Freehold and Jennifer Government: The Ideas

Picking up from where I left off in Part 1 of this analysis, I shall expand on why I think that the societies portrayed in both Freehold and Jennifer Government are fundamentally the same. Though first, I will begin on spelling out the inherent differences.

The first, and perhaps most important thing to point out is that each is set in a different genre and telling very different stories. Freehold is a work of science fiction set far in the future telling a refugee and war story fleshing out the authors view of a realistic libertarian society with minimalist government and maximum personal freedom. Jennifer Government on the other hand is a satire set on present day Earth which instead takes rampant consumerism and corporate greed to its absurdist conclusion while also pointing out the de-fanged nature of a minimalist state and the problems that would cause.

Different genres, different aims, and very different stories.

Picture is my own

With that in mind though, I do want to explore why these societies are almost twins of one another.

“The idea of freedom is inspiring. But what does it mean? If you are free in a political sense but have no food, what's that? The freedom to starve?” - Angela Davis

Firstly, the society of Freehold has a very simple ethos "work or starve" which to some might seem reasonable. This will only effect the parasites who leach off the system of course!

Unfortunately, any dispassionate examination of economic reality would lay this brutal all or nothing system bare for the failure it is. It is a very inhumane dog-eat-dog ideology which rests at its core on an unworkable idea. This idea is that everyone has an equal starting point when engaging in economic activity. No one has any innate advantage over another person or everyone is capable of contributing to society equally. This idea is very much in error.

Now, I just want to make clear this is not necessarily a problem with libertarian thought per-say, but a problem with both libertarian and anarcho-capitalist economic thinking. It is fundamentally obvious that not all men are created equal. Some are born poor, some rich, some stronger, taller or weaker, shorter and so on. That divides the playing field at birth.

As an example, someone born into a poor family will very much be handicapped by their lack of access to greater resources or even basic living costs on some hands. Studies have shown that it is extremely difficult for those born into poverty to advance beyond that line, leading to an endless cycle. In some cases and countries this can be overcome, but it does tend to rely on government assistance or grants and loans, whether unemployment insurance or school loans in order to attend higher education.

Someone born into a wealthier family by contrast, has many advantages. They do not need to worry about the struggle for daily needs like food and rent, they have much more access to both higher education and the social circles which allow for social advancement. Whether the option of choosing more prestigious (and better connected) private schools or the simple expedient of not having to rely on loans to even get a higher education, someone born into a wealthy family has an inordinate advantage over someone born poor or even to a middle class family.

In that vein, let me use an example from Freehold. When Kendra arrives on the Freehold, she is sent to a job agent to try and find employment:

“I realize there may not be anything in inventory or a related area,” Kendra acknowledged. “But I can do loading, stocking or whatever, until something administrative shows up.”
“The problem is,” Calan explained, “that all the light jobs get snatched up by juveniles looking for spending money, veterans get preference for technical positions and unskilled heavy jobs are rare, with the industrial base we have. If you can lift fifty kilos regularly in this climate, I can find a few, but they don’t pay well.”
“Fifty?” She repeated, shocked. “No, not for very long.”
“That is the detail. I can recommend a couple of prospects that usually aren’t hiring, but will probably make an exception for you. They both offer training. Cavalier Enterprises and Bellefontaine.”
“What would I be doing?”
“Cavalier Enterprises is one of the most respected escort services in Jefferson. They offer dancers, modeling, escorts for business or social functions, massage and exotic sex fantasies. The Bellefontaine is a club that offers erotic dancing and they specialize in dancers with rare or off-world looks.”
Kendra was silent in amazement. A chill shot down her spine and all the way to her left heel. She opened her mouth twice and finally got out, “No.”
“They are both excellent companies,” Calan stated simply. “I occasionally visit the Bellefontaine myself.”

The obvious problem here is that, outside easily lost menial labor, Kendra has no real special skills. The implication too is that if she were not attractive she would probably have no choice but to work in backbreaking menial labor which would slowly grind her down. In essence, she has no negotiating power in the system and if she had not gone over the head of her agent and asked for other options she would have been trapped, but the point stands that if she did not have other skills which were deemed useful she would have been stuck with the physical labor.

In comparison, the hapless Hack Nike has both a self-esteem problem and a negotiating problem. He always gets screwed at his quarterly wage negotiations because he won't stick up for himself. A problem with consistently negotiating your wages is that you don't really have the power to properly negotiate if you're bad at that very act or have no one to negotiate on your behalf. Hell, the problems Hack faces are that he then foolishly subcontracts away from the contract he didn't read before he signed!

