SCENE: Mitch BERG is waiting for takeout at a near-eastern restaurant on Snelling Avenue when Avery LIBRELLE walks in. Trapped, BERG tries to ignore…er, Avery. To no avail.
LIBRELLE: Merg!
BERG: Oh, hey, Avery. What’s new…
LIBRELLE: Republicans reject science!
BERG: Is that so?
LIBRELLE: That’s right. You don’t wear masks.
BERG: Huh. So – just to be clear, if you conduct an experiment, and the theory succeeds, and succeeds repeatedly, then it’s an indication that one’s theory is holding up well.
LIBRELLE: Of course. Science is awesome.
BERG: OK. So – theory: defending against ballistic missiles would remove a key area where a hostile foreign power can blackmail the US by threatening millions of American lives. Hypothesis: modern technology makes point defense against incoming missiles not only feasible, but reliable enough to incorporate in foreign and defense policy.
LIBRELLE: Nonsense. It’s impossible. That science was settled back in the 1980s.
BERG: This ain’t the eighties, and the science is settling in the direction of “set ’em up, we can shoot ’em down”.
LIBRELLE: Not only is it impossible to shoot down missiles, but even considering it is destabilizing, actually making a nuclear attack more likely, which would disproportionally affect People of Color, Latinx, gay and transgender people.
BERG: So we’ve gone from science to intersectional sociology.
LIBRELLE: Intersectional sociology is science.
BERG: Huh. And queer gender theory?
LIBRELLE: Science.
BERG: The 1619 Project?
LIBRELLE: Science.
BERG: Vox.com?
LIBRELLE: Scientists, every one of ’em.
BERG: Shooting down missiles using a 50-year-old missile and guidance technology that’s been steadily improving since Jimmy Carter was in office?
LIBRELLE: Pure emotion.
BERG: Gotcha.
LIBRELLE: Hey, could you buy me a gyro?
BERG: When can you pay me back?
LIBRELLE: What do you mean?
BERG: Right.
And SCENE.
“Asteroid Impact Kills All Life on Earth
Womyn & Minorities Hardest Hit!”
Even money bet on which newspaper runs that headline; New York Times or the Washington Post.