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Spaceways, v. 4, issue 5, whole no. 28, June 1942
Page 11
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SPACEWAYS 11 LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP, CYNIC I hope you do not construe it to mean inequality between the sexes. If you do, I fear there is no hope. Okay. You then say that MacDougal realizes she is an inferior creature. Nay, nay. The point is this: she merely thinks she is inferior, whereas, in reality, she is superior to most Lensmen; in fact, she is one of the few then-existing Second-Stage Lensmen! That she is at least the equal of any Lensman is stressed through the story. Your next sentence although it may be true is of no importance to the discussion now as the statement it was supposed to support has been completely disproved. Then you go on to state that C is more advanced than B. Here also, I defy you to back up that statement with proof. C may very well be the better culture, but it is not the more advanced. Indeed, if anything, the opposite is true. Throughout the novels it is stressed that B is at least the equal of C. For a specific example, numerous times it is stated that the Boskonian scientists are at least the equals of C, if not actually their superiors. And you also cannot state that C is more advanced socially than B because there is no common basis for comparison. Their social schemes are built up from entirely opposite fundamentals. If anything, they are equally advanced but along two different, diametrically opposed lines. Another statement exploded. Now for some elaboration on your false statement. Lensmen are hand-picked, are they? Would you call being subjected to five years of "the most brutally rigid, the most fiendishly thorough process of elimination that it has been possible to develop" (GP, p I, p 11) merely "hand-picked"? I would call it slightly more than that. Tell me, Cynic, would the head of "an old Prussian school" call in its graduates and explain to them in detail why they were made to undergo such a rigid training period? Attend: (GP, p I, p 13, Von Hohendorff to his grads); "....the only excuse for its severity is that it produces results. In the last one hundred years no wearer of the Lens has disgraced it." Again, would the head of an old Prussian school say to his graduating class: "....It is not a particularly pleasant task that we old men have--that of weeding out the unfit. ....This, my hour with the graduates, more than makes up for the years that precede it"? You bet he wouldn't. And where do you get that "utter contempt for inferiors" business? You can't prove that statement, but I can disprove it. That "Hitler's leadership-principle" is typical, not of C, but of B! Show me one sentence in any of the three novels where Kim (as himself) shows "utter contempt for his inferiors". But of course the reason all his subordinates like him so much and enjoy working under his leadership is that he treats them mercilessly. Oh, sure. "On duty.... discipline--necessary for efficiency....But at the party, you'll be surprised at some of the things they (-his subordinates -) call me...." Kim's own words! And you can apply that last to mean in general: "Off duty I'm just one of the gang with my subordinates." As for "blind unthinking obedience to superiors", would you call West Point an old Prussian school? But yet, do they thrive on insubordination? Would call Lensmen square pegs in round holes? The Arisians--regarding your slur at the Arisians examining prospective Lensmen--weren't born yesterday, you know. The only reason they "discard" a pending Lensman is that they can see by some hitherto undiscovered inherent weakness in him that he would not be fit to wear the Lens. I don't agree with you at all concerning the conclusions you arrive at anent[[?]] the narcotics traffic. In any culture whose prime tenet is liberty you are bound to have a great many weak-willed persons who, if allowed to do so, will take the easiest way to gratify their desires. And taking thionite is one of the easiest ways. Too, many people are tricked into their initial use of a habit-forming drug. Thereafter-- Yeah, sure, anyone can work his way up in B. Yeah, but he's got to be
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SPACEWAYS 11 LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP, CYNIC I hope you do not construe it to mean inequality between the sexes. If you do, I fear there is no hope. Okay. You then say that MacDougal realizes she is an inferior creature. Nay, nay. The point is this: she merely thinks she is inferior, whereas, in reality, she is superior to most Lensmen; in fact, she is one of the few then-existing Second-Stage Lensmen! That she is at least the equal of any Lensman is stressed through the story. Your next sentence although it may be true is of no importance to the discussion now as the statement it was supposed to support has been completely disproved. Then you go on to state that C is more advanced than B. Here also, I defy you to back up that statement with proof. C may very well be the better culture, but it is not the more advanced. Indeed, if anything, the opposite is true. Throughout the novels it is stressed that B is at least the equal of C. For a specific example, numerous times it is stated that the Boskonian scientists are at least the equals of C, if not actually their superiors. And you also cannot state that C is more advanced socially than B because there is no common basis for comparison. Their social schemes are built up from entirely opposite fundamentals. If anything, they are equally advanced but along two different, diametrically opposed lines. Another statement exploded. Now for some elaboration on your false statement. Lensmen are hand-picked, are they? Would you call being subjected to five years of "the most brutally rigid, the most fiendishly thorough process of elimination that it has been possible to develop" (GP, p I, p 11) merely "hand-picked"? I would call it slightly more than that. Tell me, Cynic, would the head of "an old Prussian school" call in its graduates and explain to them in detail why they were made to undergo such a rigid training period? Attend: (GP, p I, p 13, Von Hohendorff to his grads); "....the only excuse for its severity is that it produces results. In the last one hundred years no wearer of the Lens has disgraced it." Again, would the head of an old Prussian school say to his graduating class: "....It is not a particularly pleasant task that we old men have--that of weeding out the unfit. ....This, my hour with the graduates, more than makes up for the years that precede it"? You bet he wouldn't. And where do you get that "utter contempt for inferiors" business? You can't prove that statement, but I can disprove it. That "Hitler's leadership-principle" is typical, not of C, but of B! Show me one sentence in any of the three novels where Kim (as himself) shows "utter contempt for his inferiors". But of course the reason all his subordinates like him so much and enjoy working under his leadership is that he treats them mercilessly. Oh, sure. "On duty.... discipline--necessary for efficiency....But at the party, you'll be surprised at some of the things they (-his subordinates -) call me...." Kim's own words! And you can apply that last to mean in general: "Off duty I'm just one of the gang with my subordinates." As for "blind unthinking obedience to superiors", would you call West Point an old Prussian school? But yet, do they thrive on insubordination? Would call Lensmen square pegs in round holes? The Arisians--regarding your slur at the Arisians examining prospective Lensmen--weren't born yesterday, you know. The only reason they "discard" a pending Lensman is that they can see by some hitherto undiscovered inherent weakness in him that he would not be fit to wear the Lens. I don't agree with you at all concerning the conclusions you arrive at anent[[?]] the narcotics traffic. In any culture whose prime tenet is liberty you are bound to have a great many weak-willed persons who, if allowed to do so, will take the easiest way to gratify their desires. And taking thionite is one of the easiest ways. Too, many people are tricked into their initial use of a habit-forming drug. Thereafter-- Yeah, sure, anyone can work his way up in B. Yeah, but he's got to be
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