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:
Kaor, Paul!
Iow, power hungry would be politicians were stirring up the Travers to demagogue their way to power! (Snorts!)
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Nonsense. That expresses contempt for a working majority which is perfectly capable of thinking for itself, experiencing grievances and taking collective action.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
My "contempt" is for the power hungry hack demagogues.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But do you deny that a working majority is capable of thinking for itself, experiencing grievances and taking collective action?
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I do not deny individuals can think and/or choose to become politicians who win supporters.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But the masses can take collective action and not all of their leaders are opportunists.
Paul.
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
Sean,
But masses of people take action all the time. You just don't recognise it as such.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, but I also believe many of them will be bad forms of "collective action."
Ad astra! Sean
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.
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.
Kaor, Paul!
Stirling's comments and your own concessions about "mass actions" confirms the skepticism I have about them.
Ad astra! Sean
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.
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