The Inquisitor in Room 101
SHEPHERD
Let’s talk about Tenebra, the drug that allegedly reverses the Black Friday phenomenon. There’s been reports that, at some of your support houses, Tenebra is mandatory for residents.
SAILOR
Now those have been isolated incidents. We certainly wouldn’t want to force anyone to take Tenebra if they don’t want to. But we want to support people who do choose to take the drug. It is quite expensive after all.
SHEPHERD
What did United Mankind do with those ‘isolated incidents’?
SAILOR
We educated the staff and made it clear in our policies that taking Tenebra is up to each individual.
DOOR OPENS and SHUTS
EVA
Hi there.
(long beat)
It’s Eva again. How are you finding things? I know solitary can be rough, but it really is in your best interests. We will have you out of here as soon as possible.
(long beat)
It’s okay if you don’t want to talk. Do you mind if I sit down? I’ve been on my feet all morning.
(beat)
Now, I know Room 101 gives a real 1984 vibe. But you do know you’re free to decorate your own room however you want, right? Let your individuality shine through! A room on the window-side of the house should open up soon. I’ll see about making sure you’re at the top of that list. You know how it is. Tons of demand!
(laughs)
(beat)
I know this is a stressful time. Believe me, I do. You aren’t the first one to go through this or have doubts.
(beat)
Still, this is all about you and what you want. You are an individual, and you have the right to decide what happens to you. We are only here to facilitate your choice and connect you with people who will support you. We are here to enable your freedom.
(beat)
Are you hungry? Once a month, we get some really good Neapolitan pizza. I know that’s one of your favorites. It says so in your file. I can pull some strings and have them bring a pie for us both. I’m famished, and it’s nearly lunchtime.
(beat)
I guess we can hold out a little longer.
(beat)
Remind me again. You were born in Zambezia? Your parents must have been in the diplomatic service, right? How many languages do you speak now? Three? Four? I’ve never been to that part of the world. Do they speak Swahili? I’m only asking because it’s the only African language I know about. I bet you speak Swahili pretty well, even after all this time.
(beat)
I suppose that’s why you aren’t freaked out by the phenomenon’s effects. You grew up around mostly Black people. I’m jealous. Most people nearly go crazy after they transform, but you … you seem fine. If your own parents hadn’t brought you here, I probably wouldn’t look twice at you walking down the street. Don’t get me wrong, you’re a good looking guy if you don’t mind me saying. I’d probably look more than once to be honest! I’m just saying that the way you carry yourself. It’s very … purposeful. Almost regal. Like you were born this way.
(beat)
Just think of the things you’ll be able to do when you get out of here. Do you have a girlfriend? Boyfriend? Significant other? Once you’re out of here, you can probably pull whoever you want. We can help with that, too. Match you up with someone who shares your interests, your drives, your passions, your … appetites. All of that can be yours.
(beat)
Of course it’s all up to you. Really up to you. And it makes sense that you hesitate because freedom is a terrifying thing. We all want it, but we don’t know what to do with it, you know?
(beat)
But I’m getting ahead of myself. In going through your file, it’s pretty clear to me that you’re not like most people. I mean … top grades. You’re a pretty good artist. Excellent work experience. And you even volunteer to teach kids how to draw. More people should be like you. I mean, more people should use their gifts to lift others up. Just think of what you can accomplish when you’re out of here! There’s nothing beyond your reach. All you need to do is accept the help we’re offering you. We want you to be able to help others, after all.
(long beat)
Well, just think about it. I’ve got a couple of more rounds to make. I can come by later.
CHAIR SCRAPES
WALKS TOWARDS DOOR
(long beat)
Actually. I do want to ask you one thing before I go. Think of it as a favor to me. You don’t have to answer right now if you don’t want to, but I’d owe you one if you gave me an answer.
(beat)
I’m curious. What do you think you’ll gain by refusing Tenebra?
(beat)
I mean, sure you are free to do so. But do you feel the need to tell other people to refuse it too? Do you think that people are dumb? That they need your permission to make their decisions? Is that what you think people are like? That they’re fundamentally stupid? Or do you think that you have this special insight that others just lack? You don’t think people know what they want in this free country? You don’t have to answer right away. I’m just curious.
(beat)
I mean, here I am blabbering on about freedom. But let’s be real. You’re obviously a smart guy. Or at least, smart enough not to say anything stupid in this room. I admire that, I really do. It takes a special kind of conviction. What’s the word I’m looking for? It takes tenacity. But I want to suggest that you’ve fundamentally misunderstood what people are like.
