"Remember the planet of Thetis Alpha called Fitzgerald, where they used a big beast called a horse for everything -- from pulling carts to racing? All right, suppose you visited a place where you had been told that a few horses had been taught to talk. While you're working there, somebody comes to give you a hand, dragging a spavined old plug with a straw hat pulled down over its ears and a pack on its back ... You aren't going to think of that horse as one of the talking ones, You aren't accustomed to thinking of horses as being able to talk at all."
James Blish, "Earthman, Come Home"
Cultures that make extensive use of servants very often exhibit this blind spot. But "The Help" are the folks who get the work done on a regular basis, and often understand better than their supposed superiors where the obstacles are, and how to improve matters.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dancing_serpent
Prompt
Date: 2023-06-06 06:45 pm (UTC)James Blish, "Earthman, Come Home"
Cultures that make extensive use of servants very often exhibit this blind spot. But "The Help" are the folks who get the work done on a regular basis, and often understand better than their supposed superiors where the obstacles are, and how to improve matters.