e_sawyer (e_sawyer) wrote in neogenesisrpg, @ 2009-03-08 17:32:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | dan hoffman, ethan sawyer |
Who: Dan Hoffman and Ethan Sawyer
What: An Interview
When: Saturday Afternoon
Where: Dan's place.
Rating: PG
Status: Complete
Ethan had requested an interview with Dan. He wanted the other side of the story. Wanted to know what all Dan could tell him about Medina and his mental state before he died. The depression that was disputed. He didn't tell Elsie about the interview, not yet anyway. He knew it'd probably cause some confrontation, but he wasn't going to back down from the story. He knocked lightly on Dan's door, recorder in hand and awaited an answer.
It had been set up so as to avoid interruption. The timing, the location - everything done so they wouldn't be disturbed. This was too important. The knock on the door couldn't be Jaemi, after all, she had a key. And Jason wouldn't be by until later. That left only one person. A certain Ethan Sawyer with the Seattle Times. He opened the door to him, expecting someone much older. "Hi. You found the place okay, I see."
Ethan nodded. "Yeah. Not a problem at all." he said with a nod. "Dan Hoffman, I'm guessing?" He offered a hand out to the man for a shake.
"Yeah, nice to meet you." Dan shook his hand in a firm grip, before wheeling to the side to make room for him. "Please, come on in." He tried to guess the other man's age from his appearance but gave up the exercise. There was no point.
He nodded and headed inside, closing the door behind him. "I'm a little early probably, but I figured it was better to be early than late, yeah? Get this down and all situated. You seemed more than willing to get your side out." he smiled, his boyish features lighting up a bit with the simple impending story that was being dangled before him.
"You're fine for time," Dan answered over his shoulder. "Wouldn't you be, if you knew you had truth on your side? Have a seat. But before we start, could I see some ID? I wouldn't want this information int he wrong hands. Burried by the government. You understand."
Ethan nodded, more than aware that he wouldn't want to spread any information to the wrong people. "Yeah. Of course." he smiled. He pulled out his press pass and his License, just for comparison. "I look like a kid, I know." he said, forcing a little laugh though the fact annoyed him. "But, I'm legit."
Dan shot a cursory glance over the two, then handed them back. "It's not the age I'm worried about." But everything else. Name, picture, date of birth down to the last digit. Of course, if he was government, falsifying documents would be easy. Sometimes, a little faith was needed. "Thanks. I read Ms Strahm's article. Very informative. And also full of lies, but I can't fault her for that."
Ethan scrunched his nose a bit at the mention of 'Ms. Strahm'. "Yeah, she's uh... Mrs. Sawyer now actually." he said with a flicker of a smile as he took a seat. "And as for the lies, we'll just have to clear those up won't we? I'm ready to start when you are."
An arched eyebrow. "You married." It was unprofessional, certainly, but none of his business. Setting that detail aside, he nodded to the table. "First folder contains copies of records from a clinic in Seattle attesting to the fact that Marco Medina was a patient there long before he was paired."
Ethan nodded, though it hadn't been a question particularly. "I'm gonna record this. Keep track of what we say so there are no discrepancies." he said as he flicked the recorder on and stated his name, the date, the location and the fact that he was interviewing Dan Hoffman. "Mr. Hoffman has just made records available to me that site the fact that one Marco Medina was a patient at a clinic in Seattle quite some time before he was paired." he said as he looked over the papers. He glanced up at Dan. "Do you think that this information has been deliberately covered up?" he asked. "And if so, what possible reasons do you think there were for such things to be pushed beneath the rug?"
"I doubt it's a cover up. These records were pulled from the clinic's archives, at the bequest of Medina's bereaved mother and sister. They are public information, as far as I can see." Dan leaned back. "I'd call it misinformation. Deliberate, of course, but more a matter of bad research than anything else. It shows the amount of interest the Pairing Office has in making amends for what has been done." Far be it for him to openly accuse that Yahni woman of trying to deceive the public.
