One thought on Resurrection Ship, Part 2: Expressing remorse
I'm not writing a long review this time. I'm so late that everything that could have been said has been said, and also some people's reviews are so incredibly long, detailed and erudite that I feel dorky even trying to write something. I'll just mention one thought that I had.
I'm such a sap. I got all teary during the Sharon/Helo reunion. Yes it could be software and programming but Sharon's reaction seemed very real to me and I am completely convinced by the fact that she loves Helo. It's not even that she 'believes' that she loves Helo, I think she really does love him and he loves her.
There are many, many criticisms of Sharon. I won't bother to dive into them but there's one that rather interests me - that Sharon has never (from what we have seen), expressed any remorse for the part (if any) she played in the attempted genocide of the human race. It's an interesting argument and we still don't know the extent to which Caprica Sharon was involved in the attack but in a way it's a strange argument to me.
To what extent do we hold someone responsible or culpable for the actions of an entire people/race/nation?
Amended: Note - yes I know I'm using real life examples and BSG is "just a tv show" but I'm afraid that I only had real life examples to use :D
I'm a mongrel. I have Vietnamese and Chinese blood flowing in my veins but I grew up in Australia as an Australian.
As an Australian and as someone with some Chinese blood in her veins, I never expect every single Japanese person to fall at my feet sobbing and begging for forgiveness for the atrocities and brutalities committed by Japan during World War 2 against the Chinese and against Australians. I might expect Japan as a nation, and its government to one day express apology towards China and Korea for its war crimes but I in no way expect individual Japanese to do this - I do not even consider them responsible. Similarly, I do not expect every single German to express remorse for what the Nazis did during World War II.
The Vietnamese blood in me does not expect individual Americans to apologise and express remorse to me for certain things that took place during the Vietnam War, nor does it expect individual French or Chinese to express remorse for what took place in Vietnam under their period of rule.
As an Australian I do not fall on my knees and express remorse to the aborigines, Australia's indigenous population who suffered greatly when the British arrived - although of course I regard what happened as extremely horrific. To put it bluntly, they were treated as animals by the British settlers and there was attempted genocide. One might say that because of my immigrant blood I'm absolved from the crimes of the British but given that it took place more than 200 years ago, as far as I can see - any 'pure white' Australian alive today is as culpable/not culpable as I am.
One might say that this is different because the Cylon attack is recent and many of the events I refer to took place a long time ago. The thing is, time doesn't heal all wounds. Ask the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Jews ..... the Australian aborigines. The legacy of what took place still remains and demands for compensation still remain on foot despite the passage of time. Do we really expect any individual to express remorse?
I can sort of understand why some people expect Sharon as an individual to express remorse. She's a prisoner, whether she likes it or not, she's become a de facto representative or ambassador of and for her people.
The problem is, as far as I can see, she was never one of the dominant/decision-makers. She was more of a flunky. The Six or the Doral model looked as though they were the commanding models. Sharon was more of a foot soldier. True, that doesn't absolve her from moral responsibility for war crimes blah blah but if I was going to haul someone over the coals for eg. atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, I'd want a general, a politician, a bigwig ..... I wouldn't be glaring at a lowly foot soldier, a teacher, a taxi driver .... who just happened to be one of the enemy race.....
Again it's a little different because we are told that the Cylons have a collective consciousness - but from what I can see, they don't seem to control one another, so the role that Caprica Sharon would have played is again uncertain.
Also, if you take Sharon as an individual - her concerns are for herself, her unborn child and the man she loves. All 3 things are in constant danger. I'm not sure she would and should care about matters of state, global politics, moral responsibility and laws of armed conflict. I know this makes me sound incredibly small potato, naive and non-macro but I'm reminded of a conversation I had with one of my friends.
He said that refugees were cowards. His view was that if all the 'good people' ran away to another country, then they were basically abandoning their country to the hands of the bad guys. If they had any conviction and courage - they should stay in their own country and fight for what is right.
"Even if they die?"
"Of course," he told me.
"What about their families? What if they have spouses and children .... should they sacrifice them?"
He said yes because if everyone ran, then there would be no one left to keep up the fight. I called him on it. For one thing he himself wasn't married and didn't have kids. I'm not either, but I think it's a little extreme to expect a parent not to want to to put his or her family's welfare first. In those circumstances, politics, idealism can kind of take a backseat. I'm not saying they're not important, but the first priority is survival.
I know this smacks a little of China's excuses about human rights. In China, the government says - when it can make sure that every single person can be fed and clothed, then it will start worrying about more abstract concepts of human rights. China's a bit extreme, I concede.
I guess I'm saying that I'm not sure when it was that Sharon became appointed Liaison Officer for Cylons or Ambassador for Human-Cylon Relations?
PS: I have to add that last semester, there was a joke with one of our Japanese classmates that everywhere he went, he should be saying 对不起, 对不起, 对不起 (sorry, sorry, sorry) for being Japanese - but that was just it. It was a joke. No one in any way held a kid in his twenties responsible for what Japan did during World War II.
