Heh, I wrote a very long comment and then ended it with “it would be nice if we could be Aral Vorkosigan”. It’s certainly a good concept, but my objection here is that, unlike the speaker of that quote, we do not:
control an army and navy, which can be used either directly to suppress the consequences of a very bad reputation or indirectly to merely suggest that we could and you therefore ought to be reluctant to act on your low opinion unless you have a very good reason
have a substantial family fortune to fall back on if we are unable or unwilling to use that bludgeon and can no longer rely on ever receiving resources from anyone else
have close bonds of personal/filial loyalty with everyone of any importance in the government, such that even if society judged your reputation sufficiently unforgivable, the chances of having our resources forcibly taken away are nil
In short, it’s not something that works unless no one has power over you. Everyone has someone who has power over them.
Heh, I wrote a very long comment and then ended it with “it would be nice if we could be Aral Vorkosigan”. It’s certainly a good concept, but my objection here is that, unlike the speaker of that quote, we do not:
control an army and navy, which can be used either directly to suppress the consequences of a very bad reputation or indirectly to merely suggest that we could and you therefore ought to be reluctant to act on your low opinion unless you have a very good reason
have a substantial family fortune to fall back on if we are unable or unwilling to use that bludgeon and can no longer rely on ever receiving resources from anyone else
have close bonds of personal/filial loyalty with everyone of any importance in the government, such that even if society judged your reputation sufficiently unforgivable, the chances of having our resources forcibly taken away are nil
In short, it’s not something that works unless no one has power over you. Everyone has someone who has power over them.