Problematically we also see that corporations themselves will penalize individual employees in the world of Jennifer Government for things as mad as their replacement at a job might not be as good as them. This of course can be interpreted as satire, and arguably should be, but the process of rewarding or punishing employees based on successes isn't exactly a new idea.

Essentially you do not have freedom of choice in these societies, you have an illusion of freedom. When the alternative is starvation and death perhaps not just for yourself but for your family, then whoever has your paycheck in their hands has you at their mercy and the power imbalance would be absolutely catastrophic.

I'd next like to address the bigger problem in both worlds, lack of government intervention and corporate accountability.

“Accountability. This is the primary ingredient missing in politics, corporations and financial institutes.” ― Brandon A. Trean

From dreamstime.com

In the world of Jennifer Government the government is a joke and corporate oversight is a laughable concept. The paraphrase Ayn Rand through Robert Heinlein "I would say that my position is not too far from that of Ayn Rand's; that I would like to see government reduced to no more than internal police and courts, external armed forces — with the other matters handled otherwise. I'm sick of the way government sticks its nose in everything, now." The government only exists to adjudicate disputes and prevent crime, or enforce punishment if you can afford it. Ironically in that world they don't even seem to have a monopoly on military power! The Freehold is much the same. The government exists only to adjudicate, prevent crime, and keep invaders at bay. At least they appear to have the monopoly on force though.

However, it should be noted in each case that the government in each world is, effectively, powerless. While this is part of the driving plot of Jennifer, in Freehold it is a very background case.

As an example, the government adjudicates lawsuits between individuals and presumably corporations. The biggest scandal presented in Freehold is that since there are no government standards, private corporations, three large ones specifically (several smaller are mentioned, but for all intents and purposes that is irrelevant) are ratings firms who rate various products based on their reliability and quality. It turns out one firm has had employees taking bribes to up ratings and as this news leaks consumers boycott the company and it devolves into a mass of lawsuits.

Simple enough right? The lawsuits will be taken care of and the companies guilty will be held responsible. In the real world we're quite aware this doesn't work, but on the Freehold this would be far, far worse. In an ideal world, this kind of whistle blowing would end up seeing a company held responsible for their misdeeds. However, a particular problem (especially in the US) is that the company could just begin handing out SLAPP lawsuits. In brief, a SLAPP lawsuits would be designed to censor and intimidate anyone who wants to harm either a corporation or a very powerful person. It is a pet tactic of Donald Trump and John Oliver has a very detailed piece on the matter which points out why it is so harmful since those handing them out can often afford to drown people in expensive legal action.

Boycotts rarely work in reality, and in a world where 'work or starve' is the ethos, then the consumer would have virtually no power to boycott. The journalists who leaked the stories would be SLAPPed silly, and the employees who took bribes would probably already have their asses covered by management if it weren't management in the first place colluding to get better money in exchange for hyping up products from certain companies, no matter how bad said product was.

This is by no means unrealistic. Whether it is colluding to fix the prices of ebooks, illegally manipulating interest rates for profit, fixing emissions tests to sell vehicles that let out too much poisonous gas, creating fake bank accounts without client consent, among other things, these are just a few examples of the blatantly illegal and manipulative practices carried out by both individual and colluding corporations to the clear detriment of the consumer. More notably, even in a world where we see governments coming down hard on these practices, many of these corporations still exist and can screw over their customers more.

What is worse, is that in Freehold and Jennifer Government, even the mild punishments experienced in real life are impossible. The corporation is only beholden to its bottom line, not the consumer.

In the case of the latter novel, the lack of ability to enforce such accountability is the driving theme. In the former, that lack of accountability means that Freehold would essentially be an oligarchy where the various corporations run wild and no one can do a thing about it.

The Freehold, unlike the United States and affiliate nations in Jennifer, does not even have a government capable of oversight. It doesn't even have a traditional democracy. Instead, it is 'run' by a Citizens Council. To whit:"Citizens pay for the privilege of ruling, getting a small stipend in return and the court fees paid are more generated income. The military and safety patrols charge for any assistance we render on duty and most of the large corporations donate a small percentage to the military as an insurance against our need in industrial accidents. They also use us as testing and advertising for any products we may find useful."

Now while that seems great in theory, I think you can see where this would fall apart rather horribly with where I've been going. It is explicitly stated Citizens do give up their means to wield their political power. However, there is nothing which says they cannot be given gifts to play favorites. Surely bringing out a Citizen for dinner is nothing suspicious, selling them a property at a discount, donating to their District upkeep among other means? There seem to be no restrictions on what a Citizen can receive from private residents of the Freehold, and then who would enforce those restrictions? Petty bribery is practically enshrined in the American system with dark money influencing politics and cushy jobs promised to retiring politicians in exchange for their support. In the Freehold that would be even more pronounced. And you would have no oversight body, Congress, Parliament or Supreme Court, to turn to for redress. They would almost inevitably be in the pockets of these corporations.

