I had skimmed it. “Reasonably familiar,” I said– cautiously, I thought.
“Then you know the First Freedom guaranteed by the Charter and its current application through F & A Control Board Administrative Order Number eleven-seventy-six dated three March of this year. You concede therefore that all grain grown on the Moon in excess of the local ration is ab initio and beyond contest the property of all, title held in trust by the Federated Nations through its agencies for distribution as needed.” He was writing as he talked. “Have you anything to add to that concession?”
I said, “What in Bog’s name you talking about?” Then, “Come back! Haven’t conceded anything!”
So Great New York Times printed:
LUNAR “UNDERSECRETARY” SAYS:
“FOOD BELONGS TO HUNGRY”
New York Today–O’Kelly Davis, soi-disant “Colonel of the Armed Forces of Free Luna” here on a junket to stir up support for the insurgents in the F.N. Lunar colonies, said in a voluntary statement to this paper that the “Freedom from Hunger” clause in the Grand Charter applied to the Lunar grain shipments–
I asked Prof how should have handled? “Always answer an unfriendly question with another question,” he told me. “Never ask him to clarify; he’ll put words in your mouth. This reporter– Was he skinny? Ribs showing?”
“No. Heavyset.”
“Not living on eighteen hundred calories a day, I take it, which is the subject of that order he cited. Had you known you could have asked him how long he had conformed to the ration and why he quit? Or asked him what he had for breakfast–and then looked unbelieving no matter what he answered. Or when you don’t know what a man is getting at, let your counter-question shift the subject to something you do want to talk about. Then, no matter what he answers, make your point and call on someone else. Logic does not enter into it–just tactics.”
“Prof, nobody here is living on eighteen hundred calories a day. Bombay, maybe. Not here.”
“Less than that in Bombay. Manuel, that ‘equal ration’ is a fiction. Half the food on this planet is in the black market, or is not reckoned through one ruling or another. Or they keep two sets of books, and figures submitted to the F.N. having nothing to do with the economy. Do you think that grain from Thailand and Burma and Australia is correctly reported to the Control Board by Great China? I’m sure that the India representative on that food board doesn’t. But India keeps quiet because she gets the lion’s share from Luna. . . and then ‘plays politics with hunger’–a phrase you may remember–by using our grain to control her elections. Kerala had a planned famine last year. Did you see it in the news?”
“No.”
“Because it wasn’t in the news. A managed democracy is a wonderful thing, Manuel, for the managers.. . and its greatest strength is a ‘free press’ when ‘free’ is defined as ‘responsible’ and the managers define what is ‘irresponsible.’ Do you know what Luna needs most?”
“More ice.”
“A news system that does not bottleneck through one channel. Our friend Mike is our greatest danger.”
“Huh? Don’t you trust Mike?”
“Manuel, on some subjects I don’t trust even myself. Limiting the freedom of news ‘just a little bit’ is in the same category with the classic example ‘a little bit pregnant.’ We are not yet free nor will we be as long as anyone–even our ally Mike–controls our news. Someday I hope to own a newspaper independent of any source or channel. I would happily set print by hand, like Benjamin Franklin.”
I gave up. “Prof, suppose these talks fail and grain shipments stop. What happens?”
“People back home will be vexed with us. . . and many here on Terra would die. Have you read Malthus?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Many would die. Then a new stability would be reached with somewhat more people–more efficient people and better fed. This planet isn’t crowded; it is just mismanaged . . . and the unkindest thing you can do for a hungry man is to give him food. ‘Give.’ Read Malthus. It is never safe to laugh at Dr. Malthus; he always has the last laugh. A depressing man, I’m glad he’s dead. But don’t read him until this is over; too many facts hamper a diplomat, especially an honest one.”