 |
 |
||||
|
|
||||
Ricky Lai (x-lai@uchicago.edu)
Sat, 07 Oct 2000 13:19:23 -0500
Good point!
Hyun Kye wrote:
> Yes. Feddies were not actually good either.
> And please do remember that I DID NOT SAY THAT FEDDIES
> WERE ANY BETTER THAN AXIS ZEON. SO PLEASE DON'T PUT WORDS
> IN MY MOUTH. IT is a VERY well known fact that feddies were
> very corrupted and as MESSED UP government as you can think of.
There is a need to consider the possibility, however, that the Federation might
actually be less supported or widely accepted as it appears. It is imperative
to take into account that in the UC universe, the Federation is the one and only
political faction aside from Zion, which claimed independence from the
Federation. This situation resembles those found in many former communist
countries -- and even China -- where the government is also the sole political
party. Titans was not so much of a political entity when it first formed in
0083, but rather a elite task force selected for special missions. In that
sense, they are similar to the Secret Services of the USA: a unit under the
command of the government. What then happens to them in late 0087 does not fall
in line with the political situation of Zion, which exists outside of the
Federation.
> HOWEVER, you are forgetting the fact that FEDERATION GOVERNMENT
> was actually an electoral governemnt and Axis Zeon is not. No matter
> how messed up and corrupted it may be, government elected by the
> people is far more legitamate than a goverment formed by a
> dictatorial system. Now you can argue that as time goes on and on,
> Militaristic facists started to take more and more power
> within the government and a coup by Jamitov made federation no longer
> a govenment supported by the people. That is right in many ways but
> please also remember the fact that in later part of Z, Titans is declared
> illegitamate by the federation counsel itself(after they figured out the
> truth about the Titans by Quattro's speech), which is supported by people.
Even though the Federation's apathy is not so much of an issue, I do like to
point out, though, that there have been several instances in the ZZ series
depicting just that. Noah Bright even got into trouble for appealing to some
senior Federation officials!
> Now you said Federation was really apathetic to towards the suffering
> of the majority of population. HOwever, I truly do not believe that all
> the govenment officials during Haman's era were all apathetic to the
> sufferings
> of the people.
It is undoubtedly beautiful to make a change in the political scene if no blood
was shed. Hamaan would have done that if that was totally possible. She even
succeeded in seizing Dakar without firing a shot. The Federation not only
offered no resistance, the senior officials even praised Neo Zion for their
excellent officers (during the banquet). Had it not been AEUG and Kalaba,
Hamaan might have turned the stagnant political system around to bring good to
the people. Bear in mind that she is a damn good governor, whose skills
impressed the Axis people so much that they put her in the charge at the age of
only 16.
> However, even if they were, I still do believe a electoral
> government is still better because this way, although it does take time,
> there is
> still a better chance of bringing changes about in leadership than the
> dictatorial system. And if this change in power can come in without
> bloodshed, unlike
> how all dictatorial governments and monarchies usually requires bloodshed
> time to time.
Hamaan is cold-blooded because she is just another politician. At least she
cares about building a better world for the people, a world in which Newtype
ideals are realized. Hamaan is radical, because that is probably the only thing
that will get a stagnant political system back on track. She allows absolutely
no opposition because, "who needs that to run a government?"
> First, Haman khan is a cold-blooded, radical dictator who allows ABSOLUTELY
> NO OPPOSITION.
Koukan operations are downright inhumane if performed on reluctant individuals.
But what if subjects actually requested it? We were never told if Mashirma and
Ciara underwent the operation out of their own will or not, as opposed to those
Titans pilots. We are sure, however, that both of them displayed great loyalty
to Hamaan before the operation, which might explain a voluntary signup for the
operation.
> Second, she allowed to performed Koukaningen tests on old types as a guinea
> pig when she knows for SURE that it makes people unstable and it can be
> potentially very bad thing(Same thing applies for the Titans but we know
> that Titans is BAD).
That was definitely not her own doing. Gremmi is responsible for puppeteering
the two Puru's, as well as his cadet of "NT" pilots.
> Third, she cloned Puru twice and made those 14 year old girls turn into a
> cold-blooded murderers.
She would not have resorted to this move had AEUG and Kalaba not intercepted her
overtaking of the Federation's council. On the other hand, the Federation,
fully aware of her plans, made no attempt to save its people from the disaster.
> Forth, she drops a colony on earth ONCE AGAIN and kills off damn a lot of
> people.
