Re: Glorantha Digest V4 #410

From: mr happy <ajbehan_at_tcd.ie>
Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 19:01:42 +0100 (BST)

> My only problem with the extreme subjective view (although I am an historian
> myself) is not that of what "really happened," in some abstract sense, but
> the rather more important question, for a GM, of what WILL happen. By this
> I mean, when culture A meets Culture B, which has a different view of the
> world and its past/meaning, in most cases one view proves RIGHT, not in some
> abstract sense, but in the sense that, say, the Indian Ghost Dancers found
> out that their dances did not stop the white man's bullets.

I'm sorry if I'm a bit rude but this bugged the crap out of me. "The religion of science is right." Sure, when it comes to the velocity of a speeding bullet but not on a lot of other things. Marxism and Freudianism, both eminently "scientific" are, shall we say, not always right.

There is a reason why the Mostali and the Brithini are amongst the most screwed up civilizations in Glorantha and its because they swallow that kind of rationalist, pseudo-scientific drivel.

Finally, one wonders, has the "white man" ever learnt anything from other cultures? Has someone elses magic potion ever turned out to be genuine in the scientific scheme of things? It's as well to be aware that so-called primitive or subordinate cultures can be quite sophisticated, by any standards.

I would have thought a Gloranthophile might at least appreciate that. - ---
Andrew Behan

---