----Original Message Follows---- From: "Jenny Kaye" jennycat55@hotmail.com To: kminne@camtech.net.au, blakes7@lists.lysator.liu.se Subject: Re: [B7L] Captain Vila Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 20:04:24 -0000
Walter (or Ken?) Minne says:
Since we don't actually know how the grading testing was done, it is possible that the testing science had advanced so much that either
Walter wrote: <It sometimes seems to me that many people on this list think that the Federation is the be all and end all of evil, corrupt governments, down to the lowliest trooper and civil worker as greedy and blood thirsty,>
First part, yes I do see the Federation much that way, and corruption as pretty widespread; however (to address the second part), while I may believe corruption to be pretty widespread, obviously there are people who are not, and others who are not *knowingly* part of the corruption.
However, in this case you don't need that. Just one or a few people to be venal enough, and Vila to have the contacts (like Avon and his visa seller).
Some level of corruption - even if small and rigorously squashed - is a part of every society, after all.
And Jenny K: <There is no need for all this elaborate theorising, when the answer is simple: Vila was a thief, and therefore, like most thieves, Vila was a liar as well.>
Ah, but that's just theory as well, isn't it? <g> albeit simpler (but of course some of us prefer the complicated stuff).
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