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"There was no kiss involved at all in both cases," said Steve and grinned. "There was an intent to 'rape' in both cases. Isn't it an act of rape when someone actively denies another's humanity? That's what happened when there is no kiss on the agenda."
"Jason had insisted that our project should have incorporated the principle of the universal kiss from the very beginning and at every stage," I said to Steve. "He had insisted that it had to be that way to be a human project for the advancement of humanity, rather than being an isolated personal project based on a false premise. Still, he didn't blame me personally for failing. He called my narrow-minded selfishness an echo of Adam Smith. He predicted that pur beach project wouldn't work for that reason."
"Isn't that what I told you?" said Steve. "The church won't allow it, and the people of the community won't allow it, because Adam Smith won't allow it. If you had made it a project for making money, everyone would cheer and the money lenders would line up at your door."
"You never mentioned Adam Smith when we first met in Leipzig," I reminded Steve.
"No, not by name," Steve replied and grinned. "But I did tell you, Peter, that if you were to bring a bunch of commercial bimbos in and turn the project into a circus that destroys all human values in the name of greed, then the project would be allowed and be embraced, and you would rightfully have to call it your project, because then it would be to nobody else's advantage. The great principle of the Second Renaissance is the Principle of the Advantage of the Other. That's the principle of the universal kiss. The principle of the universal kiss gave us the Treaty of Westphalia. In fact, the Treaty of Westphalia, which ended eighty years of war, was the world's first political expression of the principle of the universal kiss. That should have been your motive for your beach project too. In this case you wouldn't carry it, but participate in it."
"It was meant to be that way, wasn't it?" I interjected.
"It wasn't, Pete," said Steve. "If you were to stand up in a public hearing and talk about your project in terms of promoting the principle of the universal kiss, you'd be defeated instantly, because there would be no substance behind your words. People would feel the dishonesty. You hadn't developed the concept yet. You would be talking down to the people in a theoretical fashion, meaning a hierarchical fashion, in an imperial fascist fashion. Of course they wouldn't know why they wouldn't feel good about the project them. They would just sense that there was something not right. Also the imperials would likely clobber you, because they fear the renaissance power behind the idea of the universal kiss. They would respond with fear, even though you missed the mark. They would sense that you were getting close. They would clobber you for that. You would therefore be facing their big guns in such a hearing. You'd be facing the foremost experts at intimidation, the modern Torquemadas of the modern Inquisition. They would then set up the whole neighborhood against you if you don't play the game the Adam Smith way. They would be roasting you as Torquemada roasted the infidels in Spain in the 1400s when he burnt almost 9000 at the stake, alive. He called them heretics. Believe me, this will happen again, and it will happen to you. I have seen it happening so many times and in so many ways.
"However, if you had mobilized a broad-based support for the project," Steve continued," with contributions from all over the country, including from across the world, Adam Smith's fascism wouldn't loom quite so tall anymore. Then the project would have a chance to succeed. Your opposers wouldn't know how to react then. In fact, they wouldn't react at all, lest they be exposing themselves as the modern beastmen modeled after the Inquisition. They can't afford that kind of exposure. They can't risk people tearing the mask off their face. They'd sooner let you proceed. Adam Smith succeeds because he has broad based support, and so had Torquemada or else he wouldn't have been able to do what he did."
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