Index

Coventry Again

An old concept once again begs for use

I grew up reading Robert A. Heinlein (July 7, 1907–May 8, 1988.) The ideas he wrote about helped create an entire generation of engineers, people whose main idea was “make it work.” His heroes were men who were successful through a combination of understanding and stubbornness. They didn’t give up until they got it done, and done right. While he had lots of more progressive social ideas, especially as he got older, his technical people were men - he was a product of his times in that regard.

Heinlein was a young man when the theocrats and fascists tried to take over the United States between the World Wars. His writings showed his anger over it. To this day, his warnings about the corrupt and cruel nature of the theocrats¹ ring true. We see it in Afghanistan with the Taliban. We see it in the international anti-abortion movement that repeatedly demonstrates its cruel nature in what it does to women. Looking at it from the standpoint of women’s rights, the two are the same thing.

One of Heinlein’s ideas was “Coventry.” Coventry was a place - a sort of super-prison - where people were sent when they refused to act civilized. It was not an automatic life sentence, more of a civil “purgatory” where people were sent to learn their lesson. The story centers around a person who manages to leave.

One theoretical difference between Coventry and a prison in America is that the inmates were in charge in Heinlein’s version². With the current world situation, the obvious parallel is Afghanistan., where the theocrats have control. Indeed, one piece of the space allotted to Heinlein’s version was ruled by the losers from the failed U. S. theocratic regime.

So we are now in the middle of rhyming history. The fascists and theocrats are once again trying to take over. Nazi ideas and ideals - racism and authoritarianism among them - are back in the American political discussion, at least on one side. The context that Heinlein brought up his ideas in is back.

While any implementation of a Coventry-like scheme would be brutal, those that would be sent there are the most brutal in our society. The only real difference between the American theocrat-wannabes and the Taliban is the language they speak. They would very quickly fit into Afghan society once they learned the language. In the meantime, they would be free to exercise their racist hatreds and their love of guns all they wanted.

Afghanistan as it currently exists is already a sort of Coventry. The West has pretty much written it off, leaving the Taliban to learn how to be civilized or die. American troublemakers would simply accelerate that process. It would have the benefit of reducing the populations of both Taliban and American theocrats and fascists. The survivors would learn that the rest of the world has no use for their childish antics.

The American fascists, theocrats, and gun nuts have all repeatedly shown that they are far too dangerous to be left running around loose among civilized human beings. It seems like shipping them off to their natural environment would be a good thing for everyone.

Footnotes:

1. It is worth noting that Heinlein’s fictional “prophet” Nehemiah Scudder was elected in 2012, and no elections were held in 2016 or after. Heinlein was dead several years before the cult of Trump attempted this, but the timing in his story was almost prophetic.
2. A lot of the prisons in the U. S. are essentially run by the inmates, and operate as criminal universities. Those that serve their time return far too frequently because of it. This is another reason why the Coventry idea has so much appeal.