I don't get it
Podkayne Fries
I've been busy over the last few days (my son had some leave and
just left this evening) and am just catching up on all the posts. I'm
baffled by the B5 posts. Heck, I'm baffled completely by the entire
B5 fanboy contingent and the B5.droolers' tearful farewells.
Granted, Babylon5 was a wonderful series and gave us some of the
best sci-fi ever presented on television. I really enjoyed the first four
seasons and am currently trying to pretend that Season Five was a
horrible dream. What I don't understand is the passion with which
people are defending a TELEVISION SHOW!
Yes, it was great and ain't it a shame that it's over. Life, on the other
hand, goes on. There will be other shows to watch, and if I can't find
anything that suits my taste, there's always Turner Classic Movies and
AMC. I have a computer and several thousand books and can always
find something to occupy my time.
How has this become a quasireligion? I've made jokes about The First
Online Church of JMS, but I'm horrified to see that many people are
treating the End Of Babylon5 as if it were the end of the freaking world!
What causes this and why am I completely unaffected? Is it because I
wasn't there when JMS came online and announced his True Vision of
SF? Is it because I already have a religion, a family and friends? In
other words, what makes a fanboy a fanboy?
All of this is just way too weird for a small town girl like Yours Truly.
It's easy to sneer at some of this people, but what is the motivation?
What are they lacking in their lives that makes a TELEVISION SHOW
so very important? It's scary to think that so many people have such an
emotional investment in something like this.
--
Regards, Podkayne Fries
Necrophilia means never having to say you're sorry.
Aaron Bergman
>Get out the flash cards, children, and enlighten me.
>
>I've been busy over the last few days (my son had some leave and
>just left this evening) and am just catching up on all the posts. I'm
>baffled by the B5 posts. Heck, I'm baffled completely by the entire
>B5 fanboy contingent and the B5.droolers' tearful farewells.
It happens. Some people, for various reasons, made Babylon 5 into
an intricate part of their lives. Same goes for Star Trek. Same
goes for plenty of other shows, really. I don't exactly
understand it, but it'll make an interesting thesis project for
someone some day. Hell, it's probably been done.
[...]
>
>How has this become a quasireligion?
In a loose sense of the word, probably yes. Religion gives people
a sense of community. It may be that for some, Babylon 5 fandom
gave them a sense of community. Or maybe I'm just spouting
psychobabble. Beats me. I never understood the entire Hugo
campaign/letter writing campaign mindset.
Aaron
--
Aaron Bergman
<http://www.princeton.edu/~abergman/>
Bosch
Trekkieism. Trekkieism usually means you have a uniform,
know all the ship classes, and can tell someone which
episodes Malachi Throne was in. Occasionally you hear talk
of world peace.
This, however, has moved into a whole other beast. No
doubt the fact that JMS is in essence B5 makes it easier.
And the age of Oprah with all its soft mushiness makes it
easier, too. I don't know. I can't put into words this
phenomenon. I've met the occasionally Euro who teaches Trek
in a class, but we've got red blooded Americans calling
B5 Literature with a capital L.
The fault, I think, is that we're too damn educated for our
own good. These people aren't smart, but they knew enough to
make it through school. Now they're taking their very small
worlds and fixating it on a TV show. ~Berserker
hey7
all of this wailing over the passage of a mere TV show is beneath me. I am
happy and productive with a wonderfullllll family and the rest of you are
losers !!!! "
Podkayne Fries wrote:
> Get out the flash cards, children, and enlighten me.
>
> I've been busy over the last few days (my son had some leave and
> just left this evening) and am just catching up on all the posts. I'm
> baffled by the B5 posts. Heck, I'm baffled completely by the entire
> B5 fanboy contingent and the B5.droolers' tearful farewells.
>
---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==---
---== http://www.newsfeeds.com - Largest Usenet Server In The World! ==---
Gary Farber
: In article <3660dc8a...@news.buckeyenet.net>, Podkayne Fries wrote:
:>Get out the flash cards, children, and enlighten me.
:>
:>I've been busy over the last few days (my son had some leave and
:>just left this evening) and am just catching up on all the posts. I'm
:>baffled by the B5 posts. Heck, I'm baffled completely by the entire
:>B5 fanboy contingent and the B5.droolers' tearful farewells.
