So it turns out that the pulp science fiction writers were right: Mars is inhabited by a sentient species with technology so far in advance of ours it might as well be magic; they have, incidentally, used said tech to conceal themselves from our astronomers and space agencies.
Now the good news is that the Martians are not interested in conquering Earth. The bad news is that they’re xenophobic assholes with planet-shattering missiles. The worse news is that one of the Mars Rovers has trespassed on their holiest spot. It was NASA’s fault, of course, but that doesn’t matter; Mars wants blood. Their ire is concentrated on the United States, and they’ve informed us that they will be destroying one of our fifty largest cities in 72 hours. Escape is impossible; they’ve thrown up force shields around each of those cities, and our weapons tech can’t do a damn thing to penetrate them. Three days from now, they will expect the president to name the city to be sacrificed; if he refuses, they’ll shrug & vaporize all 50.
Make your case to spare the city you live in. If you don’t live in one of the top fifty, pick one to defend. Please do NOT argue that any given city should be obliterated; just defend one.
[del]Fresno is too tough for you scummy Martian greenbacks to mess with! Your puny weapons wouldn’t make a scratch. Go on, I dare you! Buncha wimps! The Venusians laugh at you.[/del]
Boston is home to shit ton of colleges and universities including Harvard and MIT. You may not like all the professors and students but it wouldn’t be good just to wip out so much brainpower all at once. It is also very important to the biotech and IT sectors. A lot of America’s future potential is in those sectors. Let’s not forget the stereotypical Boston accent as well. Sure it sounds ridiculous but it gives people from other places something easy to mock. There is a lot of American history around as well. The American Revolution started just outside Boston so it seems like a waste to let it get taken by some aliens as a sacrificial lamb.
Wichita is very important to the aviation industry. There is a whole lot of aviation engineering talent and infrastructure in Wichita that make everything from small planes to Cessna business jets to instruments. That type of thing is actually fairly rare in the U.S. and the world as a whole. Wichita should be spared so that we don’t take a huge hit in aviation technology.
Colorado Springs, CO should certainly be spared as well. The #1 reason is I go there on vacation every summer and it is beautiful. #2 is that NORAD is based there within Cheyenne Mountain. They also have the Air Force Academy. Somehow, I don’t think Colorado Springs is an easy target unless you want to bring the whole U.S. military into it.
Austin is the coolest city in Texas, it has more personality than any of our really big cities. The traffic is awful but it’s full of some really cool people and a state as conservative as ours needs a city like Austin as a counter example to give us liberal folk hope for change.
I don’t think I have to plead too hard to get Chicago spared. After all, the President is picking the city to sacrifice, and Chicago is the town he claims to be from.
You don’t say specifically, but I assume the people will be destroyed as well and can’t escape. Since we supposedly espouse equality of man as a nation, the choice has to be the city with the least population. Case closed. There is little to argue about except the actual population count.
Your stipulations really have us cornered. I can see the opportunity of a choice or two that would provide a net improvement if we could lobby successfully for their demise. That would obviate the goal of the Martians in punishing us. Those beings are pretty dam smart to hide the cheese this long.
Not only is it the Athens of the South, it’s home to some good music (not just country but all genres), has some awesome meat and threes, but it is one of the only two cities in Tennessee to dependably vote D at election time. Of course, most all of this could apply to Memphis as well.
