Maybe we cannot find fault with Rovian the Ferran if he simply does not have what we regard as morality but can any rational being have no values or loyalties? Rovian has some. When Flandry says:
"'Refuse if you think I'm a fool." (p. 409)
- Rovian, licking his sabre teeth and switching his tail - it is like a conversation with an animal - responds:
"'I do not refuse my captain... I, a Brother of the Oath." (ibid.)
He then suggests ways to make his captain's tactics "'...more elegant.'" (ibid.)
OK. He is a good guy or at least a guy that we can work with. But, if you tell him to restrain a crowd, then make sure to add that he should not do this by killing them all.
The loyalty of Chee Lan, the Cynthian, extends, very strongly, to her shipmates but not much further. Her employer is a lower priority.
5 comments:
There are plenty of human cultures with similar patterns of behavior and belief. I incline that way myself. I'll identify strongly with the human race if we're attacked by aliens -- until then, not so much. "My tribe good, your tribe stinks, kill-kill-kill" -- a basic human reflex.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: It's a gradation in the levels of force used. Any well run police service starts with the gentlest possible means of controlling a crowd, and goes on from that. The machine guns are used only as a last resort.
Mr. Stirling: I agree, it's a basic and necessary instinct of nations to defend themselves. Which is why so many Americans are infuriated at "Josip" and his puppet masters--failing to defend the US.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean:
You usually seem to mean by "Josip" president Biden.
In the case of failing to defend US interests, I think that accusation is more accurately made of Trump. See especially his hints that he would deny US weapons to Ukraine in the fight against a tyrant. A win for that tyrant would weaken the position of the US and all other democracies.
Note: I don't think I have ever found myself in agreement with *all* the policies of any political party. In the case of US politics I have fewer disagreements with the Democrats than the Republicans.
Kaor, Jim!
Yes, the accident of the Bungler having basically the same name as the bad Emperor of THE REBEL WORLDS made it easy for an Andersonian nerd like me to call him "Josip" after he took office in 2021. In fact, "Josip" and his cliques of insane woke leftists and bungling Hauksbergs, given their stupidity and incompetence, have managed to make the "real" Josip look better, which is amazing!
Let me tell you a secret about Trump, don't take everything he says too seriously, go by what he actually dos. Beneath all the sturm und drang Trumped up by hysterical and deranged leftists infuriated by how he humiliated them, Trump governed as a fairly standard conservative Republican.
I also note how much quieter the world was in Trump's first term: Russia and China were behaving cautiously, Iran had been cowed and chastened, And there were no wars in Europe and the Mid East. The chaos we have now started after "Josip" and his puppet masters took over.
I vote for the better of the two major US parties, which is always going to be the GOP. I've detested the Democrats ever since I was a teenager. Because I've seen nothing but folly, bungling, corruption, hypocrisy, insanity, and depravity from them!
Ad astra! Sean
!
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