Native Americans and white men;
Jews, Israelis and Arabs;
Muslims and Hindus in India;
Europeans in Africa;
Bach, Goethe and Hitler.
What a history we have! Kahn has told us that he read history and now we learn the result.
In an Anderson story, we expect those who want to colonize another planet to succeed. Instead, this time, Kahn's armed men force them to leave. Anderson presents us with the issues, then leaves us to think about them.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And I agree with Jacob Kahn's arguments. I can cite any number of real world examples of how warlike invaders have conquered many nations.
Anderson supported humans colonizing other worlds, but not all costs! That is, some things simply should not be done, for simple decency's sake. One of them being to seize another intelligent race's planet. That was why Kahn, rightly, used his men to force the evacuation of the base on Mithras.
We do see one or two hints that if it had ever come to war between humans and Mithrans, the latter might not have been easy to conquer.
Sean
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