Much worse is that then the military has much of its funding (how much is never clear) coming from corporate donations as insurance against natural disasters and presumably social disorder. Would that extend to gifting the officers and certain men who needed to be influenced? Almost certainly. While in a throwaway line it is mentioned everyone on Freehold is armed well enough to overthrow the government if they chose, with the corporations controlling the products and the government, and the military in their pocked to back it up, well you have a recipe for corporate dominance.

Speaking of that dominance, let's discuss monopolies.

From wikimedia commons

"I am not denying that monopolies are terrible things, but I am denying that it is readily easy to dissolve them through legislation of that nature." ― Alan Greenspan

A monopoly is an economic situation where a single company controls access to a specific service completely. However, an oligopoly or a cartel, is where numerous companies control access to a resource and collude on how to distribute it. This can be seen today by the domination of certain industries by a small number of corporations. Two of the most infamous examples are Microsoft, which developed the idea of EEE (embrace, extend, extinguish) in order to try and corner the tech development market. The second is Walt Disney Studious which owns a truly disturbing number of mass media assets which is still being unraveled to this day.

Then we have the problem of oligopolies, where a small number of companies can collude to set prices or at least create an illusion of competition. This is seen in the case of mass media communications, such as four companies controlling over 90% of the cellular communications market in the US. In Canada this can be seen by three companies dominating the supermarket industry, four companies dominating the cellular communications industry, and three dominating the internet providers industry.

In Jennifer Government this is exactly the problem. Two massive corporate oligopolies, US Alliance and Team Advantage, dominate the market. You can either shop with them or you shop with no one and smaller stores simply go out of business. In fact the driving desire to win that competitive game nearly starts a shooting war! But the point is that consumers have an illusion of choice. They are deciding to eat at Burger King or Macdonalds, shop at Walmart or Sears, not go to the small business up the street. It is an either or situation which is being created. It's a terrifyingly real possibility.

On the Freehold you would most likely end up with an oligopoly by default. With no oversight and no method of redress, corporate dominance would just be the way it is.

This is possible because the free market does not necessarily bring the best ideas to the top. There is no invisible hand to guide and self-regulate it. Without a firm hand to stop someone from cornering a market, and many times even in spite of it, you have to work very hard to prevent the moneyed interests from simply dominating it as they see fit.

But all these dangerous signs aside, what about personal freedom?

"To change your mind and to follow him who sets you right is to be nonetheless the free agent that you were before" ― Marcus Aurelius 

In both worlds, we find lands of fairly astonishing personal freedom. Drive how you want, be as promiscuous as you desire and no one will shame you if its all in good fun. You can buy any weapon you want, even up to lethal missile systems and weapons of mass destruction (on Freehold at least). Drugs are easily available, you can legally go out and inebriate yourself to whatever level you desire. The worst thing you might do is violate a contract or fail to pay your debts.

But as discussed before, is this freedom?

Some would argue enthusiastically yes! Small government! Privatization is the way! But is it? Privatizing a public service not only has been found to cost the public more, but has yet to be shown to be either more efficient or safer. So arguments put forward by both protagonists (and antagonists) in each story can be very, very detached from reality.

Neither society would have any means, beyond charity, of helping people in need. Whether it is something as simple as community snow removal, or even providing healthcare to the needy, an absence of a government to step in and attempt to provide these services, you would instead find widespread suffering and poverty. The corporation doesn't care.

What happens when personal freedoms begin to get in the way of profits? Could they then coerce or attempt to regulate those freedoms away or make a profit from punishing disobedience? Punish consumers by hiking prices or denying access, or simply invoke their monopoly and put people out in the cold who attempt to pressure them? All real possibilities by non government entities.

Truthfully, Jennifer Government is a very keen expansion on what the Freehold would devolve into. There are no elections, and those who govern are going to become either impotent and irrelevant or simply cronies of a larger for profit driven machine. Dissent is either pointless or a death sentence, and over time the very idea will be foreign with the brutal reality of your society laid out for you. But if enough people, and well armed people at that, become desperate enough, would work or starve make fight or die an option?

The end of these societies might then end up being all out war between those on top, or all out war against those on top from the bottom up.

