(no subject)

[lls_mutant]

First of all, this article is pissing me off. Who the hell cares what Elena Kagan dresses like or how she wears her hair??? Come on. Criticize her (or praise her) on something a little more substantive, please. How she wears her hair and what clothing she wears is going to have very little bearing on how she votes on the Supreme Court. I'd go into a huge rant about it, but instead, I'll give you a fic rec from the bsg_remix: Truth Itself Becomes Suspicious. frakcancer says everything I want to say much more eloquently. UGH.

Anyway, original fiction question that comes from internet and fandom. Do I appreciate that the word "fail!" exists these days, or does it make me paranoid?

Here is the problem: Aliens are coming to take over Earth. They don't give a shit about the people except what they can use as slave labor; they are only interested in the resources. The aliens have big weapons that can kill animal life forms but leave the land and the buildings standing. (I have not worked this out extremely well yet.) They have a fair number of them, but they only have a finite radius.

Now, if you want to terrify the world into your bidding and reduce a population by an extraordinary percentage, it makes sense to start with three things, right?

1.) Densely populated areas
2.) Military bases
3.) Anyplace where political power might be consolidated.

Now, the problem with this is that a LOT of Asian, Indian, African, and Hispanic people are going to die. In fact, I believe I'm completely destroying Japan. I'm hitting India and China hard as well, and the coastline of Brazil. I'll hit Europe, the New York/Philly area of the US (plus a few other areas), and a few other spots (I think Toronto and Montreal are on my list as well), but a lot of the densely populated areas are frankly not western.

Now, obviously, some groups of these nationalities are going to survive, simply by virtue of not being in their home country at the time of the attack. And when I'm creating my characters, I'm trying to actually include, y'know, more than just Americans. And just because a lot of the first wave of the attack takes out non-American people doesn't mean that American people aren't gonna die off in droves. I'm debating how many humans are left by the time I get to the point the novel starts, but it's in the millions, not billions. But it is likely to come up later that people from Japan or India are pretty rare.

Am I getting myself into race!fail type territory here, or is the excuse of world domination (yes, the aliens are Not Nice People) getting me out of that territory? Or am I thinking about this WAY too much?


And TV meme:

10. A show you thought you wouldn't like but ended up loving.

I debated a couple for this one (including BSG! Hey- I was thinking the cheesy 70s series), but the one I must use is:




I bought the first season of TWW as a gift for my husband. I didn't think I'd be interested- I'm not a political person and I didn't think this could sustain my interest. WRONG. So wrong! After the pilot, I was convinced I'd like it, and after they brought in Charlie (Charlie!) I was hooked. I might be a Libertarian, but I think I'd vote for Jed Bartlett.

(Also- Fringe people- in the finale, did you notice the West Wing posters?? They were on Season 11! There's a reason to move over to the other side!)

Comments

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I think you need to look at a population density map of the world first, because I don't think your instincts about world density distribution are entirely accurate. I mean, yes, there are large cities in Asia, but there are also huge populations that are entirely rural. Because of that, it sounds like you're making excuses for making the story US-centric when the reasons behind it don't exactly hold up. I know you aren't, but that's what it sounds like.

Besides, if the aliens are genuinely targeting political power, and they have knowledge of the politics of this planet, and their goal is to gain slave labor and terrify the population into behaving, they would wipe the US out completely, and do it right off the bat.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I did pull down a map. It's not all of Asia, but all of Japan, and likely a lot of India. I do see I can clear out Europe as well, particularly right down the center and the UK. These bombs only have a set radius, so say, a lot of Chinese are going to escape, because of precisely what you said. (I'm using this map (http://soils.usda.gov/use/worldsoils/mapindex/popden.jpg).) Basically, I want them to annihilate any dark red or pink areas. (This is just to start, mind. These are the people that get the "easy" deaths.

I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing on the aliens targeting political power, and how deeply they'd bother to understand the dynamics. Hmmm. If they did, I could easily wipe out a lot of the US, especially the coasts, leaving the midwest... balances it out a bit.

Thanks!

