Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by davidbak on February 21, 2021
Isn’t this kind of self-contradictory political language exactly the type of language the avout would describe as "bulshytt"†? Shouldn’t the avout be eschewing this term and using something more straightforward? (There are many instances in the book where the avout characters call out each other for saying "bulshytt".)
"First" among "Equals" is something any theoric avout (physicists and mathematicians, basically) would certainly see as self-contradictory (the "equals" relation in mathematics doesn’t allow for designating one element of the relation as "first"). There are many different titles that could be used – "leader", "First Speaker" (as they call it in Asimov’s Second Foundation), "tie-breaker", etc., that are not self-contradictory or euphamistic.
†Bulshytt is a technical term in the language of the academic/scientific people in the Stephenson novel Anathem, defined as follows in the book:
Bulshytt … (2) … a more technical and clinical term denoting speech (typically but not necessarily commercial or political) that employs euphemism, convenient vagueness, numbing reputation, and other such rhetorical subterfuges to create the impression that something has been said. … — THE DICTIONARY, 4th edition, …
There are 2 aspects to this answer; the point of view of the narrator, and the structure of the Mathic world.
We must bear in mind that Fraa Erasmas is an Edharian, as are almost all of the people closest to him. Even Arsibalt, Tulia and Ala would likely have bound to the Edharian Order except for politics in the math that limited the number that could bind to the Order of Saunt Edhar.
The Edharians are exceedingly empirical, questioning even the validity of information from their senses and what is commonsensical. For example, consider Fraa Orolo's planing of Erasmas in the kitchen; he belabours Erasmas to find a good argument against the existence of pink nerve-gas-farting dragons; or the discussion they have at Orithena where Erasmas has to try to explain how he knows what Orolo's back looks like even though he can't see it. Edharians will take things extremely literally.
But not all fraas and suurs of the mathic world are Edharians (or other orders descended from the Halikaarnians or the Evenedricians), in fact it appears that the majority of the concent, (and apparently most others) are various offshoots of the Procians (in the Concent of Saunt Edhar, the New Circle and the Old Reformed Faanites). The Procian-aligned orders are much more willing to use rhetorical language, or language as a tool to achieve an outcome as opposed a tool to investigate an idea. From Erasmus' description of his encounter with Fraa Corlandin:
"Orolo is an impressive theorician," Fraa Corlandin said. "I regret that I haven't been suvined by him more."
The flaw in this was obvious: odds were that Corlandin was going to spend sixty or seventy more years in the same math with Orolo. If he really meant what he said, why didn't he simply pick up his stew-bowl and walk across the Refectory to Orolo's table?
Fortunately my mouth was full of bread, and so I did not subject Fraa Corlandin to a withering blast of Thelenean analysis. Chewing my food gave me time to realize that he was just speaking polite nothings. Edharians never talked this way. Spending all my time around Edharians, I'd forgotten how to do it.
I tried to unlimber those parts of my mind that were used for polite conversation: probably a good thing to do anyway, on Apert eve. "I'm sure you could arrange to be suvined by Orolo, if you sat down near him and said something wrong."
Fraa Corlandin chuckled at my joke. "I'm afraid I don't know enough about the stars even to say something wrong."
"Well, today for once he said something that wasn't about stars."
"That's what I heard. Who could have guessed that our cosmographer was an enthusiast for dead languages?"
Where Erasmas much later unpacks that last comment to realize it contains multiple levels of aspersions being cast on Orolo.
What this tells us is that while we are clearly shown what an Edharian might consider bulshytt, that doesn't mean that view would even be a majority opinion in the mathic world.
Secondly, the way that "First Among Equals" (FAE) is used is not completely inconsistent with its meaning. The Concent has a heirarchy; there are the Primate and the Wardens Fendant and Regulant, and under them other heirarchs. The title "First Among Equals" is not applied to any of these who have the authority of their role; FAE is used to refer to the ad-hoc leader of a group that lacks an officially designated leader. (Meaning a leadership role defined in the Discipline of the Mathic world, not a "hey, you're in charge" assignment.)
So we see a FAE of the Valer action team, a FAE of each chapter in a particular math, a FAE of the non-chapter of the Lineage at Orithena, the FAE of the group that retrieves Erasmas to the Convox after Orithena is rodded... In this context "First Among Equals" isn't a title as much as it's an operational designation of who is leading at that moment, where the only thing of importance about them is that they happen to be in charge.
Correct answer by DavidW on February 21, 2021
The Ringing Vale Avout are unique in the Mathic world because of their focus on emergence:
[Confronted with violence] Some of their number were killed. Some of the martial artists performed well, others froze up and did no better than those who'd had no training at all. That sort of situation became known as an emergence. A few of the survivors went on to found the Ringing Vale math. According to Lio, they spent almost as much time thinking about the concept of emergence as they did in physical training...
It is not difficult to imagine a narrative in which Ringing Vale Avout are judged based on their ability to navigate an emergence - just as Lio tested his ability to respond to violence by having Erasmas punch him, the Vale Avout must have various tests designed to measure their abilities during an emergence. Avout who can handle an emergence are in some way equals; while each is not equivalent, they share the binary distinction of having passed an important test.
Those Avout who do not pass, would not be chosen as representatives to the Convox at Tredegarh. So in one sense those Ringing Vale Avout that we meet are equals.
The First Among Equals is the one given command authority, but as we see, the Valers are trained to act independently and without awaiting commands:
A redshirted woman on the perimeter called out "Fusil" which was a ridiculously archaic Orth word meaning a long-barreled firearm. The redshirts to either side instantly turned their backs on her to look in other directions.
After her neighbors perform what is clearly a practiced response, the woman takes independent action without reference to command:
The woman who had called out "Fusil" skipped forward, raising her hands, and did a cartwheel that took her to the lid of a trash container. From there she sprang sideways, rolled, and came up near a drinking fountain on which she planted a foot to shove off and make a violent reversal of direction.... In this manner she made rapid progress toward the gunman atop the drummon.
So we see two things which suggest Valers may treat each others as equals with the First Among Equals being a semantic term:
Therefore the Ringing Vale Avout have sufficient reason to call their leaders FAE without being guilty of bulshytt.
Answered by gowenfawr on February 21, 2021
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