Either way, these two societies are twins of each other I think, perhaps not in the way their authors imagine. While Freehold is meant to show off a 'realistic' libertarian society, and an interesting one is created to be fair, that very liberty and lack of oversight brings to mind more images of the world of Jennifer Government. Vast corporate dominance of global affairs and no one who can reign them in. The little man on the bottom had best get out of the way.

Sixteenth Watch

I must admit going forward, I had no idea the United States Coast Guard was a branch of the US Armed Forces. Really! And it was that revelation which really sucked me into the world of Myke Cole's new novel Sixteenth Watch!

I had seen this book sitting on the shelves at my local bookstore and the simple cover art and title really sucked me in. A brief read of the back blurb convinced me I had to buy it. So, I set off once more to the Moon of tomorrow!

From goodreads

Set an indeterminate amount of time into the future, we come to a Lunar surface being rapidly developed by Chinese, American, Russian, and European Helium-3 Mining interests. China and America are in fierce economic and military competition in space. Sabers have been rattled and punches have been thrown, and it seems like the first Lunar war is only just around the corner.

Enter Jane Oliver of the United States Coast Guard, the fifth branch of the United States Armed Services. She and her XO Wen Ho are aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Aries as it runs over Lacus Doloris where American and Chinese miners are running riot, brawling over mining rights and economic losses. Things turn ugly, weapons are drawn, and Jane's husband Tom of the United States Navy is caught in the crossfire.

Three years pass and Jane is back down the well in Yorktown teaching Coast Guard cadets, putting the best class she can forward as her daughter Alice moves to stake her own Helium-3 claim. It is with this revelation that she is approached by her commandant about training the Coast Guard's SAR team to compete in the widely televised Boarding Action, where the elite teams from each branch of the Armed Services and United States security services compete in a zero-gee game to see who can board and clear a boat against an opposing team.

What reason might this be to send Jane back to the Moon? Well, the American Navy is increasingly taking over the 'maritime' enforcement and search and rescue activities on the Lunar surface, putting it on a collision course with its People's Liberation Navy counterpart. Unless the Coast Guard can do something to wrest control of policing duties back from the Navy, then it seems very much as though war on the moon may become inevitable.

As a damn good teacher Jane seems right for the job, and she has the most talented operators in the Coast Guard to work with. Unfortunately, they don't seem to work well together, and Jane has only three months to turn them around in order to beat the United States Marine Corps elite operations team. A task that might be beyond even her considerable resources.

Myke Cole has his character voice down pat. Jane comes off as a multidimensional woman who knows what she wants and how she wants to do it. She's a long time operator in the Coast Guard, space experience, and wonderful strengths and limitations. Her banter with both her long suffering and great XO, Wen, is hilarious and endearing, giving their relationship a lot of important depth. Then her own difficult experiences with losing her husband, fears for her daughter, and the stress of her own job comes across quite well.

Oliver's narrative primarily revolves around dealing with her superiors and subordinates. There's a great degree of latitude too the author allows his main character in that she comes up with a pretty ingenious team building plan to put them all on rather even ground. The supporting cast who are her primary charges, the men and women of SAR-1 are quite fun. The best of the best, but not well functioning as teammates. This forms the primary interactions in the books outside Oliver's occasional meetings with her Marine counterpart, General Demetrius Fraser. Those interactions were always a hoot, and Oliver's banter with both her teammates and Ho all made me laugh out loud at points.

The author himself has served in the Coast Guard, and two tours in Iraq. His experience is undeniable and shines through in the book itself quite well. Even though we don't yet have any SAR operators in space, he makes a quite believable case for them operating by the Coast Guard's rules. The doctrine and actions portrayed are all superbly written and they sucked me into the story in a way I really didn't expect.

His portrayal of the politics of military service really adds to the plot. The cajoling for position between the Navy, the Marines and the Coast Guard over who has jurisdiction on Luna is also engaging. I was impressed at how he managed to make it feel like the characters were threading the needle between following orders and not causing a general bureaucratic free for all between departments when things went sideways. And oh boy do many things go sideways!

This isn't your run of the mill military science fiction, its actually taking the idea in a bold new direction. We do indeed have space navies and space marines, but the latter really plays out more like a police drama in space, interspersed with the occasional terrifying firefight between heavily armed opponents. Without the usual emphasis on weapons systems, space battles and gunfights I had to interpret this story in a very different way. It actually gave me an appreciation for a branch of the armed services I never had even considered before!

One might call it part police procedural and part military thriller.

Sixteenth Watch takes our conception of what we expect to see in space and turns it around on us. The goal isn't knock down, drag out action, its life saving by the book work, and I think that's a great way to tell a story. For military science fiction as you haven't seen it before, definitely check out Myke Cole!