ETA- EEE! Someone further down is better at plotting world domination than I am. And we're all evened out nicely.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

It's good to have friends well-versed in world domination. :D

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Isn't it, though? This is why I love my f-list. (I see there's another attack plan below, too.)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

I am reading the comments with great interest! Alien invasions are a favorite of mine. *g*

[blue-crow.livejournal.com]

Honestly, after looking at population density maps, you should probably be writing about Canadians or Russians. Midwestern Americans might make it, but not as much as Canadians will. I think at that point you can easily excuse specific areas being killed without really treading on racefail- if you use science to back yourself up.

Then again I am terrible about racefail. I'm all facepalming about my vampire show, which replaced a ginger girl of Celtic descent from the books with a really awesome black actress in the show- but then had all the black characters of consequence have ~magic~, bringing them into magical negro territory. I can't tell if that's a net total of diversity gain or a zero sum.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Well, one of my main characters was Canadian to start, so he stays put :) Another was from Boston, but he can move. I'd like to keep him American just because I am American, and it's easier. (#3 is from Afghanistan, and that's just out of range of most of the bombings.) My Liberian character may need to be from somewhere else, though. Hmmm. But that's a good point- as long as my western characters aren't from NYC (or Boston, since the guy was at MIT), it works better.

I'm also thinking I can't blow up every military base immediately. There are a hell of a lot more than I realized. Maybe just the nuclear ones.

I am so bad at race!fail myself. I angsted over it when I was killing Eights in the Space Between Us. (Does it count when you kill several characters all played by the same actress?) And then when I traded Dee's suicide for Hoshi killing himself, you go from a black woman killing herself to a gay guy. (I did make an OC a lesbian to sort of compensate, but still.)

Oooh. I see lorraine is plotting world domination for me!

[lorrainemarker.livejournal.com]

Now, the problem with this is that a LOT of Asian, Indian, African, and Hispanic people are going to die. In fact, I believe I'm completely destroying Japan. I'm hitting India and China hard as well, and the coastline of Brazil. I'll hit Europe, the New York/Philly area of the US (plus a few other areas), and a few other spots (I think Toronto and Montreal are on my list as well), but a lot of the densely populated areas are frankly not western.

Maybe you could change the order of priority - I think theoretically you're right, but for example if I were an alien bent on taking over - I'd start with anyone with the technological ability to even consider striking back: That means US, Russia, Western Europe, India, China, Israel, maybe Iran, Iraq, Pakastan, and Korea. Because that's the list of countries that have or potentially have nuclear weapons - which might not matter, but remains our biggest stick in a fight. Then I'd go back and hit anything that could lift off the ground, which means US, Western Europe, China, the Middle East, Russia all get shellacked again, but we add in parts of Canada, South America, North Africa, Japan, Austrillia, ect... Then I'd hit major population zones and political zones.

That gives you this list:

1) Nuclear powers - mostly Western countries, India, & China
2) Probable/Potential nuclear powers + Iran/Iraq, Pakistan, North Korea
3) Major air presence/other military bases - Parts of Canada, most of both coasts of the US, goodly chuncks of the mid & north west US, Japan, North Africa, several areas of Northern Europe, and more of China.
4) Political presence not already decimated - not much left, but any capital in the middle east, far east, S. America & Europe should get hit at this point.
5) Then go for the otherwise surviving major population centers - which decimates Africa, South Amercia, & both the Far & Middle East.

So for example, someone from Colorado (NORAD), Florida (Cape Canaveral) or Texas (NASA) - not too mention numerous other air & miliatry bases is as rare as someone from Japan or India.

Just an idea, but it might help even out the destructo aliens.

edit: Here's a 1993 map of military bases in the U.S. that gives you an idea, the coasts, Texas, Florida, the Northwest, & New Mexico would get absolutely pounded. http://www.nps.gov/nagpra/documents/BASES.PDF

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. Are you like bent on world domination yourself or something? :) This is exactly what I need.

You guys are great. Of course, we're probably now all on some watch list or something, but such is life.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!

