Reply #8: Brilliant show. Abolutely convincing. Human civilization nuked by its own robots. [View All]

[Peace Patriot]

Some crusty old admiral in an ancient clunker of a spaceship, already half converted to a museum, is all that is left of the defenses of the 12 planets of this civilization. He and his crew, the Sec of Education (Roslin) there for the decommissioning of his ship, and 50,000 people scattered between the planets in transports and science ships, are all that is left of the entire civilization. He prepares to fight back, with his one old clunker. She tells him, "The war is over. We lost." She is sworn in as president in a scene that is deliberately framed to resemble LBJ's swearing in, on AF-1, after JFK's assassination with distraught and blood-spattered Jackie Kennedy as one of the witnesses (i.e., think of Jackie being sworn in). Their civilization had a myth about a place called "Earth." She tries to convince the old admiral (James Olmos) to give up the fight and embark on a journey to find the mythical "Earth."

I do see the references to Bush post-9/11 in the situation that Roslin is in (and in her religion--the myth about "Earth"). Some of her decisions echo Bush's. However, Battlestar Gallactica, a fictional work, is far more convincing than the "terrorist" bullshit that dumbfuck Bush foisted upon the U.S. of A. after 9/11. That is the profound irony of this TV series. You believe in Roslin's (and Admiral Adama's) dilemmas. They are real. Although 9/11 certainly happened, everything that Bush says and does about it, from 9/12 on, has been a lie. Roslin rises to the challenge of shepherding the last 50,000 human beings through one crisis after another--including their being chased and repeatedly attacked by the robot (Cylon) victors--while trying to maintain the elements of their shredded civilization (civilian rule, civil rights, even a free press, etc.). Similarly, Adama maintains military protocol, chain of command and effective defenses, in this dire circumstance. These two authorities--civilian and military--are sometimes in accord, but more often clash, and the writers maintain a fine, dramatic tension between them throughout the series. There is no dramatic tension in the corporate news monopoly narrative of Bush and the "terrorists." It is lies, disinformation, manipulation of the public and total bullshit from day one.

So, while the show definitely uses 9/11 themes, at times--including the overarching dilemma of how to maintain civilized life and democracy when the civilization is under attack--Battlestar Gallactica makes a far better show of this (and other) themes than Bush and his handlers and their asshole press. And the comparison also breaks down in this respect: The U.S. suffered one attack in which 3,000 people died, but was not attacked, invaded and destroyed by a Cylon fleet and a robot army. There is no comparing the fragility of the condition of the human race in the show, with the situation of the U.S. after 9/11. The U.S. DID NOT NEED TO invade either Iraq OR Afghanistan--and slaughter over a million innocent people--to solve its problem. In Battlestar Gallactica, they are not even sure that 50,000 people are enough to propagate the human race into the future. As they lose more people--to Cylon attacks--this becomes are serious concern. The U.S., on the other hand, is under far more threat from corporate destruction of the environment--and from the war profiteers and looters and mass murderers of the Bush Junta--than it is from scattered cells of "terrorists."

There is one very interesting reference to 9/11, in BG, as to how the Cylons' attack on the 12 planets succeeded in the first place. A human-looking robot seduces their top IT scientist and gains access to their defense computer network. Their weakness was INTERNAL. (Think: Bush holding hands with Prince Saud?) Admiral Adama had opposed computer networking on his old battleship, which is how it had survived the attack. Maybe it's me, and my particular concern about our computerized election system, but I see a reference in this to rightwing Bushite corporations 'counting' all our votes with computers run on 'TRADE SECRET' code, with virtually no audit/recount controls. The mysterious innards of a computer can be your friend; it can also totally fuck over your civilization.

Well, your comment that "Roslin has been Bush most of the time" really set me off. The difference between Roslin and Bush is that Roslin's problems and her reactions to her situation are real and elicit sympathy, and Bush is just a poser. A "codpiece." A puppet. Fiction and reality do a flip-flop. Which is very strange.