Politics 05 Nov 2006 10:49 am
Battlestar Iraqtica
The Sci-Fi channel’s reconstituted Battlestar Galactica show has apparently inspired a gaggle of Conservative fans to compare it fancifully with the current US War on Terror. The first two seasons fit the metaphor pretty well, with the Cylons (Extremist Muslims) invoking a surprise genocidal war against the innocent Human Race (Americans) and harassing them with sleeper agents and terror strikes. Unfortunately, for the metaphorists, the writers broke the perfect picture:
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.
It’s so frustrating when you can’t tell the good guys from the bad guys.
