Dauntless wrote:cthia wrote:The included passage posted about Stephanie Harrington confuses me. Being from Sphinx, are her parents concerned with other Sphinxians or off-worlders in her reference to strangers? Certainly all of the planet itself are genies. Some just opted for different "accessories?"saber964 wrote:Stephanie emigrated to sphinx (or rather her parents did, and took her along, when she was about 8), she was not born there.
What the Harrington's are worried about is the prejudices that still exists at the time. Remember Earth is still recovering from the Final War four hundred plus years after it ended. In Stephanie Harrington time calling someone a genie was a very vulgar epithet but by the time of Honor Harrington it's considered mild profanity.
Some very important missing data in my understanding has been supplied by Dauntless, whom I thank. But there still exists somewhat a disconnect.
Ok. So after the Final Wars everyone jets for the stars to escape the horrors of it all. All manner of inhospitable planets are settled and mankind, being as resourceful as it is and bearing the innate will to survive finds a way through genetic modification; adapt and overcome. Mankind is fortunate, or lucky, to have beat the odds. Yet pretty much everyone beat the odds by playing the same game - genetic manipulation. Who is any better than any other? Or who should be less fortunate than any other, because the advancement of genetic modification is like Shangri La to everyone? Native born Sphinxians bearing prejudicial hatred against Meyerdahl genies are like the pot calling the kettle black. I'm still sporting a major disconnect.
This is a beast of a personal disconnect. And the best dinosaur DNA I can use to fill in my missing blanks, using the supplied passage of Stephanie's thoughts, is that the anti-genie movement, akin to Hitler's anti-Jewish movement, is the source of the perpetuation of the fear. I am guessing that the movement had its base on Sol and not the settled stars that bear witness to all manner of mods. Which again I find it a bit odd that Stephanie's parents fear of being "rejected" because they are genies, by native Sphinxians who themselves are genies.
Of course, the element of fear exists, and also a fair bit of hypocrisy. Mankind is running away from the horrors created by genetic manipulation only to find that the source of those horrors would be the instrument of their survival. Reminds me of Grayson and their fits with technology.
I cannot see Sphinx proper, housing any anti-genie movements or using "genie" in a vulgar manner or anything other than positive.
Perhaps the real fear stemmed from incomplete understanding of genetic manipulation at the time and the lack of knowledge of everyone's particular mod. Which would result in apprehension regarding who is "safe" and who is not. IOW, everyone who are not "us" are the equivalent to unsafe genetic modification which could kill us all as did many in the Final Wars. Unsafe gene mods could be like "the plague." See Malign mods. Which would be akin to Hitler's preoccupation with pure blood.
'sigh'