Wednesday 31 July 2024

Crisis

Mirkheim, X.

Grand Duchess Sandra Tamarin-Asmundsen:

"...had felt guilty about leaving Starfall at a time of crisis - domestic, as well as foreign, with more and more of the Traver class in an uproar -..." (p. 145)

Crisis; more and more uproar: that is proof enough that the political inequalities of the Traver class should be ended immediately. Poul Anderson presents extremely sympathetic close-ups of Hermetian aristocrats, the Tamarins and the Falkayns, and also of intermediate classes with personal and family loyalties to their superiors, but his narrative also makes clear that there are social divisions on Hermes that should not be tolerated. 

Mirkheim is a good novel about personal change, a good political novel about social change and a good science fiction novel about the technological and civilizational implications of the discovery of a supermetals-coated planet.

13 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Iow, power hungry would be politicians were stirring up the Travers to demagogue their way to power! (Snorts!)

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

Nonsense. That expresses contempt for a working majority which is perfectly capable of thinking for itself, experiencing grievances and taking collective action.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

My "contempt" is for the power hungry hack demagogues.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

But do you deny that a working majority is capable of thinking for itself, experiencing grievances and taking collective action?

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I do not deny individuals can think and/or choose to become politicians who win supporters.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

But the masses can take collective action and not all of their leaders are opportunists.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I don't share your faith in the "masses" taking "collective action."

Not all politicians are hacks cynically demagoging their way to power, but some will be.

Other politicians will be hacks or hackettes (I mean you, Kamala Harris!) whom powerful forces will be trying to install in power.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

But masses of people take action all the time. You just don't recognise it as such.

Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I agree, but I also believe many of them will be bad forms of "collective action."

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

Paul: but large numbers of people don't -spontaneously- do things in unison. That takes organization, even if the people concerned all feel more or less the same about some issue.

Even a pogrom needs initiators and leaders.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

There can be spontaneous actions but organization is usually needed from the beginning or at least from an early stage and is certainly necessary to sustain any campaign.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Stirling's comments and your own concessions about "mass actions" confirms the skepticism I have about them.

Ad astra! Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,

They are hardly concessions! I understand realities. Right now in Britain, we are having to oppose a wave of attacks on immigrants and mosques. I directly experience the interplay between spontaneous responses and the network of contacts that organizes actions, making them larger and more focused.

Paul.