Did the Atlantis Expedition bring a flag?
So I was reading (of course I was reading *g*) and I came across this viewpoint: The Atlantis expedition behaves in the Pegasus galaxy as the British behaved in India circa 19th century. They are, in fact, Rudyard Kipling on crack. This... intrigued me.
eta: I want to clarify that this is a question I formed for myself. It's a vast simplification (really, really vast) of one scene in a story ( see comments) and I'm neither suggesting the author holds this view or wrote the story to pose this particular question. It inspired me to think about the subject, but the question posed (and my answer, obviously) are all mine. :)
My general understanding of the British Empire's views of India at that time period is as follows: There was wealth to be gained from India; the native population of India were too backwards and too unworthy to take it themselves; God loved Britain best. I think even those who saw themselves as accomplishing something genuinely good in the area (missionaries, etc.) tended to look on the Indians as very much lesser than; the intelligent and adult British were taking the childish and dim Indians by the hand and leading them into the light of civilization.
I'm broadbrushing, I'm sure (accurate views of history generally involve more nuance in my experience), but I think this is the kind of behavior the original viewpoint meant to attach to the Atlantis expedition. [see eta above: I thought wrong -- so let's focus on the question and how it pertains to canon.] The Atlantis expedition saw wealth to be gained from the Pegasus galaxy; the natives were too backwards and unworthy to take it themselves; God loves the Milky Way best. Even those who genuinely want to accomplish something good in Pegasus see the Pegasus peoples as dim and childish, needing to be guided into the light of civilization.
I don't think this is the case. It is certainly true that the expedition was specifically interested in gaining "the wealth of [Ancient] knowledge and technology" (Weir: 1x01) to be found in the city of Atlantis, but they went through the stargate as explorers, not conquerors. There wasn't a vested interest (at least from the outset) in finding alien cultures and taking their resources. When disaster struck (as it always does in interesting stories *g*), and the Athosians and the Atlantis expedition crossed paths, the Athosians were treated as a sovereign people. Teyla was respected as a leader, as was Halling when he put himself forward. Elizabeth kept control of her expedition and the city, but she didn't try and usurp either Teyla's or Halling's positions, take Athosian resources, or exploit the Athosian people.
Even on a meta level, I don't think the producers of the show aim to paint the various cultures of the Pegasus galaxy as naturally (God loves the Milky Way best) backwards and brutal. Circumstances have checked most Pegasus civilizations' technological advancement, but the show has clearly shown the cause to be artificial and orchestrated by the Wraith. In fact, we're early warned that a "primitive" surface often hides a surprising amount of knowledge and technology. Most importantly, neither Teyla nor Ronon, the show's representation of native Pegasus peoples, come across as dim or childish or in need of Milky Way guidance.
[This isn't to say the show gives us insightful and varied representations of human culture. They don't. More often than not, a civilization with 1930's technology...looks like North American culture circa 1930. But that's a different subject.]
If the Atlantis expedition lacks the motives of the British in India, if the show isn't giving us a scifi example of the British in India, is there any other way to link the two? The only other thought that springs to mind is the phenomenon of unintended consequences. The British left a very large footprint in India. Of course, they meant to. Things didn't go as planned (I suspect, anyway), but the British did mean to influence if not out and out reshape the culture and government of India. Did the Atlantis expedition do the same? Did they mean to do the same?
The presence of the Atlantis expedition has certainly has been felt within the Pegasus galaxy. Step into a stream and you effect its current, and the expedition's first step was a doozy. But where the British in India acted with an arrogant certainty of their lofty place in the world (or with plain old avarice), the expedition reacted to an unprovoked attack. John's efforts to rescue the captured Athosians and his men were understandable and, in my opinion, unquestionably the correct course of action. Anything less, on his part, would have been a betrayal of his training and his character. Even his picking up of Teyla's old necklace was motivated by neutral curiosity and positive friendliness. Yes, it led to the Wraith waking up. But to blame John is, to my mind, silly. The consequence of his picking up Teyla's old necklace was impossible to predict, and the action by no means arrogant or greedy.
Once the Wraith woke up, the Atlantis expedition lost any chance of leaving little to no footprint within the Pegasus galaxy. Even if they'd had the means to flee and used it immediately, the Wraith were still awake ahead of schedule and provoked. Plus, as Elizabeth pointed out to alien-Hammond in Home (1x09), though the consequence of waking the Wraith was unintended, they still had a responsibility to help. Elizabeth mentions the advanced technology they've gleaned from Atlantis, but she's hardly evoking The White Man's Burden here. Especially as she's clear that it's technology they "have access to," not technology they've earned through their special specialness.
The Atlantis expedition has made mistakes, of course. (I think Michael has been their worst, especially as it was a mistake caused by what I think were damn well foreseeable consequences.) And they've changed a lot of the currents within the Pegasus stream. People are dead because of those changes; people are alive because of those changes (Ronon among them). But that's more a commentary on the human condition, I think. You leave your house, walk down the street, you change the course of events of those around you. The kicker is, you don't leave your house and the course of events is still changed. For better or worse is impossible to predict.
