Miles, being his father's and mother's son, has a very particular, and particularly biased, political perspective on Komarran-Barrayaran relations. He is a progressive (left-centrist) Barrayaran and works actively for Komarran assimilationism; that's certainly not a neutral position, and canon acknowledges Miles's lack of neutrality.
Note that Duv Galeni (and I am totally convinced by Jewish Galens!), Miles's closest ally among the Komarrans, can quite justifiably be called a collaborator. So can most other important Komarran characters, including, later, Laisa Toscane. I look forward to hearing what you think of the politics in Komarr.
I always thought the hermaphrodites were a failed experiment because their creators wanted everyone to become hermaphroditic in the future, or at the very least, for herms to become societally normalized. Instead, the herms are a small minority within Beta Colony, and, despite Betan proclamations of universal tolerance, herms are viewed by other Betans as people to be tolerated. Their neighborhood of Quartz is the Betan equivalent of the queer ghetto -- trendy yet still outre by Betan standards. Besides Bel, the other herms we hear about in canon are LPSTs or in careers that otherwise emphasize their sexual oddity. Bel Thorne itself is an outlier, a misfit who leaves its home to join a mercenary troop and never comes back. If Bel had been able to fit in back on Beta, the hermaphrodite social experiment might have been a success. But I really think the inventors of herms wanted hermaphrodite social integration, and Beta hasn't got that.
no subject
Note that Duv Galeni (and I am totally convinced by Jewish Galens!), Miles's closest ally among the Komarrans, can quite justifiably be called a collaborator. So can most other important Komarran characters, including, later, Laisa Toscane. I look forward to hearing what you think of the politics in Komarr.
I always thought the hermaphrodites were a failed experiment because their creators wanted everyone to become hermaphroditic in the future, or at the very least, for herms to become societally normalized. Instead, the herms are a small minority within Beta Colony, and, despite Betan proclamations of universal tolerance, herms are viewed by other Betans as people to be tolerated. Their neighborhood of Quartz is the Betan equivalent of the queer ghetto -- trendy yet still outre by Betan standards. Besides Bel, the other herms we hear about in canon are LPSTs or in careers that otherwise emphasize their sexual oddity. Bel Thorne itself is an outlier, a misfit who leaves its home to join a mercenary troop and never comes back. If Bel had been able to fit in back on Beta, the hermaphrodite social experiment might have been a success. But I really think the inventors of herms wanted hermaphrodite social integration, and Beta hasn't got that.