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COVENTRY

The Outlaw zones in _I Will Fear No Evil_,
bear some slight resemblence to the
"Coventry" in the short story of that name.

While Coventry is clearly the better
story, the idea there is that the
government has set aside a large area
to isolate malcontents.

This is very interesting as a
theoretical solution to the                    November 23, 2005
problem of what to do with
people who want no part of          Still, the Toadkeeper came
your "social contract", but         back to this idea now and
not terribly plausible.             then, at least as an ideal.

                                    What ethical solution
                                    can there be to people
In _Fear_ the idea isn't            who are thorough going
that these zones are                malcontents?
prisons, but regions the
government decided they just                    If you can't live
couldn't control, or weren't                    with them, but
worth controlling... or more                    don't want to
likely, were bribed to let                      deny them the
run free by the interests                       right to live
controlling the                                 without you, then
casinos/night-clubs, etc...                     Coventry is a
                                                solution, maybe
                                                *the* solution.

                                                               
                                                   Compare that to 
                                                   Rousseau's 
                                                   "social contract":
                                                   no one ever asks 
                                                   you to sign it, 
                                                   and you can't 
                                                   opt out of it. 




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