For Bob:
Humans are not animals. WE evolved from animals but we are not animals. Why?
Intellect.
Humans are creatures of Intellect and that is why I used the Divine Right of Kings concept. Humans and Faey have to rationalise why we do what we do. Both Humans and Faey have the intellectual capacity to know and to do better. They have the ability to strive for more.
I agree wholeheartedly that he should set up elected Mayors in towns to look after their communities. From what I have seen and has been implied, Jason has set up a planet wide bureaucracy that is answerable directly to him. Also his handling of the Exile didn’t exactly enlighten my viewpoint.
Thanks for clearing this up Fel! I agree wholeheartedly with the system of government that he has currently set up.
Maybe I’m using the wrong terms… I’m trying to say that he should get someone else to do the day-to-day paperwork (delegation) while he deals with the big picture. It doesn’t matter about the legal technicalities because whomever Jason chooses (“prime minister”, house steward, governor etc. call them whatever you like) to handle the bureaucratic handling of day-to-day matters will only be answerable to him and will only have the legal basis of his support. That is to say that Jason can hire and fire at will. That person will not have any diplomatic standing in the galaxy or the Imperium. This person will be like for example: General Manager of Karis Inc. answerable to account to CEO Jason Fox.
Good leadership isn’t about being able to solve or handle all the problems yourself; it’s about getting other people to solve them for you.
As I have said before:
DELEGATION.
All those problems that Jason had to deal with would have to require his direct input (especially in the case of Dahnai… ahem
) but it’s nothing that a couple of brainstorming sessions and a business plan couldn’t handle. The most basic requirement of solving these problems was putting people in charge of handling these problems that he could trust and that could explain how they were solving them in easy to understand language. There are 8 billion humans that think he’s the saviour of mankind. All he would’ve needed to do was raid a couple of Universities and Colleges for the qualified people and screen them.
Your forefathers were geniuses. They didn’t have the luxury of: instantaneous communication, a massive knowledge bank (a.k.a. the internet), the in-depth knowledge and understanding of one civil war, two world wars, the cold war and a successful insurgency informing their decisions of what will and won’t work.
Remember USA was based upon an idea of an idea and Australia shamelessly copied most of it. We can challenge our baser urges and overcome them.
For expedient:
Yes they are.
From ANTIcarrot:
Here's my fundamental problem with that idea: The Faey behaved like Nazis.
And they didn't care. They still don't care. Aside from a few small details they have shown absolutely no remorse with what they did or how they acted. Now Jason might be enough of a pragmatist to ignore this for the larger long term purpose of reforming the local galactic community - but the people on Earth will remember and they will HATE the Faey Imperium.
And it's not a case of blaming House Trillane. The Empress gave them the contract. She approved the invasion. The Imperial marines under her command did sweet fanny adams to stop pretty much anything that Trillane did. In fact the marines we see are far more interested in harassing local humans than actually supervising Trillane. Everything we saw indicates the Faey systematically and deliberately destroyed the global Human economy, along with every single social institution that might have challenged, questioned or even reported such abuses - and then failed to replace them.
And it wasn't just on Earth. Doctors are well respected throughout the Imperium are they? A super version of the Red Cross mixed with Médecins Sans Frontières? What the hell were they doing while all this was going on? Oh yes - they were taking over hospitals and sending any human with basic medical knowledge off to farms. Faey News Services? Enslavement and abuse of 8 billion people is apparently not news worthy. The common citizens? Apparently they're too busy enjoying the fruits of their conquest to wonder where it came from. The non-Faey? Not one has so far questioned the Faey doctrine of smash everything and use the natives (however highly skilled) as low cost labor. Dahnai after she learns about this? Listen to what she says. Is she appalled or morally outraged by this? Does she demand justice? No. She's gleeful! She can finally take revenge on an old rival! Because of course that's the most important thing...
The people of Earth have had five years or so to piece things back together. Jason gave them regional autonomy based upon old national boundaries. That means the BBC would be up again within a few months. And they would piece the story together even if no one else would. And they would. Once the populations worst dreads about the occupation were confirmed, no one would have the slightest good thing to say about the Faey.
