"Here's the important thing," Lonnie said. "Based on some new tests, it turns out that this field is stronger, more coherent, in people whose view of the world arises from some strongly-held set of core beliefs or principles. That means it's stronger for a devout Christian, for instance, than it would be for someone who has no particular views on religion."
"Oh, hang it up," a member of the security team muttered.
"Look, this isn't just about religion. A legislator operating from a moral compass would have a stronger field than one who bases his decisions on whatever facts were presented. My point is that the same thing that holds for galaxies also holds for groups of people. The whole thing about there being strength in numbers isn't really about numbers. It's about the people in that group all having the same objective."
Kerr nodded. "You mean like the crowd here? That we're stronger when we're united in common purpose?"
"Exactly. But that common purpose has to be the core of why the people have united. Remember all the anti-war protests after the US invaded Iraq? They weren't effective because they weren't all of one mind. Those rallies were coalitions of groups that each had their own agenda, and only came together over one issue that was really only peripheral to their purpose."
Something must have struck home, because the people he was facing suddenly started looking around.
"That's right," he said, "the same thing is true here. What happened in Egypt succeeded because the people gathered in Tahrir Square came together without an agenda. At first, they didn't know what they were there for, but because they came without agendas, the citizens of Cairo naturally began to align with one another's fields, and that multiplied their effectiveness."
"So what you're saying," Kerr hazarded, "is that the secret you told the governor's office was that to defeat us, they only needed to keep us separated."
"Yes. It's as simple as "divide and conquer'. Anything they could do to reinforce the fact that the people here worked for different unions, came from different backgrounds and had different long-term objectives, would defeat you in the end."
"I'll tell you what," she said after looking around again, "if what you say is true, and I have to tell you it strikes me in my gut as core truth, then you'll get all the recognition you ever wanted if you take a few minutes to figure out how to explain that to the people here without too much technical detail. Are you game?"
Lonnie took a deep breath. His inner conflict had abated. "I think so, now that I'm of one mind about it."
THE END
Copyright 2011 by P. Orin Zack
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