— And rightly so — intervened Laysha — we’ve had enough of all sorts of higher interests of the nation, and our children don’t have to repeat the same mistakes.
— Fortunately, Magna Carta allows us to replace the death penalty with deportation — defused the situation Graendal — I would not want to impose nineteen life sentences.
— And if there were no such alternative as deportation? — Asked the reporter.
— This alternative was invented by the ancient Greeks. Who knows how history would go if they didn’t? We live in this reality, not in a fictional world.
Sekar smiled and spread his hands.
— All right, sen Vlkov, let's get back to reality. How do you comment on the statement by the Human Rights Watch that the Confederation created, I quote from memory, "a situation of total mockery for the ideals of religious and cultural communities whose morals and whose views differ from the government’s"?
— Sure, let’s go back to reality — agreed Graendal — let's imagine going to one of the larger islands nearby, say, Nuku'alofa. And let’s look at the first open-air cafe on the shore. What will we see?
— Nothing special — suggested the reporter — people eating, drinking, and...
— We'll see — interrupted Graendal — wildly different people, behaving according to their tastes, but at the same time complying with the necessary minimum of common rules. Someone can be there in an evening dress, another in a bathing suit, someone in a lava-lava, and maybe even naked. It is a private matter. But nobody has the right to break furniture or attack others, and everyone has to pay for what they eat and drink. Right?
The reporter nodded and Graendal continued.
— Of course, some people may not like the look or style of behavior of others. For example, a Puritan would be embarrassed to see naturists, naturists do not like Muslims wrapped from head to toe in dark fabric, and the Muslims would be unhappy that the majority of women are not covering their heads and other body parts. A person can argue with another about taste and decency, but the other is entitled to keep their opinion, down to refusing to discuss the subject if they are not interested. What a person is not allowed to do, is to impose their tastes on the others. If a Puritan tries to pull a suit on a naturist, and that begins to rip off clothes from the Puritan, there will be chaos.
— You are right — agreed Sekar — but what if someone is offended by appearance of another, hurting as much as by a slap in the face? Would it not be better to compromise?
— No it wouldn’t, citizens do not have to suffer because of someone's neurosis, and neurotic citizens don’t have to go to public places.
— Ok, that makes sense at the beach — said reporter — but what about the place of work or a classroom?
— At such a place, one should work or study, not stare at the colleagues, and in general, as Gandhi said, everyone should mind their own business and let others do theirs. Otherwise, no amount of social regulation will help ... Irji, if you intend to continue playing Doom, either go to the second floor or turn down the volume.
The boy snorted and adjusted the tuner so that the roar of machine guns weakened to about the level of cicada chirp.
— And really, you should go to sleep already, — said Laysha.
— But ma, I want to listen.
— Are you not afraid you’ll oversleep the breakfast? Remember, nobody would wait for you.
— I’ll set the alarm.
— Okay, I warned you.
— By the way, about children — said the reporter — parents have the right to educate their children in whatever system of values they consider to be correct. It is written in the Magna Carta.
— Let’s look — Graendal stood up and picked a thin book from the shelf — what does it say about the family ... Yeah, I read. "Individuals who have dependent children by power of kinship have the right to freely choose the ethical system for their education, but only as long as they do not subject the children to suffering and as long as they do not violate the common security". Apologies, the role of a judge warrants pedantry. You, sen Sekar, have been inaccurate.
— I can not say, sen Vlkov, that I fully understand what you have read.
— It’s actually quite easy to understand — said Graendal — I will explain using the example of the history of Aboriginal islanders. Just a quarter century ago, most of them were forced to live in reservations. Not because someone made them, but because they had no idea how to survive in the man-made environment. At best, they would immediately get arrested for petty theft — as they had no idea of private property. Worse, they did not know anything about the traffic, electricity, household chemicals. Regular things, that surround us since childhood, became killers to the aboriginals.
— But, sen Vlkov — interrupted the reporter — you can’t call the assimilation policy flawless. Why not allow them to live on reservations, as they were used to?
— Do you ever realize what you are suggesting? — Laysha intervened — the life expectancy in reservations has been only thirty years, and one in ten infants died before the age of one! The natives are people as much as Europeans, Indo-Chinas or Anglo-Saxons.
— And are all citizens of the Confederation, like all of us — said Graendal.
— They might be same as us — said Sekar — but their culture is disappearing.
— What?! — Indignantly said Irji — Ato utafoa iine la kaa to iruo anootari!
— Ugh — the reporter pulled back — what was that?
The boy sniffed condescendingly and translated:
— Utafoa people will not disappear as long as moon and the sun are shining. Culture is not someone else's, it’s everyone’s! Like the sky or the ocean.
— Well said! — Laysha said, patting her son on the head.
— Eitona-tone raa le — agreed Graendal.
Sekar almost dropped the cup.
— What did you say, sen Vlkov?
— I said, "These are the words of a man". It is a serious praise.
-— How do you know the Aboriginal language?
— It is the second official language of the Confederation.
— I know. But I thought it's just a formality.
— Nothing like that. It has been in the school curriculum for eight years. Laysha and I learned it along with Irji, that's it. A beautiful language, by the way.
5. Your tolerance is just cowardice
The reporter held up his hands in submission.
— You win, sen Vlkov! The issue of Aboriginal culture is dismissed.
— Not y et . There still remains a challenge of saving the unique crafts and fine arts related to everyday life. It’s not that straightforward to turn an authentic Utafoa village into a modern suburb. But we’ve deviated from the subject, haven’t we?
— Yes, indeed. We talked about the patriarchal families in another sense. I mean, that their children do not have the problem which the aboriginal children faced.
— Why not? — Graendal said — the same problem exactly. Children from patriarchal families are not able to live in the information environment created by a technogenic society. You said it yourself, for people from a patriarchal culture someone's appearance is like a punch in the face. A child with patriarchal upbringing comes to school and gets hurt as if hit by a series of slaps. Now back to that point of the Magna Carta ...
— Wait, not so fast! — pleaded Sekar — whatever is written in that paragraph, the foundation of the Magna Carta is that no one is allowed to bring violence to other people for arbitrary reasons!