To call her divine would be a little too much to say about her, as she
recognizes that each one of us is just "a tiny spot in the universe." Moreover,
contrast her to the prominent NTs of her days, she is unmistakenly the prowest,
with unsurpassed piloting and NT awakening. Camille sensed the good in her, but
never got around to fully uncovering it and to pass on this belief onto Juedo,
whose perception of her is unfortunately warped by prejudice and personal
vengeance. Juedo, whose piloting skills and "higher beliefs" are both
questionable, could not had even tied with Hamaan if not were the spirits which
came out of nowhere for no reason. Those spirits believed in "peace," but what
version of peace did they actually buy? A fake peace in which everyone lives in
a lie of that things seem to be going sort of well, when in fact the government
is not doing a thing to amerliorate a broken humanity? Also, if there were
people standing on Juedo's side, then what happened to those people loyal to
Hamaan? Reality check comes in at this point: the main character has to win
because the story would not sell otherwise. By the way, Qubeley kicks ass!
> Fifth, she uses her favorite motto, "I have obtained the power of space in
> my hands." and declares herself divine, when she is just nothing more than a
> darn good Newtype who just happen to pilot a very high tech Newtype MS
> Quebeley(But looses to Judo later anyway;;).
As to Hamaan's relationship to Mineva, that little girl must be stupid to demand
attention from someone who totally does not care about her. But then that does
not seem to be the case -- Mineva is a smart girl with much NT potential, as
noted by Char. Given Mineva's disinterest in politics as a child, she is
unlikely to develop any motivation to take Axis' matters into her own hand when
she grows up. Problem solved for Hamaan! No "small sacrifices" are needed to
accomplish a grander goal.
> Sixth, Haman acts as if she really does care of Mineva but in reality she is
> just making Mineva lead a sad life. Think about this. If she really did
> truly cared about Mineva, why did she make her into a figurehead? Point
> taken that she is too young to rule Axis as an absolute ruler yet but do you
> honestly believe that Haman was kind of a person who would give up her
> position to Mineva when Mineva grows up and ask Haman to hand over the power
> now? I TRULY DON'T THINK HAMAN WILL BE DUMB ENOUGH TO DO THAT. So if this
> is the case, then what does this lead to? Well gee I don't know. Once
> Mineva starts to be a threat Haman can just simply, get rid of her... and
> assume Mineva's power as well. Will there be oppositions who will be
> against this? Well yeah, but not many. But as you said, who would care
> about killing off those "SMALL NUMBER" of people when their number is
> "minute" compared to the majority of Axis which is following her, am I not
> correct?
Hamaan is definitely smart enough not to follow the tracks of Giren, nor has she
any reason to follow suit in the first place.
> Hmm... wait, I think I saw this type of absolute dictator from Gundam
> before? I wonder who that person is.. Oh yeah~! I remember~ His name is
> GIREN!! The infamous serial kill of humankind during the One Year War.
I hope there is a better justification in referring to my ignorance. Life
undisputedly commands paramount importance. No one -- and certainly not Hamaan
-- of the right mind would disagree to that. However, there are grave
situations in which lifes are lost. Hamaan, sitting on top of the political
ladder, does not necessarily have absolute control over her entire army,
especially among the distant lower ranks. For instance, it might not be her
intention to impede evacuation of Dublin during the colony drop.
However, if people are not willing to commit to necessary sacrifices for the
betterment of a bigger population, is it then alright for the larger population,
though not so apparent in present, to be sacrificed in place of the smaller,
present population? Of course I pray that such situations will never dawn on
us, but it is important that we set our priorities straight in relatively
peaceful times, in order that we may be better prepared for possible crises.
> >It is true that Haman is a little radical in sacrificing so many for her
> objective,
> >but that number is minute compared to that which the Federation is slowly
> >poisoning to an ignorant death.
>
> This is truly an ignorant arguement. No matter what you say, there is
> nothing that can overweight the importance of human life. And there CAN
> ABSOLUTELY BE NO EXCUSE for murdering thousands of people and make even more
> people suffer in agony, just because in the end this would save more people.
> Please do remember that there is not happiness which can be obtained by mass
> murdering other people. Basically, your way of thinking can bring in a
> dictator who will be willing to take human life very lightly and thus, kill
> people under the premise of "FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FUTURE, YOU HAVE TO DIE".
-
Gundam Mailing List Archives are available at http://gundam.aeug.org/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Sun Oct 08 2000 - 03:25:57 JST