Kingdom (Netflix) Season 2

Last year I was delightfully introduced to a historical drama from Korea. Set against the backdrop of the Joseon Period, Kingdom was an amazing story of a young prince on the run from a conniving minister who sought to supplant him on the throne. In the midst of it all though, a dangerous disease is reanimating the dead into flesh eating monsters who have now overrun the entirety of one province. Can young Prince Yi Chang overcome the odds against him to overthrow the scheming plots of Cho Hak-jo and Queen Yeong-shin jein, or will the tide of the undead sweep over all the realm?

From here out there are SPOILERS so be warned! I will be assuming you have read the first blog post or have at least watched Season 1. If you haven't, drop what you're doing and go watch it now!

From heavenofhorror.com

As a minor preamble, there was a big change from Season 1 where the series was in the original Korean with English subtitles. I assume that the popularity of the show led to the decision for Netflix to make an English dub for a foreign audience. It makes me curious whether they have put the first season on an English dub option, so more incentive to re-watch! I don't mind subtitles or dubs, but this is just to let any potential viewers who might find them distracting be aware!

Guest Post: Sermon for St. Peters, March 22nd 2020

Though it isn't extremely common for me to post on the subject of my faith here, I'm today doing a small favor for my brother by hosting the words of his sermon online as his congregation cannot presently meet due to the need to self isolate. If you aren't religious and if you are, you may take some comfort in his well written words and the knowledge we are in this together!

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Good morning everyone! Once again what a pleasure it is to be preaching the word of our Lord with you. I was also going to say a pleasure not to be preaching about doom and gloom, but given the circumstances, I think maybe I have been foiled by the spirit of the times right now.

Now, today there is only a small part of the reading from our Gospel selection, as it is part of a much larger story. The full text is John 9, the story where Jesus heals a man blind from birth. Now in the story, this is a man blind from birth whom Jesus heals, but he heals him on the Sabbath, the day of rest. Doing so causes some ruffled feathers among the Pharisees who, despite seeing a genuine miracle before them, are bothered by the man being healed, so they throw him to the street. This prompts Jesus to speak with them, and they ask “are you saying we’re blind?”

What an uncomfortable question. But in the wake of the current illness sweeping our world, what a good question. For a while there wasn’t too much known about this illness, as it was something that the Chinese government kept firmly locked up behind their wall of silence. Now, it is everywhere, with new updates, warnings, and even closed borders. The world media only sparsely examined it as it spread in the city of Wuhan. It was something we have all seen before. First there was AIDS, then there was SARS and Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Trudea Mania 2.0, and Trump Fever. All diseases that came and went in the blink of an eye. I myself was very dismissive of this illness, thinking it was one more thing the media was going to talk about which barely darkened our shores. Well friends, there was my blindness, both spiritual and real. I feel like God may ask me, were you blind? And what else did you not see?

Illness like this is one of those things I think our modern mind has a difficult time wrapping itself around. We live in a generally healthy world after all! What is there to worry about with our modern medical centers and skilled scientists? Yet as soon as this respiratory illness arises, suddenly there is no more toilet paper and no more masks! Despite the fact experts have said “wash your hands, and you should be just fine”. It is literally told to us as that simple. So I remind you all, wash your hands. Since we do not have access to the baptismal font think of this as your reminder of baptism that you are washed by the Grace of God. We are baptised communally so we show that shared baptism communally.

It also takes us to our verses today. Jesus told the blind man after he had placed clay in his eyes to go wash in the pool of Siloam, the pool of the sent it is translated as in some versions. Then when he is thrown out Jesus says that he came to make those who see blind, in response to the Temple’s unwillingness to accept what has happened. Paul says too, we should live our lives in the light. Rise from the dead and go! The Psalm says, the Lord is our shepherd. I only leave these little snippets because as we cannot come together and read together, so I implore you come together at home and read the verses with your families and friends, listen to what they are saying. Come out of darkness. See and trust. We have been so blessed and so graced to live on our part of the world, so how are we using our blessings right now? How do we trust that God is looking out for us? How are we seeing what is directly in front of us?

Right now, many of us are living blind because we are stuck at home, or working from home, places to go are closed, travel is hard, and there is an uncertainty in the air. How then shall we cope? Will we stay in darkness behind our doors, will we turn a blind eye to what is happening? For this community I know the answer already, it is no! The question I suppose is how we shall make things seen? I know there will be people out volunteering on Friday and Saturday, I am sure many of you are making calls to friends and loved ones, but let us also make calls to each other in church. Who is the most isolated among us? Who needs a helping hand right now? Let us not turn a blind eye to neighbours' needs. Let us wash ourselves in the pool of the sent so that we see what needs to be done with healthy hearts and healthy eyes. Now that this illness has brought many things out into the open, let us use the sight we have to see what needs to be done.