: It happens. Some people, for various reasons, made Babylon 5 into
: an intricate part of their lives. Same goes for Star Trek. Same
: goes for plenty of other shows, really. I don't exactly
: understand it, but it'll make an interesting thesis project for
: someone some day. Hell, it's probably been done.
I don't have a thesis, but I do have a Theory, having been watching this
sort of phenomenon for decades, and have had a professional interest in
it.
My Theory, very loosely speaking is this: science fiction is, among other
things, about creating different worlds in the imagination for people to
travel to. At its best, it stimulates a particular type of worldview,
which includes skepticism, scientific thinking, awe at the possibilities
of the universe, a sense of wonder, open-mindedness, tolerance for
differences in point of view, an ability to see arguments from all sides,
a desire to examine all sides of a question and come up with an unexpected
side, interest in science, and a variety of other admirable traits. At
its worst, its no worse than simple escapism.
But the key thing about tv sf is that it is most popular among folks who
either aren't terribly familiar with the powerful and mindwrenching best
of written sf, or who aren't familiar with sf *at* *all*, just with banal
settings in spaceships.
So when they run into something on tv or in a movie that gives them, for
pretty much the first time in their life, a strong *hint* of the kind of
different worldview sf can create, they go nuts for it. It's like one
bunch of people growing up building a tolerance for heroin, and another
bunch of people with no tolerance and no exposure suddenly getting a
sample of morphine: they think "this is the greatest thing I've
experienced in my life." And they think that it's the only place to get
The Drug. To them, the single tv show is the only source of The Drug
possible, and they think that the author(s) are the sole creators of
anything that produces The Effects. So they start to worship it, start to
make it central to their lives.
Well, it's a theory.
: [...]
:>
:>How has this become a quasireligion?
: In a loose sense of the word, probably yes. Religion gives people
: a sense of community. It may be that for some, Babylon 5 fandom
: gave them a sense of community. Or maybe I'm just spouting
: psychobabble.
No, I think that's spot on as well: sf fandom has always been about a
sense of community, and the difference between readers who involved
themselves in sf fandom, and those who didn't, has always been the
distinction between those interested in that community and those not.
Subfandoms created anew and centered around tv programs may seem a very
dilute, or otherwise criticizable, form of community to those in, um,
traditional sf fandom, but the desire to make friends with people who
share an interest in something important to you remains the same.
: Beats me. I never understood the entire Hugo
: campaign/letter writing campaign mindset.
I understand it, I believe: I just think it's stupid, and a misuse of what
the Hugos are about. It stems from a desire to see that which they love
praised and recognized, of course. What they fail to understand is that
organizing a campaign to stuff ballots is not a valid way to achieve
recognition. But they reach for what they see, even if they don't really
understand it.
--
Copyright 1998 by Gary Farber; Web Researcher; Nonfiction Writer,
Fiction and Nonfiction Editor; gfa...@panix.com; B'klyn, NYC, US
Podkayne Fries
>What you are saying in a backhanded way is " I have a wonderfulllll life and
>all of this wailing over the passage of a mere TV show is beneath me. I am
>happy and productive with a wonderfullllll family and the rest of you are
>losers !!!! "
>
No, that isn't it at all. Only *some* of you are losers.
Care to post the email you sent me, Sparky? Not man enough to post it in
a public forum?
rs...@lehigh.edu
>
>Here is a test I give to any one who tries to tell me that the latest
>sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
>
>Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
>they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
>statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
>question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
>able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
>
Here's a hint; look at the history of professional sports. Such as the
begining of professional baseball, etc. and when it became a spectator sport.
Then you'll have your answer.
rick
"Take your bunch of freaks and get-the-hell off our show."
-Olly, _Sifl & Olly Show_
Franklin Hummel
Podkayne Fries <ch...@buckeyenet.net> wrote:
>
>Granted, Babylon5 was a wonderful series and gave us some of the
>best sci-fi ever presented on television. I really enjoyed the first four
>seasons and am currently trying to pretend that Season Five was a
>horrible dream. What I don't understand is the passion with which
>people are defending a TELEVISION SHOW!
Ever see some folks talk about sports?
>Yes, it was great and ain't it a shame that it's over. Life, on the other
>hand, goes on. There will be other shows to watch, and if I can't find
>anything that suits my taste, there's always Turner Classic Movies and
>AMC. I have a computer and several thousand books and can always
>find something to occupy my time.
