V – We are of Peace

I finally had the opportunity to watch the new ABC show V today.  I have to wait for ABC shows to become available on Hulu.com [don't ask] and today was the first day V’s pilot episode was available.  A premier I eagerly awaited. 

I am a stealth hardcore SciFi fan, something not exactly common for my demographic.  Even given my already gleeful anticipation, the political junkie in me began to salivate when I read this piece from the Chicago Tribune:

[Excerpt]

Imagine this. At a time of political turmoil, a charismatic, telegenic new leader arrives virtually out of nowhere. He offers a message of hope and reconciliation based on compromise and promises to marshal technology for a better future that will include universal health care.

The news media swoons in admiration — one simpering anchorman even shouts at a reporter who asks a tough question: “Why don’t you show some respect?!” The public is likewise smitten, except for a few nut cases who circulate batty rumors on the Internet about the leader’s origins and intentions. The leader, undismayed, offers assurances that are soothing, if also just a tiny bit condescending: “Embracing change is never easy.”

So, does that sound like anyone you know? Oh, wait — did I mention the leader is secretly a totalitarian space lizard who’s come here to eat us?

Please do hop on over and read the entire article, regardless of your political “flavor” it offers some great insight, both into the show – and into our political hearts.

A funny thing  though, in that sadly pathetic kind of way, is that there are people who really do believe the earth is infiltrated by “Reptilian aliens”,  that they walk among us and are the puppeteers of the “power elite” of the world.

The show inspired a bit of personal discomfort when I realized that I would probably be one of the many who are hoodwinked in our fictitious television drama.  I do believe that somewhere out there in the vastness of the universe other intelligent life exists.  I believe that life, or some of it anyway, is vastly more advanced than we. And, I hope that they will one day introduce themselves to us – to our benefit.

A hope not unlike that of many religious folk who hope that the God of their understanding will come forth and set the world aright, right as judged by their beliefs that is.  I don’t want aliens to come to earth and set us straight, to right all our wrongs, etc.  I just think it would be cool in the extreme to know we are not alone and that there is hope that we will evolve past the “let’s kill each other” phase.  Highly advanced, beneficent aliens would be affirmation that is possible, even if only remotely so.

A few years ago I asked myself if my wish for confirmation on advanced alien life [of the good kind] was, perhaps, inspired by my suspicions that human beings are genetically incapable of not bringing about our own mass extinction.  My answer to myself: Probably.  The history of the last few years has done nothing but reinforce that belief.  It went from a vague suspicion to a rather well entrenched belief.

As such, as I said, I would no doubt be among the “adoring clueless”.  But, I said the same thing to my husband the first time we watched Independence Day.  I’d be like that exotic dancer that made a sign and went to a gathering at the top of a tall building to welcome the aliens — then the aliens vaporized the building just as the dancer realized the foolishness of her naivete.

But back to V.  When things are tough and unpleasant we want someone to swoop in and make them all better.  Who can argue that things are pretty tough and unpleasant for an awful lot of people?  That alone was a large part of Obama’s mass appeal. Young, charismatic, attractive, he promised to sweep away all the old detritus and cut away all the dead tissue so healthy tissue [a healthy society, a "fair" society] could grow in its place.  I won’t get into the stuff about all the broken promises and incompetence, as those are topics for another post.  But, not only has he failed to make things better — he has made them worse, or empowered others to make things worse.  Like humanity is scheduled to find out in V – the beneficent problem solvers are really here to eat us.  You can’t get much worse than that.

Below is the pilot episode, embedded from Hulu.com just in case you haven’t seen it yet and are unfamiliar with how to navigate Hulu.  By the way, Hulu is a wonderful thing indeed.  I get to watch the other ABC show I’ve become hooked on this season, FlashForward.  Both of these new shows have a lot to say about human psychology in the best traditions of fictional drama, and they’re entertaining to boot.