Battlestar Galacticons: The right's scary affinity for sci-fi foreign policy punditry

[Ian David]

Battlestar Galacticons
A close look at the right's scary affinity for sci-fi foreign policy punditry.



By Brad Reed
Web Exclusive: 10.27.06

As the midterm elections approach, many conservatives are feeling betrayed by one of their most important allies in the war on terror: Battlestar Galactica.

Over the sci-fi show's first two seasons, many conservatives saw it as a pitch-perfect metaphor for the United States’ post-9/11 battle against Osama bin Laden and his Muslamonazi horde. Galactica, which has become something of a surprise hit on the Sci Fi Channel, takes place in a post-apocalyptic universe where humanity has been decimated by a nuclear strike launched by an enemy race of robots known as the Cylons. Most of the action revolves around a noble band of 50,000 survivors who hurtle through space searching for a new home planet. Along the way, they have had to deal with Cylon sleeper agents, suicide bombers, and even a sinister pack of left-wingers who use violence to try to force humanity to make peace with their enemies.

“The more I watch the new Battlestar Galactica series, the more the Cylons seem like Muslims,” wrote “Michael,” the author of the Battlestar Galactica Blog, back in March. “They believe they are killing humans for their god. This is very much like the Muslim concept of jihad, which instructs Muslims to spread their religion through war.”

National Review’s Jonah Goldberg, who writes regularly about Galactica’s politics on NRO’s group blog, The Corner, also picked up on parallels between the show and the war on terror. Goldberg took particular glee in attacking Galactica’s anti-war movement, which he said consisted of “radical peaceniks” and “peace-terrorists” who “are clearly a collection of whack jobs, fifth columnists and idiots.” Goldberg also praised several characters for trying to rig a presidential election. “I liked that the good guys wanted to steal the election and, it turns out, they were right to want to,” wrote Goldberg. Stolen elections, evil robots, crazed hippies … what more could a socially inept right-winger want from a show?

But alas, this love affair between Galactica and the right was not to last: in its third season, the show has morphed into a stinging allegorical critique of America’s three-year occupation of Iraq. The trouble started at the end of the second season, when humanity briefly escaped the Cylons and settled down on the tiny planet of New Caprica. The Cylons soon returned and quickly conquered the defenseless humans. But instead of slaughtering everyone, the Cylons decided to take a more enlightened path by “benevolently occupying” the planet and imposing their preferred way of life by gunpoint. The humans were predictably not enthused about their allegedly altruistic rulers, and they immediately launched an insurgency against them using improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. Needless to say, this did not go over very well in the Galacticon camp.

More:
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=12172


See also:
http://sadlyno.com/archives/4077.html


See related DU Threads:

Funny but important - Ridicule/criticism of Bush Admin in MOVIES and TV
Topic started by Nothing Without Hope on May-18-05 10:41 PM (57 replies)
Last modified by tinfoilinfor2005 on May-22-05 02:13 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1792922


DU Jerry Doyle's poll on the libby indictment
Topic started by IanDB1 on Nov-03-05 10:08 PM (8 replies)
Last modified by IanDB1 on Nov-04-05 07:35 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2222191


WOO HOO! Looks Like Babylon 5's JMS may be a Dean supporter
Topic started by khephra on Sep-07-03 08:05 AM (3 replies)
Last modified by REP on Sep-07-03 02:23 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=169574

Babylon5 fans - Richard Biggs (Dr. Stephen Franklin) has died
Topic started by Love Bug on May-24-04 11:45 AM (9 replies)
Last modified by truthspeaker on May-25-04 10:30 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1177413


'Babylon 5' creator has written a Star Trek series that excludes Berman
Topic started by wyldwolf on Jun-21-04 05:59 PM (33 replies)
Last modified by King Of Paperboys on Jun-22-04 12:29 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=1305202

"Star Trek is Dead. Star Gate is the next big thing"
Topic started by GreenPartyVoter on Oct-05-05 09:50 PM (35 replies)
Last modified by GreenPartyVoter on Oct-06-05 03:06 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=4108556

Serenity.
Topic started by HypnoToad on Oct-08-05 11:19 PM (9 replies)
Last modified by HypnoToad on Oct-09-05 08:19 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=4124470

[MrModerate]

1. Right wing nuts have tried to hijack every aspect . . .

of popular culture -- or kill it if it rubbed 'em the wrong way. I don't find their exhortations on BG to be especially compelling. BG's moral universe is highly complex and ambiguous in the extreme. Cylons and humans alike can be tarred with the terrorist brush.

However, having watched a panel discussion with the show's creators and stars, it's pretty clear that this season is directly influenced by the disaster in Iraq. And they don't approve.

[Wonk]

2. Is it wrong to want to waterboard Jonah Goldberg?

I suspect he knows something incriminating to his mom and Linda Tripp in the Lewinski 'scandal', and by his logic it's the best way to find out.

That, and he's a total douchebag.
http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/11/latimes-jonah/