xp_logs | Sooraya and Angelo (Reply)

xp_dust posting in

Sooraya and Angelo try to figure out what to do with potential information gathered about the situation of mutants in foreign countries.

"Something has been bothering me." Sooraya looked up from the Amnesty report that she was reading on the human rights situation in the Middle East. "I know I talked about gathering information as a goal... but what good is information without the ability to take any form of action?"

"None, in the long run", Angelo agreed. "But you need the information to know what kind of action's best to take, and how to go about it."

"On that I agree with, Ange, but let's say that we have that information. Let's say that..." Sooraya scanned the rapport in front of her and picked the first country name she came across. "... Oman has an issue, what resources do we have? It has all faded away or gone underground. We used to have things like Malala's Rose and our program in Libya, but nothing of that is left now."

He nodded regretfully. "True enough, and they've got bigger things to worry about in Libya. But we could start trying to rebuild."

"And information is the first step of that. All the little bits hidden in those reports and texts." Sooraya sighed and returned to her rapport. She stared the text in front of her, not really reading when her head snapped up as something occurred to her. "There might be something we can do sooner... without having to rebuild lots of resources." She frowned, struggling to put idea under words.

Angelo looked up at her. "What have you got in mind? Something like the Underground?"

"No." Sooraya shook her head. "That would still need a lot of resources, so at least not yet. But think on this... How much coverage do you see on the human rights situation for mutant in the media? Not just here, but how about world wide?"

"Not much", he admitted. "Not in the mainstream media, anyway, and what there is tends to be about one paragraph in an article about human rights in general."

"Exactly. There is hardly any awareness about it. You need to dig deeply online or through mountains of paper work." Sooraya once more gestured at the paperwork in front of her. "That might be something we can do though... try to create awareness."

"Press releases, that kind of thing? I still know a few friendly journalists who'd stick their neck out."

"That's one option... a good one." Sooraya pursed her lips, thinking. "How about social media... blogs and that kind of thing? There we could put out things we create on our own. Though it has some significant safety risks. If people find out it was us..."

"That's the great thing about the internet", he said with a grin. "Nobody has to. And with Doug on our side, we can make it so nobody <i>can</i>."

"Very true." Sooraya agreed. "If we brainstorm a little more, I am sure we can find other places where packets of information, properly sourced might come in very handy. It would be very different from what we used to do though..."

“Hell, what isn’t?” Angelo said wryly. “But if we can’t do what we used to with the world the way it is, we’ve got to do what we can.”

"And it's better then nothing, even if we cannot put boots on the ground yet. I need to see what the others think of the idea though. It's a bit more behind the screens then we are used to... Also... we'd need someone who is good at writing stuff up from press releases and who can make the material for social media. Can you think of anyone in the mansion who might fit that bill?"

"Hm." He considered that. "Hope, maybe? She's done that kind of thing before, if not exactly that. Or Angel."

"Even if Angel isn't interested herself, she would probably know someone who could help with that if we can't find anyone in the mansion. Hope... she is a good idea, but I think her heart lies somewhere else." Sooraya pulled over some paper, scribbling a few notes for herself. "How about Maya? Though she'd have a lot to learn."

"....while I'm all for giving the kid something constructive to do, I don't know if we want to trust her with anything public-facing just yet. She could maybe write it up if one of us approves it before it goes out." He leaned over to glance at Sooraya's notes "If we let her go out unfiltered, she might just alienate the people we're trying to reach."

"Yeah, I see where you are coming from... But it's also a way to maybe direct some of her passion and for her to learn something at the same time?" Sooraya scribbled down Maya's name, putting a large question mark behind her. "I'll mention the idea to Angel tonight. She is one of the Gen X mentors as well. Maybe she knows who else might be interested in doing something like this."

Angelo nodded. "Sounds like a plan. I don't know the students as well as I could... maybe it's time that changed."

"It's the same for me... I think the only one I talk to regularly is Rahne. Still..." Sooraya made a few more notes. "I'll talk to Angel and see what she says and email the others if they even like the idea. I can go from there."

"I'll talk to Doug about getting us a secure website set up to host it.", he offered. "The sooner that's done, the sooner we can start."

"Thanks, Ange." Sooraya tucked her list away and picked up the report again. "I think we have enough for now. I just hope I can still focus on this report."