On Sun, 14 Sep 1997, Gary Kleppe wrote:

The problem I have with SM is not that the characters' thoughtless "I'm
good, my opponents are evil" attitude. It's the fact that the SM
universe bears out these attitudes; that, in canonical SM, there ARE
"good" people and "evil" people -- unlike real life.

	The problem is, Gary, that the real nature of the Monsters of the
Day can be summed up in the name given to the version in the Black Moon
arc.

	Droid.  As in "android".  As in, artificially created being,
resembling humanity, but *NOT* alive as we understand life.  Often used as
a term for a biological robot.  (I am fully aware of the fact that there
is really not that much difference between humanity and a biological
android, and that such a creature, if it is ever created, may well be
sentient and in every way equal to humanity when it comes to matters of
the soul.  But this ain't BGC, neighbors.)

	The MotD's are *not* free-willed creatures who have the ability to
choose between good and evil.  They were *created* to accomplish a
mission, which mission is generally dangerous to human beings and possibly
to all life.  They cannot choose to do good; they are compelled to do 
evil.  In other words, they are not evil people.  They are not people,
period.  (Incidentally, if you're going to talk about "moon dusted" --
ladies and gents, that was invented by DiC.  The senshi generally do *not*
exult over the death of their opponents.)

	What about the "Powerful Evils", the ones that *are* sentient?
Interestingly, they seem to fall prey to each other, or just as often
their leadership, much more often than they are eliminated by the Senshi.
The message that this sends isn't one of "Good must destroy evil", but
"Evil always turns on itself".  And this is very often true;  If you do
shitty things to other people, people will do shitty things to you.  The
"Powerful Evils" are not "evil people" either.  They are people who have
chosen to do evil, but do sometimes -- generally right before it's *too*
*late* -- try to do good.

	(Serenity wept for Beryl, did you know that?  Obviously not.)

	Are the Senshi guilty of genocide?  Maybe.  My friend Ken Wolfe
wrote an incredible story exploring just that.  Mark Latus has made it
a central theme of his work.  For good or ill, the makers of the anime
didn't explore the structure of the Dark Kingdom, or the Black Moon
Family.  (Later villains tend to not be representatives of a *culture*, as
such.)

	Oh, and Mr. Becerra ... I know for a fact that Sean doesn't much
like Sailor Mars, which *might* be why she came off as a heavy in his
fiction.  Personal bias needs to be considered, right?

Chris Davies.
(Note that I'm discussing the anime here.  The manga adopts a much less
forgiving attitude.  I don't like the manga, and don't pretend to know
much about it.)