Babylon 5: Believers

[Cassandra]

I said the arc was poorly paced, not that it was bad. The pacing is very uneven; significant events feel extremely rushed for time while vast quantities of time are wasted in filler where nothing happens.

[animalia]

The obvious parallel seems to be Jehovah's Witnesses and their refusal to have blood transfusions, and shunning of members of their faith who do accept them.

That's what I thought of. And I know my country has intervened in situations like that before to get them treatment. They're children.

On the other hand, there's also examples of allowing a child to stop cancer treatment to pursue... holistic BS. She predictably died. She might have been a little older than this kid, not sure how old he is. I don't know. I don't blame Franklin.

May I ask what country you are from?

[CharlesPhipps]

Well going by what JMS said about the aliens not being arrested (because they did it to one of there own so would be judged according to their laws) no it would not be cause Humanity doesn't tolerate murder in the name of religion and the station wouldn't tolerate it if they murdered aliens either.

Counterpoint that plenty of governments don't pursue criminal legislation against citizens of other countries without the permission of said countries. These were presumably not citizens of Earth but people visiting from their own planet.

I think "Believers" works to this day because it does present a situation where I think most people absolutely agree with Doctor Franklin but Franklin's DIDNT WORK because he ignored the cultural context of the people involved.

Which means that while it's not actually that good of a argument for or against religious exemption (we know how the result is), it's a good argument that trying to enforce your own values without checking on how to deal with them will fuck you over.

[Madner Kami]

Counterpoint that plenty of governments don't pursue criminal legislation against citizens of other countries without the permission of said countries.

Since when?

[CharlesPhipps]

Counterpoint that plenty of governments don't pursue criminal legislation against citizens of other countries without the permission of said countries.

Since when?

You haven't noticed all the stories of Americans about to caned, imprisoned, or whatnot before they get released back to their home countries instead? Ditto the reverse. Here's just one example.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/ ... paulkelso2

These negotiations happen ALL the time and often end with the citizens deported back home.

In the B5 case, the Doc performed a surgery without parental consent which is undoubtedly something they'd consider assault and mutilation. Frankly, I'm sure that they can serve time for their son's murder as long as he goes back to their world and pays for his actions in the manner their justice system demands.

[Frustration]

Since the child was going to die without surgery I'm not sure there'd be much point in prosecuting for murder - or, more precisely, "inducing the departure of a soul".

[TGLS]

Since the child was going to die without surgery I'm not sure there'd be much point in prosecuting for murder - or, more precisely, "inducing the departure of a soul".

If you shoot a man falling to his death you can still be prosecuted. The arguments would follow intent.

[Frustration]

Since the intention was to save the boy's life, it would probably be quite hard to get Earthforce to agree to extradite, even if the parents wished to prosecute. They didn't seem angry, just grief-stricken.

[Sir Will]

The obvious parallel seems to be Jehovah's Witnesses and their refusal to have blood transfusions, and shunning of members of their faith who do accept them.

That's what I thought of. And I know my country has intervened in situations like that before to get them treatment. They're children.

On the other hand, there's also examples of allowing a child to stop cancer treatment to pursue... holistic BS. She predictably died. She might have been a little older than this kid, not sure how old he is. I don't know. I don't blame Franklin.

May I ask what country you are from?

Canada

[CharlesPhipps]

Mind you, I should point out Babylon Five's entire point is to be an embassy after Earth's interventionist policies resulted in their near extermination. It turns out that you can't automatically assume an enemy with open gun points is going to attack.

Earth prosecuting parents for a honor killing (which is absolutely repulsive and evil) is going to be a diplomatic nightmare when the doctor illegally performed surgery against their wishes, effectively kidnapping him for a short time.