♫ 19 | voice

[refinedmaestro]

[Good afternoon Luceti, today you'll hear music coming from your journals. What music exactly? Frederic playing his Impromptu No. 1 in A flat, Op. 29 to be precise. Once he's finished playing, he goes towards his journal and speaks up. Since he has a few things to say to everyone.]Good day everyone. I know the school year has ended, but I am still

Comments

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Oh, it's Mr. Chopin - Robert hasn't spoken to him in a long time, but after being entirely avoidant of the journals for a week or so, he's missing conversing with other people. And this is an interesting question.]

"Emotion" and "life"...

Well, Mr. Chopin, those are very... abstract concepts, are they not? [For someone who studies non-Terran life-forms, "life" is an important definition to have. ... "Emotion"? Not quite so easy for Robert, whose social-cue reading skills are impaired at best, to discern.]

Are you looking for my definition, or... an a-analysis?

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert nods a little.] Historical figures, particularly enduring, influential ones, a-are collectively kept in the memory of the populace more firmly than others...

... And, well, I f-found classical music... fascinating. [It was routinely found to stimulate the intellect...] So I suppose I learned some names... even so, I only recognized your name very minutely.

... Your playing is as... b-beautiful as I remember from the holovideo recordings.

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

But why would they not keep the histories of the countries? I...find it rather sad that I am remembered, but my homeland of Poland is not. It was because of my homeland and people that I continued forward since I wanted to help them during their time of suffering. Hearing that my people and home itself are forgotten by future generations is...very painful.

[He pauses at that, but answers him.] Thank you I suppose. However, you would probably find Mozart or Beethoven to be more suiting than I, they are greater geniuses than my own self.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[With some obvious discomfort:] I... I suppose it was seen as... as a divisive thing. F-For people to come from different cultures, and the like. [Only recently has Robert seen any merit to it at all...] But I am certain nothing has been forgotten outright - the databases have a t-tremendous amount of stored history, and every single book on the planet was... i-incorporated in them before the mass-recycling and cessation of book production...

You humble yourself unnecessarily... a-and besides, all contributors to the great collective b-bodies of art, as with science, are important.

[... Not that Robert claims to understand art... and creativity took a huge hit after the cultural homogenization of Terra.]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

How could the sharing of cultures be considered as divisive? If anything, people should have the right to know about every culture in the world even from its past. I'm sorry to say this, but I think it is wrong to keep that information hidden away from people.

What of other people who are not in the body of art or science? Are they remembered? [And to answer him the other time.] While I do appreciate your words, you don't seem to understand that others such as Handel, Mozart, even Beethoven I consider to have a far greater than myself at the piano and musical composition.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

Of course - again, there is no c-censorship of information. That would most c-certainly be unethical. It is all accessible, if one wishes... b-but, there is simply little desire to do so.

... As for how culture could be divisive... many of the great wars that occurred in T-Terra's past were directly resultant from c-cultural or other ideological differences... without those d-differences, there were... fewer problems in that s-sense. Though, that was not the original reasoning for the removal of geopolitical boundaries... but it w-was helpful in reducing the amounts of violence on Terra. [Not that it would have mattered much, with the crushing social pressure against it.]

I admit ignorance on the topic of m-musical composition. It is... not something with which I am familiar. But if someone of your s-skill thinks yourself inferior to them... well, I suppose that would be a r-ringing endorsement.

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

But why is that so? Is there no one in your world who thinks the cultures of countries should be kept alive? Certainly historians would want to have the cultures of every country kept alive to preserve them for everyone to see. Even with all these differences and violence, the good things of the cultures should at least be kept alive and in view for the public.

I only speak the truth, I see no reason to lie about those whom I feel are in fact superior to my own abilities as a musician.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[You ask hard questions, Chopin. Robert is... honestly not sure how to explain this to a non-Terran.]

At the risk of... s-sounding offensive... there is a feeling that pre-Terran humanity is... inferior, on Terra. Because of its m-methods of solving problems, and its inefficient s-stewardship of Terra, and all the other m-myriad problems of pre-Terran society, such as violence, a-abuses of power, inequity, and allowance of a-atrocities such as starvation...

... I u-understand that not all pre-Terran humans are... are like that. At least, from the p-perspective of the Lucetian pre-Terrans. But, b-but... it was... c-common enough on Terra to be the... precedent.

So while h-historians do study pre-Terran culture, it is... n-not something that the average public wishes to see.

