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"There's no such thing as human understanding!"
Our question is answered. Not human. Talk to her unconscious side. She's wide open.
"Laws must always be interpreted. The law-bound want no latitude for compassion. No elbow room. " 'The law is the law!'"
"It is!" Very defensive.
"That's a dangerous idea, especially for the innocent. People know this instinctively and resent such laws. Little things are done, often unconsciously, to hamstring 'the law' and those who deal in that nonsense."
"How dare you call it nonsense?" Half rising from her chair and sinking back.
"Oh, yes. And the law, personified by all whose livelihoods depend on it, becomes resentful hearing words such as mine."
"Rightly so, witch!" But she doesn't tell you to be silent.
"'More law!'" you say. 'We need more law!' So you make new instruments of non-compassion and, incidentally, new niches of employment for those who feed on the system."
"That's the way it's always been and always will be."
"Wrong again. It's a rondo. It rolls and rolls until it injures the wrong person or the wrong group. Then you get anarchy. Chaos." See her jump? "Rebels, terrorists, increasing outbursts of raging violence. A jihad! And all because you created something nonhuman."
Hand on her chin. Watch it!
"How did we wander so far away from politics, witch? Was this your intention?"
"We haven't wandered a fraction of a millimeter!"
"I suppose you're going to tell me you witches practice a form of democracy."
"With an alertness you cannot imagine."
"Try me." She thinks you'll tell her a secret. Tell her one.
"Democracy is susceptible to being led astray by having scapegoats paraded in front of the electorate. Get the rich, the greedy, the criminals, the stupid leader and so on ad nauseam."
"You believe as we do." My! How desperately she wants us to be like her.
"You said you were bureaucrats who rebelled. You know the flaw. A top-heavy bureaucracy the electorate cannot touch always expands to the system's limits of energy. Steal it from the aged, from the retired, from anyone. Especially from those we once called middle class because that's where most of the energy originates."
"You think of yourselves as ... as middle class?"
"We don't think of ourselves in any fixed way. But Other Memory tells us the flaws of bureaucracy. I presume you have some form of civil service for the 'lower orders.'"
"We take care of our own." That's a nasty echo.
"Then you know how that dilutes the vote. Chief symptom: People don't vote. Instinct tells them it's useless."
"Democracy is a stupid idea anyway!"
"We agree. It's demagogue-prone. That's a disease to which electoral systems are vulnerable. Yet demagogues are easy to identify. They gesture a lot and speak with pulpit rhythms, using words that ring of religious fervor and god-fearing sincerity."
She's chuckling!
"Sincerity with nothing behind it takes so much practice, Dama. The practice can always be detected."
"By Truthsayers?"
See how she leans forward? We have her again.
"By anyone who learns the signs: Repetition. Great attempts to keep your attention on words. You must pay no attention to words. Watch what the person does. That way you learn the motives."
"Then you don't have a democracy." Tell me more Bene Gesserit secrets.
"But we do."
"I thought you said ..."
"We guard it well, watching for the things I've just described. The dangers are great but so are the rewards."
"Do you know what you've told me? That you're a pack of fools!"
"Nice lady!" the Futar said.
"Shut up or I'll send you back to the herd!"
"You not nice, Dama."
"See what you've done, witch? You've ruined him!"
"I suppose there are always others."
Ohhhhh. Look at that smile.
Lucilla matched the smile precisely, pacing her own breaths to those of the Great Honored Matre. See how alike we are? Of course I tried to injure you. Wouldn't you have done the same in my place?
"So you know how to make a democracy do whatever you want." A gloating expression.
"The technique is quite subtle but easy. You create a system where most people are dissatisfied, vaguely or deeply."
That's how she sees it. Look at her nod in time to your words.
Lucilla held herself to the rhythm of Great Honored Matre's nodding head. "This builds up widespread feelings of vindictive anger. Then you supply targets for that anger as you need them."
"A diversionary tactic."
"I prefer to think of it as distraction. Don't give them time to question. Bury your mistakes in more laws. You traffic in illusion. Bullring tactics."
"Oh, yes! That's good!" She's almost gleeful. Give her more bullring.
"Wave the pretty cape. They'll charge it and be confused when there's no matador behind the thing. That dulls the electorate just as it dulls the bull. Fewer people use their vote intelligently next time."
"And that's why we do it!"
We do it! Does she listen to herself?
"Then you rail against the apathetic electorate. Make them feel guilty. Keep them dull. Feed them. Amuse them. Don't overdo it!"
"Oh, no! Never overdo it."
"Let them know hunger awaits them if they don't fall into line. Give them a look at the boredom imposed on boat rockers." Thank you, Mother Superior. It's an appropriate image.
"Don't you let the bull get an occasional matador?"
"Of course. Thump! Got that one! Then you wait for the laughter to subside."
"I knew you didn't allow a democracy!"
"Why won't you believe me?" You're tempting fate!
"Because you'd have to permit open voting, juries and judges and ..."
"We call them Proctors. A sort of Jury of the Whole."
Now you've confused her.
"And no laws ... regulations, whatever you want to call them?"
"Didn't I say we defined them separately? Regulation-past. Law--future."
"You limit these ... these Proctors, somehow!"
"They can arrive at any decision they desire, the way a jury should function. The law be damned!"
"That's a very disturbing idea." She's disturbed all right. Look at how dull her eyes are.
"The first rule of our democracy: no laws restricting juries. Such laws are stupid. It's astonishing how stupid humans can be when acting in small, self-serving groups."
"You're calling me stupid, aren't you!"
Beware the orange.
"There appears to be a rule of nature that says it's almost impossible for self-serving groups to act enlightened."
"Enlightened! I knew it!"
That's a dangerous smile. Be careful.
"It means flowing with the forces of life, adjusting your actions that life may continue."
"With the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number, of course."
Quick! We've been too clever! Change the subject!
"That was an element the Tyrant left out of his Golden Path. He didn't consider happiness, only survival of humankind."
We said change the subject! Look at her! She's in a rage!
Great Honored Matre dropped her hand away from her chin. "And I was going to invite you into our order, make you one of us. Release you."
