8FOLD: Nonfiction # 3, "The New War"
Tom Russell
joltcity at gmail.com
Mon Jun 23 15:12:54 PDT 2014
On Monday, June 23, 2014 5:53:55 PM UTC-4, Andrew Perron wrote:
> On 6/23/2014 5:33 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
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> > On Sunday, June 22, 2014 1:25:47 PM UTC-4, Andrew Perron wrote:
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> >
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> >> ...JEEZ. How the heck do they cooperate long enough to be a giant star empire
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> >> if they're so *touchy*?
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> >>
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> >> (Note to self: Expand on this in the Roundup.)
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> >
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> > Well-- as is mentioned later and you pick up on below, it might be less
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> > that they're touchy or tetchy and more that they wanted an excuse.
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>
>
> Oh yes. Here, I'm illustrating my immediate emotional reaction, with logical
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> fiddlings to follow.
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>
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> >>> "The public doesn't really get an opinion on this," says Burton
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> >>> with an air of academic bemusement. "This isn't a neighboring country
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> >>> that we can make peace with."
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> >>
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> >> Ah, yes, the ol' "we have to suspend all forms of government, because clearly,
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> >> my way is the right way, and nobody should be allowed to argue with it".
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> >
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> > I get what you're saying-- and that's an attitude that certainly pops up
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> > in, and is unhealthy for, political discourse and self-governance. But
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> > that's not really the attitude I was trying to convey here. It's less of a
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> > "there's no room for debate on how to fight against this threat of
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> > planet-wide extinction, so we have to do it this way" and more "there's no
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> > room for debate on whether or not we have to fight against this threat of
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> > planet-wide extinction, because the alternate is that extinction".
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> >
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> > In real world conflicts (nation-vs.-nation), one side or the other can, and
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> > usually should, sue for peace. Public opinion-- anti-war or otherwise-- can
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> > and should effect policy changes in a democratic society. What the guy is
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> > saying is that in this kind of conflict, where it's not about redrawing
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> > borders, payment of restitution, etc., there's nothing to "give" to the
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> > other side. You can't sue for peace, and so anti-war protests can't really
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> > effect any kind of change. Isolationism, pacifism, they're not options in
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> > this case. (Or, I guess, they are options, but the end result is death, so
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> > they're not really viable.)
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>
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> Okay, but: Says who?
>
Well, that guy, and I should be clear that I'm not necessarily agreeing with or disagreeing with him, I just wanted to more clearly expound upon where that character was coming from and to explain that it wasn't necessarily the same animal as "suspension of discourse/civil liberties" we often see when nominally democratic societies go into crisis mode.
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> Ahhhh, very good. Just making sure - I still haven't caught up on most of the
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> pre-2008 Eightfold. [Editor's Note: I miss Jamie Rosen.]
Me too! When he first announced he had a new universe, and I came on-board as his co-conspirator, I had no idea that I'd end up being the guy running the show. If I did, I probably would have ran away screaming-- my previous attempts at launching an imprint left an awful lot to be desired. What drew me to it was getting to work with Jamie, an author I had always admired and who, along with Saxon, was among the first to make me feel a "part" of RACC vis-a-vis The Death of Cheesecake-Eater Lad cascade story.
I was able to get back into contact with him a few months ago via twitter (getting permission to take over/continue his WEIRD ROMANCE series).
> > and mentioned a handful of other times. Hotspur has shown up once before,
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> > and bonus points if you can name it without googling it... (Honor system,
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> > gents and ladles!)
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>
>
> Hmmmmm. Was Hotspur, perhaps... one of the escapees in Jolt City #20?
Nope. He was kind of a throw-away character in the story in which he appeared, and yet he wasn't, as he was responsible in some way for everything that happened in that issue, and, in a way, every issue since. Kinda like Jar-Jar Binks being responsible for the rise of the Empire.
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