We're Not from Here

Throughout We’re Not From Here, characters receive misinformation that causes confusion—the opposite of what information should do. This misinformation leads to misunderstandings and tensions on both a personal and societal level, as Lan’s family struggles to make sense of Zhuri propaganda regarding emotions and violence.

Following the Nug massacre, the Zhuri traditionalist government decided that suppressing emotions would prevent any future violent outbursts. On paper, Zhuri are never supposed to create smell or encourage others to do so. In practice, however, Zhuri have emotions and produce smell frequently. Likewise, in Chapter 7, Lan observes that “for a planet that everybody claimed was peaceful, there seemed to be an awful lot of violence” (68). To the extent that the Zhuri recognize their own violence and emotionality, they scapegoat humans for them; many Zhuri have thoroughly absorbed the government’s propaganda, so they need to find a way to reconcile the obvious with this misinformation.

The Zhuri media supports this widespread acceptance of the government’s claims. The Zhuri news station reports on human violence at several points in the book. Initially, these reports consist of violent images cherry-picked from Earth’s past to portray humans at their most violent.