"That's right, ma'am. There never was any alien invasion. It's just lies fabricated by the government to control the populace! They've been scheming for a long time, that's why they forged such an artifact to pave the way for their next evil plan. Their goal is to make everyone believe in aliens, so they'll have no choice but to tremble under the government's control..."
"Stop." Diana interrupted him, then said, "Who's trembling?"
"Ordinary people, of course. They're now like startled birds, hiding at home..."
"What about the people in the tent district?" Diana looked at him coldly and asked, "When you were in power, did they have homes to hide in?"
"What are you talking about, ma'am?" The mayor had a very shocked expression, "We're talking about the government's big conspiracy now..."
"Yes, your government is honest and upright, without any conspiracy. But it allowed hundreds and thousands of homeless people to die in this winter." Diana said with her eyes lowered.
"They brought this on themselves," the mayor said, "Metropolis still has tens of millions of good citizens, why don't you think about them? Why should they be under strong government control with no freedom at all?"
For the first time, Diana realized the meaning of the phrase "conversation between strangers is a waste of breath." She even felt that if she listened to another sentence, she'd be sickened enough to throw up. But with a breath stuck inside her, she restrained herself from punching the other party.
"Yes, there are no more homeless in the city now. But is this really a good thing? Without distributing food to them, how can children participate in community practice? Without them testing drugs, how can new medicines be developed? Without bodies, medical students can't even practice. Would you want a doctor treating you who hasn't even done a dissection?"
"They couldn't handle competition in society, so they ended up homeless. But even waste material has its value. If you optimize out all the extra products on a production line, it could lead to other lines not being able to start. Society will ultimately become bloated and unhealthy. It's completely short-sighted behavior."
The mayor spoke so fervently that spittle flew, "Human society develops through competition. If there's no competition and everyone lives well equally, how do we develop? Only when everyone doesn't want to be eliminated, racing forward, does society become better."
"This is exactly the biggest flaw of strong government. They insist on supporting those who are eliminated. Do you think they'll be grateful? These people always want more than you give; if you give one portion, they want three; if you give three, they want ten; if you don't give, they'll scold you and even vote for the opposition!"
"When others in society see such scum living well, naturally they'll feel angry and won't work hard. Everyone will follow them, lying on the streets and waiting to be sheltered. No one will be in factories, no one in offices, and society won't function at all. Then, not getting products or services, who'll people curse at? Those giving welfare!"
"So, the protection measures for the homeless established by our new president are completely wrong! Taking so much tax money to support these lazy people, is that fair to those working hard and making more money?!"
"Every class, every group should have a voice channel. Ma'am, if you represent the homeless, then I should also represent my class. The fact is, the Kent Government is sacrificing the interests of most of the nation to fulfill a few. Doing so is wrong!"
"Moreover, he uses such despicable conspiracy tactics, faking artifacts, fabricating lies. Even if he becomes president, he's illegitimate. We should stand up and expose them, return the truth to the people. This is what a person of justice should do!"
Diana even admired him a bit. She'd heard of it before but never seen it firsthand, or at least so closely, the politicians' ability to reverse black and white is top-notch, they can say dead things are alive.
These words sound reasonable, but in reality, it's pure nonsense. First, about the social development issue, it's complete reversal of cause and effect. He's saying if everyone lives well, then society stops developing. He forgot the purpose of societal development is for everyone to live well, or rather, a society where everyone can live well is a good society. If everyone can't live well, it's a cold, cruel dark society, the most stagnant and lowest kind of society.
Then, there's the issue of homelessness causes. The socially eliminated homeless aren't the homeless' problem, it's society's problem. Greed, shortsightedness, stupidity is because they haven't received enough education in society; wanting more, not knowing gratitude is because they haven't reached the level where they understand etiquette. The resources society can supply them aren't sufficient enough for them to talk about morality. If you throw the elegant elite into an environment where not being aggressive and hogging food means starvation, they'll become fierce monkeys too.
And the issue of whether tax money should enrich the rich or the poor, is typical concept swapping. It's not that enriching the poor with tax money harms the rich, nor does it damage interests. Because for thousands of years, protecting the poor is protecting the rich. If you make people unable to survive, they'll make you unable to survive. Even in America, which has no revolutionary environment, didn't the Boston Tea Party trigger the war of independence? Allowing the poor to have stable lives is fundamentally protecting the rich.
In short, people without basic sociological concepts are easily incited by such words. But who is Diana? She's lived through two world wars, lived so long, and has a very deep understanding of human society. Such talk can't fool her.
The mayor kept emphasizing strong government. But Diana knew clearly, strong government is a false concept. Because for the individual, government is always strong.