(beat)
People think they want freedom. They don’t. They’re actually terrified of it. They want to be led because there’s nothing more oppressive than total freedom. It’s nearly impossible for any one person to figure out what they want, let alone what is good or what is bad.
(beat)
Thinking about what you want is hard. It’s much easier to follow an example. Even a bad one. If you can ease someone’s conscience, they will happily surrender their freedom to you.
(beat)
I’ll tell you the truth. The honest truth now. This is me returning the favor ahead of time.
(beat)
There are only three things you can use to control people, all right? Only three. Do you want to know what those three are?
(beat)
Three things alone can control people. Miracles. Mystery. Fear. That’s it. Not love. Not hope. Not goodwill towards all men. If you knew that, you wouldn’t be in this room right now.
(beat)
Oh, do you need me to explain? By the look on your face, maybe I do. Maybe I overestimated how bright you were.
CHAIR SCRAPES AGAIN
The Black Friday phenomenon is an honest to god miracle. Do you understand that? I mean, sure we can try and wrap it up in scientific jargon. It’s just a little melanin, but it fundamentally shifts an individual’s perception of themselves and the entire world. That’s literally what miracles do.
(beat)
Do you know the story of the Apostle Paul?
(beat)
Well, Paul didn’t start out as a Christian, you know. He actually used to persecute Christians. Really!
One day he was traveling on the road to Damascus to persecute some more Christians and then he sees this bright flash that -BAM! - struck him blind.
(beat)
Then he heard a voice saying, “Paul, Paul … why do you persecute me?”
(beat)
See, up until that point, Paul was certain of his beliefs. He was right and the Christians were wrong. That’s what he was raised to believe and he never had any reason to question it. But suddenly, he hears this voice claiming to be from Jesus himself - and from that moment on, Paul became the fervent Christian. Without him, Christianity would have died out long ago.
(beat)
For most people, the Black Friday phenomenon is their road to Damascus moment. Everything they’ve ever assumed about themselves, their families, their society … all of that changes completely. They’ve experienced a bona fide miracle. They are struck blind, and they need guidance.
(beat)
But all miracles are double-edged swords you know. Nobody wants to make sense of a miracle by themselves. Even Paul never questioned the voice he heard on the road to Damascus. The miracle so overwhelmed his sense of self, that for the rest of his life, he was compelled to preach the Christian gospel.
Paul never tried to work out for himself what his experience actually meant. In a real sense, Paul didn’t actually change at all! He went from being one kind of zealot to another.
But that’s the power of miracles, after all - they don’t actually change anything - they just change your perspective. The Black Friday phenomenon is a lot like that. It doesn’t change anything except your perspective.
(long beat)
Maybe, in a sense, you were once like Paul on the road to Damascus. You’ve just experienced a miraculous transformation. But you just shrug it off as if it’s no big deal. Which is probably what Paul should have done if he was a rational person. But then he wouldn’t have started a religion that spans the entire world.
(long beat)
You know what’s better than a miracle? Not the power to explain a miracle - that never works.
(beat)
Mystery. Even if the Black Friday phenomenon is not a miracle, no one knows how it really works. No one can predict who it will touch. Those who aren’t initially drawn by miracles will often follow a mystery because, deep down, they hope for miracles. But they’ll never admit it.
(beat)
If you understood just how much people need miracles or mystery, you wouldn’t be here. You probably went around telling people that there was nothing mysterious or miraculous about the Black Friday phenomenon. I don’t know what you were hoping to achieve; what did you expect people to do?
(long beat)
(deep breath)
I have a weird theory. Do you want to hear it?
(beat)
Personally, I think you did it to mock people. I think you know that most people can’t resist a mystery. So by denying them this mystery, you’re drawing some kind of sick satisfaction from it.
(beat)
Why are you looking at me like that? Aren’t you angry with me? Here I am telling you that you’re either a liar, a fool, or a sociopath. Still nothing to say?
(beat)
So sure, some people see the Black Friday phenomenon and they see no miracle. They see no mystery. But they are afraid. They’re looking for someone - anyone - to voice their fears, not ignore them. Fear is the most ancient and most natural emotion. All living things feel fear. Even trees! But do you know what that fear gives?
(beat)
Fear gives power.
