Justification

Humans are really good at justifying themselves – especially to their own self. We all do it.

The one that drives me nuts is “if I don’t kill this guy, my kid will suffer.” That’s all well and good when “this guy” is a knife-wielding maniac attacking your kid. It’s more than a bit different when the suffering is due to lack of money, the about-to-be-murderer is getting paid for it, and “this guy” is picked by someone else.

Blez followed Glen, uneasy, afraid. “Am I… Am I really about to kill someone?” he said, unable to believe it. His mind felt as though it had stopped, as though he had lost the power to think at all. Something churned in him: dread, and something coiling tighter and rising, and beneath both a cold, steady fear. It was as if he were betraying the very thing he was.

“But… If I don’t do it… If I don’t, then my sister and I never get a better life,” he said, and stopped, trying to talk himself round.

“She’s small now, but one day she’ll be grown. And this world is full of people who would take everything from a girl like her, with no one to stand for her. How do I keep her safe then, if I stay poor and weak? I have to. I have to do this,” he said.

On the bright side, he does realize this isn’t a good thing. The missing context: It’s too late for him to back out. If he doesn’t do this, Glen will probably kill him. I think “him or me” is a FAR more legitimate reason for following through than “I need money to help my sister.” Of course, he’s in the former position because of the latter.

I don’t know how this plays out. Reading that (start of chapter 56 of Reborn as the Storm Saint 2) irritated me so much that I came here to vent my irritation before continuing.

The meta-context is even worse: The bad guy gang is secretly sponsored by our intrepid hero. He’s playing both sides. In his persona of intrepid hero, he’s supporting the people that he’s (indirectly) ordering killed in his win-at-any-cost strategy.

Does this sort of thing happen? Probably. Not in the circles in which I run, but I’m naive and sheltered.

Why is it even in the book? Because our intrepid hero is grabbing power (for ostensibly good reasons; we’ll see) and there are several chapters (9 so far) about how his grandiose plans affect the “little people” on the ground. The plan seems fine when he comes up with it. The author is showing us the human cost of that plan. I approve of that.

Update: He does end up killing the guy – and of course he is someone Blez knows well and likes. He’s terrified and does a really bad job at killing, but he does do it.

The more interesting question: Should I write this sort of thing?

So far, no one in my book has killed another person (in story; one guy is a former army sergeant who has killed people in Iraq). That’s not going to last long. I hope my intrepid heroes (and friends) only kill bad people for righteous reasons, but I will admit that is a bit pollyanna-ish.

I like that this section of the book exists. It’s very rare to see the ground-level effects of high-level plans. It shows the human cost of abstractions such as “raise the price of ore” (that’s the case here; both killer and killee are fired miners).

I want to avoid it by avoiding those sorts of plans. However, one cannot rule without those sorts of plans. Unintended consequences are the best case. For example, I’m very pleased that Trump has fired boatloads of government workers. The intended consequence of that is a lot of unemployed people, which can turn lives upside down – especially for government workers under the mistaken assumption that their rice bowls are iron, not cardboard.

I’m not sure there is a point to this post. “murder is bad” is not a new point, although it does seem to be lost on some people.

He had the hardest time getting off the fact Lindsay viciously killed her children

Update2: Since I haven’t published this, yet, more, although only related via coming from the same book.

To Nicolas [our intrepid hero] the world fell into two halves: cultivators, and those who were not.

The world of cultivators was cruel and merciless. The law of the jungle held sway there, and with it death, lies, deceit, and betrayal. The strong held absolute power over the weak. There were no rules, no laws. What law could ever bind the strongest cultivator? In the cultivator’s world, strength was everything. As long as you were strong, what you did carried no weight.

The other world belonged to those who did not cultivate. To Nicolas’s mind, they ought to be kept clear of the cultivators’ wars, their quarrels, their reach. Cultivators should not enter their world, should not do them harm, but Nicolas knew well enough that this was only a utopian dream.

For a cultivation book, that’s a pretty frank admission that cultivators are jerks, which is why I don’t like the cultivation genre. I doubt I’m going to read the next book. I’m not even sure I’m going to finish this one. Too many people are too nasty.

There’s a lot of good stuff in here, though. It’s a well written book, even if I don’t care for it – and I knew that was likely going in because cultivation. I’m certainly not going to give it a bad review.

The quote above shows up in the middle of another “the regular people” scene. He’s about to kill a man abusing (and who has abused) his young daughter. While I agree with the sentiment, what’s going to happen to the kid? Let’s find out…

First surprise:

“This man..,” Nicolas said, and pointed at the figure lying in his own blood. “He defied the town’s laws. He set children to begging, he raised his hand to them, and he dragged them into his crimes!” A cold breath ran through the whole crowd as they looked at the blood-covered man.

“Take him to the judge!” Nicolas said…

Digression: that’s a good example of something I _think_ is regional, not a mistake. There’s not a lot of it, but enough to be noticeable. “This man..,” dot, dot, comma? What’s that?

Seriously? Squirrel!!! Cultivator fight in the street on the way to the judge. It’s a good fight, which does not belong here. I rushed through it as fast as possible. I want to know what happens to the girl!

And then he levels up (or ascends or whatever weird cultivator word is used). And then the people who sent the assassins get a POV chapter. What happens to the girl?!

Then they show up. It’s been four chapters. I think I’ll never find out what happens to the girl.