Piloticians wish you a very happy Fourth of July!

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone! Happy 4^th of July! I hope you’re all having a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I’m Rachel, and it’s my pleasure to be hosting the DPP this week. I'm jumping the gun a bit by posting a day early, but I didn't want the 4th to pass without a chance to honor our pilotician heroes :)  I’m planning on posting a discussion topic each day except for next Sunday, which I’d like to leave open so that people who are too busy to comment every day can still have time to read over the weekly developments and add their thoughts to earlier posts at the end of the week.  Sunday will also be an opportunity for all of you to start new conversations as the spirit moves you :) But till then, you’re stuck with me! BWA-HA-HA-HA.

Today’s post is a split-personality patriotic celebration, half silly and half serious.

 

Silly first:

                                  VS                         

 Be Smarter.  And Wronger.                                               Sometimes you gotta roll the hard six.
 VOTE APOLLO / STARBUCK                                                      VOTE ROSLIN / ADAMA
           148,000 B.C.E.                                                                         148,000 B.C.E.

Let’s imagine presidential competitions between our favorite characters. I think Apollo/Starbuck versus Roslin/Adama could be entertaining (imagine the Vice Presidential debates!), but feel free to run our pilots against each other, or alone, or in different pairs as you see fit. Give them political slogans, bumper stickers, campaign posters, party names and platforms, or write a little snippet of their speeches and debates. Have fun!

 

And if anyone is in a more contemplative mood…

On the Fourth of July it seems only natural to think about the men and women of the armed services. I would say that BSG in general provided a positive view of the military, and we’ve certainly discussed what our pilots’ individual roles and callsign personas meant to them. But I’m curious: what do you think the military itself meant to them? What did they value about the ethics and lifestyle of the service? What did they dislike about it? Were Kara and Lee’s views of the meaning of their work similar or different? To what extent was soldiery their true calling at any given time?  What aspects of their personalities, good and bad, did it develop, which might otherwise have gone unrealized? It’s interesting to me that the military seems to have been a second choice for both of them. They were each pressured to join from an early age by a domineering parent, though both apparently planned to make their own way pursuing other careers (Lee was a reservist, and Kara had dreams of professional pyramid). Looking back, what do you think they’d say about this ‘second choice,’ and how it ultimately shaped their lives and the lives of others? And, not to get into any real life controversies, but if you’d like to share, I’d be curious as to whether having Kara and Lee as your favorite characters affected the way you thought about the military at all?

 

Comments

[rachelindeed.livejournal.com]

"I think this would have done wonders for her self esteem and leading her to think of the military as her family. I think she could have found the same sense of belonging on a pyramid team."

I like this comparison of the military and professional sports a lot - I'd never really realized that Kara was always drawn to lifestyles that emphasized intensely close teamwork, and that extended working relationships into private as well as public life. But you're right; I think she craved human contact and that she needed the structure of group training and the recognition that her talents were elevating the whole corps. Although in many ways it's easy to mistake her as a loner, she really isn't and she never was.

"I think Lee suited the military more than the military suited Lee."

I think you summed up a lot with that simple phrase. I agree - he was talented, and discovered new abilities when unexpected responsibilities were loaded onto him. I think the military turned out to be very good for him in terms of developing his personality and leadership skills. But I always think about that early exchange between him and his father in "Bastille Day," when his father tells him that he needs to pick his side, and he refuses to do so. I think "semper fi" is a philosophy he's never trusted; he sees flaws too clearly, in himself and in others, to be fully comfortable in an institution where debate and dissent over orders is structurally discouraged. Some of his finest moments in the military came when he was defying the chain of command.