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beccatoriaOkay, so this rocked. In a quiet way. It was half an episode, but a *rocking* half. Is it just me, or has there been an absence of silence lately? Daring shots like the almost endless quiet (save the guitar riff) of Baltar smoking and Six watching on.
But on the to the point. The reason why I would have loved this episode even if it had terrible dialogue (it didn't) and bad effects (it didn't) and poor acting (it didn't.)
It did that thing - it made me look at one of my most deeply held beliefs, and think, crap, that belief could actually end up doing more harm than good. And the other ace bit? The belief I found challenged is also one of the core beliefs of the show.
When Baltar and Zarek hatch their plan, they aren't trying to keep humanity safe, they aren't carefully considering what's best or safest, it's a power grab.
The whole of humanity and their safety sacrificed to the altar of Gaius' ego and Zarek's revolutionism. And I find the latter issue quite intriguing, because Zarek does genuinely believe his revolution is necessary for freedom and a decent future. He wants to save humanity too. But, as always, he's seemingly oblivious to the Cylon threat, or deems it secondary to using the "clean slate" they've been given to affect social change.
Judging by what we've seen of colonial society, Zarek's not wrong that it has problems. He's not wrong that there's something ghostly and elegiac about the lawyers still trying to be lawyers, the whole of humanity going through the motions on crumbling freighters, three steps away from starvation, dehydration, asphyxiation.
In some ways, Zarek is the epitomy of the idea that, "There are freedoms more important than safety." Which is, I believe, a core tenet of the show. In interviews, Ronald D. Moore has discussed the way he likes that the Colonials did not simply abandon their government and declare martial law for a sense of safety, because democracy *is* more important to them than being safe.
This is an issue I've often wished would be explored more. A belief in the principles of democracy might make for a better motivator in the anti-military sentiments that appeared among the civilian fleet than the...relatively sketchy reasons we were given.
Oh, the irony if the core theme of the show comes from the mouth of Tom Zarek. Honestly? I don't think he is the champion of this theme, because he's not putting *freedom* above safety, he's putting *his* idea of freedom and social set-ups above the safety of everyone. (Which, in a way, Roslin does as well; anyone in charge is required to - that's why they're elected though, so at least they've been given that permission. Which is why these elections *are* important. Because at the moment, no one leading the fleet has been).
So, anyway, to quote a cool movie, here we are, at the raggedy edge. With a wedge issue dividing the voters, and an election that might literally decide whether or not humanity is wiped out, because if they stay on that planet, no way they won't get found. I mean, THERE ARE CYLON AGENTS IN THE BLOODY FLEET STILL!
And yet, if Baltar gets elected, it's legal.
He'd be the president, and...wow that really drives home to me the dangers of democracy. Cos, no, I wouldn't change it for the world, and like I've said loads of times before, something I *like* about this show is that there are things more important than safety. But talk about sobering. Elect the wrong guy, and it's literally the end of humanity.
No wonder Laura told him to go frak himself after the debate. I really felt that sentiment. And what if Laura did something really drastic and illegal, like wanted him Caine'd and airlocked, or planned his assassination. That would be so, *so* wrong, and it would look like she was doing it out of hubris, or an inability to comply with the law, and I wouldn't know what to think, because I practically worship Laura Roslin, but I could see it. The fear. It would be less about maintaining her own power and more about preventing what she genuinely believed to be the freakin' end of her species.
What do you do? Throw out democracy because *you're* convinced it's wrong? Surely the point of democracy is that the minority have to abide by the rule of the majority - when the minority won't, that's when you get Zareks.
But when the stakes are this high, could you sit by, with a clean conscience, and do nothing? If I really believed that I was saving what was left of humanity, wouldn't that be worth going against my own principles, and sacrificing my integrity in the eyes of others? Or is that, in itself, a form of hubris? Should I abide by the majority? What if I knew the new president was absolutely nutso?
And then, after all of this questioning, I'm still back to the basic dilemma. I *believe* that democracy and freedom of speech and human rights are more important than my personal safety. And once they're breached, even if that breach saves lives, or a species, could you go back? If the precedent is set that these rights are only applicable when it's convenient, how would that affect society?
The way martial law was declared - the way that the beginning of season two and the Pegasus/Ressurection Ship arc proved that the civilian government exists on the sufferance of the military - a fact that *has* to be ignored for society to continue to function as it does.
Would this become the new elephant in the room?
If Baltar wins and is assassinated, or is cheated out of winning, we're back to ghost ships, going through the motions, pretending nothing's changed, except that they've lost the thing they were once willing to die for - retreated behind a line that was once drawn in blood, in front of tinned coffee on the Gideon. Just shells in hollow ships. Lawyers acting like lawyers in a world where the law means jack.
