(Backdated to late last night, after the Mandarin Broadcast.]At the beginning of the American Revolution, the great American hero Thomas Paine said, "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated."
While Thomas wrote these words to inspire the American people to demand their independence, the principles he espoused are universal. Freedom is seldom attained -- and tyranny seldom surrenders -- without a struggle. In a sometimes-cruel world, we have been blessed with freedoms that far too many have been denied. Most of us are not native to this Earth, and yet we enjoy the freedom to speak our minds, protest our nation's wrongs, worship any God (or no God) that we choose, and seek justice for the ills committed against us. Though these rights were not established on this holiday, they were born out of a key phrase penned in the Declaration of Independence. 237 years ago, the Founding Fathers wrote that they held certain truths to be held self-evident: that all men were created equal, and that they were endowed with certain unalienable Rights. Chief among them were "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." There are those who would deny us those rights -- terrorists and tyrants and villains who will use any means necessary to try to demoralize our people. There are those who would breed distrust and twist the truth in an effort to destroy the fabric of our world.
We have not, and will not,
let them.
Make no mistake about The Mandarin's beliefs or goals. He speaks of
honor and
teaching, but he indiscriminately slaughters innocents and children. He claims to wish to expose America's crimes, only to bring death and destruction to those who bear no responsibility for them. The only
lesson to be learned from his tyranny is that he will stop at nothing to cause chaos and destabilize the ground beneath our feet. That he will feign any ideal, exploit any weakness, and use any rhetoric that he thinks will achieve his ends. He is not a man of principle: he is an opportunist who would set the fire to the Earth if only he had the satisfaction of knowing that
he lit the match.
But The Mandarin, like so many dictators and tyrants and
bullies before him, underestimates the strength of the human spirit. Over seventy years ago, Benito Mussolini made the same mistake. When the tide turned against him, he attempted to flee like a coward and was executed by his own people for his troubles. Three days later, Adolf Hitler burned in a bunker when the world fought back against oppression. In the decades since, many such men have faced the same penalty for their crimes, while others have rotted in prisons deprived of so much as a glimmer of daylight. The Mandarin would do well to pay close attention to the fates of such men, because he will fare no better.
In his quest to defeat us, he has arrogantly overlooked the most important history lesson of all: that, like those who came before him, his day of reckoning
is coming.
( Filtered to the same 616 Avengers from the preceding post. )( OOC note for the filter! )
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