Brad DeLong wrote:
>>> After reading _The Wasp Factory_, _Use of Weapons_ seems very tame indeed.
>>
>> You think? Wasp Factory is icky, but it's really about fucked up
>> individuals, with less implication for the broader society. But Use of
>> Weapons, is a story of a person capable of great evil being used by a
>> society capable of great evil. Icky on a grander scale. And, for me,
>> ultimately more disturbing.
>
> But it's for the greater good! If the Culture doesn't *use* its
> weapons, the bad guys will win and the universe will be ruled by
> creatures like the partially- sublimed wossnames from _Look to
> Windward_ who carry the principle of "an eye for an eye" a bit too
> far! If using your weapons uses them up, that's too bad. But you
> can't make an omelette without breaking eggs!
Sure, but the use of weapons carries certain responsibilities. And it's not
always clear that it is for the greater good. The Culture are sometimes
wrong, not often, but sometimes. And even if they are right, they're still
the ones defining how societies should be.
Claire Bickell
