I gave you the answer; you’re just not paying attention. In any event, this is turning into a fun thread, so I’m not going to inject any more seriousness into it. "
Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about"–Oscar Wilde.
If I may ask, Contrapuntal, is your disdain in this thread for fiction, science fiction, or television in general?
Blah blah blah.
How about you explain to me why each and every person who doesn’t have a television feels the need to inform everyone whenever the tiniest possibility shows itself?
Fuck, that pretentious shit gets old fast.
-Joe
That’s one reason I don’t like Buddhism and all its underlying assumptions.
None of the above. (OK I’m not a big fan of TV) I simply feel that a TV science fiction show is unequal to the task of consoling someone who is overwhelmed by man’s inhumanity to man. The qoute offered, if indicative of the depth to which Babylon 5 explores the human condition, did nothing to disabuse me of that belief. Specifically, the juxtaposition of “cease (sic) that one fragile moment” against the lifetime of terror, uncertainty, and confusion. Juvenile stuff, really, and not terribly original. And what does that tell us bout the real world?
I am a huge fan of fiction, actually. One of my favorite English professors, who used to tear up when reading passages by Fitrzgerald, cautioned us that while we may love and be immersed in well written fiction, we should confuse it with real life at our own peril.
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I really have no idea whether what you said is even true or not. You only know about the ones who do inform you, after all.
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I mentioned it because gobear suggested I watch the show.
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Why does everyone with an axe to grind choose every available stone for the grinding? Feeling a bit defensive about our entertainment choices, are we?
Yeah, but somehow it comes up with impressive regularity. Strange, though, I have no idea which Dopers own a garage, ride a bike, or are members of the Freemasons.
Yup. That’s why I used the phrase “whenever the tiniest possibility presents itself”.
Ever read Terry Pratchett? I have no idea…even though someone on this thread brought it up. Ever had a stranger jumpstart your car? I don’t know on that one either, even though it was brought up by someone in this thread.
Yet somehow I do know that you don’t have a TV.
Nah, not defensive. Between Malcolm, 24, and Scrubs I’m looking at a whole two hours a week wasted on TV.
Apart from that, what axe do I have to grind? I’m sorry, sweetheart, you’re not that important to me. If I’ve bumped into you before, I have absolutely no recollection of it.
I doubt I’ve been missing out, however.
-Joe
[QUOTE=Merijeek]
He suggested I watch the show. I can’t because I don’t have TV. What should I have said. Just plain no? I was explaining to him why I was and would be unfamiliar with the show. You might want get a little tougher hide.
I wasn’t suggesting we had a previous encounter. It seems you have a problem with people who don’t watch TV, and chose my post to scratch your itch. Like I said, a bit thicker skin would be helpful.
Probably not.
"And if everyone lit just one little candle…
…some asshole would come along and blow them out."
“The pessimist sees the darkness around him. The optimist sees the light at the end of the tunnel. The realist recognizes that the light at the end of the tunnel is probably a train which will run him down.”
But, honestly, I’m with gobear: Whether or not we try to find and do goodness in this world, the same worldly fate beckons us. So try to make life a bit more enjoyable for yourself and those around you, and “Rage, rage against the coming of the night.”
That pretty much depends on the character and interests of the person being consoled, doesn’t it? I quite like Babylon 5. I don’t much care for Henry James. If I’m feeling down, I’m more likely to pop in a DVD with something from season three of B5 than torment myself with A Turn of the Screw. That you, personally, did not find it edifying does not speak to the objective quality of the show, or its appropriateness in this thread.
Although I have to admit, if I were trying to cheer up Eve, spaceships and aliens would not be my first impulse. But then, that’s what I like about gobear. The guy knows more about theology than any three religious leaders or one demi-god of your choice, but when he wants to cheer someone up, what does he go for? The TV show that takes place on a space station. Say what you will about him, the man has his priorities right.
Try watching the show. It works better in context. If not, you probably shouldn’t be making proclamations about the quality of something you’ve never actually seen.
I’m pretty sure gobear is not worried about being attacked by Vorlons in real life.
You forget the Pit battle between gobear and TVAA!! 
We might not agree on a whole lot, but you captured my sentiments right there exactly.
What is there to be gleaned from a SciFi book? Like 1984, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse 5?
You not having seen the show is an answer in itself.
And BTW, the lesson in B5 is “Faith manages”.
My $0.02: We’re animals, same as the rest of the Earth. Our primary responsibility is to ourselves first, our mates and our children second, and everyone else last.
If we’ve got the time, money and willingness, we might do something for someone else. Or we might not.
As an historian Eve, I’m sure you’re aware of the fact that regardless of whatever happens in this world, it will never stop spinning and the majority of humanity will go on with their daily lives. And in 50 years, 100 years, this will be nothing but a blip in the history books
And this too, shall pass.
I suspect that the best we can do is show others in our own lives, how it doesn’t have to be that way. Through our actions and our deeds, we can show people that in the end, it benefits us to think of others. It’ll be long and it will be hard, and that’s why most will choose not to follow that path. So we’ll forgive them and show their children instead.
Yeah, that’s the funny thing about mollification by Sci-Fi: I’m getting a weird “Comic Book Guy” vibe off of gobear now. You know what I mean?
Oh, wait. 
We’re “darkly wise and rudely great,” guys.
“…despite everything, I still believe in the inner goodness of man.”
Anne Frank
. . . and then one of her neighbors ratted her out and the Nazis killed her.
Stop beating up on Gobear! He’s one of the good guys.
Good. I hate that chirpy little bitch.
:eek:
Miller, for the record, Guinastasia was not referring to Anne Frank but Pollyanna (By the way, I thought Pollyanna was crippled after falling out of a tree rather than being hit by a car. Of course, I could be wrong.)
The truly awful thing about the story Eve cited is that, as horrible as the incident was, it still ranks low on the scale of atrocities that people do to one another. Face it, history is almost entirely comprised of people doing nasty things to one another. About 100 years ago, Mark Twain had an interesting theory was to why human beings seem to have an infinite capacity for evil.
*
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Mark Twain, “The Damned Human Race” from Letters from the Earth
Keep in mind, Twain came to that conclusion without seeing most of the 20th century (he died in 1910) and the horrors that followed.