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Babylon 5

He's got it. Thanks for sharing that. Do you have any more information about his condition?
Not much. There's a post on his FB page that mentions that he needs a liver transplant but I don't know any details. An update on the GFM page says that he's aware of and grateful for the outpouring of support.
 
Not much. There's a post on his FB page that mentions that he needs a liver transplant but I don't know any details. An update on the GFM page says that he's aware of and grateful for the outpouring of support.

New update has been posted:

Just a quick update: this is the latest of several recent hospital stays. Ron is feeling better after treatment and is back home for the moment. There may be a possibility yet that a living donor partial transplant could be effective, and I and others are urging Ron to look into this, and if it is a possibility and he is willing, then we may put out a call for volunteers to test and to be a donor. I've already heard privately from several who are willing to do so, and I checked into it myself, but I'm disqualified for being over 55. Grrrrr. Who made that rule?!

Again, many, many thanks to all those who have contributed and who have shared the news. Ron and Lada are quite moved by this outpouring of both generosity and of kindness and affection in the many contributions, messages and posts.
 
Not much. There's a post on his FB page that mentions that he needs a liver transplant but I don't know any details. An update on the GFM page says that he's aware of and grateful for the outpouring of support.
Thank you. I saw that update on the Gofundme page this morning, but it sounds like his FB page is more specific. In any case, it looks like they will reach and exceed their goal. My fingers are crossed that he can get the transplant that he needs.

The Expanse could be considered the spritual successor of Babylon 5.
How so? I only watched the first episode or two of Expanse and I don't even remember anything about it at this point. How has the story developed?
 
I've only seen the first few episodes of 'The Expanse' and while it's certainly good, I don't think I'd call it a "spiritual successor" to Babylon 5. There's certainly some overlap in terms of speculative technology, aesthetics and some underlying themes but that show is way more of a hard sci-fi drama while B5 is more of a sweeping operatic saga.
 
Interesting. I've been thinking lately that Dark Matter has some thematic similarities to B5, in that sweeping operatic way. But I don't know enough about Expanse to make a comparison.
 
Certainly not. I'm talking about public sensibilities and sensitivities today in comparison to where they were 20 years ago. I just don't think that you could get away with writing a scene today, even in a fictional drama where someone of Jewish descent is compared to a Nazi.
Possibly--in my opinion definitely--for good reasons in this particular. Why reach for Hitler particularly to invoke the image of a genocidal monster, if one must so label a Jew in a fictional context, and not some other genocidal monster? How about Pol Pot? How about Stalin? Such comparisons for Jews DO strike me as a double stroke with a hidden meaning, a way to say, "look, they are just as bad as the ones who did it to them and so really deserved it."

That's how such a comparison strikes me and I don't think it's unreasonable when you ask yourself--WHY that particular genocidist and no other? Am I to conclude there is no meaning in such a choice? Better to pick some OTHER genocidal monster for this comparison, if you have to, than tar any particular fictional mass killer with the name of the killer of his own people.

If the genocidal dictator in question were named Kanagatucko (Cherokee, "Stalking Turkey"), how would a comparison to Andrew Jackson sit with people do you think? If Indochinese, to Pol Pot? If you don't want people to draw such conclusions, then don't deliberately invoke someone who is the murderer of that one's people. Of course that is going to make people wonder, and not at all unreasonably.
 
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For a more mature audience in the 90s than seems to be the case generally nowadays, it would be viewed as Garibaldi making the comparison -- not the script writer, the script editor, the director, nor JMS. The metacontext is Garibaldi making a sarcastic comment to Sinclair, who likely understands that Garibaldi sometimes make ill-judged, non-PC remarks. I don't recall if Sinclair makes a reaction such as rolling his eyes or raising his eyebrow at Garibaldi's remark but he's probably just glad that Garibaldi doesn't air such views more publicly. In my experience, some people make comments like this all the time without being otherwise overtly antisemitic. It's probably for the best that such dialogue wouldn't get broadcast in contemporary drama as some in the audience apparently lack the mental skills that are required to filter out harmful memes.
 
Nevermind that Hitler is more immediately identifiable in terms of context than the other dictators mentioned. Perhaps the most identifiable.
 
I think the memory of the horror of what Hitler and the Nazis did would have faded from public consciousness after 300 years, particularly after man has colonised several worlds, apart from among members of the communities that were directly persecuted such as Ivanova, who is Jewish. While many people know that Attila, Genghis Khan, Pol Pot, Mao Zedong, Stalin etc existed and that they were responsible for the deaths of millions, hardly any of us can relate to those deaths on a personal level. "To the right of Attila the Hun" is a saying, but it's often used as a humorous comparison.
 
Not in the middle east, they haven't, but their culture was directly impacted, of course. The Abbasid Caliphate was destroyed by the Mongols, so they're in part responsible for the existence of Daesh, but I'm not sure the Mongols get as much blame as the West.
 
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I guess what will be remembered will depend on the relevance of the figure to say the B5 century. We may take it for granted that the Nazis and all won't be forgotten, but whose to say the like of a John Gill won't be soft soaping the past because it's so long forgotten, much like your 'right of Atilla the Hun' example?
 
John Gill? I know someone called that locally and I'm sure he hasn't committed any massacres recently -- the neighbours would have mentioned it.
 
Lol. I'd forgotten about that guy as it's an episode I last watched over 30 years ago. It's not a favourite of mine. I was thrown somewhat as my brain was in B5 mode not Star Trek mode. Well, that, or dementia.

Anyway, the needs of retaining relevance to the audience meant that Garibaldi has to mention someone known to us in 1994, although it now seems a poor choice in hindsight. However, I can't offer any alternative suggestion.
 
Not in the middle east, they haven't, but their culture was directly impacted, of course. The Abbasid Caliphate was destroyed by the Mongols, so they're in part responsible for the existence of Daesh, but I'm not sure the Mongols get as much blame as the West.
The Mongols, History's cool bad boys. Wrecking havoc from Japan to Hungary. The Middle east suffered alot and Afghanistan as well. The Mongol name Khan became a common muslim name after their conquest of Islamic lands.
 
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