[lorrainemarker.livejournal.com]

Are you like bent on world domination yourself or something? I grew up a liberal in Texas. I know exactly how unlikely I am to survive a nuclear holocaust or 1st strike against the U.S. I always felt sorry for Northern Mexico who would get shellacked as collateral damage because of the bases that run along the border from Texas to Southern Californian: Texas, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona, & California all have huge military presence.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Ah. Interesting. I think about it a little because I live within sight of a nuclear power plant and worked for the government, but I've never lived near a major military base.

Thanks again! :)

part 1: The Attack

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Now, if you want to terrify the world into your bidding and reduce a population by an extraordinary percentage, it makes sense to start with three things, right?

1.) Densely populated areas
2.) Military bases
3.) Anyplace where political power might be consolidated.

Actually, you've missed something that any army would focus on:

Arms and equipment.

The first thing that the aliens would do is make sure that humans cannot attack and cannot destroy the resources to make sure that the aliens can't have them. And all weapons aren't in military bases.

What weapons the aliens take out depends, I imagine, on what they see as weapons. I'm sure they'd destroy nuclear weaponry (no point in allowing something to exist that can further contaminate the resources they want to exploit). I'm not sure if they'd see chemicals or viruses as weapons, though, or if projectile weapons like guns seem hopelessly primitive to them and not worth thinking about.

Once they've eliminated weapons, I imagine the next thing they'd want to do--and this would ensure panic--is cut off communications. No phone, no TV, no internet. No one knows what's going on. No one has any way of finding out what's going on. And they could take out power as well, so that no one can jury-rig a weapon's system or a primitive generator to get a TV station running. Suddenly there's no electricity. No light. No heat. No cooling, either--refrigeration and air conditioning are things of the past. Nuclear power plants and natural gas plants shut down. Windmills and wind-powered water pumps destroyed. Oil--confiscated by the aliens. (Maybe they drink it or something.) Solar panels smashed. Geothermal heating plants--neutralized. Things like coal and wood would still be around...but your average person wouldn't be able to get them in large quantities, if at all.

First world countries in particular would be vulnerable.

Part 2: The Follow-Up

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

No weapons. No communications. No power. And no power also means no clean water. Transportation has been crippled, if not shut down altogether. And that means that not only is food spoiling due to lack of refrigeration, no one is transporting food or medicine...at least not in quantities that can feed or treat populations of large cities.

At this point, all the aliens have to do is sit back, allow realization to hit, and let people panic for a few days to a week. Armies can't control the situation--their weapons and vehicles are useless. A soldier could throw stones or draw a sword or something, but modern weaponry and vehicles are kaput. The people who used to be in charge will likely be a wreck, because they have to deal with helpless, frightened and therefore angry soldiers AND furious rioters who are determined that this is somehow the fault of the people who were in charge when it happened.

I imagine a fair number of government officials all over the world would end up getting killed by their own people. And a fair number of rioters will attack each other. And a fair number of people will die from lack of water or from contaminated water, from cold, from heat, and so on.

The aliens sit back and watch and allow the panic to grow and society to break down into something tribal. It won't take long.

THEN they make their demand. They control the horizontal and the vertical so I imagine everyone can hear them. They want resources and they're going to take them. If everyone cooperates, there will be food and heat, and healing for the young, the sick and the old. If anyone becomes difficult, a huge city on each continent will be destroyed.

It doesn't matter if anyone is difficult or not. The aliens announce that someone was and that humans will have to pay. So...Shanghai gets it for Asia. And Sao Paolo in South America. Mexico City for Central America. New York City for North America. Kinshasa in the Congo for Africa. London for Europe. Istanbul for the Middle East. And Sydney in Australia. And the aliens make sure that the humans see a good bit of the suffering before cutting off the visual...and just broadcasting the screams. And the cries for help. And the mad laughter.

And then silence.

Oh, and the humans who are used as slave labor? They do better than the free ones, because they're fed and have places to sleep and are cared for if they get sick. They have value, you see. And some people start thinking that at least the aliens care for their workers, which is more than most human businesses ever did.

Being a slave (and therefore not fighting the aliens) becomes desirable.

Would that be enough of an apocalypse and help avoid the race issues?

Re: Part 2: The Follow-Up

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

It IS. Thank you! Between you and lorrainemarker, I think I've got enough of a plan to be going on with. (The attack took place 25 years before the book begins, so at least I don't have to be too, too detailed with it.)

