A Critique of historical Imperial Reclaiming Policy

Fiction Portal Intergalactic Summit
122

… Veik … gods and spirits…

I might argue with you if I thought I was actually arguing with something you believed. Miz at least actually believes what comes out of her mouth and at least she isn’t the more or less literal marionette of a person who thinks I ought to forgive him for the things he makes you do because he didn’t do it personally.

Even when I thought you were actually an independent being you had a whole box of different hats you wore at whim or convenience while always insisting that whatever you were saying was the “real you.”

You’re a bizarre and really frightening counterpoint to the idea that the Caldari don’t practice slavery-- which mostly I really believe they don’t. But I have a little trouble thinking how else to describe your situation. Part of the problem is that I’m not 100% on your nature in any way, except that I don’t trust you or your “father” even a little bit.

And no one should.

Say what you like.

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123

Not exactly, but that’s the easiest thing to direct compassion at without abandoning one of the other things I try to do and be, Arrendis. Extreme humility is maybe not so much a virtue. The same goes for the kind of rigid, immoderate moderation you might get if you make it an arrogant, callous, incurious thing. Extreme curiosity might get you something like Ms. Tsukiyo or the late Dr. Borkstar.

Extreme compassion … well. I gather Sansha Kuvakei looks at involuntarily adding people to a hive mind as doing them a great kindness.

I’m a small person, Arrendis; I don’t mean just physically. I try not to aspire to big, world-changing stuff. I don’t know how to fix this world, and don’t think I’m qualified to try. I’m not even sure anything’s broken as such. The world isn’t really made for the convenience of beings like us. It’s not going to just get out of the way for you or for me, any more than it did for Sansha.

I’m okay with that. There’s a part for me to play, but I’m okay with it being a little one.

Mostly I just work with what’s in front of me at the moment, try to think and act prudently, and in ways that will have some kind of net benefit that might last longer than I do.

That got really hard for a while recently. I’m feeling better for now. I hope that lasts.

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124

That’s likely a rather involved and complicated matter. Slavery and indenture typically applies to the ownership of one person over another. Myself? Well, I suppose I have developed a lot of the individual idiosyncrasies inherent to being a person. Granted that might me be just self-personifying, or maybe just reflecting the personifications of other people, but I’m not sure if that makes me an actual person or simply the simulacrum of a person. I don’t consider it slavery to own something such as I, because I was from the outset designed with the same deliberate intent as any other tool and remain just as artificial and synthetic. There is little equivalence to slavery because I will do what I must do because it is my choice, my duty and because I love my Father, and my creator.

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125

Technically correct, still morally void

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126

That sounds a lot less like ‘compassion’ and more like ‘easing my own conscience’. It’s a sop at things that make you uncomfortable, so you play at having principles in order to make yourself feel better, without ever having to actually put those principles to the test.

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127

Well … it’s not surprising if you would say so, Arrendis. I’m on what you see as the wrong side. As Elsebeth Rhiannon pointed out to me when I was asking her about some stuff, I’m “the enemy.”

Matari principles don’t seem to necessarily be as universalist as Gallente or Amarrian ideas, both of which mostly claim they ought to apply to everyone. Neither the Caldari or Matari normally do that, but it’s natural for both to start getting prickly when someone’s taken the other side in what they both consider existential struggles for survival.

I have sworn an oath of loyal service to an Amarrian commoner. My word is important to me. Even if it were not, she is. And I recognize her as a more decent person than Miz, you, or I.

We are not good people, Arrendis.

She is. And she’s Amarr.

Capsuleers who are also genuinely decent people are a rare thing. This is one I’m close to, and I want to make sure she can survive this world with her decency intact. If that makes me “evil” and your enemy, so be it. I don’t expect you to be comfortable with me being comfortable with that.

But, I am.

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128

This reminds me of a discussion on necessary evils and dirtying ones hands to avoid another dirtying theirs. Just remember that what you do reflects on her. Protecting her decency will only go so far if she’s simply tarnished by association.

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129

Thank you, Ms. Ember. I’m aware that she can be held responsible for my actions as her retainer. I do try to be careful.

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130

To an uneducated observer it seemed awkwardly like you were trying to justify that anything is acceptable in service to this greater goal.

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131

Does she openly condemn slavery? Does she refuse to support a corrupt system that destroys billions of lives for selfish purposes? Does she refuse to pay the taxes that benefit that system, or obey the edicts of those who perpetuate that system?

If you answered ‘no’ to those… then no, she’s not. She’s just as much a part of the corruption and systemic abuse as the holders.

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132

Well … probably to Arrendis or Miz it might kind of look that way. And …

… hm. It probably gets really problematic when people get up to all kinds of awful stuff, and then explain to their horrified employer that it was all for their sake. So, I’m not sure whether you’re doing so intentionally or not, Ms. Ember, but you’re kind of teasing out the nuances of my relationship with the Praefecta. So, thank you for that. Let me see if I can sketch this properly.

I’m the Praefecta’s sworn retainer: loyalty unto death (or one month’s written notice-- her idea), that sort of thing. It’s a bit more than just employment as a servant or a mercenary contract, even for a bodyguard; in the end, I place my own will subservient to hers. I don’t have secrets from her, and I don’t make trouble for her if I can help it. That’s, not to say I never make mistakes or say things I shouldn’t, but, part of serving her is making sure I’m worthy to do so. Often that means restraining myself where I ought to be restraining myself anyway.