I was really pissed to see AMC showing WINGS, the first movie to
win the Oscar, -once- this month and at some time like 5-6am on a weekday
morning. I noticed it too lated to tape it. I had always wanted to see
it.
>How has this become a quasireligion? I've made jokes about The First
>Online Church of JMS, but I'm horrified to see that many people are
>treating the End Of Babylon5 as if it were the end of the freaking world!
Wait until DS9 ends and all that is left is VOYAGER and see how
the TREK fans react.
>What causes this and why am I completely unaffected? Is it because I
>wasn't there when JMS came online and announced his True Vision of
>SF? Is it because I already have a religion, a family and friends? In
>other words, what makes a fanboy a fanboy?
Well, having a penis helps.
>All of this is just way too weird for a small town girl like Yours Truly.
>It's easy to sneer at some of this people, but what is the motivation?
>What are they lacking in their lives that makes a TELEVISION SHOW
>so very important? It's scary to think that so many people have such an
>emotional investment in something like this.
Well, yes, but consider how many hours of their limited-hours of
quality time they have spend with their TV sets the last 6 years.
A lot of this comes down not to what is being discussed and even
who is right and who is wrong, but for the need and purposes of social
interaction.
A long time ago I realized there is very little intrinsically
important about sports. Yet the amount of attention and publicity it
receives every hour of every day is simply incredible. The importance of
sports is that it allows a huge part of the population, mainly male, to
have some common grouund to socially interact with each other.
Sports, or BABYLON 5, is not what is important for the most part;
the social interaction is. IMP
-- Franklin Hummel [ hum...@world.std.com ]
--
====================================================================
"The universe is not only queerer than we imagine, but it is
queerer than we can imagine". -- J.B.S. Haldane
====================================================================
Podkayne Fries
wrote:
This is pretty sad, if you think about it. Have we become so alienated
from each other that some of us feel compelled to turn to *television* for
comfort? Are we so fearful of human contact that we become 'friends' with
fictional characters?
Podkayne Fries
wrote:
>Get out the flash cards, children, and enlighten me.
>
>I've been busy over the last few days (my son had some leave and
>just left this evening) and am just catching up on all the posts. I'm
>baffled by the B5 posts. Heck, I'm baffled completely by the entire
>B5 fanboy contingent and the B5.droolers' tearful farewells.
Yeah, yeah, I'm following up on my own post. Byte me.
To my great surprise, this post elicted hate mail. The temptation to post
it all is almost overwhelming, but I'll refrain.
To those who posted or emailed a thoughtful response - thank you. Those
of you who felt that you resembled my remarks and felt compelled to curse
me are cordially invited to kiss my ass.
Rather than answer each email, I'll reply here.
Overwhelmed because B5 is over? Spending time keening over the
loss of The Great Maker? Tough. Learn to live with it. Life is pain,
kiddo, and the sooner you grasp this and move on, the happier you'll
be.
You've invested your emotions in a television show? You wonder why
you have no friends and are unhappy? Get your ass off the couch and
*do* something. Invest the rage you directed towards me into something
*useful*.
It's easy to sit back and piss and moan about your problems. It's
harder to deal with them, but that's what adults do.
Find a Cause and do something for someone else. Teach a child to read.
Rake the leaves from your elderly neighbor's lawn. Donate an afternoon to
your local homeless shelter. Dish up Christmas dinner at the soup
kitchen.
My beloved grandmother always said, "No matter how bad your problems
are, it could always be worse." There have been times in my life when it
tooks *months* to imagine how life could *possibly* be worse, but there's
always someone with more problems than you.
Believe it or not, chillun, life will go on. You're sitting in front of
your computer in your warm house, munching on junk food and whining
about *TV*. A lot of people would give anything to be in your place.
Have you learned nothing from the show you seem to idolize?
Feh. It's easy to snipe from the shadows. Were I a less principled
person, I'd post your emails and allow the others to taunt you in public.
J. Potts
Podkayne Fries <ch...@buckeyenet.net> wrote:
>
>Granted, Babylon5 was a wonderful series and gave us some of the
>best sci-fi ever presented on television. I really enjoyed the first four
>seasons and am currently trying to pretend that Season Five was a
>horrible dream. What I don't understand is the passion with which
>people are defending a TELEVISION SHOW!
In article <F36tG...@world.std.com>,
Franklin Hummel <hum...@world.std.com> wrote:
> Ever see some folks talk about sports?
