"Wherefore Flandry walked through smashed ruins under a red dwarf sun, with a few snowflakes falling like blood drops out of great clotted clouds."
-Poul Anderson, "The Game of Glory" IN Anderson, Captain Flandry: Defender Of The Terran Empire (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 303-339 AT I, p. 304.
Again, the redness of the sun pervades the atmosphere and affects perceptions of the planetary environment. Blood-red snowflakes are a Pathetic Fallacy because Flandry's men have gone to Brae to kill and be killed.
The text even describes the Terrans as "...conquerors..." (I, p. 306) That this is not a rare exception to Imperial practice is shown when we are told that Flandry:
"...was directing the usual project in cases like this..." (p. 304)
The stages of the project are explicitly listed for us:
search;
inquiry;
more search;
more interrogation;
find and exile the irreconcilables;
plug the safely collaboration-minded into a governmental framework.
Except that Flandry himself would not be collaboration-minded if Terra were invaded. How can he stomach this kind of work?
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
To answer your question, easily! Recall how often we see mention of how the only alternatives to the Empire was either the tyranny of Merseia or the chaos and anarchy of the Long Night. Moreover, the Brae affair was NOT how the Empire usually behaved. It was a result of bad leaders at the top of the Empire making bad decisions and bad appointments. And even in "The Game of Glory" we see Flandry saying the Empire was easy going and tolerant compared to Merseia. We also see him reflecting that, by and large, the Imperial civil service was conscientious and well meaning. So, it was not all black!
And, yes, Brae was an atrocity, all the more so since it clashed with the Empire's usual policy and practice.
Sean
Sean,
But the text does say that Flandry is "...directing the usual project in cases like this..."
Paul.
Sean,
Are our only alternatives ever maintenance of the status quo, chaos or tyranny?
If that were so, then there would be no progress.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And "...the usual project in cases like this..." were not always done for evil reasons. How was the "project" different from what the UK and US did in the parts of Germany they occupied after WW II? They too searched for, inquired, interrogated, and eliminated (via dismissals, imprisoning, or hanging) many National Socialists. And many of these Nazis DESERVED what they got. In fact, it seems to have been milder on Brae, no mention being made of executions or long term imprisonments.
(In fact, I can cite far worse examples from real history of the UK and US behaving in far worse ways than what we see being done by the Empire on Brae. But that does not mean they were utterly vile or hopeless.)
To the question in your second comment my answer is yes, because I see no REALISTIC likelihood of human beings ever being better than what we already see and have. Yes, most times, the best we can do is maintain the status quo. Nor do I think that is to be despised if most people, most times, can live out their lives not too badly. It's still better than anarchy/chaos or tyranny.
Progress can be made, but it's not going to be made in any grandly sweeping and dramatic way. Only slowly, painfully, and incrementally. And it's going to have to be in ways most left leaning people might not care for: the limited state (whatever form it takes), under the rule of law, a basically free enterprise economy, etc.
I truly don't see any other alternatives being LIKELY. Certainly not the "transhumanist" dreams I've seen discussed and criticized at other blogs, like that of John Wright. Poul Anderson speculated about such ideas, most esp. in his HARVEST OF STARS books and GENESIS. But he also made it plain how skeptical he was of such notions, showing how flawed and imperfect societies based on them are LIKELY to be.
Sean
Sean,
Society has progressed enormously, though, against opposition.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Granted, but only slowly, painfully, incrementally, with no guarantee that such progress will last. And we still have such barbarities as "legalized" abortion.
Sean
Sean,
Never a guarantee.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And that alone makes you much more reasonable than too many others!
Sean
Post a Comment