I honestly thought I was going to be bored by this chapter, but I think it brought to a head every internal philosophical debate I've been having since I first started reading Death Note... which is an awesome thing to have happen as the series builds to a climax so I give props to Ohba's writing for this.

    I'll just say right off that I'm still conflicted about Light as a character, but now I'm certain that I don't believe what he's doing is right. Light is not God (and I don't mean this in a religious context; in terms of Death Note, I take God to mean a being who is superior to all others and can control their lives because he, as God, knows what right and wrong are). Light is just another human being forcing his own beliefs onto others. Who is Light to rob humanity of their ability to further themselves as a race by taking matters into his own hands? He rules through fear. In his perfect world, no murders will be committed because people fear being struck down by Kira; however, someone's urge to kill another human being will still be there and may even be exacerbated by some dictator telling them what to do and not to do. Light's ideal world is a terribly superficial one. How does he know that the man who robs the register at a convenience store wasn't just trying to get the money to feed his family? All Kira sees is a criminal--a criminal who is amazingly similiar to Kira because he's committing crimes but putting others above himself, as Light claims he is doing. But this man will die because Light is blind to this, blind the man's goodness, and to his potential for goodness. Numerous psychological studies on the effects of punishment and reward have shown that using punishment to reinforce a value does not work. Rewarding someone for doing something good is more effective than punishing someone for doing something bad. Humans won't change and immediately become docile, peaceful beings like Light thinks. The only way for them to bring about change is to take a look at what they have become and find the motivation within themselves to dig each other out of the ocean of decay their race has fallen into. I don't think as many people truly support Kira as Light likes to think. We saw how easily the fervent Demegawa was swayed by money. They drown their own urges for evil in their Kira-fanatacism, just like the bored genius Light Yagami channelled all his amazing intelligence into his quest to become God and "stand at the top" of everyone else.

    And I think Near brought to a head what humanity's true "voice" is. It's not like Light thought--Near understands what Light is saying (he even admitted that it may be true that Light has become justice), but he rejected it in favor of a humanistic approach. Every human has their own sense of justice, and "good" and "evil" are terms that will forever remained loosely and subjectively defined--such is the nature of humanity itself, which Light has failed to understand because he has lumped all of humankind into a seething mass of idiocy and sinfulness, and placed himself above them because it's his "mission" to prevent human decay. A mission he gave to himself. Light thinks he's better than the rest of humanity, but he isn't.

    I know ranting about this is not going to change anyone's views, really. Those who believe in Light aren't going to suddenly support Near, and vice versa. I think most who are going to take a side have taken it, and aren't moving. I know I'm not. I believe in Light's pureness. I believe in his darkness. But I don't believe what he's doing is right.

    I wonder if everything is going to boil down to a belief in the capacity for humans to evolve themselves? For some reason I keep thinking about the central themes in X/1999. Belief in humanity ability to help itself. Belief that humanity should be wiped out (i.e. has lost control of its own evilness). Fate. Does Light believe that Fate is controlling everthing, or is the thought of a higher force exerting any type of control over his actions simply inconceivable to someone like him?

    Philosophy aside, Near just keeps getting more and more interesting. In some chapters he appeared close to robotic, but he's shown now that he's clearly not. The look on his face--he hated every word of Light's speech. He believes in his own sense of justice. He is not merely carrying out L's ideology. It's also his own set of beliefs, and you need to be a living, feeling human being to believe in something. That Near, in his remoteness from everything around him, has managed to grasp humanity's heart--I think that's a type of passion in itself. I wonder what Mello would think if he could hear Near now, or what ideals Mello himself held.