Massacre

OK. I have had to reread Jerry Pournelle's The Mercenary at least as far as the end of Chapter XI in order to readdress a moral issue discussed recently in our combox, here.

The violence had stopped and the crowd in the Stadium was electing a new President. I would have left them to it. That President and any government that he would have been able to lead would have implemented disastrous policies? Maybe. Such accusations are always made during elections. Of course, Pournelle as author loads the dice so that his readers and those characters whom we regard as trustworthy know that this time the accusation is accurate. But it is never as clear cut as that in real life. People claim to know the truth of every contradictory proposition. And does such certainty justify replacing an election with a massacre? Never.

Sure, Falkenberg's men were fired on in the Stadium but this was because they had gone into the Stadium where Falkenberg had then announced the arrest of everyone present. And, after being fired on by some of those present, Falkenberg's men then, on his orders, used grenades and bayonets against a mostly unarmed crowd. Did Pournelle set out to defy and sicken his audience?

The novel is entirely about how human beings, both as individuals and in groups, large or small, interact with each other. This is what novels should be about. But this is an sf novel which should also be about our place in the universe and that does not mean just under-described terrestroid planets used as platforms for a continuation of all-too-familiar Terrestrial violence.

I am not sure how much more of Pournelle I will reread.

As previously stated, I will be away from this computer from early tomorrow until late on Friday. Saturday will be the last day of this month so maybe there will be a few more February posts then.