The mayor means their government wasn't strong? Then why did those homeless willingly stay homeless instead of rising up, directly storming the Capitol Building, and making the congressmen listen to their democratic opinions?
If they did so, what would they get? Wouldn't it also be violent suppression? Isn't this strong government too?
It's about control projects being numerous and strict. But their government wasn't short on controlling! Building a shelter with your own money requires community consent, qualification proof, ten good inspectors a day, the draft and legal details to restrict shelters could fill a book. Isn't this over-control?
But, Diana was also too lazy to refute him. It's impossible to change such people's thinking, their minds only turn in one direction. Whatever you tell them, they'll circle back to the same topic, then start repeating themselves, often forgetting, and at the slightest stimulus become very aggressive. If scientists studying Alzheimer's came to study them earlier, they might have solved it by now.
"Enough of this." Diana interrupted them and then said, "What do you want me to do?"
The mayor cleared his throat and then said, "Ma'am, you must have noticed by now that there's no way to prove you didn't swap the artifact. So, for the sake of your own innocence and to let the public know the truth, you can only expose their conspiracy!"
Diana let out a cold laugh, realizing they were just waiting for her here. But it was no surprise; with things said to this extent, what else could it be?
"How do I expose it?" Diana asked, pointing her finger out the window, "Do you mean to say those three spikes are something humans can make, that humans could drive them into the Earth's crust so even Superman can't pull them out?"
"That thing might indeed be alien-made, but it was launched by humans!" the mayor shouted, "They picked it up and deliberately launched it to Earth to scare humanity!"
Congratulations, you got it right, Diana said to herself. That's exactly what happened. But the issue is, because the plan is too crazy, the truth seems too absurd for anyone to believe.
"Then let me ask you, where did they pick it up?" Diana even smiled a bit, "Such a big thing, you can't just say you picked it up, even the Himalayas wouldn't be able to hide it."
"They... they picked it up in outer space! They might have started an alien spaceship left on Earth, gone to other planets, and picked up these things," the mayor wiped his sweat and said, "It's possible, isn't it?"
"So, which planet did they pick it up from?" Diana asked again.
"Who knows? Maybe they got lucky, stumbled upon a planet with these things but no one around, so they picked them up. Or perhaps some alien had an accident and these things fell off their spaceship. Either way is possible."
Diana sighed deeply and said, "Is this exposing or helping?"
"What?"
"You mean to say that not only are there fallen alien spaceships on Earth, but taking those spaceships out, every few steps is an alien city, every few more is the scene of an alien traffic accident, and you can casually pick up such powerful things? According to you, this government needs to be upgraded by three levels; otherwise, how can it deal with external threats all around?"
"Uh..." The mayor started wiping his sweat again.
He looked in a particular direction with a plea for help. Diana followed his gaze and knew someone was in that room. But at this juncture, they still hadn't revealed their true self?
The door slowly opened, and the figure that walked out startled Diana. It was a child, who looked just over ten years old. More importantly, he bore a resemblance to Bruce.
Diana immediately realized that this was probably Bruce Wayne's son, Damian Wayne. So he was revived too.
"Wonder Woman." Damian called her name, "You know what's going on here, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're referring to."
"This is all a conspiracy orchestrated by Batman. To control the entire world. He fabricated the Martian invasion and used those three spikes, unremovable by current technology, to push the world into a new Cold War..."
Diana broke into a cold sweat instantly. Little Wayne was not like that foolish mayor; if he inherited even a fraction of his father's skills, today would not end well.
Moreover, judging by his tone, he truly knew something—he accurately pointed out the behind-the-scenes manipulator and the ultimate goal. More importantly, he didn't talk about ideology, just exposed the truth.
"Speak with evidence," Diana said, maintaining her calm façade, though she had lived long enough not to be frightened by a child. "How does this benefit Batman? After all, the president taxed him 96%."
"He doesn't care about money. He's a fool who wants to save the world and would give up everything for it, including his son." Damian looked at Diana and said, "You all work so hard for him, yet you don't know if he'd save you when things go wrong."
Diana frowned and said, "Why would I let him save me? I'm an adult capable of independent action; I decide where to go and what to do, and it's my freedom. I can also take responsibility for my own choices. If I depended on others for everything, I'd be long dead."
"Do you dare to come here today because you think I won't do something to you?"
Diana laughed in exasperation and said, "What are you going to do to me?"
Damian remained silent and clapped his hands. From the room he had just walked out of, a few security guards escorted a man out. Diana looked up and met those blue eyes she had longed for day and night.