In the time of the Black Death, some of the highest casualties were among priests and active lay people. They went and buried the dead, they offered prayers and hope to the afflicted despite the risk to themselves. Sweeping changes were made so that more people could serve the needs of others. Why, they even had women accepting confessions and offering up forgiveness. Now, unless you work in the health industry, don’t jump into the jaw of illness, but from this historical fact let us see how faith has made people brave in the face of illness. I hope and pray none of us are affected by this illness, but I pray we have the courage to do what needs to be done for those in need. Let us let our faith make us strong and show us the way.

May we spend this week and the coming weeks with our eyes open to danger, but in the knowledge the Lord is our shepherd and our salvation.

Some Thoughts on the Coronavirus Outbreak

As the sheer reality of the Coronavirus Outbreak has become apparent, I've had plenty of time to ruminate both on the nature of our preparedness itself and the challenges that such a pandemic actually puts on our society.

For my own perspective, I was one who thought that this viral outbreak in China would be rather similar to other outbreaks we as a society have faced in the past. Another shot in the arm to the WHO and various health organizations as predictions of mass death and social shutdown alarm us. Invariably these would all come to naught as global health agencies were able to crack down on the disease and some minimal social disruption. We would muddle through.

I was incorrect.

With the current outbreak we have seen a very fast spreading virus which shows, quite alarmingly, how unprepared our interconnected world is for the spread of a very infectious virus. While the current outbreak has nothing on the truly severe diseases of the past, especially the 1918-1920 Spanish Flu epidemic of one hundred years ago, it shows quite alarmingly how vulnerable we are to one similar to it. We are merely fortunate that the virus, while infectious, is not quite so deadly as it could be.

In my own experience this has been one which has been worse than either the SARS outbreak, or the H1N1 outbreak a few years ago. None of these caused, in my country at least, the widespread social disruption and shut downs as this current outbreak. I think that is probably a comfort mindset of "it only gets bad somewhere else" which I had become used to. This was a foolish error, and I ought to have prepared more accordingly.

Mind you, I did take precautions. I always have food on hand, I was well stocked in toiletries, and I made sure to cancel international travel plans. Fortuitous as the day of cancellation there was an outbreak right where I would be travelling to! I prided myself on some foresight for that one, but I did not pride myself on how little thought I had given to the outbreak in general. That was an error on my part.

Given the absolutely massive panic buying and hoarding going on the world over, I am happy I didn't have to make any extremely necessary trips to grocery stores right away. Truly, that same panic buying and hoarding of supplies proves that one of the most dangerous parts of any outbreak, or really any disaster, is human stupidity. People overreacting and putting their needs above others or simply making poor choices which adversely effect collective society as a whole. It is that kind of thing which is probably inevitable any time these crises pop up, and is arguably one of the most damaging. Almost as damaging as idiots who disregard social distancing to prevent the spread of the disease in the first place.

This article here though has also given me something to mull over. It exposes that in times of crisis we accept that certain issues we take for granted are very ridiculous. For instance, the American TSA is now allowing large bottles of hand sanitizer on planes, which begs the question was there any good reason for not doing so? There are many other issues put on display in the article which we, in any country, ought to ask ourselves why in times of crisis they can be relaxed but in normal times have to be encouraged? Food for thought.

From wikimedia

As a final thought, if you haven't seen the film Contagion you should really take the time to go and see it on Netflix. It isn't meant to scare you, but it is a wonderful look at peoples reactions in a worst case scenario and how you can do yourself some good and isolate during times like these. The only scary thing you should take away is that the film presents a best case scenario for stemming the tide of infection. Viruses and vaccines can be tricky, and sometimes it takes time to fight them. So I encourage people to stay vigilant and stay safe, even in a regular flu season.

So please, wash your hands, cough into your elbow, and practice social distancing if you're concerned about being sick or getting sick. Stay safe everyone.

Freehold and Jennifer Government: The Stories

As part of my Great 2020 Re-read I took it upon myself to go back to two novels of varying seriousness. One was a novel I picked up a decade ago, Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold which is a guilty pleasure of mine, and the other is Jennifer Government by Max Barry. One is an interesting story of an alternate society in the far future, while another is a satirical look at a society in the near future. Both are ironically, fundamentally the same society.

That though is a rather simplistic explanation with a broad brush. On the surface they are extremely different, with different cultures, naming conventions, and even different planets. The ideology that unites them however, is fundamentally the same.

