Monday 5 June 2017

Shifting Alliances, Exotic Or Mundane

Historically, allies and enemies change places, sometimes rapidly.

Mongo
Ming divides and rules. Only a hero from off planet can unite Lion-Men, Bird-Men, Tree-Men etc against their common oppressor.

Barsoom
John Carter:
was a Captain in the Army of the Confederate States;
became first a captive, then a chieftain, of Thark;
unprecedently united green hordes with each other and with red Heliumites against red Zodangans;
became a Prince of Helium;
overthrew white therns and Black Pirates;
gained the alliegance of the latter;
was proclaimed Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of Barsoom;
but then tried to end the constant Barsoomian warfare;
was last seen defending Barsoom against invaders from Jupiter.

Technic Civilization
Gorzuni enslaved human beings but later were hired as mercenaries.
Technic civilization saved Merseia and earned undying hatred.
Avalon resisted the Terran Empire but later helped it against the Merseian Roidhunate.
Some human beings willingly served the Roidhunate whereas Dennitzans of Merseian descent were loyal to the Terran Emperor.

The Emberverse
Wiccans, Catholics and Mormons unite against the Church Universal and Triumphant.

Britain Now
Contestants in a General Election unite against terrorists. Twice, the Election campaign has had to be suspended. But issues connect. Some politicians are accused of supporting terrorists. Others are accused of provoking terrorism and underfunding counter-terrorism. Those who think that they have a solution have to acknowledge that part of the problem is no agreed solution.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I appreciated the nuances we saw in ERB's later Barsoom books.

Yes, former enemies can become allies in the Technic History, as we see happening with the Empire and Ythrian Domain. The rise of a militantly racist Merseian Roidhunate caused the Empire/Domain to settle their relatively minor disputes to unite against a common threat.

Yes, the lack of an agreed policy on how to handle Islamic supremacism is a problem in the UK. And part of the reason for that is a refusal by some UK leaders to even DEFINE the problem candidly. And one reason why I would vote against Jeremy Corbyn is how he has been accused of being soft on terrorism and having connections to alleged terrorists. I used "alleged" to take into account my lack of in depth knowledge of UK politics.

Sean