I was gonna write that this is my least favorite piece so far, but you saved it halfway through XD
To begin with my critique then, I feel like the whole story successfully communicates what it wants to communicate. Your take on Duke establishes him as a character with severe issues, who then reflects on these and uses them for a moral lesson. This all feels very consistent and appears to make sense. The way from neglect to self-hatred to negatively viewing the world is short here. Nicely done. Duke has a backstory now. He subsides on negative emotions to find reason in the world, and he wants others to know about it.
My biggest problem with the text was largely the beginning. It's the most cliché way of telling a character's background story. Sad childhood, negative impact, sour personality in the future. That's been done countless times. Had the whole piece been about that, it would have been a -1 from my side.
The way Duke then distances himself from that background is what makes it work. The change from complaining to using the context for a moral argument did work well. And it reduces the self-loathing and self-pity from annoying to interesting.
It all comes down to: "Stories like these make people feel like a hero, like a good person. They make them remember their compassion. That’s why it is such a profitable emotion."
And I really enjoyed this take on journalism, especially the critique on people avoiding negative news, which is a real problem. It's also a nice piece of worldbuilding, establishing social circumstances in a part of the WL.
Last but not least, I thought about the way the argument is presented. The text makes it sound like it's a universal problem with journalism in the WL. However, I imagine there are countless species there, so the problem of news avoidance could actually be one that is limited to only some of them. Others might be very much interested in Duke's gonzo. I feel like this idea has been left out here somewhat.
Also - because I can :D - I bring in the Furry perspective again. "my cold-blooded heart" made me chuckle because cold-blood and reptile.
From that same perspective, though, I also wondered why Duke comes across as so very much human here. His psyche seems to work pretty much like the one of a human, and it would appear he also writes primarily to a human audience here, as the world features more than once. Felt a little bit strange in the WL context.
Anyhow, all in all, it's a good take on journalism and its problems. It's also a good take on Duke's character and his arrogance, yet shows he can use his brain if he wants to.
+1
All the best
- Nylo