Ethan nodded. "Misinformation. That's a good way of putting it." he said as he pushed some hair away from his face. "Seems that this information could be attained by just about anyone, but they did little if anything at all to assess his stability before pairing him. Do you feel that there should have been more done? That they shouldn't have paired Medina at all given his questionable mental state?"
"I do," Dan replied. "The fact of the matter is that there is no screening process. Nothing to stop unsuspecting men and women from being paired with dangerous people. The only analysis performed before selection is a medical check. That's not hardly enough to prevent tragedies like this."
Ethan nodded easily, he agreed with Dan at least on that point. "You do have a point there. Medical checks do next to nothing to diagnose more serious illnesses, mental problems that could in turn result in more tragedies like this one in particular. Do you believe that the people who've yet to be paired are in serious danger of ending up with men and women who might turn on them, their children or even themselves?"
"Very much so. There's a high likelihood, considering the rising crime rate and the declining convictions only in the state of Washington. More and more people are released for theft, assault... even on suspicion of murder." Dan shrugged. "Some of those may not deserve prison, but it's the government's responsiblity to inform the public before pairing people up, don't you think?"
"I do." Ethan said easily. He wasn't afraid to give his opinion. "I believe, personally, that people should be informed what they may be up against if they're going to be paired. If the pairing is going to be a law, screening said pairings more in depthly should be a law as well, don't you agree?"
"Entirely," Dan answered with a nod. He wondered at the evident bias and felt a measure of relief. He had been fighting against the establishment so long he'd come to believe the Fourth Estate was merely a mouthpiece for its propaganda. "But I doubt the government would be receptive to such an idea. After all, it means more effort on their part. Less blatant disregard for civil liberties."
"What do you think the government gains by not doing more indepth screenings?" he questioned. "Do you believe it's merely to save money or do you think there's some underlying factor?"
And that was the question, wasn't it? Dan glanced to the recorder. "I can speculate that it's a combination of the two. Obviously, with the economy still picking up steam after the fertility crisis, the government would welcome any way to cut down on expenses. But that's not to say there aren't elements in every government, willing to use practical considerations for more nefarious purposes."
"What's your view on paired marriages in general?" he asked. "Do you believe if the government were to institute a better screening process that the pairings would be a good idea, or would you be opposed?"
"I think it would be a step towards making them optional," Dan replied, as diplomatically as he could. "Some people might want to be paired for the betterment and salvation of the human race, but that isn't true of everyone."
"Do you believe that marriages should be opinional? That there would be enough people wanting to be together to save our race before it was too late?" he asked, glancing up at the man.
Dan smirked. "Your paper seems to think so. Was it last week that you guys published those polls? Eighty-three percent of the population thinks the pairing law is necessary. With results like that, why make it mandatory?"
That's still seventeen percent that believe it's not." he stated, glancing up at the other man. He was for the pairing law, at least until some of this information had come to light. Until Elsie. Until realizing that he could have been paired with someone who wasn't mentally stable enough to be alone, let alone with someone else. Or Elsie. She could have been paired with a murder and not even been aware.
"Yes. Seventeen percent. Our survival as a race evidently does not depend on such a measely number." Dan couldn't help the smile. It was a pedantic question. Did Ethan truly believe the poll results hadn't been doctored?
Ethan had suspected more people would be against the law than the poll showed and now couldn't help but wonder a bit, though he didn't voice that just yet. "Do you think that when this article comes out and people read about Medina's mental health, the fact that it was known and exactly how little is being found out about the people they're being paired with, that those numbers would change?"
"Do you mean do I think less people will support the pairing law?" Dan paraphrased. "One can only hope." It was more vitriol than he usually allowed himself, but he doubted the reporter would be surprised. He would know about the foundation, by now.
"Do you think if the number of people supporting the pairing law dwindled that the law would be forced to die?" he asked.
"I think we've long stopped being a democracy. This law was not the product of referendum. There was no vote. Why would the government take our feelings into account now?"
"So you believe that no matter how many support or don't support the law, inevitably we're stuck living by it regardless?" Ethan asked, though he already knew the answer. If the governement didn't care about their feelings now, they wouldn't later. You did what you were told or you suffered and then ended up doing it anyway.
