"Father, forgive us what we are about to do..."
-Poul Anderson, Rise Of The Terran Empire (New York, 2011), p. 515.
That is asking rather a lot. The plea for forgiveness is an acknowledgment in advance that something is wrong. His rationalization is on the previous page:
"Man's duty in this life...is to choose the lesser evil." (p. 514)
That can be taken to mean: always accept the way things are and never try to improve them. A British newspaper editorial (I forget which paper) said that disenfranchisement of Blacks in South Africa could not be ended.
Is there any stage at which Cajal, instead of requesting forgiveness for the status quo, would set out to change it as some religious leaders have done?
1 comment:
Hi, Paul!
I would point out that the war between the Empire and the Domain was NOT entirely the former's fault, that the Domain also had to take some of the blame. I recall one or two characters on Avalon even wondering if the Domain had been too rigid, too unwilling to make concessions to the Empire in the negotiations before the war began. Nor did the Empire desire to totally destroy or annex the Domain.
Sean
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