I'm such a sap. I got all teary during the Sharon/Helo reunion. Yes it could be software and programming but Sharon's reaction seemed very real to me and I am completely convinced by the fact that she loves Helo. It's not even that she 'believes' that she loves Helo, I think she really does love him and he loves her.
There are many, many criticisms of Sharon. I won't bother to dive into them but there's one that rather interests me - that Sharon has never (from what we have seen), expressed any remorse for the part (if any) she played in the attempted genocide of the human race. It's an interesting argument and we still don't know the extent to which Caprica Sharon was involved in the attack but in a way it's a strange argument to me.
To what extent do we hold someone responsible or culpable for the actions of an entire people/race/nation?
Amended: Note - yes I know I'm using real life examples and BSG is "just a tv show" but I'm afraid that I only had real life examples to use :D
I'm a mongrel. I have Vietnamese and Chinese blood flowing in my veins but I grew up in Australia as an Australian.
As an Australian and as someone with some Chinese blood in her veins, I never expect every single Japanese person to fall at my feet sobbing and begging for forgiveness for the atrocities and brutalities committed by Japan during World War 2 against the Chinese and against Australians. I might expect Japan as a nation, and its government to one day express apology towards China and Korea for its war crimes but I in no way expect individual Japanese to do this - I do not even consider them responsible. Similarly, I do not expect every single German to express remorse for what the Nazis did during World War II.
The Vietnamese blood in me does not expect individual Americans to apologise and express remorse to me for certain things that took place during the Vietnam War, nor does it expect individual French or Chinese to express remorse for what took place in Vietnam under their period of rule.
As an Australian I do not fall on my knees and express remorse to the aborigines, Australia's indigenous population who suffered greatly when the British arrived - although of course I regard what happened as extremely horrific. To put it bluntly, they were treated as animals by the British settlers and there was attempted genocide. One might say that because of my immigrant blood I'm absolved from the crimes of the British but given that it took place more than 200 years ago, as far as I can see - any 'pure white' Australian alive today is as culpable/not culpable as I am.
One might say that this is different because the Cylon attack is recent and many of the events I refer to took place a long time ago. The thing is, time doesn't heal all wounds. Ask the Koreans, the Vietnamese, the Chinese, the Jews ..... the Australian aborigines. The legacy of what took place still remains and demands for compensation still remain on foot despite the passage of time. Do we really expect any individual to express remorse?
I can sort of understand why some people expect Sharon as an individual to express remorse. She's a prisoner, whether she likes it or not, she's become a de facto representative or ambassador of and for her people.
The problem is, as far as I can see, she was never one of the dominant/decision-makers. She was more of a flunky. The Six or the Doral model looked as though they were the commanding models. Sharon was more of a foot soldier. True, that doesn't absolve her from moral responsibility for war crimes blah blah but if I was going to haul someone over the coals for eg. atrocities committed by the Japanese during World War II, I'd want a general, a politician, a bigwig ..... I wouldn't be glaring at a lowly foot soldier, a teacher, a taxi driver .... who just happened to be one of the enemy race.....
Again it's a little different because we are told that the Cylons have a collective consciousness - but from what I can see, they don't seem to control one another, so the role that Caprica Sharon would have played is again uncertain.
Also, if you take Sharon as an individual - her concerns are for herself, her unborn child and the man she loves. All 3 things are in constant danger. I'm not sure she would and should care about matters of state, global politics, moral responsibility and laws of armed conflict. I know this makes me sound incredibly small potato, naive and non-macro but I'm reminded of a conversation I had with one of my friends.
He said that refugees were cowards. His view was that if all the 'good people' ran away to another country, then they were basically abandoning their country to the hands of the bad guys. If they had any conviction and courage - they should stay in their own country and fight for what is right.
"Even if they die?"
"Of course," he told me.
"What about their families? What if they have spouses and children .... should they sacrifice them?"
He said yes because if everyone ran, then there would be no one left to keep up the fight. I called him on it. For one thing he himself wasn't married and didn't have kids. I'm not either, but I think it's a little extreme to expect a parent not to want to to put his or her family's welfare first. In those circumstances, politics, idealism can kind of take a backseat. I'm not saying they're not important, but the first priority is survival.
I know this smacks a little of China's excuses about human rights. In China, the government says - when it can make sure that every single person can be fed and clothed, then it will start worrying about more abstract concepts of human rights. China's a bit extreme, I concede.
I guess I'm saying that I'm not sure when it was that Sharon became appointed Liaison Officer for Cylons or Ambassador for Human-Cylon Relations?
PS: I have to add that last semester, there was a joke with one of our Japanese classmates that everywhere he went, he should be saying 对不起, 对不起, 对不起 (sorry, sorry, sorry) for being Japanese - but that was just it. It was a joke. No one in any way held a kid in his twenties responsible for what Japan did during World War II.