First though, let us introduce our two focus cases. First up is the novel I originally read, Freehold.

From Wikimedia Commons

This was the debut novel by Michael Z. Williamson, for Baen Books. Published in 2004 it was his first full length novel and though it shows at points, it is still an exciting read. My original review still does stand, though I've soured more on some aspects of the story over the years.

Set roughly in the 26th century, it tells the story of Kendra Pacelli as she flees unjust charges of embezzlement in the military on the UN dominated Earth to the only independent planet in human colonized space, the Freehold of Grainne. Self described as "the first truly free society in human history" it is set up as a libertarian paradise (more on that in Part 2) and is meant to be a contrast to the bureaucratic nightmare of Earth. You can do almost anything you want, so long as you are willing to accept the consequences for your actions. Own any weapons you like, drive however erratically you like, love who you like, and sign whatever contract you feel free to. No one is forcing you after all!

Kendra experiences quite a lot of culture shock, but eventually adjusts to her life in the new colony.

When political friction between Grainne and Earth forces her to move into the military, we spend a huge portion of the second act looking in depth at military training on Freehold. It is brutal, harsh, and very difficult. Kendra passes and officially joins the Freehold Military Forces. As she was in logistics in her old military life, she fits right in to logistics in her new one. Getting into the groove of her new job, she again gets caught up with Earth/Grainne tensions as 100,000 malcontents are shipped into the Freehold to stir up trouble. They succeed masterfully, and the UN government declares they are going to annex the Freehold for their own good.

Of course, this leads to war and the UN invades. Needless to say though, that for all the well portrayed horrors of war, the Freehold wins by some pretty far reaching deus ex machina which probably could have been better concentrated on with both a wider cast of characters and some further research. The war largely did depend on a very 20th/21st century understanding of strategic warfare and combat to be believable.

That said, it is a guilty pleasure read, and I fully acknowledge it. Worth a bit of a read if you find the idea interesting.

Now this next book, I actually have only very fuzzy recollections of where I picked it up. However, I do recall it being uproariously funny and I definitely read it shortly after reading Freehold. That book is Jennifer Government. Written in 2003, it is an excellent satire of rampant consumerism and corporatism, and turns on its head the idea that a dystopian future requires a totalitarian government!

From Wikimedia Commons

The story begins twenty minutes in the future where much of the world has become the US. Or literally, the United States has expanded into much of the world through corporate purchase. These countries have become part of the US led trade bloc, having gradually given away their sovereignty to become part of the largest, freest system in the world! There is minimal government, no elections, and you're free to do whatever you can afford! Just make sure you read that contract! People have done away with surnames, and you know yourself by the company you work for!

The world of Jennifer Government Blue = US led countries Red = non-US trade blocs Green = fragmented markets

By user Sannita, Wikimedia Commons

Enter one Hack Nike, who works as a middle merchandiser for Nike. One day his water cooler
malfunctions so he travels to the floor above him to try out the one there. It is here he meets John Nike and John Nike. They offer him a fast trace to advancement, he can help them whip up sales for a new line of shoes being sold, and all he has to do is kill some kids! Too bad he didn't read the contract before he signed it!

With all the madness going on enter Buy Mistui, who is unfortunately witness to one of the shootings. Helped out by the barcode tatooed agent Jennifer Government, they both end up on the path of a sociopathic businessman as another cast of colorful characters are sucked into the mayhem. From a militarized NRA gunning for Government agents, companies trying to crash each others servers, to shootouts on the Burger King floor, its a total madhouse as sales come before lives!

Written in 2003 it has some pre-internet vibes which do date the story. But it does really capture consumerism gone mad as corporations have license to do whatever they want since unless you have money, you can't really bring them to task since the government has no right to tax in order to set a budget.

This really complicates the life of Jennifer as she has difficulty going after the bad guys when they do bad things. She's being constantly asked where the money is going to come from, whether she could do things to cause less collateral damage (and therefore expose the government to lawsuits) and if she's sure she can even bring the executives to justice if she has the evidence. Money doesn't grow on trees after all. Meanwhile, if you have the cash the Police can investigate crimes or prevent them preemptively, but it will still cost you. And if there's an emergency, have your credit card number ready so you can pay in advance before they respond!

Other than the murder investigation, the main conflict is between two major loyalty programs taken to its logical extreme. US Alliance and Team Advantage compete against one another to have the biggest consumer base on the block, and John Nike is determined that his side, US Alliance, is going to win big. He is going to wipe out the competition.