[After a long, uncomfortable pause:] ... You and I often seem to have very... ... i-in-depth discussions.

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

[He's sighing on the inside, because this is really painful to hear. His patriotic spirit inside is coming out a bit, but he tries his hardest to remain calm.]Even if that is true as you say, I must say that find it a bit shameful that your people can look down on their past as inferior. Yes there were many terrible events that happened and not everything that was done is considered perfect, but to look at mistakes as inferior and not even consider trying to look at the positives that were done? Does your society truly think of itself as so superior and perfect that it believes everyone to be flawless and not use their history as a way to look for possible mistakes that may happen in the future so it is not repeated

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert cringes at the harsh words of Chopin, and internally he wonders if maybe this was a mistake. But he's determined to try to find some common ground somewhere - this man was respected and loved by Helios and Giles for a reason, and surely somebody who found favour with both of them could hardly be a person to dislike. But this is, frankly, a difficult conversation.]

Mr. Chopin, s-sir... Terrans are very different from pre-Terrans from our world. T-To the extent that much of the mistakes made... c-cannot be said to occur, in any respect that I am familiar w-with. I will not say that m-mistakes are never made, but they are so different that h-history does not provide an answer for them.

[He's not entirely wrong - though ignoring history brings up a whole calvacade of issues.]

And... what is the spirit of a country, to begin with? Does it need a c-country to exist...? Is it not possible that those traits could exist... even without a country? [As far as Robert's been able to tell, he has those same feelings - patriotic - but

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

[He decides to let go of the beginning part of Robert's comments, since he feels he won't be able to get to understand. So he instead decides to bring up the issue of the second part.]

The spirit of the country is what keeps the country alive, without it the nation dies and loses everything that what makes it great. There are some nations here in Luceti you can contact and ask them how they would feel becoming one nation and losing their own individual status. [He also takes the last part in.] And though you may not understand countries well, that is why I suggest you contact them and learn to understand. Nations are like people too and have feelings as we do, they are not simply masses of land. I know first hand what it is like, they are good people despite being labeled as nations.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

I have actually spoken to one for certain - a Mr. Japan. He... he is a very good person, and fascinatingly technological. [And very formal, which set Robert at ease.] I believe a certain Mr. Poland also fits this category, but that I am not as sure of...

But... Mr. Japan's case is... a strange one, I w-would think. After all, were countries anthropomorphic sapient beings on Terra, they c-certainly would not have been harmed.

[And this is why Robert feels... mildly awkward with Japan sometimes. It's tantamount to telling somebody that zie died in another timeline. Not to mention the logical issues of being a sapient version of a country and then living in that country...]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

Mister Honda, erm, Mister Japan has spoken to you about being a country then. [And he's spoken to Poland too, now he's more curious.] And I am assuming Poland has spoken to you of being a country then since you believe him to be in the category.

And would that have been so? Would they have truly been safe? As I said, if they no longer have their own nations, they perish. Is that keeping them safe? I do not think so.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

Ah, he has a proper name as well? [... And Robert was just calling him his country-name the whole time. Uncomfortable.] Does... he prefer that name?

... Also, Mr. Poland was rather a... deduction, from others. Hence why I was not certain. But his species does not matter in the least.

[Thoughtfully:] If it were known that the livelihood of an a-anthropomorphic country were dependent on the... existence, of said countries, then I suppose the elimination of geopolitical boundaries would not have occurred, due to ethical concerns. After all, it... would essentially be genocide of a species...

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

He has a human name that I asked him specifically that I could call him by and he allows me to use it. Though I am uncertain if he allows many people to call him by his human name.

[And all right, he's ignoring the rest because this is his patriotic spirit coming out in full burning mode.] Excuse me? Did you say that Poland does not matter in the least? I'm sorry Mister Hastings, but you have crossed the line with me. Poland is MY homeland and I do not appreciate someone saying he does not matter in the least. I am going to ask you nicely to apologize for such a foolish comment or else I will not be so nice next time.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[... Okay, Robert doesn't even know where that came from.]

... I think you... entirely misinterpreted me. What I meant is that I see him as no different from any other person here, r-regardless of whether he is an anthropomorphic country or not. Some people are... not kind to non-human sapients, simply because of their species.

Of course he matters, as an individual. All people do. But his species is... inconsequential to his value - he does not have to be a human to be a person in his own right. That is what I meant.

[... This kind of outburst is... well. It's almost a little frightening.]

It would be r-ridiculous for me to think otherwise...