Our FB text for this one was kind of eh. I prefer John Harvey’s line, “Harky’s health bar is measured in teeth.”

There’s a faint echo of the mentor in Harky’s speech here, at least at first. Some part of him still thinks of Penk as the wide-eyed youth, an empty vessel into which Harky can pour instruction. And Harky also has a point here: you really can’t have peace without the occasional bloodshed to keep it, at least not in any society we’ve had so far. If most people want a peaceful nation but a significant number of cowardly racist fascists are plotting to overthrow it, for example, you may have no alternative but to shoot the fucking bastards dead until the threat they represent is eliminated, don’t expect me to get thrilled about a goddamn SUBPOENA, the self-identified enemies of democracy need their heads impaled on bloody STICKS–

…Hypothetically!

(Edit to add: It’s easy to imagine taking the above too far. I do believe in the Guilded Age quote that “A people aren’t their rulers,” and we’ll get to Penk’s rebuttal in due time. But a society that never kills for any reason, even one that aspires to justice and freedom, is one that cannot counter certain existential threats.)