Just as Lieutenant Alara Kitan was successful in resisting the surrounding dominance of the realities of imposed Ideal Theory, there are occasions in which that resistance can be met with a loss. In the season one Babylon 5 episode, “Believers” (1994), Dr. Stephen Franklin is confronted with contentious dilemma. An Onteen child, Shon, is suffering…
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Richard J Tilley
Lieutenant Alara Kitan and Ideal Leadership (Science Fiction and Charles W. Mills’s Critique of “Ideal Theory” Part I)
Charles W. Mills begins the wide-ranging discussion in his 2005 essay, “‘Ideal Theory’ as Ideology” by clarifying that feminist thinkers have expanded the larger discussion of ethics in rapid and unifying ways (165). I have completed a list, however incomplete, of feminist readings that might be useful to some of you who, like me, are…
Possible Model for Alternative Futurism: Responsibility to Leave (R2L)
Cross-posted Memo I have long been an advocate that we need to take care of Mother Earth before we become too overwhelmingly concerned with colonizing other planets. I have long been an advocate for aggressive education reform. I believe that the goal of any progressing society should navigating towards abolishing capitalism. I will not repeat…
Expansion of Utopian Struggle in the Motif of Entering a Room/Space(s) for Continuity
To quote Kim Stanley Robinson “utopia has gone from being a somewhat minor literary problem to a necessary survival strategy” (as quoted in “Guns Under the Table: Kim Stanley Robinson and the Transition to Utopia,” Utopian Studies, Oct. 2020, Andrew Miller, 389). To carry over this survival strategy for the sake of utopia from novelized…
Battlestar Galactica at……Furman University?
I came across two classes that Furman offers in which they integrate Battlestar Galactica: Analyzing Historical American Speeches & Battlestar Galactica Learning Politics Through Battlestar Galactica Perhaps there is more information written about these classes elsewhere, but this is what I found.
“Extreme Risk” and “Invasive Procedures” as Symbols of Capitalist Internalization
What we have learned living in the capitalist society is that those who suffer the most as a consequence of global capitalism are equally locked out of securing relief. I return to what I have previously discussed as the Theory of Monetized Empathy, which states that people are more likely to be oppressed by other…
From Morality-Tale Science Fiction to Fantasy-Infused Settler Colonialism
In the Star Trek: Enterprise episode, “Strange New World,” (2001) T’Pol attempts to caution Captain Archer and his crew about visiting the uninhabited planet they discover. She wants to take a number of days, just over a week, to complete scans from orbit and with probes. The lone Vulcan on the ship, T’Pol, will later…
The Orville’s “Mad Idolatry” and Star Trek: Voyager’s “Sacred Ground” as a Lesson in Explanatory Ethics
In The Orville’s “Mad Idolatry” (2017) Kelly Grayson violates initial contact protocol with a lesser developed species to assist a girl who had hurt herself. Kelly heals the girl and before she becomes aware of the seriousness of the situation, villagers arrive behind her and witness the act. In time, Kelly becomes worshiped as a…
Gaius Baltar Escaping Freedom on Tau Cygna V
JANEWAY: Your new world is a prison. You are under his control.DA VINCI: When are we not in prison? Hmm? When are our lives free from the influence of those who have more power than us? If this New World is a cage, then it is a cage of gold, of marvels, of opportunities. If…
Identity and Captain Louanne “Kat” Katraine
Sasha was a drug trafficker before the Cylon invasion of the Twelve Colonies in Ronald D. Moore’s reboot of Battlestar Galactica. Sasha stole the identification papers from someone who had been killed in the attack. She wished not only to cover up her past crimes but take on a new identity altogether. The very method…