Quote:
Originally Posted by Kanon
You are correct, he's manipulating them with the truth, and that's what makes it so brilliant. I said they were fooled because they have no idea what his true intentions are. They genuinely believe he is a selfless hero fighting for their freedom even though he's probably the biggest coward of them all (unless he has radically changed since the old days... which I doubt), albeit an incredibly cunning and ambitious one.
I think he's mixed some lies in the truth however. Wiping humans off the face of the earth was definitely not the only solution. As far as we know, they haven't even tried to sit down and talk things through with the humans. I am also not convinced the humans were exactly the kind of tyrants Yakomaru made them out to be. They monitored the queerats and required obedience from them but they still let them enjoy a relative degree of freedom. Some of them didn't even obey humans (like the colony that attacked the kids and the priest) and yet were apparently left alone. Humans never even meddled in their affairs, the fact they were able to set-up a democracy is a definite proof. It's definitely unfair that they were seen as inferior life-forms but I don't believe their situation was that bad. At least not bad enough to warrant such a crusade.
To be honest, I'm not sure they will be better off under Yakomaru's rule. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this is exactly what happens. Countless times throughout history have revolutionaries become worse dictators than the ones they toppled. And history always repeats itself.
|
I agree Yakomaru's manipulating his kindred and brethren with the truth. I strongly disagree with the notion that he's dumb enough to actually lie. Showing dissent over the status quo to the humans is viable to get him and his colony if not the whole alliance, killed. Every time he squealed the words, 'don't all sentient species deserve equal rights?' He only received a cold silence for a reply. The time he mentioned their similar bone structure (as they are both bipedal mammals) to Saki he, due to her body language, felt that he quickly needed to add in some diminutives as to not incur Saki's disfavor.
The renegotiation of their co-existence had to come from the humans. But instead of coping with and adjusting to the developments in the queerat world. They choose to leave everything as it was. Fearing the queerats's growth and technological advances but ever comfortable and confident in the notion that they could kill the critters at any time they pleased. For whatever they pleased. Comfortable in their arrangement.
As for the tyranny aspect. The hideously normal voiced captured exposition queerat explanation was satisfactory. While 'tyranny' is indeed not a good word for the idea expressed. Their frustration with the gods is much like the cynical belief that there either is no God or that there is a God but He enjoys and causes our agony or could prevent it and chooses not to because He's a sick bastard with a twisted sense of humor.
The humans are not 'tyrants' because they make the queerats submit forms before letting them go to war. They are 'tyrants' because they let the queerats go to war. They are 'tyrants' for not sharing the enlightened idea's of democracy and equality with the queerats. They are 'tyrants' because they hoard all knowledge left by those who came before in the fake minoshiro. Because they leave the queerrats to crawl in the dirt and starve and struggle.
Sure the current generation of (local) humans in Shin Sekai Yori will suffer the consequences if they fail to exterminate all hostile queerats and kill the fiend. But faillying to do just that humanity will not go extinct. Japan is probably not the only scrap of land inhabited by humans and the captured human infants will be taken into the queerat society. As warrior slaves/pariah, at first I'm sure. But to take on the rest of Japan to say nothing of the the world (if that's really the queerats' intention) they'll need a long term strategy to integrate humans in their society. And perhaps they will succeed where humanity failed a thousand years ago in constructing a relatively peaceful modern society that can cope with a population of powerful PK-users.