Tired
I’ve been tired this evening. A zombie. Aiden keeps waking me up a couple times a night. Last night I heard him sobbing in the hallway. As I walked out of my room to take care of him, his two-year-old voice cried out, “I need a drink of water! I got a yucky nose and a ouchy eye!”
So I fixed his yucky nose (the “yuck” was all over his face). Couldn’t fix the eye, but of course, it fixed itself with my attention. I gave him a drink, and laid down with him in bed, where I found Blake curled up at the bottom, instead of in his own. So there I lay, in an awkward position, waiting for Aiden to fall into a deep enough sleep for me to slip out.
My sleep deprivation is catching up to me. Being tired makes me obstinate. Being obstinate makes me want to make fun of someone in my post. Pat? Pat? Where are you, Mr. Robinson?
Alas, I have been too busy today to get to any research. I don’t have any making-fun-of-someone material. In fact, this post will be my least edited of all posts. So forgive me.
What I DO have to talk about is television, starting with Battle Star Galactica. Have you been watching it? I haven’t, until recently. Actually, the original series was part of my religious upbringing as a child. It was created by a Mormon, you know? My family watched it faithfully. But I never watched the new series, until someone convinced Israel to buy the first two seasons. So we’ve been catching up from the beginning.
Of course, it’s got all kinds of Mormon code in it. I knew it would. And that’s fine. What is NOT fine, is their portrayal of the one and only atheist. He’s spineless. He only cares for himself. He compromises the cause and future of the fleet to take care of number one. Typical portrayal of an atheist. Only when he finally begins to believe in God (only sort of, though) does he grow a little back-bone. Still, his faith wavers, so I stress that his back-bone accumulation is slight.
I remember a couple novels I read last year. Sorry, I didn’t write their names down, and because of the way my brain functions, I have no idea what they are called, or who wrote them. Not matter, they weren’t that great. In both, the murderers were atheists. One, a Bioethics professor, who wants to rid the earth of its handicapped people. The other, a young man who meditates, and from meditation finds the strength within to kill others when it will result in his gain. Ay-yay-yay.
On the other hand, last week’s episode of Lost ended with a touching baptism of a mother and her baby. They wanted to insure that if either of them die on the island, they will be together in Heaven. Those are the characters’ words, not mine. I am not simplifying it to poke fun.
These are just a few examples of biased portayals of atheists, and positive leans toward religion. And the Christians are complaining that they don’t get enough representation?
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February 2nd, 2006 @ 1:39 pm
Thank you! I couldn’t agree more!
February 2nd, 2006 @ 3:50 pm
Check out Firefly (if you haven’t already).
There is a preacher (termed ‘Shepherd”) on the show - and the Captain nearly forbade his becoming a passenger on their ship because of it. About half of the characters ignore his role as a holy man. The others, at best, take a curious shine to what he’s all about.
When the Shepherd asked if he could say grace over dinner - the captain said “As long as you don’t say it out loud”.
I’m hoping that there isn’t the horrible cliché conversion of the captain in the movie that came out after the series cancellation (also hoping it didn’t happen on one of the 4 unaired episodes). All signs point to the Shepherd having been a high ranking military official in his mysterious past - - he’s a very likable and good character (I’m only commenting because of the subject of religious characters portrayed as superior to non religious ones on tv, and sci-fi in particular).
Firefly is a seriously great show - it was canceled because people didn’t give it a chance. Anyone who has seen 2 or 3 episodes is hooked. Allison and I are loving it (we are watching the dvd collection in pieces).
Star Trek is the oft-sited example of how a secular utopia the future could be. Even though they resort to the occasional supernatural story line.
Now you HAVE to inform us - what are the Mormon codes in Battlestar!? Was it that furry robot dog :)?
February 2nd, 2006 @ 4:32 pm
I found this website on Battlestar Galactica to make it easier for me:
http://www.michaellorenzen.com/galactica.html
Here is a quote from the site that applies mainly to the current series.
There are many parallels between the story of Battlestar Galactica and Mormon teachings. The Book of Mormon tells the story of how the Prophet Lehi took the remnant of the Tribe of Joseph to ancient America around the year 600 BC. In Battlestar Galactica, mankind founded twelve different colonies. In addition, mankind also founded a thirteenth colony on Earth that was lost from the other twelve. In the same way that The Book of Mormon has a Tribe of Israel lost on another continent beyond the knowledge of the other tribes, Battlestar Galactica has a lost colony of man separate from the main body of humanity. The lost Tribe of Israel is central to The Book of Mormon in the same way that the lost colony of Earth is central to Battlestar Galactica.
In the Battlestar Galactica episode originally aired on the 24th of September and 1st of October 1978 titled “Lost Planet of the Gods”, the home world of all humanity is revealed to be the planet Kobol. This name is strikingly similar to the star Kolob which is discussed in Mormon theology. In The Pearl of Great Price, The Book of Abraham Chapter Three, Kolob is described as the star “nearest onto the Throne of God.” Interestingly, the ship on which armistice talks between the colonies and the Cylons took place was the “Star Kobol” as revealed in the premier episode which aired on 17th September 1978.
Another similarity between Mormonism and Battlestar Galactica is in the political structure of the ruling bodies of each. The Mormon Church is run by a Quorum of the Twelve which is headed by a president. In Battlestar Galactica, the colonies are ruled by a Council of Twelve which is also headed by a president (Ford 84).
You can go to the site and read the entire article if you’re really interested. The original series was LACED with Mormon doctrine. In fact, it’s like a sci-fi version of the entirety of it. There is much, much less in the current one.
As for the furry dog, from what I can tell, he got left behind when they remade the show!
February 3rd, 2006 @ 10:52 am
I saw Serenity, Ron, and there wasn’t much of the Preacher. Malcolm, the Captain, was a lot darker as was the rest of the movie. I watched the series and loved it. The creator of the series and writer/director of the movie, Joss Whedon, is an atheist. He also is the creator of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer and Angel, which are both good shows. Alas they are both off the air now, but live on in DVDs.
He has really strong female characters and not much religion.
I also watch Battlestar Galactica. I find I much prefer the new series to the old, although there is still too much religion in it for my taste. Chris loves the new series, but there will always be a special place in his heart for the old series since he watched it religiously as a kid. Luck for him he was not raised Mormon so all the covert and not so covert references didn’t hit him.
October 14th, 2006 @ 4:00 pm
There’s actually another atheist character on Battlestar Galactica now, but he only popped up at the very end of the 2nd season and I don’t want to spoil anyone. He’s an interesting counterpoint to some of the other characters who seem to do everything they do because of belief in god.