>You know this brings to mind a comment Rob Fenelon made to me: Given how it's
>presented in the show, despite its "autocracy", under the current regime the
>Empire seems a wholly more congenial place to live than the Alliance. Most of
>the nobles energies are directed at other nobles in the eternal palace
>intrigue to gain prestige at court. There isn't as much time to directly
>harass the commoners. While in the Alliance you probably get beat up by the
>PKC for voting for the wrong candidate in the election! While the Empire may
>have been not altogether congenial in the days of Goldenbaum, it seems that at
>the moment the Alliance is really even worse for basic political oppression
>and general head-thumping.
Lois Bujold once wrote something to the effect that most egalitarians would have
nothing against living in an aristocracy, if they got to be the aristocrats. :/
Thing is, most of the point of view is from the top, and the writer/writers
show a distinct lack of interest in social realist nonsense like you might find
in the mid-teens Rose of Versailles. I think it's generally understood that
Rheinhard et al have more reason to despise the rest of the nobles than just
the fact that the Emperor took his big sister as a mistress (never really
understood why that was such a big deal, I'm guessing Tanaka suffers from
Only-Child Syndrome).
The oppression isn't as obvious in the Empire because all of the rebellious
peasants have already been tossed into the ovens, is my guess.
Mitch Hagmaier
Quest Labs