Karl sat quietly while they took a break for the second commercial. The fact that program was shown live had been a surprise when he first saw "People's Talk," he did find it a bit helpful. A young man, likely in teens, brought him a small glass of water while they waited for the commercials to end. He was still a bit nervous over being on the set, as people who had been in that Target and saw Sally transform had all flocked to the media to give their reports and one line comments, most of which not helpful for Sally's situation. Karl and Alice had both wanted to explain how it happened earlier, but both of them agreed not to go to the press until after things had been settled with Sally. Karl and Alice saw her from time to time after the incident, and they repeatedly tried to apologize to her. Sally accepted the apologies and didn't hate them, but it took awhile for her actually forgive them. That had only tugged at Karl's guilt even more.
The incident was an accident. If Alice and Karl had known Sally was a werewolf, they would have taken Sally's measurements and bought clothing based on them. The responses by so many had been enough to convince Karl that they had a good reason to hide. Sally had never hurt anyone and yet people went after her simply because of what she was. She had been assaulted by coworkers at her old job and by others, some of whom had also known her before. She had tried to report the physical attacks to the police and the most the police did was to take statements. Some had even been quite aggressive and borderline murderous in the more verbal attacks. Thankfully, their skills as "hunters" weren't as great as their prejudices. Karl and Alice presently had Sally with them for her own protection, but given the threats made against her, they weren't going to let her be targeted by "haters." Both Alice and Karl wanted nothing more than to make it up to Sally for what happened.
Listening to Nate talk on the issues and how he went about supporting them was interesting, and on some level he could understand the young man's reasons for being supportive. Homosexuals hadn't had it all that easy either, but the casual talk on all that was bit over the top for Karl. It was prime time television with a serious broadcaster. Even with "People's Talk's" emphasis on getting the opinion of the common man, it was still a very serious show that tried to be rather professional and to give make the opinion given to be serious. Much of Nate's answers struck Karl personally as a friendly "gossip," but Karl said nothing at it wasn't his business to control how the other man answered questions.
Clarence, meanwhile, was getting things ready for the next part of the show.
"Now, you'll be okay with what will come next on the show, Mr. Hurtz, Mr. Anderson?" Clarence asked carefully, "As you have come out with statements that are very much in favor of werewolves..."
Karl slowly nodded. This was a part of the "People's Talk" show. They wouldn't broadcast one side of the coin without also broadcasting the other side of the debate as well. It was that aspect of the show that had lead to the intensive debates over werewolves and their place in society in the past six months, as the first guest was never ushered off of the set after they finished with him. Sometimes the second guest was on set for the first part of the interview. That all depended on what the show's producers wanted to do. They gave Karl a free stage as it were because they didn't know for sure which side he supported. They simply knew he was there for "the incident" and seemed to be the closest to the scene.
"I will be fine," Karl assured him.
"I've dealt with haters before," Nate answered.
Clarence nodded and glanced over to the side to see the director getting ready to bring them back from their commercial. After again counting to three, the direct pointed to Clarence. Clarence then focused on the cameras again and stood up, so that he could move to the head of the table.
"Before we went to commercial we were talking with Karl Hurtz in review of how werewolves were exposed and how the incident came about," Clarence to the camera, "and shared some interesting insights on why we should accept them as part of our society and treat them as equals. They are, after all, our neighbors. We also spoke with Nate Anderson on his personal relationships, which would seem to show that werewolves can love normal humans..."
Clarence paused to nod to Karl and Nate and then continued his narration.
"And it is an opinion that has been heard in Washington, as at present the debate in both the House and Senate seem to be slowly progressing toward granting werewolves protection under the 1964 Civil Rights Act," Clarence spoke, "but the debate does go on and the favorable opinions of Mr. Hurtz and Mr. Anderson are not the only ones. And here on the "People's Talk" we always seek to present both sides of the debate as much as possible. We will now introduce Walter Moxie..."
Karl turned to see a door on the other side open and a lone man made his way out. He wasn't exactly a slim man, but at the same time he didn't look like the sort of guy that Karl wanted to run into in a dark alley. Clarence kept a very professional look about him and then talked directly to Walter as the man walked up and sat down in the chair that Clarence had been seated in originally.
"Now, Mr. Moxie, you are not in favor of granting rights to werewolves, may I ask why?" Clarence asked.
"The real question is why would anyone give them rights?" Walter answered, "they turn into huge beasts that could easily turn us into hamburger."