[snip]
> A long time ago I realized there is very little intrinsically
>important about sports. Yet the amount of attention and publicity it
>receives every hour of every day is simply incredible. The importance of
>sports is that it allows a huge part of the population, mainly male, to
>have some common grouund to socially interact with each other.
Yes, I've noticed the same thing. Personally, I think sports are for
doing, not watching. I got my first taste of the fanaticism of sports
during high school when our football team lost the last game of the season
and ended up in second place. The cheer leaders were *sobbing* over a
*football* game as if it was something of great import.
I was completely flabergasted. No small children were killed, no third
world countries were destroyed, not that you could tell from their
behavior.
--
JRP
"BLONDE? Blonde? You didn't TELL me you were a blonde....."
--Gharlane of Eddore
Earl Pottinger
: In article <3660dc8a...@news.buckeyenet.net>,
Here is a test I give to any one who tries to tell me that the latest
sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
Earl Colby Pottinger
---------------------------------------------------------------------
: Internet Direct. Have you heard about our :
: (416)233-2999, 1000 lines Do-It-Yourself Webserver? :
: T3 bandwidth, 9600-33,600bps+ISDN http://web.idirect.com :
---------------------------------------------------------------------
J. Potts
>>J. Potts (nav...@pubsa.ih.lucent.com) wrote:
Please watch those attributions. I never said the following.
>>Here is a test I give to any one who tries to tell me that the latest
>>sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
>>
>>Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
>>they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
>>statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
>>question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
>>able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
The correct attribution is:
Earl Pottinger <ear...@idirect.com>, in article <36636...@oasis.idirect.com>
tomlinson
: Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
: they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
: statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
: question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
: able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
Uh, _maybe_ because spectator sports for the most part are fewer than
a hundred years old?
God, I used to be a snobbish son-of-a-bitch just like you, thinking
that I was all smart and superior for turning up a well-bred nose at
football and baseball. Then, guess what, I noticed that _smart_
people seemed to _like_ those things! Stephen Jay Gould has written
some fine essays on evolution and also about Joe DiMaggio's incredible
hitting streak. I wised up and realized that I could enjoy watching
sports without metamorphosing into the beer-swilling, half-witted
stereotype of a sports fan whom people such as yourself push forth as
representative of anyone who enjoys watching a football game.
If you want the name of a famous athlete, there's always the most
famous of them all, a man who died 2500 years ago: Pheidippides.
(Read your Herodotus.)
-tomlinson
--
Ernest S. Tomlinson - San Diego State University
------------------------------------------------
..maybe go to Santa Fe, maybe San Anton'; any town is where I'm bound,
anywhere to get me gone...
rs...@lehigh.edu
otts) writes:
>In article <73vrtg$1h...@ns4-1.cc.lehigh.edu>, <rs...@Lehigh.EDU> wrote:
>>>J. Potts (nav...@pubsa.ih.lucent.com) wrote:
>
>Please watch those attributions. I never said the following.
>
>>>Here is a test I give to any one who tries to tell me that the latest
>>>sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
>>>
>>>they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
>>>statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
>>>question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
>>>able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
>
>
>Earl Pottinger <ear...@idirect.com>, in article <36636...@oasis.idirect.com>
>
My bad.
JASONVOTAW
>person, I'd post your emails and allow the others to taunt you in public.
>
Making insults at people and making wide generalizations about people you never
have meet in your life, much less know doesn't make you look all that
principled from were i'm sitting.
Jason
JASONVOTAW
>sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
>
>Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
>they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
>statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
>question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
>able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
>
Granted being a scientist or a doctor is more important than being a sports
figure but your dead wrong in using musican or painter or even a writer as a
comparison. Sports is just the same as those last three art forms I listed
because sports is art. Art is something that you do suposedly to express
yourself creatively. Well thats just what a sports star does. Every
basketball player wants to make a great dunk or every baseball wants to hit the
game winning homerun. I know you will say that, at least in pro sports their
just doing it for money but how is that differnet from a painter or musican.
Did painters give their paintings away for free. Of course not. They recevied
payment for them. Of course you being the snob that you seem to be I don't
really expect you to see this. Not everything comes down to your defintion of
whats important. Ass for your question. I can't name any famous artist from a
previos century except for some of the ovious ones like Van Gogh and Shaksphere
but you know what. I bet you can't tell me who is the NBA's all time greatest
scorer is or who has the NFL touchdown record in football.
