Read the following dialogue for contemporary resonances:
"'No question of disloyalty. No lese majeste. But there is a widespread feeling on Daedalus, especially among Navy personnel, that Emperor Gerhart and his Policy Board have...not been well advised...that some of the counsel they heeded may actually have been treasonable in intent...that drastic reform has again become overdue. The Admiral has sent carefully reasoned recommendations to Terra. Meanwhile, dissatisfaction leads to restlessness. He may have to impose martial law, or - Enough. These matters are not for subjects like you and me to decide.'" (p. 22)
Someone begins by denying disloyalty because he is about to say something that will sound disloyal.
Such issues are not for two individuals to decide but they are certainly for them to discuss.
The speaker says that there is a widespread feeling without saying whether he feels it.
"...especially among Navy personnel..." They are just supposed to obey orders! What does the wider population feel?
Advise that some of us disliked might have been treasonable? That sounds familiar.
Drastic reform? How drastic? Does one alleged wrong justify an even worse one?
"...dissatisfaction leads to restlessness." Does the speaker share or approve of the dissatisfaction?
The Admiral might have to impose martial law? Or he is preparing for something?
That familiar sense of troubled times again.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
It sounds more like self serving manipulation by Magnusson and his henchmen!
Ad astra! Sean
Pretty blatant.
All of which reminds me of thoughts I have about more contemporary events.
Germany has been shutting down its nuclear generators & replacing the electricity with unreliable wind & solar and Russian gas for the frequent occasions when the sun & wind are not providing much power.
That could be regarded as merely ill-advised policy.
However, Gerhard Schroder was chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005 and pushed those policies and later worked in leading positions in Russian state owned gas pipeline companies. This makes him look treasonous.
Kaor, Paul and Jim!
Paul: It was! The last step before Magnusson would proclaim himself Emperor. I was reminded of how some of the ephemeral Emperors of the third century crisis of Rome behaved in similarly self serving ways.
Jim: It certainly looks suspicious!
Ad astra! Sean
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