(no subject)
This is still Mello, by the way.
This is a preliminary, theoretical approach; it is certainly not the only analysis of all the polls/datum to date that could be done, and others would likely get other answers.
Witness: We are in an enclosed space, separated off from others. We have borders, and we have our own rules/laws/environment to deal with inside these borders. In conceptual terms, we are something resembling a country; I am reluctant to refer to us as a province or state, simply because we are not 'part' of a culture around us.
There are, however, people 'outside' our borders -- the audience -- with whom we trade; conversation if nothing else, and physical trade is discouraged but occassionally audience offers nonetheless.
The data seems to divide the majority of the campers into four categories: Military, Political/leadership, data-gathering and interpretation, and supernatural/occult. There is a smaller fifth category of 'miscellaneous' where the people seem to have no particular abilities, but overall the campers with abilities or outstanding qualities seem to fall somewhere into the first four categories. Overall, this is useful for solving difficult cases -- all resources that must be tapped -- but then it makes the fifth category a curious one, and there are too many people for a simple investigation; it confounds the case and muddies the water.
However. The main componants making up a country are:
Military, political, religious/occult, espionage, and commonplace worker.
Machiavelli noted that the only main quality a prince (in this case, ruler) must have is virtù -- a quality of prowess/strength/control that has nothing to do with moral value. When the prince is ruling over a conquered people -- people who come from other areas, with different predominating values and ethics -- he must either destroy it or rule carefully. The careful use of force and execution is suggested. Dominating in a way that the conquered peoples cannot seem to identify or avoid is additionally very useful in this end, because it keeps them on edge.
These are all techniques the Director is using, understandably, to keep us in fear of her and unwilling to cross her. She has laid down rules that she will police strictly and in ways that infringe not only on our life but on our sense of self-respect, etc. Death is one thing, violation is another, and she crosses these borders easily in punishments, and deals out punishments from a distance, using supernatural strength, that we cannot hope to avoid.
The main 'nonsensical' rule is the anti-sex one. She says it's because if she's not getting any, nobody else will -- but if, theoretically, we assume she is trying to make a country she dominates, then it makes sense. Oh, of course, she would eventually need breeding groups; but first she would need to break our wills and innundate us into the laws and rules so thoroughly that a faith in them and devotion to them would be passed on to the next generation. At this stage, as well, keeping people from having sex is providing a tension, a friction, that keeps people on edge and makes it difficult to form an organized resistance.
This is certainly not a definitive conclusion, but I would like to raise the possibility that she is trying to make her own kingdom/country to rule, and may eventually -- if not this generation, one further on (which some of the campers will survive to see, such as the non-humans, or the strangely aging ones, and so on -- lower the borders, perhaps to attempt some conquering principle. All theory, again, but the pattern of rulership and the choice of type of person chosen to be placed in camp seem to loosely fit the structure of requirements for a country or ruled territory.
Thoughts, comments?
This is a preliminary, theoretical approach; it is certainly not the only analysis of all the polls/datum to date that could be done, and others would likely get other answers.
Witness: We are in an enclosed space, separated off from others. We have borders, and we have our own rules/laws/environment to deal with inside these borders. In conceptual terms, we are something resembling a country; I am reluctant to refer to us as a province or state, simply because we are not 'part' of a culture around us.
There are, however, people 'outside' our borders -- the audience -- with whom we trade; conversation if nothing else, and physical trade is discouraged but occassionally audience offers nonetheless.
The data seems to divide the majority of the campers into four categories: Military, Political/leadership, data-gathering and interpretation, and supernatural/occult. There is a smaller fifth category of 'miscellaneous' where the people seem to have no particular abilities, but overall the campers with abilities or outstanding qualities seem to fall somewhere into the first four categories. Overall, this is useful for solving difficult cases -- all resources that must be tapped -- but then it makes the fifth category a curious one, and there are too many people for a simple investigation; it confounds the case and muddies the water.
However. The main componants making up a country are:
Military, political, religious/occult, espionage, and commonplace worker.
Machiavelli noted that the only main quality a prince (in this case, ruler) must have is virtù -- a quality of prowess/strength/control that has nothing to do with moral value. When the prince is ruling over a conquered people -- people who come from other areas, with different predominating values and ethics -- he must either destroy it or rule carefully. The careful use of force and execution is suggested. Dominating in a way that the conquered peoples cannot seem to identify or avoid is additionally very useful in this end, because it keeps them on edge.
These are all techniques the Director is using, understandably, to keep us in fear of her and unwilling to cross her. She has laid down rules that she will police strictly and in ways that infringe not only on our life but on our sense of self-respect, etc. Death is one thing, violation is another, and she crosses these borders easily in punishments, and deals out punishments from a distance, using supernatural strength, that we cannot hope to avoid.
The main 'nonsensical' rule is the anti-sex one. She says it's because if she's not getting any, nobody else will -- but if, theoretically, we assume she is trying to make a country she dominates, then it makes sense. Oh, of course, she would eventually need breeding groups; but first she would need to break our wills and innundate us into the laws and rules so thoroughly that a faith in them and devotion to them would be passed on to the next generation. At this stage, as well, keeping people from having sex is providing a tension, a friction, that keeps people on edge and makes it difficult to form an organized resistance.
This is certainly not a definitive conclusion, but I would like to raise the possibility that she is trying to make her own kingdom/country to rule, and may eventually -- if not this generation, one further on (which some of the campers will survive to see, such as the non-humans, or the strangely aging ones, and so on -- lower the borders, perhaps to attempt some conquering principle. All theory, again, but the pattern of rulership and the choice of type of person chosen to be placed in camp seem to loosely fit the structure of requirements for a country or ruled territory.
Thoughts, comments?