tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post3943107699531467770..comments2024-01-30T20:01:01.316+00:00Comments on Science Fiction & Fantasy: Trouble Tide, and The Demon Breed, by James H SchmitzAnthony G Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-51136331691407689892013-11-16T20:35:37.869+00:002013-11-16T20:35:37.869+00:00Some very good observations, as always Bill!
All ...Some very good observations, as always Bill!<br /><br />All in all, it shows more depth in Schmitz's thinking than the rather plain and straightforward writing style might suggest.<br />Anthony G Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00798830903236765181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6331135384154117296.post-62827316550160022822013-11-16T14:02:23.235+00:002013-11-16T14:02:23.235+00:00I haven't read "Trouble Tide," Tony....I haven't read "Trouble Tide," Tony. I'll have to track it down, because I love <b>The Demon Breed</b>.<br /><br />Re. the ending, that kind of thinking is so common in American science fiction - indeed, in American society - that I hardly even noticed. It is, certainly, the kind of thing many Americans like to think about <i>themselves</i>. It's not true, not when it comes to modern life here in America, but it's a cherished myth here.<br /><br />No, what struck me about the ending was how the government downplayed the whole attack, apparently worried that fear and anger would get human beings into a warlike, anti-alien mode. Instead of taking advantage of the attack for political gain, as we'd see - as we <i>have</i> seen - today, the government was worried about riling up its own citizens.<br /><br />Indeed, part of that was giving the citizens of Nandy-Cline far more credit for repelling the attack than they really deserved. The overall government deliberately encouraged the locals to think that it was all <i>their</i> doing.<br /><br />But I didn't think it was to foster self-reliance and individual responsibility, but rather to keep human society from the kind of response we saw from America after 9/11, the fear and anger that causes people to strike out without really worrying about what response is really justified - and who's really to blame (and who isn't).<br /><br />The Federation Overgovernment deliberately downplayed the attack in order to prevent a jihad. It was more worried about its own people than about the aliens who'd attacked them, worried that the attack might encourage a militaristic human society which would start waging war on its neighbors.<br /><br />And that seemed to be the lesson other aliens took from this, too - that they'd better beware of rousing that kind of response from the humans. I thought this was very interesting.<br /><br />The overgovernment was actually managing human society by pretending to be less active than it was. It let the locals believe that they were self-reliant and competent (when many of them were shown to be hopelessly superstitious), because that kept the locals happy and prevented further war - not because it was necessarily true.<br /><br />Indeed, is there just a hint here that the Tuvela hypothesis might not be entirely crazy? Human leaders were manipulating their whole society more than the average person suspected.Bill Garthrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08552459555883204060noreply@blogger.com