23 May 2005 | Draft
Galactic Memo on Rapture Readiness
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This memo apparently came into the author's posession as a result of a glitch in internet communications -- or some kind of leak. It is shared for whatever its value. Unfortunately the annexes referred to were not attached to the communication as received.
Context
Commnication to: Slave Trader HoHoHo666
From: Earth Agent 5679
Stardate: 15987634
This is to inform you that the planet Earth currently offers you an ideal opportunity to acquire a large number of slaves for profitable trade elsewhere in the system.
Advantages
There are several major advantages to this opportunity:
- With minimum use of your communication skills, you may take advantage of
a prediction of the major religion to which the slaves adhere. This prediction
ensures that :
- Your arrival is expected and is a feature of a process they have termed "rapture". Indeed a Rapture Index is maintained to provide an indication of the imminence of such an event
- The potential slaves eagerly await transportation from Earth
- No problematic physical force will therefore need to be exerted on them
which might reduce their subsequent trading value
- There is a pattern to which the potential slaves are subconsciously accustomed
and through which you may find it convenient to work. It bears strong similarities
to that through which the geographic hemisphere (which most of them now inhabit)
was first contacted and exploited:
- Their arrival there was heralded by a prediction amongst the indigenous peoples first contacted (Aztecs) who believed that one of their Gods was a white god named Quetzalcoatl, who had sailed away many years ago and who had promised to return from the east. Thus on the arrival of the contact party (led by Hernan Cortez), the indigenous leader Montezuma II welcomed him as a god
- They were able to exploit the vulnerability and gullibility of the indigenous peoples to transactions involving valuable land in excchange for trinkets
- They made effective use of their more advanced technologies to produce phenomena that could be perceived as "miracles" in order to reinforce their authority and to marginalize the wise in the indigenous cultures
- They were successfully able to manipulate to their advantage, or ignore, any contractual or treaty provisions in which it seemed prudent to engage with those indigenous peoples
- They were able to rationalize, and even glorify, the use of any persuasion (including physical force) through which indigenous peoples were marshalled into reservations
- They were able to introduce mind-altering drugs to which the indigenous peoples had little resistance
- Their initial development of their hemisphere was highly dependent on slaves brought from another continent
- They continue to exhibit an acceptance of painful constraints imposed
on others (whether in their own prisons or in those their country creates
for others)
- The culture of the potential slaves is based on a strictly binary logic
which, as a user of a multi-valued logic, you will find it extremely easy
to circumvent or manipulate to your advantage. They are especially susceptible
to:
- A sense that their culture is uniquely blessed by their deity who appropriately protects them (a belief held by the indigenous people they displaced). By apparently associating yourself with this deity, in whatever way is opportune, you may manipulate them as you will.
- Stereotyping other cultures and beliefs systems as dangerously opposed to the will of their diety. By identifying other groups on Earth as "evil" you can readily direct the potential slaves as you will. You may find it convenient to identify some galactic groups as "evil" for the same purposes when it becomes necessary to position them in the wider context.
- Initiatives and attitudes that can be labelled "positive"
and free of ambiguity or negativity. The art is to frame as "negative"
any factors inhibiting your acquisition process
- In general Earth cultures continue to be dominated by powerful groups who
use a variety of communication technologies to manipulate beliefs in a manner
that is considered acceptable. You may obtain some clues as how to work with
the potential slaves through reviewing the accompanying annexes on:
- Political advertising
- Commecial advertising
- Religious advertising
- Interrogation techniques
- Psychological operations
- Addictive substance abuse (including mind-altering drugs)
- Techniques of evangelical preachers
- The potential slaves are accustomed to being enthralled by multi-media shows
based on their relatively primitive technology and various mind-altering substances.
You should therefore have no difficulty in:
- Ensuring an appropriately impressive arrival
- Sustaining a truly awesome sense of your presence
- Attracting them into holding chambers for transportation
- Persuading them of the temporary nature of any inconveniences to which youmay find it necessary to subject them
- Preparing them (possibly in a permanent manner) for the experience which awaits them in their various capacities as slaves
- Using aesthetics to give credibility through "miracles" to
your claim to represent their deity, or be a manifestation of it. If
you act appropriately they will have no means of questioning your claim,
indeed they may expect you to use appropriately powerful means (with
suitable aesthetics) to discipline or eliminate those that do.
