Reading: Telempath, by Spider Robinson, Part Three

[othercat]

The main reason why I have always been ambivalent about Telempath is that there seems to be something slightly “off” about the entire set up. Jacob Stone, a black scientist frames Wendell Morgan Carlson, a white scientist for spreading a plague that destroys human civilization and starts a war with another terrestrial species. The sticking point I think is the way that the elder Stone’s frame involves playing on a presumably white conservative audience’s fear and mistrust of black (and white?) liberal political activism. He even does the thing where the white liberal is awkwardly attempting to join in on a “black only” activity or group and is subsequently rejected on account of being white and presumably clueless. Another reason I have a problem with the setup is because when you consider it, the entire screed he wrote about Carlson is essentially projection. (Meaning that when Stone is talking about Carlson being a wing nut, the actual wing nut being discussed is Stone.)

 

 

We open up with Isham coming down from some kind of trance.


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