They Called Us Actors Too

Grand Moff Hissa · #1

They Called Us Actors Too

February 18, 2018

They called us actors too, and don't you ever let them forget it.

The recent turn of American politics has been analyzed and bemoaned to death, and I don't intend to dwell too long upon the reasons by now transparent to anyone paying attention. In recent days, however, there has been a surge of outrage and counter-outrage over the claims that victims of horrible attacks were in fact actors paid to put on a show for nebulous political purposes. How, ask many on the Left, could such a crass claim arrive mere hours after tragedy strikes? Where has the decency gone? And as I read these complaints, I feel like I'm the one going crazy, because there's nothing new about the actions of the Right. After all, when my classmates and those before us were suffering and dying, they called us actors too.

It's easy to say that in 2005, the world was a different place. In some ways that's true, but in many more it is not. When the first Survival of the Fittest attacks struck, though, the situation and the reaction were unprecedented. Danya and his ilk took advantage of the poor security of communications technology as well as the nascent days of social media and widespread internet usage to unleash a barrage of coverage of their crimes. Rather than reading about high school students shooting each other, you could go online and watch it yourself with a few quick searches. In a matter of days, it was everywhere, the talk of anyone paying attention. As a freshman over a thousand miles away from New York, I heard details from my classmates. I learned names, developments. I knew who Adam Dodd was, and Hawley Faust, and Cody Jenson, though I never once actively went in search of such information.

Faced with this incredible and unexpected explosion of coverage, and caught entirely flat-footed (though they had no right to be, as later investigations of the circumstances surrounding the unbroadcast test runs revealed), the conservative government under newly-elected President Aaron Bridges panicked. Faced with a universal demand for action and explanations, they fell back on a lie—not just any lie, but one that played right into Danya's hands and furthered his narrative. They claimed that Survival of the Fittest was merely a particularly gritty, realistic piece of entertainment, something that might have presaged the HBO shows of today. They denied the reality of the suffering and the dead, and called them actors.

I know why they say they did it. Failure to control and shape the narrative, so the theory goes, would have been somehow even more devastating, igniting mass panic with the government unable to properly respond. Perhaps this is true. It is very hard for me, however, to conceptualize a worse, more damaging response than that which the Bridges Administration chose.

With Survival of the Fittest cast as fiction, as entertainment, any sense of social taboo regarding its viewing evaporated. Danya was gifted all he could have dreamed of, as across the country and around the world people tuned in, curious, and in so doing became complicit. Even in those nations whose governments did not perpetuate the deception, viewers were emboldened. In those days, the word of the President of the United States still held weight. Heated debates about the authenticity of the tapes circulated, and when ultimately the revelation of their reality came, conspiracy theorists everywhere felt vindicated not only in this instance, but in a wide range of further speculations. If the country would lie about the deaths of its own children, then who could say that vaccines weren't poisoned? Who could say we really did land on the moon? Maybe, after all, those astronauts too were actors.

The situation did not improve after that first year. The Bridges Administration was none too eager to repeat and reinforce awareness of its deception, and muted, scattered responses led many to cling to their belief in the unreality of the attacks. Conventional wisdom holds that the government truly expected that they would be able to capture Danya and put an end to any future attacks, or at least prevent them from finding success within our borders. But all their efforts failed, and in 2006 Survival of the Fittest was once again unleashed, and once again was spread far and wide over television and the internet. There was more pushback this time, but not enough, and that carried into 2007 too, as viewers claimed that the missing footage and suggestions—which have since been proven true—of additional survivors was further evidence of the fictional nature of the attacks.

In 2008, I was a senior in high school, and multiple classmates of mine owned Survival of the Fittest branded clothing and merchandise. This cottage industry was mainstream and accepted enough to turn up at Hot Topic; I often passed the rack on my way to the sections of the store more interesting to me. This situation was allowed to persist mostly due to the Bridges Administration's fear of coming across as even more authoritarian; how could they, after all, fault others for treating the attacks in exactly the way they had first told them to?

When I returned to Saint Paul in early July, 2008, after almost two weeks in the killing program and a further three and a half as the unwilling guest of the remaining terrorists, it did not take long for me to be called an actor. Not in the first day, not the first week, but soon after. When I started opening up and discussing my experiences, I was quick to discover just how far some would go to deny a reality in any way inconvenient for them. It was a false flag, they said, set up to torpedo Bridges' chances in an election year, never mind that it was the 2008 attacks which finally saw some progress made in putting a stop to the slaughter (though of course through no work of the government's).

The dishonesty of the Bridges Administration is no doubt part of what led to the historic blue wave that propelled President McAllister into office. I was never his biggest fan, and held my nose when I voted for him, but if nothing else he did wonders for the public perception and accessibility of materials related to Survival of the Fittest. Hot Topic will make no mention of what it advertised but a decade ago. It's hard to find clips of the particularly graphic bits, unless you're conducting university-level research. Admitting to viewing the tapes is social suicide.

But how quick we are to forget, and to throw away our hard-won progress. President Canon is a return to the days of Bridges, a return to the blanket denial of truth and a return to the days when all was permissible. Don't be surprised when his followers call victims actors. It's no change, just a return to form. Eight years of having to hide their true natures and pretend to be decent people possessing some measure of empathy is a long time. Who can be shocked that they're now back with a vengeance?

And, now that I think about it, it's been some time since Survival of the Fittest struck. McAllister was overly optimistic about its demise—one of his many failings—and I think it no more defeated now than it was when I was dumped in an abandoned warehouse without anyone in authority being any the wiser. It will be back, and when it returns, don't be surprised to hear those poor, dying students called actors once again. Don't be surprised when the despicable, the cruel, and the cowardly use it as an excuse to watch. Don't be surprised, and this time, don't forget. Don't forgive. Never again.

Or, do. It's your life. It's your country. Me? I'm out. I boarded a plane on November 15, 2016, and haven't set foot on my native soil since. Maybe someday that will change. Maybe someday the United States will once again be a place I can think of as home, but I'm not so sure. All I can do now is say what needs to be said and watch out for myself. To those who can stay and fight, I wish you the best of luck. As for me, in the words of someone older and wiser, I ain't marching anymore.

-Kimberly Nguyen, Paris, France

Initially published to little notice online, the preceding editorial received a surge of renewed interest and attention following the June 2018 kidnapping of students from George Hunter High School, bolstered when a number of fringe radio shows and conservative conspiracy websites did indeed advance the claim that the attacks were staged by actors.