A City-dweller's view of the outbackers: they have no fixed abodes, books, schools or connection with the human mainstream and hardly any metal or energy sources. Impoverished indeed - except that this account is completely mistaken. Two societies and cultures can coexist while one is dangerously uninformed about the other. How often does this happen on Earth now? Especially now when there is the technological capacity for constant disinformation - and demonization? How many politicians denounce every poll that goes against them as rigged? Well, one in particular... While reading a story like "Outpost of Empire," appreciate its exotic extra-terrestrial setting but also translate its human conflicts into their contemporary parallels. We read fictional history and live real history.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, what most in the Nine Cities thought about the Outbackers was mostly and dangerously mistaken. And I don't like everything about the Outbackers, they strike me as rather smug and arrogant.
Ad astra! Sean
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