- You will find that in general the religion that creates the expectation
of your arrival has instilled in the potential slaves a sense of guilt regarding
their own inadequacies (which they call "sins"). Therefore:
- They expect to be reprimanded for these inadequacies
- They may expect some measure of punishment for these inadequacies
- They expect to be guided into new modes of understanding, which provides
you with every opportunity to condition and groom them for their subsequent
uses
- You will find that belief in your arrival has been carefully cultivated
by individuals with particular skills (termed "evangelical preachers").
These individuals offer a possible key to maintaining control over the potential
slaves, although you may prefer to bypass them using other techniques.
- The hemisphere in which most of the potential slaves are located is also that of the dominant superpower on Earth. The leader of that superpower is himself convinced of the rapture prediction and derives his political power base largely from those that share that belief. Like "Montezuma" of the Aztecs, he may therefore be totally susceptible to your role as "Hernan Cortez".
Constraints
For your acquisition process to go smoothly, you might usefully bear in mind the following constraints:
- The potential slaves consider that the whole "rapture" process
in which you will be engaged has been carefully pre-scripted in their holy
book (as with the indigenous they themselves displaced). You are therefore
strongly advised to work within the rather simple constraints of that script
and not to deviate from it in any detectable manner. An annex describes key
elements of that script which you can use technology beyond their understanding
to emulate
- There is a quantitative constraint of 144,000 indicated in the
script. This may be understood to restrict the number of potential slaves
that can be taken to that number, which would clearly not justify your investment
in the enterprise. However, those that expect "rapture" already
exceed this number by several orders of magnitude, so they will welcome any
plausible explanation. You should have no difficulty in using this number
within some other mathematical system to encompass the larger number. Various
suggestions are provided in an annex.
- You will note from the script the expectation of a range of angelic figures
to assist you in the process and in any assembly around a high-tech throne-like
structure that you could usefully develop. You can equip your assistants
with appropriate devices to best simulate those angelic figures and their
attributes.
- It will obviously be very easy for you to simulate awesome effects if any
current of doubt becomnes apparent amongst the potential slaves. It may be
convenient to simulate awesome evil hordes that can be fought off and destroyed.
You should however be aware that the culture in question has dramatised a
wide range of "evil entities" for entertainment purposes and it
would be unfortunate to replicate such effects without being aware that such
imitation would erode credibility.
- The potential slaves have an expectation that the "rapture" acquisition
process will be a relatively rapid one, even instantaneous. Their entertainment
has offered them the technical metaphor of "beaming up". You could therefore
choose to use the appropropriate analogues but you will of course be sensitive
to the resource costs of individual transportation of many isolated people.
It should however be relatively easy to persuade people to move rapidly
to
"assembly points" from which you can transport them in bulk.
- In considering how to make the potential slaves available on the galactic market, you might reflect on ways of sustaining the illusion under which you will be acquiring them with so little reluctance. You should know that their culture is already accustomed to wearing technical communication devices and has an understanding of implants, if only for health purposes. A possibility is therefore to implant an appropriately programmed device that will enable them to live thereafter under the illusion that they are "sitting on the right hand" of their deity in a position of privilege -- whatever task they may be called upon to perform as slaves. Suitable programmes can be beamed to such devices.
Collateral damage and future liability
You should be aware that their expectation of "rapture" includes an understanding that people will be "removed" from wherever they are, even when they are in process of managing complex tasks such as transportation devices that may consequently cause the death of others. In other words they are already reconciled to the "wisdom" of whatever means you apply to their acquisition. In their view those are not removed -- termed the "left behind" -- merit whatever they suffer.
From a galactic perspective it would probably be preferable to minimize such collateral damage.to avoid later claims from the "left behind" when they achieve galactic legal rights. With respect to the potential slaves however, you will note that from a galactic perspective their culture has exhibited a pattern of behaviour towards indigenous peoples which fully entitles you to act according to that pattern (to which they have given legitimacy) in response to themselves.
You should not be concerned about subsequent liability to legal actions in galactic courts from the "left behind". Most of them will be only too pleased that the raptured should have been so agreeably removed -- to live out a a dream of their choice -- with such minimal damage to the society they leave behind. The "left behind" will then be free to respond to the urgent challenges of their society as responsible citizens, rather than being inhibited by large numbers of people who consider that such action is irrelevant.
References
Your intelligent agents will find a large number of relevant references permitting you to refine your acquisition strategy. Given the binary logic of the culture in question, you may be especially interestred in the complementarity of the following perspectives in sofar as they affect the roles you may choose to play -- and appear to oppose:
Strategic Briefing for the Messiah: Based on professional insights from preemptive
news and image management, 1999 [text]
Strategic Briefing for Satan: Based on professional insights from preemptive
news and image management, 1999 [text]
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