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Yakk · 09-15-2009, 06:07 AM

Civilizations are made of lies. They tell each other lies (that the King rules, that Honor and Loyalty matter, that the food in the grainery will be used to feed you over the winter, that the rains will come next year, etc), and from those lies build a fortress of power.

Note that the lies can come true: that isn't what makes them lies. What makes them lies is that their coming true is not something that is at all guaranteed: for them to come true, others must follow the same complex of lies.

Barbarians are always at the gate. Barbarians, in this little story, is anything that doesn't "buy into" the lies of your civilization. It could be a typhoon, a drought, a tribe of horse riding archers, a scholar who tacks a letter on a church door, a mere duke who overthrows the king, or a comet smashing into the world. These Barbarians don't care what lies you tell each other in your civilization; or, at the least, they do not care about a certain subset of your lies.

Now, both the lies of civilization, and the barbarians, are useful. Without barbarians, you could build a civilization that destroys and grinds under every member of it: that fears change more than progress, and actively harms its own members. Without civilization -- well, without civilization, human life would be really nasty, brutish and short. Even a language less two person tribe relies on lies that each tell each other.

The fact that "rights" are lies of a civilization doesn't make them unimportant. If you see those "rights" and that civilization as worth defending, what you have to do is realize that there are barbarians, and they don't respect those rights.

(And yes, the laws of physics are barbarians!)

09-15-2009, 06:07 AM	#37 (permalink)
Yakk Wehret Den Anfängen! Location: Ontario, Canada	Civilizations are made of lies. They tell each other lies (that the King rules, that Honor and Loyalty matter, that the food in the grainery will be used to feed you over the winter, that the rains will come next year, etc), and from those lies build a fortress of power. Note that the lies can come true: that isn't what makes them lies. What makes them lies is that their coming true is not something that is at all guaranteed: for them to come true, others must follow the same complex of lies. Barbarians are always at the gate. Barbarians, in this little story, is anything that doesn't "buy into" the lies of your civilization. It could be a typhoon, a drought, a tribe of horse riding archers, a scholar who tacks a letter on a church door, a mere duke who overthrows the king, or a comet smashing into the world. These Barbarians don't care what lies you tell each other in your civilization; or, at the least, they do not care about a certain subset of your lies. Now, both the lies of civilization, and the barbarians, are useful. Without barbarians, you could build a civilization that destroys and grinds under every member of it: that fears change more than progress, and actively harms its own members. Without civilization -- well, without civilization, human life would be really nasty, brutish and short. Even a language less two person tribe relies on lies that each tell each other. The fact that "rights" are lies of a civilization doesn't make them unimportant. If you see those "rights" and that civilization as worth defending, what you have to do is realize that there are barbarians, and they don't respect those rights. (And yes, the laws of physics are barbarians!) __________________ Last edited by JHVH : 10-29-4004 BC at 09:00 PM. Reason: Time for a rest.