Sigh,
So now it's almost flames? Aieee! :-P
Phil is incorrect when he says that the Proles of the Zhodani Consulate
do not have basic minimal human rights.
It is similarly incorrect to say that the Consulate is a Utopia.
To quote the tome of Zhodani (alien module 4 p.12)
"It has been said that psionics has made the Zhodani Consulate the most
powerful, effective and absolute tyranny in human history - and also the
happiest and most stable. Both statements are quite true."
Prole voting:
Proles can not vote, but they can lobby. And as anyone who has lived
within spitting distance of Washington DC, Lobbying is VERY powerful.
Prole power:
Zhodani as a people tend to be ambitious. This ambition is not
restricted to the voting classes. Proles may indeed have large
ambitions. Who is to say that there are not prole millionaires or
even billionaires in the Consulate? Are there not millionaires and
billionaires in the Imperium who are not of the aristocracy? And when
a prole billionaire starts lobbying for something...
As to weither the Proles are lacking in mental rights: (p.14)
"Thought police monitor all of Zhodani society, conducting periodic
examinations of individuals in order to ensure that everyone's mental
health is at acceptable levels."
Note: There is no mention of exception being made for voting citizens,
intendants, or "nobles" if you wish to call them that. It specifically
states that ALL individuals are examined and EVERYONE'S mental health
is in question. When I have run campaigns with Zhos in the consulate,
I once had to haul in the entire crew of a ship to undergo psionic
interrogation. This means everyone. Prole crewmembers, Intendent
crewmembers, and "Noble" crewmembers. NO ONE has the right to mental
privacy in the Consulate.
The "right" of mental privacy is not a right that the nobles have.
Nobles are subject to the same laws as proles, and the laws deal more
harshly with nobles than they do with proles. (p.13)
Thus, I submit that the Zhodani Consulate is neither as rosy as I tend
to make it appear, nor as dark and forbidding as Phil would have it,
but somewhere in between. It *IS* a tyranny, and it *IS* a utopia at
the same time. And if you have trouble reconciling that, realize that
it IS alien.
I might even point out that here in the good old US of A, there is NO
mention Whatsoever in the Constitution of a "Right to privacy". I do
not feel my rights have been trampled on lately...
- --
Scott 2G Kellogg
"Kellogg is just plain nuts!" -- H. Beam Piper