On 7/17/2020 6:17 AM, Thomas RUX wrote:
> Morning from WA. Alex,
>
> My recollection of Ziru Sirka is that they were a rigid organization that tried to control every detail of an operation.
>
> Tom Rux

Yes, but a couple of things:

1. Central governments rarely have as much control over things as they'd
like, especially out at the fringes of their territory.

2. Social disorder is not unlike trash or entropy; either you make a
place for it to accumulate and exist mostly harmlessly, or it will find
its own.  Nominally "free" cultures allow a certain amount of slack and
free expression and (usually rather shallow and petty) "rebellion",
while totalitarian regimes, particularly in fiction, often set up their
own "resistance" movements so they can monitor and manipulate them and,
when necessary, send in the secret police.

3. Belter cultures in SF, especially the sort/era that Traveller models,
almost universally tend to be more liberal/libertarian in social
attitudes, while also being utterly uncompromising on the subject of
personal responsibility and safety (stuff that can get everyone in a
crew or a hab killed).

--
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Kelly St. Clair
xxxxxx@efn.org