It’s not a fragile flower I’m charged to protect. She’s a mature, intelligent, thoughtful human being. What is acceptable to me won’t always be acceptable to her, and her judgment goes before my own. I try to represent her well, while also making my own talents and insights, such as they are, available to her. I try never to put my sense of her interests before her own sense of them; I don’t trust myself to have that kind of judgment.

I trust her to use me well and appropriately, and I try to be worthy of her trust.

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133

Uh … Welp.

I’ve made my choices, Arrendis. Among all the awful things I’ve done, serving Lunarisse Daphiti isn’t one I can see as wrong.

I don’t blame the Matari for your feelings on this. Your history makes me a little sad, but it doesn’t change things for me very much. Your path is your own. I don’t have a lot of reason to begrudge it to you, but it isn’t mine.

Guess you’ll just have to shoot me.

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134

See, here’s the thing. I actually like her. She’s reasonably intelligent, restrained, mature, and have many of the qualities I like in people. This does not make her a good person. She does outright and publicly support the institution of organized and off-the-scale slavery as an imperial loyalist. This alone, no matter what other qualities a human being might have, qualifies someone as hideously defunct in matter of ethics and morality.

Now of course, there’s the possibility that she secretly opposes slavery or wants it gone, but that is quite simply not good enough while supporting the institution that has it ingrained in its very core. More importantly, it simply adds dishonesty to the equation, which if anything worsens the end result.

The thing is though, I expect exactly that from her. She is Amarr. She’s an enemy. I can still respect her if she’s taken an honest public stand on the subject, while taking any opportunity I have to take her on without CONCORD getting in the way. Sadly, this is not a common occurrence and I’ve yet to convince high command that it’s worth paying the bribes unless I spot anything we can make timers over.

In the end… I’m afraid that no, she’s not a good person. I’m certainly not, nor is Arrendis or anyone else on these boards. That you insist on pretending otherwise when you should know far better by now is downright depressing, since I can’t quite determine whether you’re just intentionally wearing blinders when looking in her direction, or simply being dishonest either with yourself or the rest of us.

She’s earned a measure of respect, small though it may be, if she’s an honest enemy. You though… you chose to delve into this atrocity with your eyes wide open, and try to defend it as the right thing to do. That’s saddening, if anything.

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135

That can certainly be arranged.

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136

Hey! I’m a good person! I’m just a terrible liar!

Wait, I may have that backwards… hang on, gotta check my notes.

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137

:popcorn:

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138

K!

… I don’t duel, as a rule, Ms. Rella, just so you know. I did duel Mr. Nauplius a few times, but, not lately. Actually if I’m honest I’m pretty out of practice just in general.

I guess maybe I’ll see you soon.

(If you’re talking about in person, which capsuleers usually aren’t … well. I guess we’ll see, huh?)

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139

Um. Just to check, Miz, have you somehow all this time missed that I’m a moral relativist?

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140

Oh it’s become very apparent, Aria. Or at least, that you’re claiming to be one, or not quite understanding what moral relativism is, beyond a spineless stance of nonsense. Consider for a moment the following statements: “Cruelty for its own sake is wrong,” “Torturing people for fun is wrong (as is rape, genocide, and racism),” “Compassion is a virtue,” and “Parents ought to care for their children.”

If you can’t reject all of them, guess what? You’re not a moral relativist. You’re just using moral relativism as an excuse for convenient disregard of morally atrocious choices and behavior, and moral relativism has never really been a thing in human societies except as a thin veneer disguising the moral realism underneath.

Once past the pretentious blather of Caille Uni students thinking they’ve found some profound depth and philosophy, proclaiming moral relativism is as it should be: An embarrassment.

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141

Uh … that might depend a little on which form of moral relativism you’re talking about, Miz.

There’s descriptive moral relativism, which basically just says the pretty obvious: different moral standards exist. Then there’s meta-ethical, which I’d kind of loosely consider myself, which argues there’s no objective standard by which one can determine which is correct. Then there’s normative, which is the one that concludes that it’s wrong to go around inflicting your own moral views on people. You can sometimes find a lot of Caldari making noises like that when the are Gallente in the room. I’m not really one of those, I don’t think; I know Amarrian beliefs tell them to try to convert me, and you and Arrendis also have beliefs that you want me to conform to, so I don’t really blame you for trying to get me to agree with you, either.

And by the way, I don’t regard morality as a reasoned impulse. It’s an intuitive, emotionally-driven subject from its foundations, so logic traps don’t seem like very good guides in this stuff unless the philosophy being tested claims to provide a morality based on logic in the first place.

Maybe stuff like that is better called “ethics” anyway.

Edit:

Actually that didn’t really cover it very well, so let me expand just a bit. To me, what is “right” is a product of context. It’s not something quite as mechanical as people’s morality being set by their own local communities and traditions, though those can have a really large role to play. It’s more like, your position in this universe isn’t mine, so, while my position might require me to treat you harshly, and maybe even say awful stuff to you to try to nudge you into different courses of belief or conduct, but actually I’m not in a very good position to say what is “right” for you to do.

The universe isn’t likely to care either way. The people around us probably will, though. If we don’t want to suffer, and don’t want others to suffer because of us (feeling such a thing is not obligatory, but, maybe not a bad idea), we should be courteous in how we treat our contexts. The alternative is, subjectively, likely to be painful, so it’s maybe something to avoid.

There’s more to this, and maybe “moral relativism” isn’t a particularly good label, but, it’s closer than most others. Anyway, something to talk about over time.

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