway. That's why we were out here in the first place, not like they're going to stop just because you say it's irrational.

And I for one wouldn't want to live in a world where everything has been sacrificed for survival. I like that there's arts, sports, knowledge of our past, biodiversity and so on. It makes life more interesting and gives our entire fight meaning.

[broken_puppet]

The meaning of any battle is survival, what further meeting could there be in a fight against someone who wants to kill you?

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Usually they're not trying to kill you, but to get something and you choose to get in the way of that and they're just trying to kill you to get you out of the way...The current alien invasions are an exception.