Falkayn...
...says that the League:
"'...mediates competition that might otherwise become literally cutthroat.'"
-Poul Anderson, Satan's World IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 329-598 AT I, p. 332.
That implies that the competition has not yet become cutthroat. Indeed, Falkayn continues:
"'Believe me, however, rival members don't use outright violence on each other's agents, but chicanery is taken for granted.'" (ibid.)
Chicanery might be regarded as a normal part of the running of any society and certainly of a mercantile society.
Reinforcing his point about no violence, Falkayn adds:
"'Murder, kidnapping, brainscrub...Polesotechnic League members don't indulge in such antics. They know better.'" (p. 334)
He does spell out some "'...nasty ways of getting what's wanted...'" (ibid.):
bribery;
snooping;
many kinds of pressure;
blackmail, even of the innocent.
Again, we might think that these antics sound like business as usual rather than a society in a bad state. Falkayn is just about to be kidnapped and brainscrubbed but by agents of an alien outfit that has infiltrated Technic civilization.
Garver...
...has a negative view but are we supposed to take him seriously? He is the kind of statist bureaucrat that our free enterprise hero, van Rijn, loves to thwart. However, I do not feel up to tackling Garver right now. Maybe later. I am recovering from a cold and preparing to attend an annual Holocaust Memorial ceremony this evening. Shalom.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And it's my firm, even absolute conviction that the types of chicanery Falkayn listed are going to always be a part of life in EVERY human society. Because that is simply what human beings are like: flawed, imperfect, all too corruptible. Some problems, like these, can only be managed, not solved.
Ad astra! Sean
Garver is more complex than appears at first glance. He's legitimately concerned that League bigshots can buy their way out of compliance with the law, which he genuinely seeks to uphold. He's a prig and a pecksniffian Puritan, but an honest one.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Despite my dislike of Garver, I have to partially agree, at least as we see him in SATAN'S WORLD.
Ad astra! Sean
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