Political "Science"
Nov. 14th, 2008 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
In case anyone hasn't noticed, I'm trying my best to throttle my urges to expound on politics or upon my own wahngst in here. I doubt anyone's interested in the one and I'm sure they're not interested in the other. But I'm going to mention Proposition 8, tangentially, because it reminded me of something that's important in your worldbuilding, if you're a writer.
I was reading a discussion on Prop 8 today, in which one participant's comments boiled down to "You should respect it because it's the will of the people."
Bollocks. Any system of law in any nation that can call itself civilized with a straight face is based on a deeply-rooted DISRESPECT of the will of the people. And it should be.
Judge Lynch, during the Revolutionary War, ruled by the will of the people. The mobs who were named in his honor, who took care of any black man accused of a crime in the South for most of a century, ruled by the will of the people. The old vigilante committees in the West ruled by the will of the people. ("Well, Miz Smith, we hanged your husband Jim for horse stealin', but turns out he didn't do it, so I guess the joke's on us!")
I might also mention that the Bill of Rights does not say you have freedom of speech provided that what you say is popular, or freedom of assembly unless you're part of a group most people don't like. Nobody needs a law to protect their right to say what everybody else wants to hear.
Governments, in science fiction, so often tend to be The King. I don't think this is because the writers really want a monarchy, or want to live under one. Rather, it's a good plot device. "I get to speak to the King, and he'll fix everything now!" is much more satisfying than "I've got an appointment to testify before the Galactic Senate Committee on Relations with Lower Technology Civilizations, and they'll start a five-month series of debates, after which something may or may not be done." The King puts a face on the government. That's the one thing Kings do well, I think.
But the alternative I've seen in some cyberpunk stuff, where everything is decided in some kind of electronic flash democracy, is likely to be even more arbitrary and violent than even an absolute monarch would be. After all, a monarch has at least a reputation to protect. An anonymous face in the crowd does not.
I suggest refusing to put more trust in the voice of the mobs, electronic or otherwise, than they deserve. Unless the way mob rule makes everything go to hell is what your story is actually about.
I was reading a discussion on Prop 8 today, in which one participant's comments boiled down to "You should respect it because it's the will of the people."
Bollocks. Any system of law in any nation that can call itself civilized with a straight face is based on a deeply-rooted DISRESPECT of the will of the people. And it should be.
Judge Lynch, during the Revolutionary War, ruled by the will of the people. The mobs who were named in his honor, who took care of any black man accused of a crime in the South for most of a century, ruled by the will of the people. The old vigilante committees in the West ruled by the will of the people. ("Well, Miz Smith, we hanged your husband Jim for horse stealin', but turns out he didn't do it, so I guess the joke's on us!")
I might also mention that the Bill of Rights does not say you have freedom of speech provided that what you say is popular, or freedom of assembly unless you're part of a group most people don't like. Nobody needs a law to protect their right to say what everybody else wants to hear.
Governments, in science fiction, so often tend to be The King. I don't think this is because the writers really want a monarchy, or want to live under one. Rather, it's a good plot device. "I get to speak to the King, and he'll fix everything now!" is much more satisfying than "I've got an appointment to testify before the Galactic Senate Committee on Relations with Lower Technology Civilizations, and they'll start a five-month series of debates, after which something may or may not be done." The King puts a face on the government. That's the one thing Kings do well, I think.
But the alternative I've seen in some cyberpunk stuff, where everything is decided in some kind of electronic flash democracy, is likely to be even more arbitrary and violent than even an absolute monarch would be. After all, a monarch has at least a reputation to protect. An anonymous face in the crowd does not.
I suggest refusing to put more trust in the voice of the mobs, electronic or otherwise, than they deserve. Unless the way mob rule makes everything go to hell is what your story is actually about.
