Date: Mon, 27 May 2002 08:50:36 -0500
Subject: Re: (urth) TBOTSS and colonialism
From: Adam Stephanides 

on 6/1/02 2:37 PM, Andy Robertson at andywrobertson@clara.co.uk wrote:

> It is the question of how you behave when you have the ability  -  thrust
> upon you by the horribly cruel machinery of Evolution - to create a living
> soul within the body of a bloodsucking, predatory, reptile:  to create a
> thing that then screams and weeps sincere psychic tears as it **continues**
> to prey on and kill human beings.
> 
> 
> It is not a test with an easy answer.
> 
> 
> 
> It seems to me that you are hopelessly thrall to the comfortable Star Trek
> view of the universe, and the Other within it.

It was specifically the view of relations between groups as an evolutionary
struggle to the death that I denied was "reality."

But no, I don't believe that love will conquer all.  But I also don't
believe that there are any races which are unredeemable by nature.  I'm also
doubtful that we will encounter an alien species which is unredeemable by
nature in the future.  The idea of such races comes from stereotypes of the
Other and from pulp sf, rather than reality.

But the more I think about it, the more dubious seems the idea that Horn's
error is loving the inhumi.  Yes, bringing Jahlee home was a spectacular
error of judgment (for that matter, sleeping with her was an error of
judgment).  But as Hoof would say, one can love someone while being aware of
their failings.  Horn knew that Jahlee was an amoral and bloodthirsty (no
pun intended) being, and should have realized that by bringing her to where
Nettle was he was leading her into temptation big time.  And, as I wrote
earlier, "love" has very little to do with Horn's relations with Juganu.
OTOH, had Horn not trusted Krait, he would have died on Green much earlier
(at least this is implied, iirc).

So maybe my original post which started this whole discussion was wrong, and
Horn's policy of treating the inhumi as humans fails because of his own
weakness, not because it's inherently doomed.  I don't know.

--Adam 


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