Babylon 5: "Soul Mates"

[Mecha82]

Don't forget what happened when Londo dared to love some one. She was assassinated by his enemies in order to hurt him. So Centauri society punishes that because of cloak & dagger tactics used between houses.

[Yukaphile]

Yeah, such a system is rotten to the core. I could see what you guys mean.

[SFDebris]

Boy, the way you guys talk about how different their society is, you'd almost think these Centauri were aliens.

[Deledrius]

It's just collectivized peer pressure, nothing more.

I mean, that's basically the whole point.

Boy, the way you guys talk about how different their society is, you'd almost think these Centauri were aliens.

Almost! And yet, sadly, often all too familiar.

[Yukaphile]

Respect ya greatly, Chuck, for helping me to learn how to think and feel comfortable being challenged since I first found you seven years ago, but on this I will contest you.

If this were the Narn, I could buy that. Why? Because they LOOK alien. So we could impose a more "alien" type value and way of thinking to them. The Centauri look humanoid rather than alienish, and if you were to never see their... extra-sexual organs, you'd just think they were humans with bad wigs. As a result, since they are shown to have a range of mostly comparable emotions, the argument "they are aliens" is more paper thin than it would be with, say, a species like... um, 8472. They look like something that might have evolved on another world, that is unlike us, yet could learn to build tools. We otherize space and far-out planets to such an extent, we forget the basic fundamentals out there, which will tell us about those other worlds, what they are like. In terms of "life," however, life is the great random and chaotic element, that is mysterious and hard to explain. Thus, I would say that we otherize life that way most potently when otherizing space and far-distant worlds, at least for some of us. A few believe the humanoid form is the inevitable destination to be able to do what we have. But why does it have to be? This assumes that life is not literally a fluke with our ability to make tools, how we might be something unique. It's probably a way our brains like things to make sense, and so seeing an "alien" come from another world that looks just like us, almost exactly, is going to be met with skepticism, though it would strengthen religious belief as well as intelligent design arguments.

But seriously, question me right back! I wanna be challenged into thinking in newer directions.

[Admiral X]

[Yukaphile]

If you are going to otherize the humanoid aliens to that extent, then isn't it fair to say a movement Homeguard forming after the Earth-Minbari is not only logical, but practical? Hell, could be why Clark took control of the government so easily. Because he played to our fears from the first invasion where it was quite clear they were planning to come MURDER US ALL.

[Thebestoftherest]

If you are going to otherize the humanoid aliens to that extent, then isn't it fair to say a movement Homeguard forming after the Earth-Minbari is not only logical, but practical? Hell, could be why Clark took control of the government so easily. Because he played to our fears from the first invasion where it was quite clear they were planning to come MURDER US ALL.

There a world of different between a group of people with a different mindset, a different history, a different culture, a different having different beliefs than us, and active hatred.

[Yukaphile]

And yet, B5 didn't present those of Homeguard well. Most we see were meant to be Nazi white nationalist allegories. As I've said, I don't buy into cultural relativism, and I also think Homeguard could have used some of its members to be less fanatical. More moderate. Lots of German officials prior to the seizing of power in the early 1930s were sympathetic to the Nazis, let's make that clear. Or those in the Russian high command who were sympathetic to the people who later seized power. And I think there's more legit cause for a movement like Homeguard than anything in the early 1920s we had going. They tried to MURDER US ALL. Women, kids, sickly old people. That is the thought patterns of Sensui, dude. And the line Ivanova's ex-BF gave implies lots are angry that they tried to kill us, then just surrendered without another word. In any logical world, the Minbari would have been forced to account for it, and the crew who fired the first shot, if they survived, would be brought before a military review board. But that is not the world we got.

[MightyDavidson]

If you are going to otherize the humanoid aliens to that extent, then isn't it fair to say a movement Homeguard forming after the Earth-Minbari is not only logical, but practical? Hell, could be why Clark took control of the government so easily. Because he played to our fears from the first invasion where it was quite clear they were planning to come MURDER US ALL.

There a world of different between a group of people with a different mindset, a different history, a different culture, a different having different beliefs than us, and active hatred.

Also if the humanoid aliens had been planning to murder us all, they'd have just done it with little to no effort on their part. The Minbari nearly did it already and the Centauri are even more capable of it, as evidenced by how easily one Centauri ship overwhelmed B5's defenses.