Intergalactic Summit

Review of ‘Small Truths: The Gallente’
(or) One fine day in the middle of the night …

Aria Jenneth begins her elegant series of reflections upon the national character of each Empire: Small Truths, by examining the Gallente. She takes their homeworld, the temperate Luminaire - planet of light, as her central motif, but rather surprisingly devotes a good deal of the article to ‘Gallente rights’.

She is by turns both complementary and skeptical. She agrees that rights, so conceived, must necessarily be universal but would have the Gallente admit … “that their rights are forged by humans, and not by the universe”. One is powerfully reminded of the Deteis attaché’s comment when witnessing the ratification of The Federal Constitution, "... more strange fruit from the Gallente glass-house.”

These rights exist at the crux of approaches to liberty that are antagonistic. They limit the power to treat people as mere instruments of the collective good, but they also limit autonomy: the absolute property right of the individual in herself, and her ability to bind herself by agreement, disentangling preference from coercion.

The Gallente obsession is portrayed, with a degree of embarrassment by all but the Gallente, as idealistic, individualistic and ahistorical, or simply as plain ideology, all with some justification. It’s true that these rights have no existence independent of the words used to express them. Their language requires agreement, and one can not take deliberation and agreement about words and make a truth. What you may say is this: these are the ideas exposed by the failure of authority when challenge by pluralism.

“... the small truths that limit the power of human to prey on human become predatory, themselves.” Aria Jenneth

If they have been used rhetorically to assume the moral high ground, what then? What might the enemy expect as the outcome of the pure vengeful violence of a Gallente victor? The obliteration of their society, children stolen, women made into slaves, men cut to pieces?

Agreement upon the meaning of these rights makes spotting bad faith easier. The freedom fighter who intends to slaughter the innocent to secure their freedom. The professor who believes that a little torture is necessary to protect the majority. There is a small truth however: Gallente democratic and legal process are in constant danger of being overwhelmed by the powerful, while its public culture is increasingly filled with the noise of demonising populism.

One Gallente will admit it Aria, natural or human rights are a fiction. However, I will have my body treated with dignity for all the ignorance of my talkative mind.

Evet Morrel

Is there some gal-net etiquette guide ((on backstage maybe, if you provide a link I'll really try to follow it)) perhaps you'd fix this for me.

Thanking you in advance.

You're right, I wouldn't want anyone thinking that I'm playing fast and loose with the rules, but I can't say that I've enough experience to know the standard etiquette, there's probably even a term for what I did. Notwithstanding this faux pas, I hope you enjoy my response to what I thought a good if brief investigation of the Gallente.