On Fri, 2 Aug 2024 04:16:22 +0000 (UTC), Phil Pugliese - philpugliese at
yahoo.com (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote to Freelance
Traveller:

>You know, I used to hear the same characterization of countries 'behind the
>Iron Curtain'.Turned out, of course, that they were all varying degrees of
>terrible except for the Top Dogs'..Would anyone really prefer to be
>virtually enslaved in the Consulate just cuz' one was NOT a psion?IMO, that
>amply justifies their condemnation."Far less authoritarian"?Really?With
>their psionic secret (thought) police to make everyone not only physically
>'toes the line' but mentally also.The Consulate is basically set up to
>serve psions, &, essentially, the rest are 'Untermenschen'.

But is that really the case? Or are you buying into Imperial propaganda?
Suppose AM4 is correct, and the Tavrchedl' are really not 1984-esque
'Thought Police', but a social-services agency that starts with a focus on
mental health?

Perhaps policing is a part of their function - but if AM4 is correct, then
their correctional system wouldn't be punitive, the way ours generally is,
but genuinely _corrective_ - and one could argue that having the Tavrchedl'
doing the policing isn't a bad thing; telepaths and empaths can determine
the truth of the matter without having to go through the expensive,
time-consuming, and uncertain ringamarole of a trial: The magistral
telepaths and empaths will _know_ why the transgression was committed and
where the system failed to instill correct social morality, and will be
able to _prescribe_ the appropriate therapy for the maladjusted individual,
_and_ provide 'feedback' to improve social-morality teachings.

Imperial propaganda uses the word 're-education' in discussing what happens
to a Zhodani who strays, and imbues that word with the same sort of
emotional loading that we've learned to associate with totalitarian regimes
in our recent history. What if 're-education' is actually a course of
therapy, perhaps including medical intervention, designed to correct,
control, or manage problems with brain chemistry and the resulting
influences on thought processes (consider the modern use of drugs to manage
such conditions as ADHD or to prevent psychoses or epileptic seizures)? The
therapy component is not so much to 'force correct thinking', but instead
to learn to recognize when one might be misperceiving one's environment, or
misinterpreting what is correctly perceived, and thus to stop and 'check
one's assumptions', including confirmation from outside sources (i.e.,
other people) that one is _not_ misperceiving or misinterpreting.

Yes, psions start with a social advantage - but there are non-psions in the
Zhodani government (the Imperium calls them non-psionic 'nobles', but that
may not be an accurate portrayal), who are presumably not at a major social
disadvantage, the way proles are.

Yes, prole children who are found to have significant psionic potential are
brought into the ruling class - but is that a policy designed to 'keep the
proles down', or is it more of an intensive talent search, the way colleges
in the US try to recruit star athletes from high schools (and then the
"pro" sports from the colleges)?
 
>On Thursday, August 1, 2024 at 12:57:54 PM MST, greg nokes - greg at
>nokes.name (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com> wrote:

>I tend to run a “sunny on the outside, rotten on the inside” Imperium. In
>that, the news is more or less controlled, interstellar trade is more or
>less controlled at the larger end, and the Imperium can always glass your
>planet if you step too far out of line. Not that they have… but the ImpNav
>is the strong arm of the local nobles.

>The Zho’s are far more progressive than the Imperium, and far less
>capitalistic and authoritarian. Of course the nation state is going to sow
>fear, uncertainty and doubt about those Evil Mustache Twirling Mind
>Readers.

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