Or we can be personal. Take Jyslin. Let's pretend for the moment that humans had been telepathic, and/or were capable of fighting back in some meaningful way. How many humans would she have killed before it occurred to her that this was wrong, that it had gone too far? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? Would that thought ever have occurred to her? Does she in fact regret anything she did during the occupation?
Remember the Nazis were not the problem of the German people
they were the symptom. Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot etc. got in charge not because of their ruthlessness or deficiencies of character it was because their
societies let them get in a position of power.
The Empress and the Faey noble class is a symptom of the underlying society. They are only in power because the commoners let be in power.
You make good historical points about how humanity is no race of saints.
But we have changed over time and we can change for the better. But the Faey society seems to have stagnated.
expedient wrote:We, just like the Faey in the general population, simply shrug our shoulders ignore it and say, “Can’t do nothing ’bout it.”
This is wrong. We do not simply shrug it off and say “can’t do anything about it”. Just look around you. Just because things don’t change overnight doesn’t mean that they are not changing. Look at the proliferation of advocacy and human rights groups.
Look at the creation of supranational entities like the EU and AU. Western multi-national corporations are going to have a tougher time in Africa because of the AU and the competition from China.
Who would have known that Global Warming would be such a monumental threat to human civilisation instead of just a crackpot theory by some eco-freaks?
Yes Jason has been doing a good job. He is an exceptional young man who has stepped up to the plate. He could be doing things better, but who knows? He could be doing things hell of a lot worse.
The difference between Australia and the Nazis/Communists (or the Faey) is that we apologised to those we have grievously wronged and asked for forgiveness. Kevin Rudd said
sorry on our behalf to the
Stolen Generations and he/we meant it. I do not believe that the Faey as a society is capable of doing this. Individually: yes. As a society: no.
Why I think this? They seem to believe that they are a
“super race” and all the atrocities that they commit on themselves or on others is to the greater good and glory of the race.
Fel wrote:Well, that about sums up Jason's style of governing. He developed a Dukal government on Karis, but in actuality, it's the local governments that call most of the shots, and those are elected, where the Dukal government is there to back up the local governments and provide house-wide services.
In reality, his system is more of a federalist system, something he understands from his own background, but there's only one level of elected government. The higher government is a merit-based bureaucracy, where Jason delegates authority to trusted advisors who run departments that provide services. Each department is more or less autonomous, answering to Jason, but they do have some amount of cross-jurisdiction and interaction...usually in a constructive manner. The departments of Jason's bureaucracy don't fight with each other, mainly because they know Jason will kick their asses if they do.
But as the planet grows, so does the government. Jason is already getting overwhelmed with the amount of work he has to do, and soon, he'll realize that he needs help at the executive level. By then, he'll probably install a "prime minister" and let him or her assume some of his duties, help take the load off of him. It would have to be someone he trusted with his very life, for he'd never give anyone that kind of power and let them loose if he wasn't convinced they'd be faithful to the duties of the post.
Why, you might ask, did he not institute a complete democracy? Well, in his eyes, he saw that the fuedal style used by the Faey would work on a very small scale--as in, with just one planet where everyone entered into it willingly. It was easy to handle things when he made all the decisions and didn't have to fight people with different viewpoints that might have the power to oppose him if he created a more "American" system. He knew that so long as he kept making good decisions that helped the house grow and flourish, everyone would be quite content with his choice of government, because Jason is a very benevolent dictator. He cares far more about the needs and well being of his people that just about any ruler in the Imperium. They aren't numbers to him, they are PEOPLE, and he works very hard to do right by them. Simple practicality made him develop the system he has now.
Thank you Fel for clearing this up!
The only reason I had a problem of where Jason was heading was because I didn’t believe he had set up any local governments. The text implied that all he created was a planet wide bureaucracy without any accountability to the local populace. Now all I have to worry is about him banging chicks without protection.
I’ll say this again:
HE SHOULD NOT CREATE A COMPLETE DEMOCRACY.
Why?
Because I regard Karis like the Australian Capital Territory or the District of Columbia. There are significant military issues that require strong leadership from the central government a.k.a. Duke Jason Augustus Fox, which needs a clear chain-of-command.
In the future I see that the local towns will report to the continental centres of power and those continental powers will report to Jason. Also a creation of a second Academy for the purposes of the Generations, trusted persons and the populace of Karis should be on the drawing board.
Mysterious
