We don't get persecuted
I think one of the things that amazes the fluffies and the wiccans (mutually interchangeable words) is the fact that psionics people do not have any problems with the rest of the world. No one picks on us. And this surprises them because while they wish to be seen as all sweetness and sugary goodness, people use them for batting practice while we, who are openly nasty in our ways of dealing with the world are left alone.
I think there are a number of reasons. The one that usually is cited is the fact that we ARE nasty. We hit back and we hit hard and legal immunity does not carry shit against psionics. The ability and willingness to strike, combined with the cheapness and simplicity of the instruments (if you build your own) makes attacking us a foolish action. I mean, let us be honest and say the worst occurs and some government agency decides to confiscate someone's radionic equipment. Two hours after the hardware store and Radio Shack are open he is up and running again (the last radionic box I made cost me about five dollars in parts and took all of fifteen minutes to build) and guess who is going to be the target. And a flashlight can be purchased for a buck at any dollar store.
But let us leave aside that obvious reason. I think there is another one. We look and act pretty much like everyone else. Psionics people don't run around in ren faire costumes and give themselves names like Lady Pumpkinass or Lord Limpdick. We may do things in our labs that seriously threaten the social order and wreak havoc on the world, but we are normal on the outside. If you meet one of us on the street you would not think that we were anything but normal businessmen in expensive suits. We are honestly not threatening, no matter how dangerous our work may be. On the contrary, at worst we are charming, eccentric and, if a bit mad, at least entertainingly mad. We can speak as bloodthirstily as we want and it comes across not as a threat, but rather as pleasant wackiness.
The other reason, and one that may seem a bit obscure unless you think about it, is that we do use machines and machines are good. Witches hit a primordial nerve, something carried in the cultural genes. No matter how good they may try to seem, deep down they have a gingerbread house hidden somewhere where they fatten children for dinner. (Ok, I think I like witches all of a sudden!) And their self-righteous posturing in an attempt to change that image only reinforces it! It both annoys people, who don't like being preached at by anyone, and it makes folks wonder what sinister motives they may be hiding. Psionics folk, on the other hand, are working with the zeitgeist. Our civilization is made and mediated by the machine. Machines are human creations and humanity has pronounced them good. People like machines and have a basic love of those who use them for machines always work to our benefit no matter what the loons and luddites say.
Because we work with the mythology of the culture, the culture respects us, at least to the extent that it does not seek to interfere. Witches, on the other hand, are throwbacks, an anachronism and carry with them the threat of returning to the Dark Ages, superstition, disease, poverty, rural badness of all kinds, everything we believe in our souls that we have escaped from as a people. Folks just do not like them even if they do not know why they do not like them, whereas with psionics, people like us even if they can't understand why.
It's the way the world is, quite literally.
I think one of the things that amazes the fluffies and the wiccans (mutually interchangeable words) is the fact that psionics people do not have any problems with the rest of the world. No one picks on us. And this surprises them because while they wish to be seen as all sweetness and sugary goodness, people use them for batting practice while we, who are openly nasty in our ways of dealing with the world are left alone.
I think there are a number of reasons. The one that usually is cited is the fact that we ARE nasty. We hit back and we hit hard and legal immunity does not carry shit against psionics. The ability and willingness to strike, combined with the cheapness and simplicity of the instruments (if you build your own) makes attacking us a foolish action. I mean, let us be honest and say the worst occurs and some government agency decides to confiscate someone's radionic equipment. Two hours after the hardware store and Radio Shack are open he is up and running again (the last radionic box I made cost me about five dollars in parts and took all of fifteen minutes to build) and guess who is going to be the target. And a flashlight can be purchased for a buck at any dollar store.
But let us leave aside that obvious reason. I think there is another one. We look and act pretty much like everyone else. Psionics people don't run around in ren faire costumes and give themselves names like Lady Pumpkinass or Lord Limpdick. We may do things in our labs that seriously threaten the social order and wreak havoc on the world, but we are normal on the outside. If you meet one of us on the street you would not think that we were anything but normal businessmen in expensive suits. We are honestly not threatening, no matter how dangerous our work may be. On the contrary, at worst we are charming, eccentric and, if a bit mad, at least entertainingly mad. We can speak as bloodthirstily as we want and it comes across not as a threat, but rather as pleasant wackiness.
The other reason, and one that may seem a bit obscure unless you think about it, is that we do use machines and machines are good. Witches hit a primordial nerve, something carried in the cultural genes. No matter how good they may try to seem, deep down they have a gingerbread house hidden somewhere where they fatten children for dinner. (Ok, I think I like witches all of a sudden!) And their self-righteous posturing in an attempt to change that image only reinforces it! It both annoys people, who don't like being preached at by anyone, and it makes folks wonder what sinister motives they may be hiding. Psionics folk, on the other hand, are working with the zeitgeist. Our civilization is made and mediated by the machine. Machines are human creations and humanity has pronounced them good. People like machines and have a basic love of those who use them for machines always work to our benefit no matter what the loons and luddites say.
Because we work with the mythology of the culture, the culture respects us, at least to the extent that it does not seek to interfere. Witches, on the other hand, are throwbacks, an anachronism and carry with them the threat of returning to the Dark Ages, superstition, disease, poverty, rural badness of all kinds, everything we believe in our souls that we have escaped from as a people. Folks just do not like them even if they do not know why they do not like them, whereas with psionics, people like us even if they can't understand why.
It's the way the world is, quite literally.