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Originally Posted by jason taylor
On a par with 20th century perhaps. But they have left the twentieth century far behind.
And yes people on Capital would be far to sophisticated to worship the Emperor and in any case many religions and even many emperors would consider this blasphemous hubris. The point was that I think imagining a large portion of the Imperial population having an outlook more similar to pre-moderns then to ivy-league graduates in the twentieth century is not implausible either. In the eighteenth century by comparison, large portions of the upper classes had an outlook on life that is surprisingly similar to that of urbanized moderns at times; while peasants seem to have a medieval outlook simultaneously.
I certainly don't see Strephon supporting a personal cult as such. I could see it happening. Furthermore there is a lot of space between a Mark Twain-ish cynicism and skepticism, and Emperor worship as such.
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Edmund Burke had no trouble in seeing Marie Antoinette as both a childish idiot and a heroine of chivalric romance at the same time. I doubt many on these boards would find Burke unsophistocated. I imagine that there's a lot of doublethink in the Imperium. The Emperor would be both an Uncle Sam-like image of the Imperium and its benefits and a mortal man.
Also remember in the here and now, many British people, who ought to know better, think that Elizabeth II cares about them personally. Doubtless its the same in any stable monarchy.