Phil,
I know I'm at risk of being one of the "oppressive PC" hordes
for saying this, but...
The TML is for discussing Traveller, not for grinding political axes.
Most of the people responding to you took the Zho's on their own terms,
as a society that has all the trappings of an oppressive state, but due
to the integral psionic culture, it actually works (mostly) as advertised.
This is why they are _ALIENS_.
If you want to read things about the '60's, alternative lifestyles,
and homosexuals into it that's your business, but I for one think
you are so off base that I'd like you to keep your discussions to
Traveller and take your philosophizing to a more appropriate forum.
Doesn't seem odd that a game that has featured mercenaries so prominently,
focused so much on military aspects (should I be from the Navy, Army,
Marines, Scouts, Merchants, or Other?:) should get all misty-eyed
over the group that served as the major enemy for half the game's
existence? Maybe they just wanted to make things a little more
complex than EVIL ZHO'S.
If it really bothers you that much, them _change it for your game_.
It works for this just as much as for things like weapons ranges
or whether or not maneuver drives use thruster plates or fusion
rockets.
Just to note, I am Ccing this to the TML nightly.
Regards,
John H Bogan
still at [email removed], though not for long