I
imagod284
Guest
This may be one of those "you think of HL2 too much" thoughts, but the other day some friends and I were discussing bull fighting and I immediately thought of HL2. I'm going to attempt by analogy to connect a bull to the whole of humanity in HL2. In a bull fight, the bull faces long odds. It has an almost certain (but not totally certain) bloody, painful, yet glorious death. If the bull is to survive, he must use his wits and strength to overcome the technologically and intellectually superior matador. Kill or be killed. Even if he survives, he will be bloddied and wounded. His alternative to fighting in the ring today is to be led to slaughter tomorrow. Here he faces a certain death. It is not as painful or as glorious. The bull is never given the chance to fight for his life.
This is the situation that humanity is placed in before the uprising. Unlike the bull, humanity can choose which of the two paths to follow. Humanity can rise up, knowing that we will face an extremely painful and costly fight with incredibly long odds of survival. It is a fight that takes much courage to begin. Even if we do somehow survive, it will be a shattered existance in need of a long recovery. But it would be an existance with a future. This is the path that Gordon Freeman and Eli Vance have started us on.
Humanity's alternative is being slowly and quietly by Wallace Breen led to slaughter. Would we allow ourselves to be intimidated and cowed (pun) into going down without even a fight? I know there all Breen fans (Darkside55 for one) who think this is the path we should take; follow the status quo, be good little slaves for as long as the combine permits us to live. After all, many of us will probably be allowed to live out our lives. It is ultimately a question of what is more important to you, the fate of humanity or the fate of yourself.
This is the situation that humanity is placed in before the uprising. Unlike the bull, humanity can choose which of the two paths to follow. Humanity can rise up, knowing that we will face an extremely painful and costly fight with incredibly long odds of survival. It is a fight that takes much courage to begin. Even if we do somehow survive, it will be a shattered existance in need of a long recovery. But it would be an existance with a future. This is the path that Gordon Freeman and Eli Vance have started us on.
Humanity's alternative is being slowly and quietly by Wallace Breen led to slaughter. Would we allow ourselves to be intimidated and cowed (pun) into going down without even a fight? I know there all Breen fans (Darkside55 for one) who think this is the path we should take; follow the status quo, be good little slaves for as long as the combine permits us to live. After all, many of us will probably be allowed to live out our lives. It is ultimately a question of what is more important to you, the fate of humanity or the fate of yourself.
)
