We reported last week that there would be a panel discussion at the United Nations focusing on social issues that were weaved throughout the storyline of Battlestar Galactica. The panel met yesterday and we heard that they got down to business in a weirdly fantastic manner. And Admiral Adama, a.k.a. Edward James Olmos, did not disappoint.
Anyone who has followed Battlestar Galactica
knows that the series, while meant to entertain, has touched on very
real and relevant issues that face our society today: torture, stolen
elections, wars without end. Heck, if there were another season, we'd
almost expect an economic crisis, Gaius Baltar's Ponzi scheme, and Lee
Adama's campaign for change that the fleet can believe in.
Well, for one night the real world and the world of Galactica mixed again, as last night the U.N. became a sort of Twelve Colonies, with the audience sectioned off and labeled accordingly. This was brilliant because of the Quorum of Twelve is sort of the sci-fi version of the United Nations, yeah, we know, duh, anyways. (Woah -- Tom Zarek = John Bolton?) The discussion, moderated by Whoopi Goldberg, was broken up into four segments: Human Rights, Children and Armed Conflict, Terrorism, and Reconciliation and Dialog Among Civilizations and Faiths. The first topic of discussion was on Human Rights. From the start, the meeting was an intense and surreal experience that would give any BSG fan a nerdgasm.
Human Rights Deputy Director Craig Mokhiber lamented that even the utopian ideal the United Nations was formed around was considered, by some, science fiction. "We look at it in a different way," Mokhiber explained. "It's true that we are an idealistic organization... but we are focused on international law and diplomacy to settle disputes. We don't see it as utopian, we see it as the only reasonable alternative to what inevitably would be a horrific dystopian society." (io9.com)
EJO took the chance to interject his own pasionate feelings and took the chance to exploit our fear and respect of the Admiral. Wait, this isn't an episode of BSG, right? We're not being intergalactically punked?
When one of the UN's representatives talked about how part of their mandate was to safeguard the human rights of everyone, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, and station, Olmos got a little heated. "You never should've invited me here," he said, before blasting the UN for continuing to use race as a term of separation, of division among peoples. His voice rose, steadily, as if years of social activism was coming to a head on this night. Then, directing his attention to the high schoolers: "Adults will never be able to stop using the word 'race' as a cultural determinant....There is only one race: the human race. SO SAY WE ALL!" (ew.com)
Oh holy frakking hell, did he really do that?
(Co-creator David) Eick noted, "You get a brief glimpse into the
dynamics of the set when you hear Mary refer to the President as
'Laura,' and Eddie refers to the Admiral as 'I.'" (Alan Sepinwall)
Guess so.
