For all you progressive’s who remember the TV Show Babylon 5, I wrote this on my LJ.
Back in the mid-1990s, it amused me no end to see know-it-alls pound on [series creator] J. Michael Straczinsky for the ridiculous idea that the government could shift from democratic to essentially a military dictatorship in so short a time, simply by leveraging the fear of “alien influences” assaulting our “way of life.” “Ho ho ho,” they laughed. “That trick may work on others, but it couldn’t happen in a real democracy like the U.S. I mean, if the President started to intrude on people’s rights and civil liberties, started locking them up and holding them for years without pressing charges, or started spying on his own people, no one would sit still for it! He’d be out on his ear when everyone rose up in protest.”
Sadly, I think JMS may end up with the last laugh, although I doubt he will find saying “told ya so” much comfort.
Harold,
A niggling comment: more helpful titles on your none-TOTSF entries. (I know, I know, my own entries don’t always have the most helpful titles).
I think your point is excellent and not at all geeky. One crucial function of art (literature and narrative art like B5 in particular) is to help societies see themselves, and to open their eyes to “clear and present danger.”
I admit to being pretty ignorant of this series, although I have heard nothing but good things about it. I guess I’ll have to get that DVD set from the library! I have read the B5 books by Jeanne Cavalos, with whom I’ve been on a few panels at SF cons. They’re good, although I expect I would have gotten more out of them had I known the B5 universe. . .