The X-Project

There is rather a difference between a nose bleed and near death. It is much the same as scratching the paint on a car and ripping out the engine. You /can/ do it but it is largely considered a bad idea for the car. Which is, I suspect, what Hank is getting at here.

In any case, we listen to the med people when they tell us health things. Because they are the doctor people and have scary needles of doom and machines that go ping.

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But you see, Dr. McCoy's already admitted to not knowing the first thing about how Amanda's power works. BECAUSE he's a doctor. That comes with a rather stringent mode of thinking, and not a lot of room to accept new paradigms. Heck, if it weren't for my power, I wouldn't have the first CLUE how Amanda's magic works.

But it's her power. It's who she is. Telling her not to use it is no different than saying "Just stop being a dirty mutie". You have an ability, you use it. Anything else makes you just human.

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He knows she can hurt herself by over-doing it. I'm not saying his 'no magic period exclamation point end of sentence' policy wasn't an overreaction but it was the reaction that a medical professional should have about his patient. If you see using magic follows to vast hurting then you stop what you think is the cause. He should have talked to Amanda first, and to her magic teacher but it wasn't as entirely out of line as it's being painted.

But it's her power. It's who she is. Telling her not to use it is no different than saying "Just stop being a dirty mutie". You have an ability, you use it. Anything else makes you just human.

I have to disagree with you on that. In fact, I have to violently disagree. My power is most certainly not who I am nor do I think that is true of any mutant. Defining yourself by a single aspect of your life is short-sighted and, in my opinion, dangerous. I will not be cast as simply 'a mutant' anymore than I will permit being cast as simply 'a cook' or 'a woman'. Doing so is insulting. I am more than the sum of my parts.

Furthermore, there is nothing 'just' about being human.

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Furthermore, there is nothing 'just' about being human.

I beg to disagree. As mutants, we have abilities and capabilities that humans quite simply do not. This isn't a statement of superiority, it's simply one of fact. To deny or not use those abilities for ANY reason whatsoever lessens you from what you truly are.

I suppose it's your choice what you want to identify yourself by. If you want to deny that your power is part of what defines you and makes you unique, by all means. People live in denial all the time.

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Part of what makes me who I am. But only part. Not even the most important part, if any part can be said to be the most important.

I want to identify myself by being, and I know this sounds shocking and radical, myself. Not the green hair, not the parlor tricks with spoons, not the cooking or the philosophy or geophysics or even my relationship to Alex.

Yes, I can do things most people can't. I can do lots of things that you can't. Should I consider you 'just' a human because you don't have the same mutatation as I do? Should I think you're 'just' a child because I'm a few years older? Should I think I'm 'just' adopted because my mother didn't carry me for nine months?

We are not better. We have different abilities but that doesn't make us better. If we were just our mutations, we would not be anything to shout about. We are human. Trying to define us elsewise is bigotry.

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From a biological standpoint, a mutant saying "we are human" is the same as a human saying "we are Neanderthal". It's a simple statement of fact. If someone wants to use that to assume they're somehow "better" - that's their call.

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Speciation has not occured, Forge. The so-called "homo superior" can still interbreed with "homo sapiens", therefor we are still human. Picked up at least that much in bio, thank you very much.

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And if you're going to pretend that line of "everyone's equal because we're all born human", I may have to rethink this bit that everyone's telling me about you being one of the smart ones.

But we've had this particular discussion before, that seemed to go nowhere.

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I may have to rethink this bit that everyone's telling me about you being one of the smart ones.

Bite. Me.

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Repeat after me. "Equality does not mean sameness."

Were we to have a cooking contest, you would lose. In the kitchen, we are not equals.

Were we to both design a machine to chop wood (just go with it), I would lose. In mechanical matters, we are not equal.

If either of us entered a poetry contest against Maya Angelou, she'd wipe the floor with us and giggle. Because in literature, we three are not equal.

Overall however, despite what I can do and what you can do, we are equal. Because sameness is not required for equality.

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Correct me if I'm wrong (I know you would have anyway but hey) but a homo sapiens sapiens could not breed with a homo neanderthalensis and produce a fertile offspring. Which is not true of a human with the x-gene and a human without it. In reality the closer analogy would be a human with Down's Syndrome and one without, yes?

And regardless, that line of thought leads to discrimination, segregation, bigotry and eventually devaluation of the value of others.

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So does restricting someone's natural ability because you don't trust them with it.

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Christ almighty, she's not being persecuted. I've had the docs tell me the same damn thing. As have my best friend and not a few others around here. That's why we have doctors. To beat us over the head with mallets when we try to overdo it and to beat others off when we think we're some kind of superheroes.

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My power is most certainly not who I am nor do I think that is true of any mutant

Thank you. I've been trying to make this point for a while, but he won't listen to me.

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I understand where it comes from. I've been there myself though never about being a mutant. It just upsets me because what I used to do it about was my weight. So obviously, it hits a nerve when I see it done elsewhere.

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-nod-

I just think it's the starting point to a lot of more dangerous thoughts. Dangerous for the thinker, and others. -sigh-

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It is that too. And I can think of one example of how dangerous that invaded the mansion not even two years ago.

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Yes, exactly.

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I'm slightly bitter about that one too. Not just for all the usual reasons but hell, I had 'just humans' camped out on my lawn claiming I was the daughter of the crazy man with the funny hat. Bigotry in action, folks. Ain't life grand?

Agh. I think I need to chop something into very tiny pieces.

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x-beast.livejournal.com

I may not know how Amanda's powers work, but I do know what physical effects they have on her. And while I will not tell her not to use them, I *will* tell her to use them very cautiously, for now. As I said below, she is still young, and she is still learning. It's a question of degree, Forge... I wouldn't let you walk into a nuclear reactor, I wouldn't let a novice flyer attempt to cross the Atlantic alone and unaided, and I won't let Amanda be killed or maimed because someone pressurs her into taking too many risks with HER powers.

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