Illyria22 wrote:
Annakonder wrote:
the overwriting of Cryptos, making him the very thing he hated is perhaps the most obscene and violent assault on humanity possible - a literal fate worse than death - glossed over in the story but the resonance of this is in very real terms crippling to any validity in support.
Prior to the overwriting, Cryptos was an even bigger fanatic than Morpheus and the Kid combined -- he hated the Machines so much that he wanted to get back at them by using nuclear weapons in the simulation to kill millions of bluepills. Thankfully, the man he once was is dead.
Pyraci wrote:
I'll surrender when the Machine is no longer gunning for my people, or when I give up the ghost, whichever comes first. We are their defense and safety. The Machine doesn't care whether we're pod-born or free-born, and if given the chance, they'd rip through the new city just as they did the old one.
But then again, I don't think I've heard much of a machinist comeback on the subject of the free-born, so I'll let that point stand.
The deaths of the freeborn who wanted to live in peace with the Machines are as regrettable as the deaths of any Zionite redpill who also wanted peace. No Machinist is taking pleasure in the deaths of these innocent people, just as the allies didn't take pleasure in the deaths of civilians during the bombing of Dresden in WW2. But Zion's leaders made their choice to act in a way they knew the Machines would see as a threat, and as we all know, actions have consequences.
I wonder what would have happened if Zion had put it to a vote -- to either stay in Zion with the truce in effect (knowing that the sentinels were still there as a deterrent to any anti-truce acts Zion might want to commit), or to build New Zion (knowing this would be seen as a threatening act by the Machines that would cause the truce to fail).
Perhaps Zion command should step down and let the general population have a bigger voice in the creation of their city's policies. For all their crowing about freedom of choice, Zion's leadership has been remarkably restrictive when it comes to letting their average citizens participate in decision-making. Do you think the typical Zionite would have supported Anome's ascension to a position of power? Or Niobe's waste of Zion's resources in pursuing her vendetta against the Merovingian? Or the training of the General and his commandos?
Maybe if they had a bigger voice in their government, or even if their government was a little more open with them about what it was doing, enough people would have expressed their doubts about any (or all) of these plans to make Zion command think twice before making its next ill-advised decision.
Illyria
*sighs the patient sigh of a teacher dealing with a particularly obtuse student*
Let's go through this again, shall we?
Without the Unreality of the Matrix, Anome would have never have lost his mind.
Without the Sentinel army hovering directly over Zion, The Council would not have felt the need to build a new city.
Without the human race being subjected to the slavery and oppression of the Machines, there would be no need for this war.
The General was a construction of the Machines.
And it would have been more humane to kill Cryptos, rather than reprogramming his brain and making him a puppet of the regime. But, that is the Machine for you. It will exploit every human on the planet if left unchecked.
Zion Command, indeed all of us freed humans, are doing the best we can to save the human race.