Dan swallowed back his reply, counted the implications and the reasons why it would be better if he didn't say anything. "Off the record?" he asked and glanced at the recorder meaningfully. If he turned it off, he'd get an honest reply. If he didn't, there would be nothing but PC evasion.
Ethan nodded and reached over to flick the recorder off, even slid the tape out for good measure, he was curious as to what the man had to say. "Off the record."
"The only way we can escape the law is by changing the regime. Opinion polls don't matter. Protests aren't enough. Those documents are meaningless because the government cannot be held accountable. We're living under a totalitarian regime that's masquerading as a democracy."
"Do you even think that's possible?" he questioned. "Changing the regime." Ethan wasn't sure it was possible. But then again, if enough people banded together...
"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't," Dan replied, more evasive than before. He wasn't about to put his fate in the hands of a journalist. "What do you think? Are we doomed to marry strangers for the next twenty years or so?
"I didn't." he shrugged. "I don't know what to think. A couple weeks ago I supported the shit. Thought that maybe it was the only way to be sure enough people were having babies and providing a future. Now I'm not so sure.."
Dan tilted his head to the side. "You supported it? Really? Why?" He couldn't relate. He couldn't comprehend. He had never been in that position.
Ethan wasn't really sure how to answer that. "I don't know, to be honest. The thought that maybe if we were married off I wouldn't have to worry about finding someone to be with. About whether or not I'd end up with children." he shrugged.
"The ending up with children part will happen pretty definitely, it seems." Willingly married or not, every couple was expected to procreate. Dan offered him an almost sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry for the digression. Maybe we should get back to the interview."
Ethan nodded and put the tape back in starting it up again and glancing at the man. "Do you believe that the marriage is even really needed when they could just administer the serum to everyone?" he asked.
"No, I don't. And I think in the long term, having ten thousand couples with twenty thousand children between them will be more costly than the same number of people as single parents, raising as many children as they want and can afford."
"Do you think the government has really put much thought into exactly how much this could eventually cost them? If there are more cases like that of Medina, and there are children involved. Women who've been paired, had children and then end up widowed or murdered because of some form of mental instability. Those children would become wards, costing the state even more money."
"I think the government will be happy to use that argument when it needs to justify its policies. In that respect, I think it bears further scrutiny." Reality and statistics were irrelevant. At the end of the day, there were civil rights and human lives at stake.
Ethan nodded. "Is it just the polices or the government that you believe needs to be scrutinized?" he questioned.
"Good question. I think our government could do with some accountability. Decentralization, that sort of thing. The policies are part of that."
"Some people might think that you agreeing to do this interview is merely to get more publicity for yourself and in turn, your foundation. What do you have to say to those readers?"
"That they should consider Ms Yahni might have been serving that exact same purpose for the Pairing Office." After all, any publicity was good publicity these days.
"Is there anything else you'd like to mention in this interview that hasn't been covered already?" Ethan asked, glancing up at the man. "The floor is yours."
Dan shook his head. "I'm sure your readers can gleam my position from the answers I've given. Thank you for the opportunity. I appreciate it."
"Pleasure's all mine, Mr. Hoffman. I appreciate your cooperation in taking the time to speak with me." Ethan reached over to flick off the recorder, glancing up at Dan again. "Guess the readers have a lot to mull over."
Dan smiled, but there was nothing behind it. No acquiescence, no denial. There was no way to predict how the interview would be presented - this was why he didn't use officials channels. "Here's hoping. When will it go to print?"
Ethan returned the smile with one of his own. "Soon's I get it all typed out and handed in. I'm shooting for midweek."
"It was an interesting experience," Dan agreed, extending a hand for the other man to shake. He was going to refrain from calling it a pleasure until he saw the finished product.
Ethan took the man's hand and nodded as he shook it. "I guess I should let you get back to your day. Be sure to keep a look out for this."
"Oh, I will." And all subsequent work of the Strahm-Sawyer combo. He regretted not knowing more about them before this whole thing started.
"I'll catch ya later." Ethan said as he walked towards the door. He gave the man a wave before excusing himself and shutting the door behind him. He was looking forward to getting the article in and printed.