(no subject)
I've been reading The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin. The last thing I read of her adult (as in not young adult) SciFi was The Dispossessed for my cluster course, Political Dreams. A cluster course, for you who don't attend the same college, is essentially my very model idea of education: two parallel courses taught in tandem. I've wanted to teach such courses for a while: things like "The Art of Slang," an English course and a sociology course; "Video games" being an English and art/film courses. Yada yada. Pipe dreams so long as I don't have a teaching license. But the point was that the Political Dreams cluster was an English course (during which we read Utopian and Dystopian fiction) and a political-science class (where we got a crash course on different ideologies.)
The Dispossessed was our lit of choice of anarchy. Shevek is literally a man from the moon, come to exchange physics principals with earthen folks. The moon colonies separated from the earth ones years ago, and the moon made a point to establish anarchy: everyone lives in dorms and seeks jobs from a bulletin board. LeGuin's selling point was one conversation Shevek had with some other guy whom I don't remember because I read this a year and a half ago. Mr X was asking how members of the society trusted one another: why there was so little crime?
Shevek says, "Would I murder you ordinarily?"
He makes a very liberal assumption that people want to learn and improve themsleves, not horde tradition or valuables. That assumption aside, I found it quite enlightening in the unusual thought sort of way. No, I wondered, when all basic needs are taken care of, there is little need for stealing or fights. There are several other circumstances unique to Shevek's society that render most other "need" for violence unnecessary. The point remains: would you murder someone ordinarily?
Another reason I commend LeGuin is for her conversations in The Left Hand of Darkness. Genly Ai is talking to the king of a nation. Genly is a sort of recruiter for an interplanetary alliance (Ekumen) dedicated to the exchange of information. Conquest would be irrational, as it takes years and resources to relocate even one person. Having tried to explain this, the king then retorts: "And if there were anything these Ekumens wanted from us, they wouldn't have sent you alone. It's a joke, a hoax. Aliens would be here by the thousand."
"It doesn't take a thousand men to open a door, my lord. . . [Ekumens] will force nothing on you. I was sent alone, and remain here alone, in order to make it impossible for you to fear me."
"But I do fear you, Envoy. . .I fear liars, and I fear tricksters, and worst I fear the bitter truth. . .I am already afraid, and I am king. Fear is king!"
Pair this with a conversation about patriotism consisting of the fear of the other, the fear of the different, the fear of their actions, and LeGuin has hit the nail on the head.
The Dispossessed was our lit of choice of anarchy. Shevek is literally a man from the moon, come to exchange physics principals with earthen folks. The moon colonies separated from the earth ones years ago, and the moon made a point to establish anarchy: everyone lives in dorms and seeks jobs from a bulletin board. LeGuin's selling point was one conversation Shevek had with some other guy whom I don't remember because I read this a year and a half ago. Mr X was asking how members of the society trusted one another: why there was so little crime?
Shevek says, "Would I murder you ordinarily?"
He makes a very liberal assumption that people want to learn and improve themsleves, not horde tradition or valuables. That assumption aside, I found it quite enlightening in the unusual thought sort of way. No, I wondered, when all basic needs are taken care of, there is little need for stealing or fights. There are several other circumstances unique to Shevek's society that render most other "need" for violence unnecessary. The point remains: would you murder someone ordinarily?
Another reason I commend LeGuin is for her conversations in The Left Hand of Darkness. Genly Ai is talking to the king of a nation. Genly is a sort of recruiter for an interplanetary alliance (Ekumen) dedicated to the exchange of information. Conquest would be irrational, as it takes years and resources to relocate even one person. Having tried to explain this, the king then retorts: "And if there were anything these Ekumens wanted from us, they wouldn't have sent you alone. It's a joke, a hoax. Aliens would be here by the thousand."
"It doesn't take a thousand men to open a door, my lord. . . [Ekumens] will force nothing on you. I was sent alone, and remain here alone, in order to make it impossible for you to fear me."
"But I do fear you, Envoy. . .I fear liars, and I fear tricksters, and worst I fear the bitter truth. . .I am already afraid, and I am king. Fear is king!"
Pair this with a conversation about patriotism consisting of the fear of the other, the fear of the different, the fear of their actions, and LeGuin has hit the nail on the head.