Thea Beldaniel defends her alien upbringing:
"'Oh, I know the Earthside jargon. I know it gave us deviant personalities. But what is the norm, honestly, Nicholas? We're different from other humans, true. But human nature is plastic. I don't believe you can call us warped, any more than you yourself are because you were brought up in a particular tradition. We are healthy and happy.'" (p. 189)
Slow down Thea. Human nature is plastic and there is no single norm. Diplomacy is recognition that there are many different norms. But different upbringings can warp us in all sorts of ways. I make the definite claim that I was warped but my daughter has not been. Each of us needs to examine our upbringing, not to defend it on the ground that it was just another, albeit different, upbringing.
Centuries later, van Rijn's descendant, Tabitha Falkyan, brought up by Ythrians, will be a free individual, not a slave like Thea.
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And I believe that for humans to be raised by aliens, cut off from the rest of mankind, would inevitably warp and twist them.
Not quite, Tabitha Falkayn was raised as well by or among humans as well, not just by Ythrians. Nor was she cut off from her race.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I know that Ythrians did not bring up Tabitha from birth and that she was not cut off from humanity. Nevertheless, the point here is that the major input that Ythrians did have into her upbringing was entirely beneficial.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And my point remains that was possible only because Tabitha Falkayn still lived among humans.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
And my point is that the Ythrians would not have warped her even if there had been no other human beings around.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I don't believe that. I don't share this excessive admiration for Ythrians.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
They wanted individuals to be free instead of enslaved.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Except Ythrians are not humans. And even they had or used to have slaves.
Ad astra! Sean
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