The Only Difference Between Comstock And Fitzroy Is How You Spell The Name

(I'm writing this fresh out of the shower instead of voice noting it to ChatGPT. On the floor in front of the heater still in my towel. Character development, I guess?)

I'm still not finished Bioshock: Infinite. Oof. Ever since I got spoiled that Elizabeth is Booker's daughter (which I already suspected; the storytelling isn't particularly subtle in this instalment) I've been turned off from it. But I was playing today, and Elizabeth and I went through the rift where the Vox Populi got their weapons, Booker is a martyr, and Chen Lin is dead in his shop with his white wife.

From the moment we went through, the vibes were all off. Elizabeth was still going on and on about how finally the people would be free! And Booker's all like, Mhm. And I'm all like, Mhm. I don't want the people to be suffering, but like... we're leaving here ASAP Beth. I'm selling you, probably for more booze, or just to save my own skin, and we're never talking again. And I'm never going to Sky-Racism-Land again, either.

The Vox soldiers were really freaking me out. As soon as we came upstairs from the basement where the weapons were held in the last dimension, there were Comstock soldiers staggering around weakly before dropping dead. And when I got outside, there was pure anarchy. The Vox were shooting all of them down, and I could only get a few bullets in. And then I came across some of Comstock's men, tied up and kneeling like prisoners of war, dead. It made me feel sick. Obviously, it's not like in the other world, Comstock's men weren't doing the same to the Vox, and innocent, non-militia-aligned citizens. But were these really the good guys? It seemed more for revenge than freedom. Some of the Comstock soldiers didn't even seem like they were a threat, like the kneeling dead ones. That really spooked me.

A bit later, Booker dropped an absolute bomb that made me pause the game.

"The only difference between Comstock and Fitzroy is how you spell the name."

I paused, because I wasn't sure if I agreed or not. Comstock, who lead a white supremacist society, had a girl locked up in a tower all her life, allowed Fink to use interracial couples as laughing stocks, and blamed the murder of his wife on a black woman trying to help her people live, is objectively evil. Fitzroy just called for the oppressed people of Columbia to join her movement and fight back against Comstock. The point isn't that Comstock and Fitzroy are the same, though, or that they're comparable morally.

The point is, that when you can convince any group of people that another group is inhumane and deserves death, you have created a monster. With one word from the leader, an army will go after anyone. No one should ever have that power. Sure, the soldiers aren't innocent, and the people were. But that doesn't change the fact that Daisy is nurturing not a rebellion, not equality, but a weapon.

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. The death penalty, dehumanization of our enemies, etc. It freaks me out, 'cause I'll find myself isolating and rocking back and forth in my room like "Murderers are actually just like me... hehe...". But everything in moderation; Booker DeWitt is literally me. Well, in this aspect at least. I'm not an alcoholic. Or a father. Or an addict. And I didn't sell my daughter for booze. But we're both hot and charming and smart...

End communication. I should probably get dressed.