Also, something
@EarthScorpion mentioned in Panopticon, building on something I mentioned on RPGNet came up recently.
So, yes. She's not likely to flip to proclaim the right of people to believe whatever they wish - not least because one of the unpleasant consequences of Consensus Reality is that thoughtcrime becomes real. People believing distasteful or hateful things are helping them to become true. Like the people who believe that vaccines cause autism.
That's the core of the contrarian (but still entirely valid) reading of Mage: the Ascension, the one where the Technocracy are the real good guys. Normally, we tolerate people thinking things we disagree with because disagreement isn't a bad thing. If two people disagree on how something works, or what will fix a problem,
this isn't a bad thing. In fact, it often results in deeper understanding as the two sides build a consensus. In the World of Darkness, this doesn't hold. There is no thoughtcrime in the World of Darkness-if you
think that black people are inferior to white people, or that gay marriage will cause natural disasters, and you tell people this,
you are literally harming others. And before you say "that's impossible,"
is it? Is it really? We know that Sleepers can unconsciously allow for very powerful effects (Forces 5, even), so why not Mind and Life? Why isn't it possible to turn homosexuality into an actual disease that kills people? Because it'd be uncomfortable? Because the minority has some power? Sure. But if you convince enough people that homosexuality is a disease, they can either Awaken or die.
Arguably, authoritarian nations have it
right in the World of Darkness. The correct answer to someone saying the government is corrupt and inefficient and will fail the people is to shoot them in the head, not listen to them, because
the meme cannot be allowed to spread lest it come true. It must be contained at the source. ...which says
extremely awful things about what democracy and freedom of speech
are in the World of Darkness.
Now there's a dystopian scenario for a mage game. The protagonists realize eventually that democracy
is Neffandery and to achieve Ascension democracy must be destroyed as an idea. Are they willing to kill billions to deny the Nephandi their eventual victory of killing everyone in existence?
EDIT: Also, this gives Threat Null's actions an ideological point. The Technocracy has long since known that to 'win' the Ascension War they need to crush all dissent, but there's enough human empathy in it and basic revulsion at the idea (same with the Traditions) that neither side decides to attempt
1984. Remove that from the Rogue Council and Threat Null-and suddenly the actions make tons of sense, don't they?
It's the most efficient, effective way to win, thought of by wise but inhuman minds with little empathy for the common man.
