For once, the cover image is directly relevant because this post is about Diana Crowfeather talking with the disguised Targovi in his cage on the Waterblossom. She asks several penetrating questions:
"'But what is our cause? If you're on the side of Gerhart - why? To head off a civil war? But you can't; it's already begun. Mightn't Olaf Magnusson be the better man anyway? And what can we possibly do, stuck here on Daedalus, that'd make the slightest difference?'" (p. 304)
That last question applies to all of us here and now. What can I in Lancaster do to affect events in London or the Middle East? But, if a lot of us gather in one place, then we might do something. Dominic Flandry and Kossara Vymezal are escorted into the tricameral Dennitzan Parliament by a demonstration of zmayi. Campaigners hope to mobilize a million people for an event in Britain later this year. I will be there and will report back here. Major events are, like science fiction, about our future. This is one of those posts that has taken us a bit further than I had expected it to.
6 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Altho a bit idealized, the cover illustration you chose was one of the all too few times one of Anderson's books received an APPROPRIATE illustration.
You already know my skeptical view of demonstrations! Politicians and bureaucrats are more likely to think like this: "Whats's the quickest and easiest way of getting these bloody nuisances off my back?"
Ad astra! Sean
Here is something presenting evidence that nonviolent protest can be effective.
https://youarenotsosmart.com/2025/05/14/yanss-313-why-the-number-of-people-needed-to-make-a-protest-movement-successful-is-much-lower-than-you-might-assume/
Kaor, Jim!
And I'm going to remain skeptical! To say of how I have only contempt for many of the oh so fashionable "causes" of our times.
Ad astra! Sean
I have only contempt for people who disagree with me on important issues...
No, I don't! I am only trying out that mind-set to see where it leads to. Nowhere good.
Kaor, Paul!
No, some causes deserves only contempt: such as the "transsexual" madness, defenders of abortion, advocates of Nazism, etc. I could go on and on!
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
You needn't. Defenders of abortion believe in a woman's right to choose. A woman can choose against abortion. The legal definition of murder has always been the unlawful killing of a reasonable creature "in being," i.e., born, separated from the mother. Abortion was an offence but not murder. If I had my way, there would be no abortions but I am not a pregnant woman.
I do not understand the transsexual issue but calling it madness is a classic case of polarization, symptomatic of our polarized society, full of misunderstanding, hate and an arms industry. We can do better than this - although at present we are not.
Paul.
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