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The Story of Hamilton
Once upon a time, on the coast of North America, an organization was founded by a foreign power, a power based in a place called the Home Office, which was rumored to be farther away than most of the natives had ever imagined. For purposes of anonymity, let's call this organization the Business.
For a long time, the Business was very loyal to its Home Office. The people who are native to our place tended to find the Business extremely oppressive, but there was no effective way of getting rid of the Business. For a long time, the Home Office continued to be in total control over the Business, and thus the world was maintained in the state of unfreedom and corruption that it had existed in for a long time.
But eventually, a group of heroes began engage in activities that protected ordinary people and threatened the tyranny of the remote powers who ruled from the Home Office. They stood for the security and freedom of the people who actually live here, and they fought many battles against the Business's loyal minions in order to further that goal. It got to a point where the ruling powers in the Home Office were rather seriously worried about how things were going to turn out.
After the Business suffered particularly crushing defeat, the people who live in this place finally got to set up a new order of their own, a new Business. The heroes of the resistance were the leaders of this new order, and they were very clear that things were going to be done differently from now on. And some of the reforms they envisioned were actually implemented, and were actually improvements over the way the Business's previous administration ran things.
For example, under the old Business's regime, everyone had to think twice before saying something that might offend their leader. You never knew what these bosses would do if they took offense. But the new Business was different. The leaders believed that people should be allowed to express their dissent without fear, and should only be executed for crimes like homicide. The Business's administration made promises like "If you don't kill, we won't kill you," and took their own laws seriously--while that kind of thing would have been unthinkable in the days when things were run the old Business's way.
But there are always powerful forces of corruption who threaten liberty and justice, and this was the case here too. There were many corrupt people who were influential in bringing things back to the old Business's way of running things. One of these corrupt people who played a particularly important role was named Hamilton.
Hamilton was a businessman who wanted everything kept all neat, orderly, and controlled. He always had a serious look on his face; he had the kind of face that any painter would love to make into a portrait; and if that painter were good enough, he could come up with a portrait that would serve as a symbol of authority for centuries to come. Hamilton began centralizing the Business's activities, and everyone at the Business sat up straight and paid attention as closely as they could. Hamilton was unquestionably good at instilling a strong work ethic in people, but was his influence positive in terms of freedom and justice?
One of the heroes of the resistance disagreed, and he decided it was necessary to fight a duel with Hamilton. Now, it's true that duelling is a pretty shady tradition, and that this duellist was a very emotionally unstable person. But when judging this hero, we must remember that he grew up in the eighteenth century, in a time when duelling was more socially acceptable than it is now. The outcome of this duel was that Hamilton was killed. And the duellist, too, was forced into the status of a fugitive.
But the although Hamilton did not prevail against his duellist enemy, his system did prevail. The more conventional leaders of the old Business had always said that their system of controlling and exploiting the world was natural and would go on forever. And so far, history hasn't quite gotten around to proving them wrong. But although the Pandora's Box full of evils has been unleashed on the world, there is always going to be hope. The brave souls who challenged the tyranny of the Home Office are still remembered with respect and even reverence.
I'm not quite sure why I thought that it would be best to post this thread in the forum devoted to Angel the Series. I mean, for the whole original post I just went on and on about the British Empire, the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton, and the duel in which Aaron Burr killed him. Still, I'm sure it's not totally out of place in this forum.
For a long time, the Business was very loyal to its Home Office. The people who are native to our place tended to find the Business extremely oppressive, but there was no effective way of getting rid of the Business. For a long time, the Home Office continued to be in total control over the Business, and thus the world was maintained in the state of unfreedom and corruption that it had existed in for a long time.
But eventually, a group of heroes began engage in activities that protected ordinary people and threatened the tyranny of the remote powers who ruled from the Home Office. They stood for the security and freedom of the people who actually live here, and they fought many battles against the Business's loyal minions in order to further that goal. It got to a point where the ruling powers in the Home Office were rather seriously worried about how things were going to turn out.
After the Business suffered particularly crushing defeat, the people who live in this place finally got to set up a new order of their own, a new Business. The heroes of the resistance were the leaders of this new order, and they were very clear that things were going to be done differently from now on. And some of the reforms they envisioned were actually implemented, and were actually improvements over the way the Business's previous administration ran things.
For example, under the old Business's regime, everyone had to think twice before saying something that might offend their leader. You never knew what these bosses would do if they took offense. But the new Business was different. The leaders believed that people should be allowed to express their dissent without fear, and should only be executed for crimes like homicide. The Business's administration made promises like "If you don't kill, we won't kill you," and took their own laws seriously--while that kind of thing would have been unthinkable in the days when things were run the old Business's way.
But there are always powerful forces of corruption who threaten liberty and justice, and this was the case here too. There were many corrupt people who were influential in bringing things back to the old Business's way of running things. One of these corrupt people who played a particularly important role was named Hamilton.
Hamilton was a businessman who wanted everything kept all neat, orderly, and controlled. He always had a serious look on his face; he had the kind of face that any painter would love to make into a portrait; and if that painter were good enough, he could come up with a portrait that would serve as a symbol of authority for centuries to come. Hamilton began centralizing the Business's activities, and everyone at the Business sat up straight and paid attention as closely as they could. Hamilton was unquestionably good at instilling a strong work ethic in people, but was his influence positive in terms of freedom and justice?
One of the heroes of the resistance disagreed, and he decided it was necessary to fight a duel with Hamilton. Now, it's true that duelling is a pretty shady tradition, and that this duellist was a very emotionally unstable person. But when judging this hero, we must remember that he grew up in the eighteenth century, in a time when duelling was more socially acceptable than it is now. The outcome of this duel was that Hamilton was killed. And the duellist, too, was forced into the status of a fugitive.
But the although Hamilton did not prevail against his duellist enemy, his system did prevail. The more conventional leaders of the old Business had always said that their system of controlling and exploiting the world was natural and would go on forever. And so far, history hasn't quite gotten around to proving them wrong. But although the Pandora's Box full of evils has been unleashed on the world, there is always going to be hope. The brave souls who challenged the tyranny of the Home Office are still remembered with respect and even reverence.
I'm not quite sure why I thought that it would be best to post this thread in the forum devoted to Angel the Series. I mean, for the whole original post I just went on and on about the British Empire, the American Revolution, Alexander Hamilton, and the duel in which Aaron Burr killed him. Still, I'm sure it's not totally out of place in this forum.