cthia wrote:Is it? I'll only go so far as to agree that that's probably the intention and perception of things by the 'Onion' but is it really? I seriously question it. A completely controlled society would have to bear some semblance to a 'completely closed' society which would infer the absolute prevention of 'any' traffic in or out of Darius. Since we know the military breaks that, then... How many other ways does the military and human nature break that perception?
The military is very small, and the part of it that gets sent out into the larger world is compelled to stay under EMCON for the duration of their missions. Think about WW2 submarines: All news from the outside world are filtered through the comms officer and his staff; there just aren't that many chances for unfiltered news to get through (and even if they do, they get filtered through the ideological lenses of Alignment culture).
It sounds a lot like Radio Free Europe. There wasn't such a successful time in those attempts at filtering the 'radio waves.' Now I know the situation is radically different, the outsider universe isn't aware of Darius, yet all members are aware of the outside world.
Only in terms of what the (Alignment-controlled) media present. It's highly unlikely that equipment sensitive enough to capture lightspeed transmissions from other systems are in private hands.
Moreover, to be a
fair comparison, your statement would have to be altered as such...
They'll be as emotionally attached to their nation as the average slaves were to the US.
In which case, they weren't very attached at all. Unless you
really think that the slaves in America were emotionally attached to the US? Fat chance of that.
I think you're using a wrong mental model for Dariusian society. You begin with the statement "Most of Darius' population is composed of genetic slaves", apply the american conception of slavery, and then wonder how it works given that the american model has been proven to be unworkable.
But that's not what's happening, I believe. We already know that the population of Darius is better off than Slaves elsewhere. We also know that the Alignment has been able to keep it stable for centuries. What that tells me is that this society isn't actually founded on slavery.
The actual model to follow here is something like the UK or India; societies with very strict caste systems. We know that those are incredibly stable (especially if outside influences are reduced to a minimum) and quickly become self-reinforcing.
The people growing up in those systems have as much loyalty to their country as those of any other system; The assumption that they'd be less loyal "because they're slaves" only holds
if the people involved see themselves as slaves. Which the population of Darius is unlikely to do.
Ask yourself this: What sort of stories do the people on Darius tell themselves? What's the archetypical Darius coming-of-age story about? It's probably not going to be the classic Hero's Journey type stuff (which both in its male and female versions is all about striking out on your own and finding happiness in creating a new family or a new life away from the places you grew up in), it's more likely to be about finding happiness in the roles fate has assigned to you.
Consider this: Honor Harrington is the ultimate proof that the Alignment is right. She's the daughter of one of Beowulf's oldest line of geneticists and a preeminent neurosurgeon and decorated military officer, she's saved hundreds if not thousands of people from slavery at the hands of the natural born people of the galaxy, she rose through the ranks and gained high authority as anyone with her lineage should. If the people on Darius know about her, that's the story they'll hear: A story of Beowulfan hypocrisy (because noone can be expected to believe that the Beowulfans are that brilliant without
some augmentation) and about the fears of the naturalborn keeping the perfected ones from their rightful place.
It doesn't take a lot to twist the stories about Honor into a brilliant proof that the Alignment's idea of how humanity should work is correct.
cthia wrote:Hard to believe that they aren't aware of significant differences in their state of life and that of non-slaves. They aren't living in a bottle. How can they not be aware of differences in lifestyle, opportunities and stature?
Whatever the definition of their role in the population is - by definition it is certainly exclusive and prohibitive and therefore a clear demarcation.
They are living in a bottle. They also aren't americans. Forgive me for saying this, but you are far too american to really, viscerally understand this. You're living in a society that is built on the idea that there are no glass ceilings, that anyone can rise to any position if they set their mind to it. For someone who grew up in that mindset (and with all the reinforcement of it through pop culture), living in a caste system is unbearable; The idea that there are things you can't do because of the circumstances of your birth is unthinkable.
But on Darius, those memes never had a real foothold. There, everyone has their assigned place in society; people accept that everyone is born with innate talents for a particular job where they will excel, and that trying to play a different role will likely end in disaster. In America, it's better to be a factory owner than a factory worker; the worker aspires to be the foreman or the owner someday. On Darius, the worker knows that he's the best at his role, and he knows and accepts that the guy in charge is the best in
his role.
I think the big mistake you're making is assuming that Darius is just like a modern first-world country, just with slavery mixed in; that their value systems are the same as our value systems and that their culture promotes the same ideas ours does. I don't think that's what's happening though; If it did, the internal contradictions would tear that society apart very quickly.
