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COVENTRY

The Outlaw zones in _I Will Fear No Evil_,
bear some slight resemblence to the
"Coventry".

Heinlein's short-story "Coventry"
was about a large region that the
government has set aside to
isolate malcontents.

However implausible, this is
very nice attempt at coming                    November 23, 2005
up with an ethically clean,
theoretical solution to the         The Toadkeeper came back
problem of what to do with          to this idea now and then.
people who want no part of
your "social contract".                  If you can't live
                                         with them, but
                                         don't want to
In _Fear_ the "outlaw zones"             deny them the
are not prisons, but regions             right to live
the government decided they              without you, then
just couldn't control, or                Coventry is a
weren't worth controlling...             solution, maybe
                                         *the* solution.
(Or more likely, were bribed
to let run free by the                      Compare that to
interests controlling the                   Rousseau's
casinos/night-clubs, etc...)                "social contract":
                                            no one ever asks
                                            you to sign it,
                                            and you can't
                                            opt out of it.












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