Page 60 of The Pacifist
“He won’t.” Pearl threw her hands up in the air. “His logic is that the more candidates there are, the fewer votes for each of them. Spreading the votes will make it hard for any one candidate to win against him.”
“But you’ll have to narrow it down to no more than ten candidates before the election.”
“You tell him that. I’m not sure Khan wants to fully understand the concept of democracy. All he cares about is winning. I’ve suggested that he could let the candidates who get the most votes become council members and delegate responsibility to them, but one of the most prominent candidates is Edward Wolf and the two hate each other.”
“Edward Wolf. The name sounds familiar.”
“Probably. Khan calls him Edward the Low-life.”
“Ahh, yes, now I remember. Khan mentioned him to me. He’s the son of the ruler that Khan’s father replaced.”
Pearl sighed. “Yes, and with the revelation that Khan’s mother was raped by Lord Wolf, we now know that Edward and Khan are half-brothers.”
“Dancing devils, that complicates things, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. With Khan’s personal grudge against Edward for having plotted to overthrow him in the past, he’s refusing to even entertain the idea of letting the candidates with the highest votes form a council or senate. He wants to be democratically elected but other than that, I don’t see much changing in the Northlands.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind later.”
Pearl brushed her hair back. “We’ll see. One step at a time. First, we have to help him win the election.”
“Did he take any of the advice we gave him on running a campaign?”
“Yes. He has done four rallies; maybe you saw some of it on the News?”
I nodded. “What about my idea of handing out flowers?”
Pearl shook her head. “Nah, he didn’t go for it.”
“And the hugging booth?”
“He laughed at that idea. It might have worked for you, but Khan isn’t a hugger, Jonah.”
“That’s a shame because that booth secured me a lot of votes.” I frowned. “How is he going to win then? Can’t you at least push him to have town hall meetings?”
“I already tried, but Khan says that it’s too risky and maybe he’s right. You saw the reaction from the press when he announced the election. All the critical questions had him fuming for days.”
I plucked at the grass but since it was virtual reality, nothing came off. “It’s just because Khan isn’t used to open criticism. This is all new to him.”
“You’re right. Now let’s work on your speech for the Council. I read your draft and I liked it.”
Angling my head, I pursed my lips. “I’m sensing a but coming.”
“No, it’s just that I have a few suggestions.” Pearl’s finger ran over the speech until she stopped sixteen lines down. “It’s this section. I see what you mean, but I fear that it will offend the members of the Council. They see themselves as open-minded and fair.” She pointed to a line and I read it aloud.
“Free thought is an illusion! You may think that your thoughts are your own, but they are not! We are all just a product of the society we grew up in, the schooling we had, and the ideas of right and wrong that were planted in our heads. As a society, we can never break the them-and-us mentality unless we unpack the baggage that was given to us by our ancestors, and take a critical look at what we want to keep and what we are better off leaving behind.”
Pearl spoke with enthusiasm. “You’re on to something; I just predict that your opening will stun them and make them not want to listen to the rest of what you have to say. Using a sentence like ‘Free thought is an illusion’ sounds very confrontational and as you know, people tend to get defensive when they feel attacked. You might get a better response if you asked it as a question instead of stating it as a fact. What if you said, ‘Have you ever considered whether free thought is an illusion?’”
“But I want to shock them and get their attention.”
“I get that, but you want to do it in a way that makes them want to listen and reflect.”
“Of course.”
“Then ask them a question and make them think.”
I read the paragraph again and changed it as she had suggested.
