The Lessons Of Science Fiction

I just watched the latest episode of The Orville. If you are unfamiliar with the show, it’s a Star Trek like show, billed as a comedy, but it is also very good Science Fiction. Good Science Fiction holds a mirror to society. It shows us the good and the bad about our society, and presents possible solutions.

Because it is nothing more than Science Fiction, it has the ability to get away with commentary that might otherwise fall to pressures of Political Correctness, or censorship. Star Trek did this incredibly well, both in the Original Series, and in The Next Generation. The Orville, because it is billed as comedy, has a further layer of insolation against critique by radicals of either side because, well, who takes comedy seriously?

I wrote a blog post last week, but didn’t publish it, because it was more political than I wanted it to be. This is after all, a spiritual site, and while my spirituality informs my personal politics, I don’t think that politics has a place in spirituality. That said, your spirituality sets your ethical compass. It guides you in determining right from wrong. You don’t have to agree with my ethics, my Path is my own, and no one else’s.

The reason I bring up the episode of The Orville, is because this episode, titled Sanctuary, took on the issues of gender identity, and women’s rights, and gender equality head on, and did it in the right way. I have seen far too many extremists on both the Left and the Right recently, use identity politics to define what they believe to be right or wrong.

More flies with honey

I am also a big comic book fan, and have been, longer than I’ve been a Witch. I have not seen the latest Marvel movie, Captain Marvel, because I don’t like the fact that it was used as a wedge between men and women. I particularly don’t like what the lead actress said about white, middle-aged men, as I happen to fall into that category.

Captain Marvel is an example of doing things the wrong way, by holding a mirror to society, distorted by political agenda. To make things clear, I have no problem with the message Marvel, Disney, and the actress say they are trying to get out. I simply don’t like the way they went about it. To take a page from the Social Justice Warriors, I am offended by the way they tried to spread their message.

The Orville, on the other hand, took the same exact message, and presented it in a way that 90% of the public would look at, and agree with it. The story centers around one of the major races in their Universe, the Moclan. Moclans are a single gender race. All male. In their society, females are abominations that must be removed. They do this by performing surgery on any females born, to make them male, just after birth (or hatching, since Moclan lay eggs).

 I think we all can agree that this would be considered barbaric, by our standards. Last season, one of the crew of the Orville, hatched a female child, and the episode dealt with the idea that just because we don’t agree with the traditions of another society, we have no right to force our beliefs onto that society. So the female baby is now a male child, on the show.

The Mirror

This week’s episode was about a colony of females, who have escaped their home planet of Moclus, and set up an Underground Railroad to help families of female children to reach the colony and relative safety. The colony is obviously Matriarchal, and the episode presents what happens when the colony is discovered by the rest of the Moclan race.

I won’t go into details of the episode, but I will say that because of the way it is presented, I believe the vast majority of viewers would agree that saving the colony is the right thing to do. It doesn’t beat you over the head that all men are bad, nor does it claim that women are all powerful. It simply presents a plot with two sides, both who believe they are right, and has the main characters choosing a side to help.

No matter what your politics are, I think there are very few who would disagree with the side the Orville takes. It is a Morality Play, in the simplest, most basic way. It explains right from wrong, in a modern and very relevant way to what we see around us today. It also points out that extremism, is never the correct solution. In this case, the extremists are what could be called traditionalists, or conservatives, but extremism on either side of the spectrum is only negative. I won’t be surprised if next season, this issue is brought up again, this time showing extremism on the other side.

The silent majority

I believe that the majority of people, are Centrists. They believe that people should be treated equal and fairly. They believe that issues that don’t directly affect them, are really none of their business. They would step in to help another being treated wrongly, but for the most part, just want to be left alone, and think everyone else should be left alone as well.

Extremists, on the other hand, believe that if you are not with them, you must be against them. They are a minority, but tend to be extremely vocal about their beliefs. They make up for their lack of numbers, with their highly vocal presence. They say things purposefully to harm others, or to get their way. An example of this, was a kid who was banned from an eSports gathering because he gave an OK sign in the background of a video after his team won, and one person, yes, just one person, tweeted that the OK symbol is somehow racist.

That is an incredible amount of power for a single person to have. That is akin to a Dictator, deciding that he doesn’t like something, and thus making it a crime. Any time someone on the Left doesn’t like something, they call it “Alt-right”, “White Nationalist” or “racist”, knowing that because no company wants to be seen as any of those things, they will immediately react.

On the Right, they use words like “Socialist” or “Communist” to get their way. Make no mistake, when the world becomes divided into extremes, we all lose. The answer to extremism, isn’t more extremism. The answer to extremism, is thoughtfulness. It doesn’t matter which side the extremism comes from, we should all strive to find the calm center.

The calm center

The calm center is where all answers lie. The calm center is where truth and facts are found. The calm center is where a Witch finds his or her strength. No move is made without forethought and planning. Emotions are a gift of the Gods, but they should not be allowed to lead you into battle. That is nothing more than suicide.

Your emotions are going to be engaged. Politicians have learned how to use your emotions against you, in every election. Extremists run on pure emotion, so they too lead an emotional charge. It is impossible to think clearly, when your emotions are engaged. Think about any argument you’ve had with a Lover, and you will recognize this fact.

Do not allow yourself to act on emotion. A Witch is better than that. Yes, your emotions can guide you where to act, but not until you calmly, logically think the situation through, will you know if you should act. As a Witch, you wield a massive amount of power. Not because you have more than any other person, but because you recognize that you have such power, and wield it with purpose.

Using that power for good, requires clear thought, and strong will. Any idiot can lash out emotionally, with vast power. A Witch harnesses their power purposefully, with clear intent, and thoughtful planning, so that they know for a fact if they are harming none.

You and I don’t have to agree politically, or in any other way. As long as your reasons for your beliefs are thoughtful, and logical, you may even convince me to look into my own beliefs further. That will only happen through conversation, not bashing my beliefs. Nor will you convince any other, by bashing theirs.

Be righteous. Be thoughtful. Be powerful.

What do you think? Is the country too emotional? Is this post too political? Use the form below, to express your thoughts.