http://scentofviolets.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] scentofviolets.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] james_davis_nicoll 2012-10-08 08:23 pm (UTC)

I should also add that prescriptives, inappropriate as they are, are also quite vague. If you're going to do this, you need to be as specific as Asimov was in the original story. None of this 'use your economic power to encourage democratic reforms' tripe - that's just restating what I objected to in the first place, and just as vaguely.

Something tells me you missed out on all that well-meaning "We'll use our power to do good by reforming non-democratic institutions in other countries" in our not-too-distant USian history, and what happened as a consequence.

If you've got the sincere inclination to see what happens when outsiders of good intent try to engage in nation-building, I suggest you start by reading Grahame Greene's "The Quiet American".

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