Well there's been so much posted that I've decided to save a little
space & just sum up my thoughts;
A number of you, speaking form the Zhodani point of view, have made
some very persuasive arguments. I, of course, was speaking from the
Imperial view. I believe that what GDW has done here is tap into the
"Utopian Ideal" that's been around for as long as I can remember. This
idea, creating the "perfect" society was especially popular in the late
'60s thru the 70's. As witnessed by the numerous "alternative lifestyles"
that many people 'experimented' with. The creation of Traveller towards
the end of this era no doubt had an influence, IMO. The dream of the
ideal society where all one's needs & wants will be, at the very least,
seriously considered is a very powerful lure. In my case, I find that
it's very, very difficult for me to accept that this is possible, psionics
or not. I find that I just can't believe that a monolithic society, of
any sort, could be preferable to a diverse one. Therefore I don't think
it's too surprising that I treat the benevolent assessments of Zhodani
rule as basic propaganda. Just because they're psionic doesn't mean that
they're not capable of just as much treachery & deceit as anyone else.
Maybe even more so, IMO. (I think the 4.5th Frontier War series illustrates
this quite well, BTW) In short, the Zhodani system just sounds too good
to be true.
Phil Pugliese
(unreconstructed Imperial)
p.s. As a final example, just suppose the Zhodani decided that the only
thing "normal" about something, take homosexuality for example, was that
it's "normal" to have a certain amount of "abnormal" people crop up in
the natural course of events. Seems to me that it wouldn't be much of a
perfect society for anyone who disagreed. Until they had their attitude
"adjusted" (brainwashed), of course. I wonder if there's a single prole
that *hasn't* had their mental development interfered with? The perfect
slaves. Happy & content. Still slaves though.