Jason
LisaB
>>The fault, I think, is that we're too damn educated for our
>>own good. These people aren't smart, but they knew enough to
>>make it through school. Now they're taking their very small
>>worlds and fixating it on a TV show.
>
>This is pretty sad, if you think about it. Have we become so alienated
>from each other that some of us feel compelled to turn to *television* for
>comfort? Are we so fearful of human contact that we become 'friends' with
>fictional characters?
Yeah, it would be so much healthier to turn to professional football
or something. At least those people CARE about the fans.
;-)
Franklin Hummel
Podkayne Fries <ch...@buckeyenet.net> wrote:
>
>To my great surprise, this post elicted hate mail. The temptation to post
>it all is almost overwhelming, but I'll refrain.
Remember the Trekkie reaction to Shatner's "Get a Life?"
David Hines
Gary Farber <gfa...@panix2.panix.com> postulated:
>
>So when they run into something on tv or in a movie that gives them, for
>pretty much the first time in their life, a strong *hint* of the kind of
>To them, the single tv show is the only source of The Drug
>possible, and they think that the author(s) are the sole creators of
>anything that produces The Effects. So they start to worship it, start to
>make it central to their lives.
>
>Well, it's a theory.
It is that. I think it's a grossly oversimplified theory that owes
far too much to your own personal perspective, but I do agree it's
a theory. *grin* You're seeing the crossroads of speculative fiction
fiends and that nebulous creature known as "media fandom" -- not as
contrasted with fandom for prose works within a certain genre, but
for a certain means of storytelling -- and attributing the entire
result to one of the movers because that's what you're used to.
Media fandom is, I think, about something very different.
Primarily, it's driven by identification with people and situations;
yes, there's an escapist element in there, too, but I think the
audience is really made by recognition of themselves onscreen:
either themselves as they are, or their dreams of how they wish
they could be. Sense of wonder is another kettle of fish entirely,
and it doesn't even remotely figure in large chunks of media fandom.
How else do you explain DUE SOUTH and DARIA fanfic?
(Incidentally, the online XENA fanzine "WHOOSH!" -- www.whoosh.org --
seems to be replicating traditional fanzine material: scholarly
essays, in-depth articles, the odd interview... in a strictly
online format and all focusing on XENA and HERCULES. You might
find it interesting.)
--
David Hines
J. Potts
Gary Farber <gfa...@panix2.panix.com> postulated:
>
>So when they run into something on tv or in a movie that gives them, for
>pretty much the first time in their life, a strong *hint* of the kind of
>different worldview sf can create, they go nuts for it. [. . .]
>To them, the single tv show is the only source of The Drug
>possible, and they think that the author(s) are the sole creators of
>anything that produces The Effects. So they start to worship it, start to
>make it central to their lives.
>
>Well, it's a theory.
In article <7413up$1h2$1...@clarknet.clark.net>,
David Hines <hra...@clark.net> wrote:
>It is that. I think it's a grossly oversimplified theory that owes
>far too much to your own personal perspective, but I do agree it's
>a theory. *grin* You're seeing the crossroads of speculative fiction
>fiends and that nebulous creature known as "media fandom" -- not as
>contrasted with fandom for prose works within a certain genre, but
>for a certain means of storytelling -- and attributing the entire
>result to one of the movers because that's what you're used to.
>Media fandom is, I think, about something very different.
>
>Primarily, it's driven by identification with people and situations;
>yes, there's an escapist element in there, too, but I think the
>audience is really made by recognition of themselves onscreen:
>either themselves as they are, or their dreams of how they wish
>they could be. Sense of wonder is another kettle of fish entirely,
>and it doesn't even remotely figure in large chunks of media fandom.
>How else do you explain DUE SOUTH and DARIA fanfic?
It's funny but we were discussing the concept of G/geeks this weekend.
The group I was chatting with decided that in fandom there are the
Geeks (with the capital "G") and geeks (with the lower case "g").
The Geeks ate, breathed and lived what ever they were a fan of. They
knew every piece of information about the show, what it's name was,
what a certain character was wearing on this episode in this scene, yadda,
yadda. They were the ones who didn't appear to have a life outside of
the show. It was their raison d'etre. Then there were the geeks who
watched the show and knew the general story line but couldn't name every
single episode or event in them.
