- [<] Status Log - created:: 2021-05-15 - status-updated:: 2022-03-02 reformatted, I assume * status-updated:: 2022-03-03 added a new beginning * status-updated:: re-written and shared to [[Forum Discussions]] https://www.datasecretslox.com/index.php/topic,11863.new.html#new as a way to test run it. - current-status:: #articleseed - [S] Marketing - purpose:: Provide a hot take on Dune to raise my profile in the SFF community. Also, pushback against ableist assumptions. Can submit to [[Tordotcom]] or [[Deadlands]]. Deadlands pays better but has smaller reach. Start with Tor? - purpose:: callback to the [[Sacrifice]] article on Substack. Dune is an enormously popular part of the science fiction canon. It's complex worldbuilding spans thousands of years and multiple cultures. At its core, though, the series seems heavily inspired by the politics and culture of the Mediterranean, from House Atredies being modeled on the mythological Greek House Atreus to the Fremen being, as far as I can tell, based on the Maghreb. Paul himself was, if I remember right, inspired by Lawrence of Arabia, who led an Arab revolt against the Turks during World War I. Sietch Tabr is probably a reference to Deborah and Barak raising an army at the foot of Mt. Tabor to defeat the heavy iron chariots and cavalry of the Canaanites -- Deborah's job was to convince the Israelites that their attack was supported by the divine. Anyway, I first read Dune almost twenty years ago, and I've been hanging out in science fiction fandom since before I was old enough to drink. In all the literature I've read about Dune, all the hot takes and criticisms, I've never seen anyone comment on the illogical nature of Fremen suicide. Am I crazy to think it's weird, do people just not care, does it get buried in other concerns? Dune itself ends on a high note. The protagonist, Paul, has successfully taken control of a critical monopoly and is able to leverage that control into becoming Emperor. He does this thru a combination of taking advantage of what his mother's people have done to seed prophecies into their culture (shades of the Aztecs and Cortez, there), good training by elite tutors, a genuinely clever sense of thinking outside the box when it comes to military strategy, and good breeding. There is a sequel; book two goes somewhat less well for him. Paul's success in book one was dependent on him gaining access to ancestral memories, which because of his gender somehow unlocks prescient powers. Able to see the future, Paul is forced to unleash a bloody jihad in order to preserve humanity from extinction, presumably at the hands of AI, but perhaps not -- my memory is fuzzy. After he's blinded (physically, at least) by an assassination attempt, he also loses his beloved consort Chani in childbirth. The birth "breaks" his prescience and leaves him psychically blind; emotionally scarred for a variety of reasons, he walks into the desert to die, "in accordance with Fremen law." Walking into the desert is described as being something of a cultural norm among the Fremen—he does it because he has been blinded, and Fremen who are too old or infirm are “supposed” to stop being a burden to their people by leaving. A handful of human societies over here in the real world do this; [senicide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senicide) is rarely suicidal but does happen. The Inuit would leave their elderly on the ice to die but it was rare, except during famines, tho the last such case was in 1939. I've heard of it happening in a few other societies with extreme environments. Apparaently Indonesian forest communities also have this sort of deliberate leaving. In a society where water was one iota less precious — or the technology for recovering every ounce of water from a body — I would find it plausible but on Dune I find it shoddy worldbuilding. It feels like Herbert heard "sometimes in extreme environments people walk out onto the ice to die" and thought "ah, perfect!" and stopped there. It feels like Herbert needed Paul needed to leave but be able to return, so a cultural quirk was added to Fremen society that felt reasonable for a harsh environment — after all, what use are can the old and inform people be in a harsh environment, leaving aside things like providing childcare and wisdom and entertainment and leaving aside the fact that they walk into the desert, proving that this ritual applies to even more than those people who are too ill or infirm to travel. What would the Fremen do with someone who could not walk under their own power? Deliberately abandon them? That’s not so noble -- and in the real-life societies where I've heard of it happening, it was usually _orphans_ who were abandoned, but that's never addressed in the texts. From what I know, desert religions typically have suicide _taboos_. It feels like the taboo would be even stronger on Dune. By walking into the desert, people who suicide on Dune are taking all the water their body holds — almost  pounds of it — and abandoning it to the sands. It doesn’t make sense. AND ANOTHER THING, why blindness specifically? Fremen travel at night and in sandy places all the time. Is it really so hard to imagine that blind people with good hearing would be able to manage that? These are people who are taking their kids along them. Are blind people really SO MUCH of a burden that they would rather take their water away? If the discussion were someone who physically couldn’t move anymore, I could understand them refusing to move on to the next location and just staying back at the last camp alone once it’s clear they can’t move on, but blindness specifically doesn’t make much sense. The idea that Paul just had to do it because he was "honoring the customs of his people" doesn't make sense either. Maybe if the Fremen had rules against physically imperfect leaders, which I've read about in other contexts, it would make sense. But it's hard to imagine a scene in Dune where if a powerful leader guy lost a finger but was still totally able to keep up and be useful and fight and lead, it's hard to imagine the Fremen going "you're physically imperfect, time to die now!" So I frankly find Dune Messiah to be one of the worst of Herbert's books -- I even prefer some of Brian Herbert's Dune books to Dune Messiah. So dumb. From Wikipedia: Quote > Now prophetically and physically blind, Paul chooses to embrace the Fremen tradition and walks alone into the desert, winning the fealty of the Fremen for his children, who will inherit his empire. Please. Like that was in any way necessary. Unless one of you guys has an argument that I'm totally misunderstanding how of course it makes sense from an anthropological perspective that the Fremen would have a "blind guys have to walk into the desert" rule -- not even "seppuku with their own crysknife" ? come on! -- I'm gonna keep chalking this up to plot device and shoddy worldbuilding.