FaxModem1 wrote:Babylon 5 had a feeling of, "The more things change, the more things stay the same" in regards to human nature. Though, this came with a message that things were improving. Note that it's an Asian guy who is an utter racist towards aliens, and no one gives it a second thought about him being the bigot character, except that he's a bigot. Gay marriage was a non-issue in season 4, in which Marcus and Franklin use cover identities as a couple on their honeymoon. People from all over see to get along, no matter the origin(unless money on a baseball game was on the line, then things got nasty).
A friend of mine wrote a sci-fi novel that's framed as a historical nonfiction book from within the universe and he has this great quote in it. "Humans are tribal by nature. It's always been 'Us vs them.' It was only the discovery of alien life that allowed, at last, for true unity on Earth. It was only knowledge of the existence of an otherworldly 'them' that allowed all of humanity to become 'us.' "
It actually makes plenty of sense for an anti-alien group in a scifi work to be perfectly cosmopolitan in human terms. A gay Swede and a straight African-American will still have far more in common as humans than any human would have with an alien.
FaxModem1 wrote:Babylon 5 had a feeling of, "The more things change, the more things stay the same" in regards to human nature. Though, this came with a message that things were improving. Note that it's an Asian guy who is an utter racist towards aliens, and no one gives it a second thought about him being the bigot character, except that he's a bigot. Gay marriage was a non-issue in season 4, in which Marcus and Franklin use cover identities as a couple on their honeymoon. People from all over see to get along, no matter the origin(unless money on a baseball game was on the line, then things got nasty).
A friend of mine wrote a sci-fi novel that's framed as a historical nonfiction book from within the universe and he has this great quote in it. "Humans are tribal by nature. It's always been 'Us vs them.' It was only the discovery of alien life that allowed, at last, for true unity on Earth. It was only knowledge of the existence of an otherworldly 'them' that allowed all of humanity to become 'us.' "
It actually makes plenty of sense for an anti-alien group in a scifi work to be perfectly cosmopolitan in human terms. A gay Swede and a straight African-American will still have far more in common as humans than any human would have with an alien.
That's a damn good summation: the bigger the cosmos, the bigger the preconceptions to nurse. It'd be like having a heated discussion about the colour of a person's hair, what would be the point? Seems like the most realistic outcome given the tribal nature of our species.