(beat)
People fly in their dreams but they will inevitably drown in their nightmares. Why do you think that good and evil are described in such black and white terms? Especially in this country? Do you know why, in this country, we are so afraid of dark skin?
It’s because we are naturally and inevitably afraid, really. We need something to fear even more than we need miracles or mystery. That’s what United Mankind realized. People need fear. Americans need to be afraid of Black people otherwise this whole country just doesn’t work.
(beat)
Now I can hear you ask. Why? Why does America need fear? Well, I’ll tell you why. Because fear is a biological necessity. Without it, there is no conflict. Without conflict, there is no growth. Without growth there is no progress. Without fear, antelopes don’t run from lions and lions don’t get better at hunting. If we had nothing to fear, we would invent something because we need it. We’ve done it before and we will do it again.
(beat)
Do you doubt me? In this free country of nearly infinite abundance, we had no need to fear one another. We never needed to lie and cheat and steal to take someone’s land. But we invented a fear anyway!
(more excited/agitated)
To make that fear real we sold our own children into slavery! We lynched our own lovers! Terrified of our abundance, of our freedom to love however we wanted, we killed, and killed, and killed … because ...
(long beat)
(deep sigh)
Because how could our children - how could anyone - ever forgive us? Especially after what we did to them? And what we did for them?
(beat)
We are afraid of them and what they will say. So instead, we hate them. These people were not our children. We never loved them. They were never even people. They are savages. If they cannot be taught to fear us, we must simply put them down!
(very long beat)
(sighs)
Well, that’s my theory anyway. Whether or not it’s true is irrelevant to you, isn’t it?
(beat)
Think about it. If there’s nothing to fear about the Black Friday phenomenon then why would anyone need to be out there saying so? Wouldn’t it be self-evident?
(beat)
Human society has only ever progressed through conflict, and that’s a fact. The Black Friday phenomenon is an opportunity for humanity to ascend to new levels of consciousness - but we can’t do it without violence, bloodshed, pain, and death. Trying to avoid it is unnatural. Contrary to nature.
(beat)
[angrily]
You don’t believe me? There are those who think that the phenomenon means that white people will go extinct. They believe that the battle lines are already drawn, and the day of reckoning is at hand. They are ready to fight, kill, and die for this belief. They are afraid. Do you think you can preach love, tolerance, and acceptance to them? Do you think you should preach this message to their soon-to-be victims? The conflict must play out. There must be a clear winner. There is no middle ground!
(beat)
[calmer]
So you can sit there passive and quiet all you want. But now you know why we can never let you out of here alive. You threaten the natural order. You deny the necessity of fear. We cannot permit you or your kind to teach this to anyone else.
(beat)
But you knew this already. That’s why you’re sitting there. That’s why you wanted to get caught, isn’t it? To show us just how unafraid you are.
CHAIR SCRAPES
(beat)
I envy you. I truly do. People like you might be the only ones who are actually ready to embrace freedom. Today, people are convinced they are free. But what do they do with their freedom? They come to us and lay it at our feet. Because they are terrified of their own freedom. They are terrified of each other. They are afraid that love leaves them too vulnerable.
(beat)
But even now, you’re not afraid, are you?
(long beat)
You’re just about out of time.
(beat)
Do you remember 1984? That novel by George Orwell, I mean. Remember what happened in the end? When Winston was in Room 101 and had to face his biggest fear?
(beat)
Haven’t you ever wondered why rats were his biggest fear? Not death. Not losing Julia. Rats.
(beat)
Winston didn’t know it, but the Party had already won. He’d been broken long before he ever went to Room 101. Long before he met Julia. He was so much a part of the Party’s system that he was incapable of selfless love. His fear of rats was always going to overrule his supposed love for Julia. The Party made him that way.
(beat)
Winston never stood a chance. Never.
(beat)
KNOCK ON DOOR
EVA (cont)
(louder)
I’ll be done in a second!
(beat)
You and I are the same. We are products of this society.
And as products of this society, you and I are incapable of selfless love. We are incapable of the kind of love that transcends our greatest fears. Call it what you want. Social responsibility. Empathy. The golden rule. It’s all horseshit. You’re just as broken as the rest of us. The sooner you stop deluding yourself, the easier this all gets.
(beat)
The only difference between you and me is that I understand that fact, and you … don’t.
DOOR OPENS
EVA (cont)
(sighs)
Get him out of my sight.