I love that I have a flist that is bent on world domination :)

Thank you so much!

Re: Part 2: The Follow-Up

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

Heh. I figured out this past winter--when I was freezing due to a broken furnace and panicking about an electric bill that was stratospheric, and when the Teabaggers were shrieking about how there was going to be a revolution in the streets--just how dependent I and most First World people are on a functional power grid, and specifically on a communications-power source-transportation network that works, and works fairly smoothly.

[hobbit-kate.livejournal.com]

West Wing

I actually got into TWW via BSG :p
I read a crossover fic (The black ships?) and kinda liked the TWW characters, so i got the first few episodes and the pilot had me hooked (i mean, wtf, "the president, while riding his bicycle, came to a sudden arborial stop", i couldn't stop laughing).

Aliens

I'd say it all depends on how much effort the aliens want to put into it. To target military bases (especially nuclear ones), they have to first gain access to information as to where to hit. I don't know how easy it is to do that (especially in Iran or Korea, who tend to kind of hide their arsenal :p)

Also, aliens have one big advantage over us - i don't think we're even capable of targeting spacecrafts when they're not in the atmosphere.

As for race - it actually tends to bother me more when someone tries to get as much diversity in as possible, just to have diversity. Often, a writer will then emphasize the difference and they end up with stereotypes (i'm not saying you would). Of course, this might also be because i'm from a European country where the only "foreigners" are from North Africa... Multicutural is more bicultural where I live :p.

Also, don't forget that a lot of people (actually, most of the planet) do not speak english. You want to think about how bogged up you want to get in accents of all kinds :p
It would only be natural for your American/Canadian heroes to hang around with people who actually speak their language.
(hmm, reminds me of Buffy's season 7 - there's this one Potential Slayer who only speaks japanese, they communicate with her through drawings and excessive sign language :p)

So, my two cents there - just make it as organic as possible. Diversity for the sake of diversity can appear very forced. In the end, the mark of a good story does not lie in political correctness.

I guess what I really meant was, yeah, don't worry too much :p.
Sorry for rambling :p

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Not a problem- I appreciate it!

I've worried about the over-diversifying aspect a little, too. The big thing I've got going for me is that this story takes place 25 years after the attack, in space. That gives a lot of time for people to learn other languages, mix traditions, lose traditions, and since they're in radically different conditions, start building a new culture. But old tensions can still exist, and different ways of thinking...

Yeah. It's very hard to explain exactly what I'm thinking without being TOO detailed, but I've thought of that, too! (I agree- it's very annoying when it is for political correctness. However, the situation I've created definitely calls for more nationalities.)

I probably will skip writing accents, though. I find it incredibly annoying when people write out accents (aside from speech patterns), and just have the POV characters observe that there is an accent. Plus, I have the advantage of some communication devices ;) Yay, sci-fi!


Thanks!

[magnetic-pole.livejournal.com]

I saw that article, too, and it made me furious. This is one of those cases in which the world is clearly screwed up, but journalists--and I say this as a former journalist myself--just *have* to be more responsible about their part in it all. Don't write stories about women you wouldn't about men. Period. It doesn't matter "what people are talking about" or what's "newsworthy." M.

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Okay, so if she started wearing Lady Gaga like outfits to court, I wouldn't mind an article then, and I expect a man would get a similar article if he started going to court dressed like a member of the band KISS. But yeah, this article.... ::Grumbles::

[safenthecity.livejournal.com]

I agree about West Wing. I was bored out of my skull, and Larry's WW DVDs were sitting around, so I sighed and popped them in... and holy cow I fell in love. I am really sad I haven't seen past S1, because it's glorious.

Well. Frankly. China and India are the two most populated countries in the world, so it kind of makes sense to take them out. But probably other nuclear power countries ought to get pretty decimated, too. Since that would be the biggest threat we humans pose?

[lls-mutant.livejournal.com]

Oooh, you definitely need to see past Season 1! Seasons 5 and 6 are shaky- Aaron Sorkin left at that point, and they struggled some. But they aren't horrid, and it's worth it for Season 7.

And thanks- I think I've got my plan for alien world domination worked out! :)