And if Baltar does win, and is sworn in, and the settlement goes through as planned, there might be no humans left to care either way.
Oy.
This post sponsored by Democracy - now with added terror!
But on the to the point. The reason why I would have loved this episode even if it had terrible dialogue (it didn't) and bad effects (it didn't) and poor acting (it didn't.)
It did that thing - it made me look at one of my most deeply held beliefs, and think, crap, that belief could actually end up doing more harm than good. And the other ace bit? The belief I found challenged is also one of the core beliefs of the show.
When Baltar and Zarek hatch their plan, they aren't trying to keep humanity safe, they aren't carefully considering what's best or safest, it's a power grab.
The whole of humanity and their safety sacrificed to the altar of Gaius' ego and Zarek's revolutionism. And I find the latter issue quite intriguing, because Zarek does genuinely believe his revolution is necessary for freedom and a decent future. He wants to save humanity too. But, as always, he's seemingly oblivious to the Cylon threat, or deems it secondary to using the "clean slate" they've been given to affect social change.
Judging by what we've seen of colonial society, Zarek's not wrong that it has problems. He's not wrong that there's something ghostly and elegiac about the lawyers still trying to be lawyers, the whole of humanity going through the motions on crumbling freighters, three steps away from starvation, dehydration, asphyxiation.
In some ways, Zarek is the epitomy of the idea that, "There are freedoms more important than safety." Which is, I believe, a core tenet of the show. In interviews, Ronald D. Moore has discussed the way he likes that the Colonials did not simply abandon their government and declare martial law for a sense of safety, because democracy *is* more important to them than being safe.
This is an issue I've often wished would be explored more. A belief in the principles of democracy might make for a better motivator in the anti-military sentiments that appeared among the civilian fleet than the...relatively sketchy reasons we were given.
Oh, the irony if the core theme of the show comes from the mouth of Tom Zarek. Honestly? I don't think he is the champion of this theme, because he's not putting *freedom* above safety, he's putting *his* idea of freedom and social set-ups above the safety of everyone. (Which, in a way, Roslin does as well; anyone in charge is required to - that's why they're elected though, so at least they've been given that permission. Which is why these elections *are* important. Because at the moment, no one leading the fleet has been).
So, anyway, to quote a cool movie, here we are, at the raggedy edge. With a wedge issue dividing the voters, and an election that might literally decide whether or not humanity is wiped out, because if they stay on that planet, no way they won't get found. I mean, THERE ARE CYLON AGENTS IN THE BLOODY FLEET STILL!
And yet, if Baltar gets elected, it's legal.
He'd be the president, and...wow that really drives home to me the dangers of democracy. Cos, no, I wouldn't change it for the world, and like I've said loads of times before, something I *like* about this show is that there are things more important than safety. But talk about sobering. Elect the wrong guy, and it's literally the end of humanity.
No wonder Laura told him to go frak himself after the debate. I really felt that sentiment. And what if Laura did something really drastic and illegal, like wanted him Caine'd and airlocked, or planned his assassination. That would be so, *so* wrong, and it would look like she was doing it out of hubris, or an inability to comply with the law, and I wouldn't know what to think, because I practically worship Laura Roslin, but I could see it. The fear. It would be less about maintaining her own power and more about preventing what she genuinely believed to be the freakin' end of her species.
What do you do? Throw out democracy because *you're* convinced it's wrong? Surely the point of democracy is that the minority have to abide by the rule of the majority - when the minority won't, that's when you get Zareks.
But when the stakes are this high, could you sit by, with a clean conscience, and do nothing? If I really believed that I was saving what was left of humanity, wouldn't that be worth going against my own principles, and sacrificing my integrity in the eyes of others? Or is that, in itself, a form of hubris? Should I abide by the majority? What if I knew the new president was absolutely nutso?
And then, after all of this questioning, I'm still back to the basic dilemma. I *believe* that democracy and freedom of speech and human rights are more important than my personal safety. And once they're breached, even if that breach saves lives, or a species, could you go back? If the precedent is set that these rights are only applicable when it's convenient, how would that affect society?
The way martial law was declared - the way that the beginning of season two and the Pegasus/Ressurection Ship arc proved that the civilian government exists on the sufferance of the military - a fact that *has* to be ignored for society to continue to function as it does.
Would this become the new elephant in the room?
If Baltar wins and is assassinated, or is cheated out of winning, we're back to ghost ships, going through the motions, pretending nothing's changed, except that they've lost the thing they were once willing to die for - retreated behind a line that was once drawn in blood, in front of tinned coffee on the Gideon. Just shells in hollow ships. Lawyers acting like lawyers in a world where the law means jack.
And if Baltar does win, and is sworn in, and the settlement goes through as planned, there might be no humans left to care either way.
Oy.
This post sponsored by Democracy - now with added terror!