As this is written as a satire the humor comes from the over the top situations and unlikely circumstances our many poor characters find themselves in or the ridiculous extremes they will go to in order to get the win. I had quite a few laugh out loud moments, especially as one poor side character Billy Bechtel kept running across Jennifer Government in the worst ways possible. All the poor man wants to do is go skiing! The outlandish desire for consumerism people showed was pretty funny. Late in the novel Jennifer and her partner Calvin are running through a riot and Calvin keeps getting distracted by the good deals he sees.

Its a funny story with a very satisfying conclusion and I genuinely want a laugh about our society and consumerism. Really takes the piss out in an enjoyable way. If you want a laugh in this mad modern world, very worth a read.

With the stories out of the way; why do I think they portray the same society? In worlds where the market is unchecked and money talks, what do you think would happen? Stay tuned for Part 2 as I launch into a much more long winded explanation!

Caliban's War

As another part of the Great 2020 reread, I come to the second book in The Expanse series, Caliban's War. I originally read this roughly two months after I had read the first book, largely because it had taken me a surprisingly long time to make the time to read it. However, diving in I was not 100% sure what to expect with it, but again found myself pleasantly surprised.

If you miss the symbolism in this title I will be genuinely surprised! As a general warning, there will be major spoilers for Leviathan Wakes below. If you haven't read the first book in this series, drop everything you're doing and go read it!

Picking up 18 months after the events of the original novel, humanity is struggling to cope with the realization they are not alone in the universe after the Eros Incident. Venus is a churning hive of alien activity doing god knows what, while the fragile coalition between the governments of Earth and Mars has shattered from a cold war into a semi warm war which threatens to engulf the Solar System in flames once more.

Enter Gunnery Sergeant Roberta "Bobbie" Draper of the Martian Marine Corps, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force. She and her squad are on patrol on Ganymede, the breadbasket of the Outer Planets and one of the safest moons in the Jovian System. Suddenly the find themselves rushed by their UN counterparts, only to discover both sides are under attack by some kind of horrible monster. Her communications jammed, she has no way to signal the orbiting fleets that there has been no kind of attack and hostilities commence unleashing absolute hell on Ganymede.

Praxidike Meng, a scientist on Ganymede, finds that in the chaos someone has taken his daughter. Desperate to find out what has happened to her as the warfare and collapse of civilized society on his home moon threatens to engulf him, he has no choice but to turn to the one man who may be able to help him, but this man has started wars with his honesty before.

Watching all of this is Deputy Undersecretary of the United Nations Chrisjen Avasarala, a capable take no crap politician in the byzantine factionalism of the United Nations Secretariat which governs Earth and its colonies in the Solar System. As she's watched the familiar pattern of Earth-Mars-Belt relations has crumbled. Now she has to deal with a resurgent OPA, an Earth-Mars Cold War threatening to go hot, and above all, the alien life forms on Venus. In her attempt to keep a lid on things, she finds herself drawn into political schemes beyond her wildest dreams.

Finally, the crew of the rogue gunship Rocinante are back! Their captain, James Holden, has been playing policeman for the OPA for over a year and followed the orders of Frederick Johnson, but he yearns for more work, for something beyond the gun for hire role. He might get his chance as a humanitarian disaster, a missing girl and a mean politician cajole him into another solar mystery.

Aside from the first installment, this book is probably one of my favorites in the whole Expanse series. I have reread it, or even sections of it, three times now. It introduces two of the strongest female characters in the series, and manages to ratchet up the tension just as brilliantly as the first book did as each chapter progresses. From fighting monsters and disbelieving superiors, to watching the slow collapse of the artificial ecosystem that is the moon of Ganymede, we are treated to the horrors of war, human greed, and tribalism.

The novel goes to decent lengths to outline why humanity, poised with the greatest and possibly most existential threat to its existence, would rather fight itself than deal with the problem at hand. Shadowy and short sighted forces would rather re-fight old wars than bring about lasting change in the Solar System. This leads to many bad decisions, and many bad actors trying to profit from human misery on an interplanetary scale.

Despite not being explicitly a war story, it goes to not inconsiderable lengths to look at what war can do to people and communities. The fighting on Ganymede causes widespread destruction and even brings out the worst in many people. For all that, it handles scenes of space combat superbly and displays some of the best short ship to ship battle sequences I've read. The first fights to the later big fleet actions flow beautifully across the pages and I was quite pleased with the way they played out.

Growth in our characters and their interactions are wonderful. The relationship forged between Bobbie and Avasarala, and eventually Bobbie and the crew of the Rocinante are wonderful to watch. I enjoyed their dynamics and the clever plot which got the ball rolling, and the execution of the finale was spectacular.

A well done sequel in a well done science fiction series. Definitely pick it up!