The British in India didn't worry too much about how their actions impacted the people of India. The Atlantis expedition does care, and do their best to mitigate the negative effects of their actions on the Pegasus peoples. To my mind, that makes all the difference. Enough of a difference that I can say, "No, the Atlantis expedition isn't like the British in India at all." :)
eta: I want to clarify that this is a question I formed for myself. It's a vast simplification (really, really vast) of one scene in a story ( see comments) and I'm neither suggesting the author holds this view or wrote the story to pose this particular question. It inspired me to think about the subject, but the question posed (and my answer, obviously) are all mine. :)
My general understanding of the British Empire's views of India at that time period is as follows: There was wealth to be gained from India; the native population of India were too backwards and too unworthy to take it themselves; God loved Britain best. I think even those who saw themselves as accomplishing something genuinely good in the area (missionaries, etc.) tended to look on the Indians as very much lesser than; the intelligent and adult British were taking the childish and dim Indians by the hand and leading them into the light of civilization.
I'm broadbrushing, I'm sure (accurate views of history generally involve more nuance in my experience), but I think this is the kind of behavior the original viewpoint meant to attach to the Atlantis expedition. [see eta above: I thought wrong -- so let's focus on the question and how it pertains to canon.] The Atlantis expedition saw wealth to be gained from the Pegasus galaxy; the natives were too backwards and unworthy to take it themselves; God loves the Milky Way best. Even those who genuinely want to accomplish something good in Pegasus see the Pegasus peoples as dim and childish, needing to be guided into the light of civilization.
I don't think this is the case. It is certainly true that the expedition was specifically interested in gaining "the wealth of [Ancient] knowledge and technology" (Weir: 1x01) to be found in the city of Atlantis, but they went through the stargate as explorers, not conquerors. There wasn't a vested interest (at least from the outset) in finding alien cultures and taking their resources. When disaster struck (as it always does in interesting stories *g*), and the Athosians and the Atlantis expedition crossed paths, the Athosians were treated as a sovereign people. Teyla was respected as a leader, as was Halling when he put himself forward. Elizabeth kept control of her expedition and the city, but she didn't try and usurp either Teyla's or Halling's positions, take Athosian resources, or exploit the Athosian people.
Even on a meta level, I don't think the producers of the show aim to paint the various cultures of the Pegasus galaxy as naturally (God loves the Milky Way best) backwards and brutal. Circumstances have checked most Pegasus civilizations' technological advancement, but the show has clearly shown the cause to be artificial and orchestrated by the Wraith. In fact, we're early warned that a "primitive" surface often hides a surprising amount of knowledge and technology. Most importantly, neither Teyla nor Ronon, the show's representation of native Pegasus peoples, come across as dim or childish or in need of Milky Way guidance.
[This isn't to say the show gives us insightful and varied representations of human culture. They don't. More often than not, a civilization with 1930's technology...looks like North American culture circa 1930. But that's a different subject.]
If the Atlantis expedition lacks the motives of the British in India, if the show isn't giving us a scifi example of the British in India, is there any other way to link the two? The only other thought that springs to mind is the phenomenon of unintended consequences. The British left a very large footprint in India. Of course, they meant to. Things didn't go as planned (I suspect, anyway), but the British did mean to influence if not out and out reshape the culture and government of India. Did the Atlantis expedition do the same? Did they mean to do the same?
The presence of the Atlantis expedition has certainly has been felt within the Pegasus galaxy. Step into a stream and you effect its current, and the expedition's first step was a doozy. But where the British in India acted with an arrogant certainty of their lofty place in the world (or with plain old avarice), the expedition reacted to an unprovoked attack. John's efforts to rescue the captured Athosians and his men were understandable and, in my opinion, unquestionably the correct course of action. Anything less, on his part, would have been a betrayal of his training and his character. Even his picking up of Teyla's old necklace was motivated by neutral curiosity and positive friendliness. Yes, it led to the Wraith waking up. But to blame John is, to my mind, silly. The consequence of his picking up Teyla's old necklace was impossible to predict, and the action by no means arrogant or greedy.
Once the Wraith woke up, the Atlantis expedition lost any chance of leaving little to no footprint within the Pegasus galaxy. Even if they'd had the means to flee and used it immediately, the Wraith were still awake ahead of schedule and provoked. Plus, as Elizabeth pointed out to alien-Hammond in Home (1x09), though the consequence of waking the Wraith was unintended, they still had a responsibility to help. Elizabeth mentions the advanced technology they've gleaned from Atlantis, but she's hardly evoking The White Man's Burden here. Especially as she's clear that it's technology they "have access to," not technology they've earned through their special specialness.
The Atlantis expedition has made mistakes, of course. (I think Michael has been their worst, especially as it was a mistake caused by what I think were damn well foreseeable consequences.) And they've changed a lot of the currents within the Pegasus stream. People are dead because of those changes; people are alive because of those changes (Ronon among them). But that's more a commentary on the human condition, I think. You leave your house, walk down the street, you change the course of events of those around you. The kicker is, you don't leave your house and the course of events is still changed. For better or worse is impossible to predict.
The British in India didn't worry too much about how their actions impacted the people of India. The Atlantis expedition does care, and do their best to mitigate the negative effects of their actions on the Pegasus peoples. To my mind, that makes all the difference. Enough of a difference that I can say, "No, the Atlantis expedition isn't like the British in India at all." :)