Mack Reynolds: Amazon Planet

Rex said impatiently, “All right, suppose we take that. But what it amounts to is you’re admitting that back when women ran tribal affairs the race was nothing but a bunch of savages. It wasn’t until man took over that we started gettting anywhere.”

“Hear, hear,” the chief engineer called from another table. “Well put, for a deck man.”

“It’s according to what you mean by getting anywhere,” Pat said, with unwonted mildness. “I wouldn’t deny that when descent and government changed, institutions changed.” She pursed her generous mouth. “For instance, war became one of the new institutions.”

Guy Thomas cleared his throat at that one. “I was of the opinion that war we have always had with us.”

She turned on him. “Then you are mistaken. War, as we still know it on some of the more backward member planets of UP, is a comparatively modern development and didn’t evolve until man’s domination of government.”

Captain Dave Buchwald seldom entered into the discussion. He was a taciturn man, heavy, straight of eye, and long used to command. So used, perhaps, that he seldom found need to issue orders. He expected his officers and men to handle the workings of the Schirra with such competence that his presence and decisions were seldom needed for the smooth operation of the ship.

But he said now, voice low and courteous, “Without disrespect of your scholarly attainments, Citizeness, I would like to ask how far back in man’s history we must go to find this rule of the gentler sex. I confess, I too have been of the opinion that we have always had conflict with us.”

“Conflict, yes,” Pat said quickly. “But war, in the modern sense, no. I understand, for instance, that in the past the bull gorilla would defend his little patch of ground which he and his family needed for sustenance against the encroachments of other gorillas or other animals in general. In such defense he might engage in combat, but I would hardly call this war. Any more than I would call two stag deer fighting for a doe’s affections, warfare.”

Rex chortled, “Okay, define your terms as that old time comedian was always saying in the Tri-Di comedy we watched after lunch today.”

Pat O’Gara reserved her sharpest tone for the second officer. “Raids, semi-organized skirmishes between tribes disputing over hunting grounds or whatever, personal feuds, and such, have certainly existed, even under matriarchal society, but war in the modern sense, no.”

“Some examples, Citizeness?” the Captain rumbled.

“Well, take the impact of the Spanish upon the Mexicans. To the very end, the Aztecs never quite figured out what it was the Conquistadors wanted . They had no concept of war as their European contemporaries knew it, and they were the most militaristically inclined of the New World tribes. When they fought, they dashed valiantly forth as individuals and it was considered much more valorous to capture an enemy than to kill one. Their conflicts were conducted for the purpose of securing victims for sacrifices to their gods, or for simple loot. So far as war was concerned, they never got to the point of waging it for the purpose of acquiring some other tribe’s territory and enslaving its people. It just never occured to them. Confused Spanish historians to the contrary, there was never any such thing as an Aztec empire, they never even completely dominated the valley of Mexico, an area about the size of the old state of Rhode Island.”

She went on wryly, “In a way, it was pathetic, this conflict between the civilized white men and the Amerinds. Why, as late as the battle of the Little Big Horn, some of the Sioux of Crazy Horse and Gall rode into the fire of repeating rifles armed solely with coup sticks, since it was a far greater honor in the tribes to count coup on a man by touching him without harming him, than it was to kill. The so-called wars the Indians waged from King Philip to Geronimo were actually no more than raids. They had no concept of war as the white man saw it.”

Guy Thomas said uncomfortably, “This isn’t my field, but do you count the Trojan War as one of these, uh, raids, or was it a full scale military expedition? And, where does it fit in on your time scale? Had the men taken over as yet?”

“That was a period of transition,” she said. “Some peoples were still matrilineal, some patrilineal. But read your Homer well, and you’ll see that the Trojan War was a sad example of warfare by any modern standard. The heroes, the champions, would spend most of their time standing around yelling boasts and insults at each other. Occasionally a couple would dash out before their respective hosts and fight man to man, as often throwing huge stones at each other as using weapons. And when one or the other was killed or injured, then the big wrestling match was brought on by each side trying to seize the corpse for its armor. Troy was never really under siege. It was just suffering a ten year series of raids against itself and its neighboring towns and allied cities. Siege weapons such as catapults and battering rams were as unknown as fighting in ranks. Later the Mycenaean Greeks were to learn, when the Doric tribes came in from the north with their patriarchal society and its institutions.”

The captain grunted non-committally.

But Pat O’Gara was in full voice. She concentrated on Guy Thomas. “So far as this war-we-have-always-had-with-us bit is concerned, that’s one of the inevitable stances of the misinformed—they think that institutions with which they are familiar are unchangeable, have always been and will always be. Actually, nothing is so prone to change as institutions, socioeconomic, cultural, religious, or whatever.

Jerry entered into the fray.

“I don’t know about that. Some have been under observation for a long time. Take the Judeo-Christian religion. It can be traced back without unreasonable change for thousands of years.”

She overrode him. “Oh, can it? Or has it been changed over and over again down through the centuries to suit the current situation? Take the Laws of Moses, supposedly the direct word of Jehova to humanity. Who among your Jews or Christians have followed them for centuries past? Who could? Time after time, the religious books of the great religions are edited, to update them. Sometimes a fragment remains which must puzzle the less than scholarly. For instance, let me remember, yes, 1 Kings XV.12 and 2 Kings XXI 11.7 of the Old Testament. Over the years it must have proved somewhat puzzling for the faithful to read of the expulsion of the sodomistic priests from the Temple in Jerusalem. What sodomistic priests? they must have wondered, not knowing that the worship of the pagan goddess Cybele was widespread among the supposedly monotheistic Hebrews up until just before the Exile. Cybele’s worship was one of the most gruesome of the ancient world. Her male devotees tried to achieve ecstatic union with her by emasculating themselves and dressing like women. All this, of course, has been edited out of the holy book now perused by the followers of this faith.”

Guy Thomas was looking at her in some surprise. She was the only woman aboard, but that restrained her not at all when it came to argumentation dealing with her beliefs.

She pressed after Jerry. “Unchanging? Jesus, as a Jew, celebrated the Sabbath on Saturday, as did Mary, Joseph and all the disciples and early saints. His followers don’t; they celebrate Sunday, the Day of the Sun, of the pagans. Why? Or take Jesus’ supposed birthday. Early Christians considered January 6th the date of the Nativity, but about the beginning of the 4th Century, December 25th was adopted. By coincidence it was also the winter sostice which people were used to observing, and the birthday of the rival god Mithra, who at the time was racing neck and neck with the Christians to secure dominance of the Roman Empire.” The fact was, Pat O’Gara seldom lost an argument, if only because she was willing to stick it out, hours on end, if need be, until her opponent wearied of the debate, or had to stand his watch.