Karl resisted the urge to tell the man that most of the violent incidents with werewolves after "the incident" usually involved in the werewolves being shot or attacked in human form, assuming they were werewolves not some human that the mob hated for another reason.
"Look at France in the years before the American Revolution," Walter commented, "for three years a werewolf terrorized a little French village EATING people. Do we really want things like that running around? Especially if they congregate together? We could have a new version of the Chicago Rippers!"
"And you think all werewolves would do those sorts of things?" Clarence questioned.
"Yes, if you were some sort of monster like that, wouldn't you?" Walter asked.
"They aren't mindless monsters!" Nate argued.
"That makes it worse," Walter answered, "That means they can lie. They'e just leading us along... by the dick apparently. At some point their duplicity will come out and we'll be eaten."
"There is the point though that they've had plenty of opportunities to do so, why aren't there more cases of humans being attacked?" Clarence commented, "as has been pointed out, they've been our neighbors well before this. Why have there not been more issues of werewolves carrying out such attacks?"
"What do you think the Beast of Gévaudan was? A squirrel?" Walter retorted.
"That was a beast created entirely out of paranoia!" Nate argued, "while lycanthropy was certainly blamed, so were mundane wolves, mundane wolf-dog hybrids clothed in the skin of young boars, and even the possibility that the Beast of Gevaudan wasn't even a canine but a hyena and that the man who supposedly killed the beast was also the man who unleashed the beast on French village in the first place."
Walter blew air through his lips that made a sound that made it clear he didn't believe it, "Boy, a guy who's bought their lies hook, line, and sinker has no right to say what's real or not regarding werewolves. They are liars pure and simple. Giving them rights and protection will only play into their plans."
"And what is truth?" Clarence cut in, "you say that werewolves are lying when those that have talked with the media and said they haven't desired to hunt humans. How do you determine that they're lying?"
"Who's heard of good werewolves?" Walter answered, "Just about story has had them as monsters. There has to be a reason for that. And all this "we just want to be friends" crap doesn't explain that."
Karl gave a heavy sigh. This was the sort of attitude he didn't like, and was what had given Sally so much pain since the "incident." He didn't know what Nate and his boyfriend encountered, but while Nate had commonly voiced clear anger at those that had murdered werewolves and was quite public about it, none of his commentary had anything to do with what had been done with his boyfriend. So, either Minnesota was far more liberal with regard to how they treated werewolves than the rest of the country, or the people in charge there weren't paying much attention, or maybe "Brandon" wasn't bothered as much by what people did to him as Karl and Alice had noticed in Sally. He also glanced briefly to Nate, who looked clearly irritated, which Karl kind of expected. He had a YouTube Channel and been a big part of the groups that had been supportive of werewolves with regards to speaking publicly, but from what Karl had read on Nate Anderson after being told who the specific guests on the show would be, he'd found that some of Nate's experiences weren't necessarily great for confronting those in the opposing camp.
His speaking tours were usually to those who were already werewolf supporters and usually had a fairly good police presence. Hecklers were moved away before they could cause trouble, which Karl figured that the police would want to do even if they supported the hecklers, as the last thing any policeman would likely want is a riot. So, since the audiences that Nate Anderson spoke to were already supportive of werewolves and those that might disagree with him were kept from causing trouble by the police, it wasn't like he was really convincing a lot of people. He just kept those who already agreed with him excited. Karl had also checked a couple of Nate's YouTube videos. Nate's commentary was about the same... talking on tolerance and "sticking up for what was right," but the video's comments sections didn't last for long before Nate prohibited the comments on that video. The comments that Karl had seen had included a fair number of insults, some homophobic as well as anti-werewolf being thrown in. Nate and others responded and argued, but the argument was nothing more than a shouting match online.
In all of this, Karl could respect Nate's passion for his cause. Karl in fact agreed with Nate on many issues regarding how werewolves should be treated, but he had noticed that while Nate had passion, he actually lacked skill. He didn't know how to debate on the topic. Now, granted most of the people that started the arguments online weren't that great, either, but a person who was skilled at debating things would have been able to trap them with some point of logic or examples that they would HAVE to concede.
"And then there's the fact that they have kept it secret for so long," Walter continued, "humans are rational intelligent beings. If they really have nothing to hide, why would they do so for so long? Why not reveal themselves in a situation they can control and demonstrate they aren't a threat?"
Walter then gave a confident smile to Karl that made him feel very uncomfortable.
"Why would they wait until after a brave soul managed to trick one to reveal herself in front of cameras?" Walter finished, "The fact that THAT is how they were revealed is enough to prove they're hiding something."
