So by now if you've been reading these you probably know that I'm into cheesy sci-fi ontv. My real love is hard science sci-fi but when has anyone had the guts to make a tv show like Dragon's Egg or something... (point to note, the Good Reads synopsis will likely ruin that book for you)... The Expanse is probably the hardest it gets and even then there's some wibbly-wobbly-spacey stuff going on - not that I mind the wobble, planning a cinema-style viewing party for the start of season two!

Last month a young person said she didn't like sci-fi or fantasy ("although sometimes fantasy can be cool"). I figure that's reasonable for a person under the age of 20 considering that most works of the genre(s) have a tendency to focus on social-political change or upheaval.

Star Trek Enterprise, 121 Detained: "Captain Archer and Mayweather are investigating a strange energy reading from the other side of a moon. The next moment they find themselves in a complex inhabited by Suliban. The Suliban are kept against their will by the Tandarans, who are at war with the Cabal, a Suliban terrorist organization." And I don't know shit about shit but... there's a feel to the first half of this episode that's really smacking home today. The Suliban home world has been gone hundreds of years so they're all refugees, cabal and civilian alike. To describe this (where they're being held before trial) place to the humans the captain refers to Manzanar .... all cabal are Suliban, are all Suliban cabal?

In this form racism really is like an I.Q. test.

The bit that caught my eye is a scene short enough that I've typed it up below. As an interesting meta part of the exchange, the first character (A) is a black north-american man who's probably never experienced racism and almost certainly never suffered personally from it; the second (B) is an innocent guy who has lost people because of anti-terrorism bullshit and was imprisoned eight years ago like anyone of his species caught (or born and raised) in this territory.

Mess hall, simple two character exchange: line break = character change (action/visual)
a:   "Writing a letter?" (walks up, friendly)
b:     "It's a journal." (head over his book on the table, bothered)
a:   "Could be valuable some day." (sits, friendly) "People will want to know what happened here." (pity/condescension)
b:     "I doubt anyone will ever read this." (weary)
a:   "Then why are you writing it?" (apologetic/confused)
b:     "Why do you care?" (frustrated/angry)
a:   (surprised/worried)
b:     "I see how you look at us, Suliban terrify you," (leans over table)
a:   (sits back)
b:     "You wouldn't be surprised if I slithered up this wall," (angry)
a:   (righteously pissed off at being underestimated (maybe, I think))
b:     "or turned my face inside out. Cabal - Suliban, it's all the same to you." (bitter/angry)
a:   "That's not true." (determined, sparking eyes (hey, it's Star Trek what do you expect))
b:      (hard look, walks away)
a:   (resigned/determined - planning to break everyone out)

There are a couple of complex expressions that I'm trying to pick apart here and overlay with typical behaviour patterns that I've seen in action, in rl. Firstly that pity/condescension - it's vulnerable maybe.. reaching for a greater awareness of something [A] knows little about, a desire to learn.. in this instance the character says "people will want to know" he wants to know.. but in life this open-seeking often leads to abuse [as above, typically for good reasons even if that (sticking up for self) reaction has a knock-on bad effect] therefore people tend to do it in more controlled circumstances (i.e. going to planned talks and discussions, google) where they're likely to meet others prepared to debate or educate on the topic. But on the occasions of this happening raw.. [A] in that situation could come out the encounter stronger and with a greater understanding of why they upset [B] but equally as likely in the opposite extreme they could develop a resentment that forms gradually into racism. While at the same time [B above] could have been writing/thinking about anything and at the point that they're interrupted and pressed-upon for conversation could have been tired of the whole struggle, for all we know in that moment standing up and shouting at this present example of the injustice could have been the only route left for a tortured mind.. or something less dramatic (though, Star Trek!!!!) [i really hope you/reader somehow saw the jazz hands there] [This next bit is probably nonsense: italics are to show emphasis in the actor's voice, it's well-timed. A person in that situation and reacting in that way is likely (what would for me be) hitting dual-high, white rage or red rage, before subsiding to a centre-low balance.] That hard look at the end is the next complex expression that I'd like to analyse.. not sure I understand it yet though... Can anyone get a read on that?

gah: it hasn't escaped my notice that mindfulness and yoga are often discussed in the same breath... the more I look at this as a potentially causal relationship the more I see a loop, posture effecting mood effecting posture.. right to holding the head up.  Also I really fucked up my neck again last night :(

Head's up, minor dose of reflecting on shit below.. Thanks for reading :P
(though still not the means of protest, will get around to that soon.. this still bc it's kinda the big issue right now for humans on this poor planet were all a bit too preoccupied by dying and living to care for..)



When I was just turned 15, I was convinced that the fucker was somehow in love and we'd have a picket fence or something (15.... sigh).. people I trusted told me that was not the case, everything in me said this was good and there was no manipulation, but at some point the weight of doubt meant that I had to trust the majority.......... why can't that fucking well happen with racism???** To The Morons: At some point there's got to be an equation that you can't solve and need to trust in the majority of people that think you're fucking morons to assume that looks have anything to do with brains, or anything else for that matter! Is it a preconception over the genetic potential of other races...?? [fucked up, but at least there's screwy thought going into it] No? Not most of the time it's just crude, 101 psych - 'I feel better knowing I'm better than you, just because' and experience has said they can get away with it so they try. **Because there's a structure in place to guide and assist against a 'common foe'.... I mean, fuck. I get why this has happened, people are only animals, the world was small and there were dragons out there once.... but racism.. it's fucking medieval. Like sexism and a bunch of other isms, humans can be better than that. Maybe not always and it sure takes time to change these preconceptions (you have to get the subconscious and unaware thoughts on side too) but it's totally possible to be more than the sum of our parts.