I don't think the obsession with a show is reflective of fandom as a
whole but of a personality type, some of whom are into fandom but they
could just as well be seeking meaning through some form of religious
conversion. There are some types of people who need something bigger than
they are to believe in, whether it's religion or fandom or whatever. I
can't help but think back to the large numbers of people who have been
suckered into a religious cult ala Jim Jones or David Koresh (sp?). There
seems to be an overwhelming need by some people to "belong", to have one
thing that dominates their life, that consumes their every waking moment.
I can't say I understand it, but I can recognize it when I see it.
Gary J. Weiner
Earl Pottinger wrote:
> Here is a test I give to any one who tries to tell me that the latest
> sports game (Baseball, Football, what ever) is sssssoooo important!
>
> Name me a sciencist from a previous century? Even if they can answer,
> they do know names if I give them. Name a painter, inventor, doctor,
> statesman, ruler or king, musician, and so on. Then I ask the killer
> question! Name me a sports figure? Guess what? So far no-one has been
> able to! If sports was so important, how come they don't know any?
"Honus" John Peter "The Flying Dutchman" Wagner who played baseball for
the Louisville Colonels in 1897 was one of the first true "sports
stars".
Of course, this is a silly test. Professional spectator sports as we
know them today are barely more than 100 years old. The NFL is less than
80 years old and the NBA just turned 50. Major League Baseball is over
125 years old, but the early history of basball is not as well know and
it wasn't nearly as popular then.
Professional sports are no more or less important than any other form of
entertainment. People enjoy sports for the same reasons people enjoy
Babylon-5. It provides action and drama and lets the fans become part of
something bigger than themselves.
Certainly, if you enjoy the "story arc" concept of Babylon-5, you have
to respect the fact that storied franchises like the New York Yankees
have "story arcs" that have been going on longer than you've been alive.
--
Gary J. Weiner
webm...@hatrack.net
Berserker
> On Sun, 29 Nov 1998 02:04:50 -0500, Bosch <11055...@CompuServe.COM>
> wrote:
>
> >What's all the more disturbing is that it goes beyond
> >Trekkieism. Trekkieism usually means you have a uniform,
> >know all the ship classes, and can tell someone which
> >episodes Malachi Throne was in. Occasionally you hear talk
> >of world peace.
> >
> >This, however, has moved into a whole other beast. No
> >doubt the fact that JMS is in essence B5 makes it easier.
> >And the age of Oprah with all its soft mushiness makes it
> >easier, too. I don't know. I can't put into words this
> >phenomenon. I've met the occasionally Euro who teaches Trek
> >in a class, but we've got red blooded Americans calling
> >B5 Literature with a capital L.
> >
> >The fault, I think, is that we're too damn educated for our
> >own good. These people aren't smart, but they knew enough to
> >make it through school. Now they're taking their very small
> >worlds and fixating it on a TV show.
>
> This is pretty sad, if you think about it. Have we become so alienated
> from each other that some of us feel compelled to turn to *television* for
> comfort? Are we so fearful of human contact that we become 'friends' with
> fictional characters?
A bad way to end a century. Of course, we could be bombing each other, so
maybe being pathetic isn't so bad.
Who's the next Nietzsche?
I nominate Cronan.
--
****************************************************
'Revolution' the People howls and cries
'Freedom, that's what we're needing'
We've needed it for centuries -
Our arteries are bleeding.
The stage is shaking. The audience rocks.
The whole thing is over by nine o'clock.
"When I was a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball.
But today, I say we must move forward, not backward, upward,
not forward, and always twirling, twirling, twirling toward
freedom." - Kodos, Treehouse of Horror VII
''Even if you don't know what's going on, just knock someone out
and you can't go wrong." James Callier
Klyfix
In article <36635cf7...@news.buckeyenet.net>, ch...@buckeyenet.net
(Podkayne Fries) writes:
>
>This is pretty sad, if you think about it. Have we become so alienated
>from each other that some of us feel compelled to turn to *television* for
>comfort? Are we so fearful of human contact that we become 'friends' with
>fictional characters?
>
Now what makes it funny is the sig here....
>
>--
>Regards, Podkayne Fries
>Necrophilia means never having to say you're sorry.
>
>
Okay, so I'm easily amused. :)
V.S. Greene : kly...@aol.com : Boston, near Arkham...
Eckzylon: http://members.aol.com/klyfix/Page1.html
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