the Prometheus list comes round again
... and Falling Free is on it, once more. It seems to be a perennial nominee for this, for reasons that escape me.
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/01/...
Ta, L.
http://www.locusmag.com/News/2014/01/...
Ta, L.
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Text
(new)
Jan 07, 2014 08:04AM
I expect it's because they only really see the "bucking authority" aspect of the story.
reply
|
flag
Did they miss the bit where the corporation operating blissfully free of government supervision was going to engage in genocide against their creations?
You must remember that libertarians are not anarchists. The government's failure is one that they agree is a failure.
Libertarians would be really cool if they were as smart as they think they are. They make a big deal about Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress also. I strongly suspect that Heinlein was more complicated than Libertarians.But about the best thing in Falling Free is:
{{{ He gathered his breath. “This is the most important thing I will ever say to you. The human mind is the ultimate testing device… There is nothing, nothing, nothing more important to me in the men and women I train than their absolute personal integrity. Whether you function as welders or inspectors, the laws of physics are implacable lie detectors. You may fool men. You will never fool the metal.” }}}
http://blogcritics.org/bujold-and-the...
Are Libertarians smart enough to get that?
In my opinion, you can't look at Falling Free without also looking at Diplomatic Immunity. They feel like two parts of the same story: here's how it started, here's how it turned out. And if you'll recall, while Graf Station had plenty of personal freedoms, they weren't very skilled at handling a crisis. They needed a neo-feudalist covert operations agent to save them. (Somehow, I don't picture libertarians as loving Barrayaran government. One wonders, have they read the rest of the series?)
Maybe a decent number of libertarians just like your work and Falling Free fits the bill the best.
You have to look for whatever parts of the story conform to and may seem to promote the Libertarian philosophy/delusion and ignore any aspects of the story that do not. They will see what they want to see.
"Founded in 1982 to provide encouragement to science fiction writers whose books examine the meaning of freedom"http://lfs.org/awards.shtml
Seriously look at that list, it's more a list of good books then really anything else. How does Lord of the Rings fit into the libertarian philosophy? Maybe even more obvious how does The Dispossessed line up with the libertarian philosophy? It's a book that attacks both systems; heck a decent number of the reviews on this site call it the Anti-Ayn Rand.
Aaron wrote: ""Founded in 1982 to provide encouragement to science fiction writers whose books examine the meaning of freedom"It has - "1983 - James P. Hogan, Voyage from Yesteryear"
I wonder how that fits into the contradictions of Libertarianism.
Ohhh snap many of the books on that list are biased towards libertarian-ism, color me shocked. The point I was trying to make was not all the books are.
Mary wrote: "You must remember that libertarians are not anarchists. The government's failure is one that they agree is a failure."No no, libertarians *believe* they're not anarchists, because they believe their principles will not lead to anarchy. Why? Because they want to believe that human nature is really much better than it seems to be - that our problems actually derive primarily from government interference in freedom.
(Yes, I find the parallels with communist theory quite fascinating.)
If you never read anything that doesn't conform to your personal philosophy, your reading list is probably pretty small.
Aaron wrote: "Ohhh snap many of the books on that list are biased towards libertarian-ism, color me shocked. The point I was trying to make was not all the books are."Voyage from Yesteryear most definitely has a kind of Libertarianism. But I don't think it is like any kind of Libertarianism I have heard imagined by people calling themselves Libertarians. A society with robots and no money? It is a fascinating thought experiment.
I'm amused/befuddled by the disdain of libertarians here. I don't know why somebody's personal politics has to color their ability to enjoy fiction. Lois is my favorite author, and it has nothing to do with politics. I'm a libertarian but I haven't read the book in a while. I'd lean toward the notion that it's just a good book, the quaddies essentially form their own society with no government at the end don't they?
Joshua wrote: "I'd lean toward the notion that it's just a good book, the quaddies essentially form their own society with no government at the end don't they? "If you read Diplomatic Immunity you get a slight peak at the kind of government they form 200 years later.
Or is that the kind of government Lois imagines they would form?
Karl wrote: "Or is that the kind of government Lois imagines they would form?Well, since she is the the author, it amounts to the same thing doesn't it? No "or" involved! ;)
