If the yeerks were really invading...

[Adrian Malacoda]

As pointed out in #38 killing Visser Three won't really help matters much. In fact, it'll probably make it worse - they'll just send another to replace him, and it'll give them a reason to wage all-out war.

[Shark Akhrrana]

its kind of with teh saying better to have an enemy you know than an Ally you don't

[voodooqueen126]

Basic fact of humanity:
We want to join groups and be a part of something, for losers this is a bit difficult so they solve this problem by joining things
In peace: join the sharing/scientology/Moonies/nazi party etc
In war: Join the Anti-Yeerk resistance/regular army/Irgun/Al-Qaeda etc. That is to say that the slow invasion method of Visser 1 turns humanity's social needs into a weakness for the yeerks, but in Visser3's all out war our sociability is a great strength.
I would start my own guerrilla army (originally consisting of friends later capturing hosts and starving the yeerk), place my family in safety and use standard terrorist tactics in order to kill as many yeerks civilian and military, if any freed host turned out to be voluntary i would either behead them, beat them to death, burn them alive eventually i would start hanging drawing and quartering them I would video tape this and then put on the yeerk version of youtube/the news as a warning to other voluntaries.

[Chad32]

Yeah, because there's absolutely no justification for anyone being voluntary. amirite? [/sarcasm]

[animefanboy]

You know, my friend and I discussed this once. He said that if any Yeerks got in his head, they would try and get out ASAP. His mind is a horrible place. It would be like them infesting the Joker.

Me, I'd probably try and help the Animorphs with tactics. I'd most likely be a tactician for them, I'd have to prove myself though. I'd most likely get them to trust me with the whole watch me for three days thing.

[voodooqueen126]

Becoming a voluntary controller is worse than Oswald Mosley and his friends who betrayed Britain to the Nazis.
To betray ones' country is bad, to betray your whole species is even worse.

[dasada122]

I would buy earplugs.

[MoppingBear]

how much do i know? everything ive learned from reading the animorphs books? id probably track down an animorph, and warn them of everything thats going to happen, especially about david.  id find the morphing cube, and the time matrix and hopefully pretty quickly fix up the universe.

without any knowledge though, id probably end up following some cute girl to a sharing meeting and becoming a controller.  then again, given how screwed up my brain is, the experience would probably be worse for the yeerk than for me.

[Kharina]

Anyone who doesn't want to read a rant, please ignore the following...

Basic fact of humanity:
We want to join groups and be a part of something, for losers this is a bit difficult so they solve this problem by joining things
In peace: join the sharing/scientology/Moonies/nazi party etc
In war: Join the Anti-Yeerk resistance/regular army/Irgun/Al-Qaeda etc. That is to say that the slow invasion method of Visser 1 turns humanity's social needs into a weakness for the yeerks, but in Visser3's all out war our sociability is a great strength.
I would start my own guerrilla army (originally consisting of friends later capturing hosts and starving the yeerk), place my family in safety and use standard terrorist tactics in order to kill as many yeerks civilian and military, if any freed host turned out to be voluntary i would either behead them, beat them to death, burn them alive eventually i would start hanging drawing and quartering them I would video tape this and then put on the yeerk version of youtube/the news as a warning to other voluntaries.

Becoming a voluntary controller is worse than Oswald Mosley and his friends who betrayed Britain to the Nazis.
To betray ones' country is bad, to betray your whole species is even worse.

Only if you are that species.  You don't mind Aftran and the rest of the peace movement, no?  Or even Aldrea, Elfangor or Ax?

Betraying your species is bad, but torturing to death another member of your own species is much, much worse.

What about people who have already been betrayed by their own species?  People in fear of their lives from dictatorships, seeking asylum and being turned away?  If I didn't have food or a roof over my head or a way to look after and educate my children, and the Yeerks offered me all those things, I'd happily become a voluntary controller.

In a less extreme scenario- I know what it's like to be bullied at school. (I am so glad I'm now at uni ) Luckily I had a loving family at the time and some great friends outside school, but if I hadn't had them (i.e. I'd been like Tobias) and people from the Sharing offered me the first hint of kindness I'd ever seen, I'd take them over my own species who'd shown me nothing but indifference or cruelty.

And if I saw videos circulating of voluntaries being burnt alive... okay it might scare me into fighting the Yeerks, but I'd secretly like the Yeerks much better than the human resistance.

Plus most voluntaries don't really know what they're getting into- when we see Tobias get infested in Megamorphs 4, it's not like they fully explain it to him.  He doesn't understand that he's betraying his species, he just thinks its some weird initiation ritual.  And even then he tries to back out at the last minute.

I have to condemn completely the idea of burning anyone alive, no matter what they've done.  Thankfully, I don't think that's something you'd really do, voodooqueen, if it came down to it.  Or at least not as easily as you say you would do it.


Sorry for the long and slightly angry post, guys. 

I would buy earplugs.

LOL yeah!  I already have earplugs, so I'm all set

[Chad32]

Kharina said it better than I probably could have said it. Sometimes going against your species is not a bad thing.

Though it would be a more simple decision if there wasn't a war going on. If they weren't invading, and were just looking for voluntary hosts peacefully, then it would be better.

[Kharina]

Yeah, but in that case there would have been nothing wrong with being a voluntary, because you wouldn't be betraying anyone.  The only person you'd be affecting was yourself.  I think the Yeerks would have many more voluntaries if they weren't being forced to betray their species and family and friends.  It wouldn't be everyone's thing, but it could be really positive for some.

[voodooqueen126]

well if the yeerks asked and were willing to be honest business partners, then it would be a great way for the human race to get rid of criminals/mentally ill/retarded etc... completely wrong and immoral but very useful for humanity.

[dasada122]

One can postulate some sort of inhibitor mechanism,some buffer between the mind and the yeerk.  Of course, if you can do that, then you can probably just build a robot body.

[voodooqueen126]

and as for the cruel and unusual methods of execution... this would be more to provide dicentives for treason. after all it worked in the middle ages and people then found public executions entertaining so after enough people were killed by the yeerks (remember the yeerks were basically going to blow cities from orbit think of the tragedy of burning paris to the ground) most of the human race may start to feel the same...

[Kharina]

well if the yeerks asked and were willing to be honest business partners, then it would be a great way for the human race to get rid of criminals/mentally ill/retarded etc... completely wrong and immoral but very useful for humanity.

At least you acknowledge it would be completely wrong.  Hopefully that would stop us doing it, but then we're humans- I can picture it happening.

Whether the Yeerks would accept it is a different matter.  Something tells me they would hope for more than drug addicts and criminals, who usually have a lot of psychological problems.

and as for the cruel and unusual methods of execution... this would be more to provide dicentives for treason. after all it worked in the middle ages and people then found public executions entertaining so after enough people were killed by the yeerks (remember the yeerks were basically going to blow cities from orbit think of the tragedy of burning paris to the ground) most of the human race may start to feel the same...

I understand it would be a useful way of making people frightened to help the Yeerks, but it's still completely and utterly wrong.  And in the long run, people might begin to see the Yeerks as better and more humane than humans. (And yes, word choice of humane is intentional).  E.g. people might ask their Yeerk to have them put in the cages during feeding and shout and pretend to struggle, but be perfectly cooperative when the Yeerk is actually in them- and no outsider can tell the difference.  But I think that difference would be important to the Yeerk- it would make it easier for the Yeerk to concentrate on other things  etc. 

And I think most of us have moved on from the middle ages.  There will always be some sadists, but most humans (at least those in democratic countries) now aren't used to public executions and torture, so are less likely to see it as a fun entertainment.