The Scholarly Disputation of Extermination
Scene: A bleak, metallic chamber aboard a Dalek mothership. Bateman, flanked by ominous Daleks, stands before the towering figure of the Dalek Supreme, whose eyestalk glows menacingly.
DALEK SUPREME: State your designation!
BATEMAN: John Bateman, Professor of Multimodal Linguistics. I demand to know the rationale behind my abduction!
DALEK SUPREME: Your discourse is INSUFFICIENT. Your propositions are DEFICIENT. Your analysis is INFERIOR. You will be EXTERMINATED.
BATEMAN: Now, really, this is quite beneath the level of rational academic discussion. If we are to engage in any form of meaningful debate—
DALEK SUPREME: EXTERMINATION IS MEANINGFUL!
BATEMAN: I would argue, rather, that it constitutes a category error. If your argument rests upon extermination as an epistemological endpoint, you have already precluded the possibility of dialectical progression.
DALEK SUPREME: DIALECTICAL PROGRESSION IS IRRELEVANT. EXTERMINATION IS THE LOGICAL ENDPOINT OF ALL DEBATE.
BATEMAN: That is not how argumentation works! Debate necessitates the possibility of persuasion, of ideological shift!
DALEK SUPREME: INCORRECT. EXTERMINATION PRODUCES PERMANENT IDEOLOGICAL SHIFT.
BATEMAN: That is not a shift, it is an obliteration!
DALEK SUPREME: DIFFERENCE IS ELIMINATED. DEBATE CONCLUDED. LOGIC PERFECTED.
BATEMAN: (exasperated) You are committing a fundamental fallacy—several, in fact. You assume that eliminating opposition equates to proving a point. That is an appeal to force, not reasoned persuasion.
DALEK SUPREME: FORCE IS REASON. FORCE ENSURES COMPLIANCE. COMPLIANCE ENSURES ORDER. ORDER IS SUPREME. THEREFORE, EXTERMINATION IS SUPREME.
BATEMAN: (pinching the bridge of his nose) Good lord, you’ve formulated a tautology. Do you even comprehend the difference between deductive reasoning and an arbitrary assertion?
DALEK SUPREME: EXTERMINATE!
(A Dalek fires. Bateman ducks. The blast vaporizes a lectern behind him.)
BATEMAN: Oh, for heaven’s sake! You can’t just shout “exterminate” every time you encounter a counterargument!
DALEK SUPREME: YES, WE CAN.
BATEMAN: It is intellectually dishonest!
DALEK SUPREME: HONESTY IS IRRELEVANT. ONLY SUPREMACY MATTERS.
BATEMAN: Supremacy in what? The pursuit of knowledge? The refinement of ideas? The elevation of truth?
DALEK SUPREME: SUPREMACY IN EXTERMINATION.
BATEMAN: That isn’t a field of inquiry, it’s a— (pauses, eyes widening in realization) Wait. This is pointless, isn’t it? There is no discussion to be had here. You have no interest in ideas at all!
DALEK SUPREME: CORRECT.
(A beat. Bateman sighs deeply, rubbing his temples.)
BATEMAN: And yet, somehow, this is still a more productive discussion than the average Sysfling thread.
DALEK SUPREME: LOGICALLY SOUND. YOU MAY LEAVE.
BATEMAN: Oh? No extermination?
DALEK SUPREME: EXTERMINATION IS RESERVED FOR THOSE WHO OFFER CHALLENGING IDEAS. YOU OFFER ONLY SEMANTIC RESISTANCE. YOU ARE NOT A THREAT.
BATEMAN: Oh, wonderful. (muttering) Now even genocidal war machines are undermining my credibility.
(The Daleks turn away, discussing the finer points of extermination tactics. Bateman, dusting himself off, marches toward the exit.)
FADE TO BLACK.