Karl frowned heavily. What had happened was an accident and had brought Sally nothing but pain as a result. Neither Karl nor Alice wanted that. They had only wanted to help their friend get the job that was offered her. Neither he nor Alice knew of Sally's lycanthropy and had been surprised to see her transform in front of them. Things only got worse, when Sally began facing attacks, all because of their ignorance. He privately wished that he and Alice had a case of the flu that day and had to stay home. Sally might not have gotten the clothes that would fit her, but she'd at least be spared the pain people like Walter put her through.
Karl and Alice had both agreed to do their best to make sure that they could make things up to Sally, and privately had agreed that if necessary, they'd ask Sally to bite them both. Their home town was of modest size, but there were still a lot of people there, and Sally was the only werewolf in residence. That's why so much of her life since being revealed had been so rough. There were no others to help her, and Karl and Alice's own agreement on the issue, that if things got really bad, they'd be able protect Sally better and if need be, pay for their mistake in trying to push Sally to take the risk in the first place. So far, though, things hadn't gone that far, yet. Karl had been given the offer for the interview, and he accepted since by the time the offer for the interview was made, Sally had forgiven them. Karl's intention was to make his plea that just because they were different didn't mean that things had changed and that was about it.
"I only wanted to help her," Karl said weakly, "I... I wish I'd never made her go to that mall..."
"It could be possible that they're afraid of humanity's response," Clarence commented trying to keep things professional, "after all, humanity has long had problems grasping or accepting things that were long held as standard. The Catholic Church officially clung to a Earth centric "solar system" until we landed on the Moon in the 1960s. We've even questioned the humanity of other humans. Would that not give them reason to be concerned?"
"But this isn't a case of human on human," Walter answered, "these beasts AREN'T human. Humans do not turn into seven foot wolf creatures covered in fur. And being afraid isn't an excuse to do the right thing."
"And what of the various incidents of violence involving werewolves being killed?" Clarence questioned, "in the past six months, the incidents that have occurred have all been the result of human attacks on werewolves or supposed werewolves and often with high powered weaponry. In a few cases with them being burned alive. Do you actively support murder?"
"I support the protection of humanity," Walter answered, "as all good men should. These beasts are not to be trusted. The fact that they hid is a sign of a duplicitous nature and their size and natures... they cannot be trusted. Those that have talked to the media have explained that they do have predatory natures... Now, last I checked predators occasionally ate people."
"There is a difference between a mundane wolf that is starving, hurt, and/or rabid and a werewolf," Karl commented, "they can choose what they hunt. No different that people when they go hunting."
"True... but that again makes them more dangerous," Walter answered, "they very well could become even more dangerous versions of the Chicago Rippers."
"But that is a matter of choice, and one we do give people," Clarence commented, "So that raises the question, do you support murdering them, for no reason other than that you fear what they MIGHT do?"
Walter paused for a moment, "Not murdering them. Execution, it'd be humane that way, which would be more than they've meted out on humanity over the centuries, and they'd be properly buried."
"So, you don't support private people killing them, but you would support the government killing them?" Clarence surmised.
"To protect humanity," Walter answered.
"I see," Clarence commented, "Well, maybe they should have revealed themselves earlier, but that situation is not one that can be changed now and we are now rapidly approaching where opinions and votes will eventually be placed in terms of setting policy, and we respect all of your contributions to helping to shape that national debate by sharing your opinions on the issue. When we return we will have a representative of the last "faction" in this debate, the werewolves themselves. All guests will be advised to retain the decorum and to treat guests on this show with the respect that you yourself would want. Thank you."
This made Karl slightly nervous. Werewolves had cooperated with the government, the police, and the media from time time to time, probably in the hope that cooperation would show that they aren't the mindless threat that Hollywood has made them out to be, but in the end it hadn't availed them much. Many major cities had passed laws limiting where werewolves could gather during the full moon, as tonight was, and what they could do. Every state also had laws that limited the contact werewolves could have with the media during the full moon as well. Karl didn't know who the werewolf that had been invited was, but he was sure that he or she would be accompanied by several heavily armed policemen to make sure that the werewolf didn't attack anyone. In theory the officers were also supposed to protect the werewolf from possible attack by humans, but Karl had figured that they really weren't in it for the werewolf's safety. But then, the law demanded such actions, and for the time being, only the US Congress passing a Civil Rights Bill to extend protection to werewolves and the likely following challenges of either the local laws or the federal law before the Supreme Court. But that was all in the future. For now the station was going to another commercial break.