I guess i got to read them more. I only read Player of Games and Consider Phlebas and my take away was that they have what’s almost a paradise but it’s still fucked up.
A common mistake readers make is that they believe the Vavatch orbital is Culture. It’s very definitely not, so all the unsavory stuff going on there isn’t a reflection of the Culture. Not Damage, not the Eaters (they hate The Culture!), and so on.
Use of Weapons, Consider Phlebas, and to a lesser degree Player of Games are mostly outsider perspectives of The Culture, so that warps judgement a little too.
IDK if Iain Banks could have made it clearer that Vavatch is non-Culture. I guess us only knowing drones and orbitals from The Culture made some readers conflate the two societies despite their extreme moral differences.
The Culture doesn’t believe in non-interference. But it’s not “CIA shit” if they’re actually doing it to influence a society to become better rather than just pretending that that’s the goal in order to take their oil.
I guess i got to read them more. I only read Player of Games and Consider Phlebas and my take away was that they have what’s almost a paradise but it’s still fucked up.
A common mistake readers make is that they believe the Vavatch orbital is Culture. It’s very definitely not, so all the unsavory stuff going on there isn’t a reflection of the Culture. Not Damage, not the Eaters (they hate The Culture!), and so on.
Use of Weapons, Consider Phlebas, and to a lesser degree Player of Games are mostly outsider perspectives of The Culture, so that warps judgement a little too.
IDK if Iain Banks could have made it clearer that Vavatch is non-Culture. I guess us only knowing drones and orbitals from The Culture made some readers conflate the two societies despite their extreme moral differences.
I also only ‘read’ as an audio book so i might missed a few details. I was not even referring to Vavtch. But the cia shit they pull in PoG.
The Culture doesn’t believe in non-interference. But it’s not “CIA shit” if they’re actually doing it to influence a society to become better rather than just pretending that that’s the goal in order to take their oil.
But that is just their idea of better.
And yours. And mine. And everyone else’s who isn’t a fascist who wants to oppress other people.