Another novel about correcting the past

My Sunday movie was Strictly Ballroom. This was Baz Luhrmann’s first firm, released in 1992. This movie was recommended several years ago by a pioneering handbell person – pioneering in that she and her handbell team played in a jazz style at a time when handbells were almost entirely in churches, schools, and community groups that put on concerts of the traditional handbell repertoire. Yes, that story is important. The movie is fiction and centers on Scott Hastings. He’s the son of Shirley and Doug who run a dance studio in Australia. Scott is considered the likely winner of the next ballroom dance competition. Ballroom dance competitions have prescribed dances done in specified ways. The score (as implied by the movie) is based on how well the couple does the designated steps and what individual flair they bring. Scott is getting bored with it, so adds his own steps, confusing his partner and losing a preliminary contest. His mother is furious. Fran, a beginner, volunteers to be Scott’s new partner. She wants to dance his way. She catches on quite quickly. Of course, the new pairing faces a great deal of pressure from Mom and the leadership in the ballroom dance community who are very much in support of tradition. Though we know where this is going getting there is quite delightful, with a lot of beautiful dancing. I enjoyed this one. The handbell pioneer was right – the ways handbells had been done was restrictive, though few recognized there were alternatives. Now in my handbell performance group we have a much broader style of repertoire to choose from. We’ve even done jazz style pieces, though fully written out, not improvised. I finished the book To Turn the Tide by S. M. Stirling. It’s a time travel novel, similar to A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain and the series of Conrad Stargard novels by Leo Frankowski I wrote about in May, in which the protagonist is thrust back in time and makes changes in the technology and society. There are, of course, many other examples of this type of story. In this story college professor and retired military Arthur and grad students Mark (neurodivergent), Filipa (Korean lesbian), Paula (Black), and Jeremy are sent back to Vindobona of 165 CE. This is the height of the Roman Empire and the town is where Vienna would eventually be built. They are sent back just as the nukes start flying at the start of WWIII. They know the world of their originating time and the machine that sent them back are gone. Ancient Rome is the research specialty of all of them, so they aren’t completely clueless of the society they’re dumped into (though their Latin sounds way to scholarly). They are also sent back with a ton of equipment (yep, a literal metric ton), including books about modern technology, a pile of coins appropriate to the time (so they’re comparatively rich) but looking way too new, medication, and their cell phones with solar chargers. They can’t call, but pocket computers are mighty helpful. My first beef is there is a guy who saw the war coming and prepared for the jump back in time, both assembling the ton of equipment and leading the development of the time machine. But the team sent back seemed tricked into the trip rather than being trained into the venture. In an afterward the author confirms they were tricked. But I’m puzzled about why. They didn’t want to leave families? They didn’t believe that war was coming? Once in 165 CE their riches and knowledge quickly get them a sponsor and a work space. They introduce what they call Type A inventions – things the locals had the technology to build but never had the idea. That included the wheelbarrow, spinning wheel, threshing machine, stirrups (not being a horse person I had no idea how important stirrups are), and paper. And gunpowder. That last one is important because the barbarians on the other side of the Danube River will attack in a year or so (according to our history) and the war will go on for 14 years. That’s quite similar to Conrad of the Frankowski books needing to get Poland ready for the Mongol hordes. Arthur quickly adopts the name Artorius. His battle skills and the innovations of the team quickly draw the attention of Emperor Marcus Arelius, who in this portrayal is quite smart and astute. My second beef with the story is the author portrays the many battle scenes in much more detail than I liked. The damage a projectile propelled by gunpowder can do to a human body doesn’t need to be repeated so much. I mostly enjoyed the tale and its telling. I got into it enough that I found a map of the Roman world. But… The rest of this section contains spoilers. Here is the big beef with the story. The implication (perhaps explicitly stated) is the purpose of going back to the height of the Roman Empire is so those from the 21st century can change the course of history so that WWIII and its nuclear devastation doesn’t happen. In my opinion this goal isn’t achieved. Or the author thinks what his characters do will achieve it and I strongly disagree with him. What I expected – why I bought the book – was the Artorius and his colleagues would start spreading the ideas of equality, democracy, and other ideas about building up inclusion and peace, even if they had to fight a few battles before the ideas took hold. I expected they would boost the wealth of the “barbarians” beyond their borders so there would be less desire to invade and more desire to keep valuable trade flowing – which is what the European Union has accomplished since WWII. The answer the author provides is the opposite: conquest. He seems to think extending the Empire will also extend Pax Romana. But we in the 21st century, if we pay any attention to history, know well the costs of conquest and colonialism. Rome might fare well and protect itself. But the peoples who were pushed aside (and killed) to allow Rome’s peace would not agree. Just ask the indigenous peoples across the world. Putting all this into terms I’ve been using a lot lately... That WWIII happened because one or more countries said I’m better than you, so I will retaliate to your insults. Each country is scrambling to establish themselves in the social hierarchy. And it escalates from there. I believe that all evil is because of trying to enforce the hierarchy. In the same way Rome is declaring itself to be better, higher in position, than the peoples around it. Rome may have legitimate reasons for its claim (though that might be because we have a history of Rome, and not nearly so much history of the Germanic tribes). But enforcing the hierarchy in the 2nd century will do nothing to reduce the hierarchy of the 21st. The author, of course, recommends the sequels. So far, only one sequel is in print. And to me its plot comes across as silly. At the same time the team was sent from Vienna to Vindabona a Chinese team was also sent back to 165 CE. And they fight with the implication that civilization is in peril. So, no, I’m not going to read the second or third books in the series to see if the author eventually comes around to what I think needs to happen in the 2nd century to make for a peaceful 21st. Last week I wrote about the International Association of Genocide Scholars declaring that what Israel is doing in Gaza is genocide. My friend and debate partner, after praising recent posts, responded:

Wikipedia says the International Association of Genocide Scholars has "over 500 members", but let's work with your figure of 500. Then about 120 of its members showed their inability to differentiate between genocide and warfare against militarized facilities, about 20 correctly disagreed with the mistaken 120 – and the other roughly 360 members (the vast majority) had something better to do with their time.