Reavers and Buddhism

POSTED BY: christhecynic
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 27, 2005 19:41
VIEWED: 3387
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CHRISTHECYNIC

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 1:42 AM

Ok so I’m watching Serenity, and thinking of Miranda, which reminds me:

This assumes that you’ve seen the movie. If not go out and buy a copy widescreen to see it all, full screen to make up for the fact your TV isn’t the size of a movie screen, and three more copies of each as penance.

Anyway I was watching Serenity and it occurred to me that Miranda is an example of extremes, what Aristotle would call vices of excess and deficiency. The ones who laid down and died would be exhibiting vices of deficiency, Reavers are a picture perfect example of excess.

Normal people follow the middle path between the two, which brings us to Buddha.

The Alliance is a body of people principally from the central planets who are mostly Buddhist. How the hell could a group made primarily of Buddhists not see the inherent wrongness in forcing a group of people to abandon the middle path by drugging them?

I had a point but, “I’m a leaf on the wind,” just happened and I forgot.

JUBELLATE

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:06 AM

I'm not sure how Buddhist the central planets are. I know there's influence of eastern culture, buyt not necessarily buddhist. The "Operative" could be described more as a follower of "Sun Tzu" and Taoism, but definitely not Buddhist. Also, religions tend to evolve. There are reformations of belief where a religion known by the same name 1000 years ago can be almost irrecognizable today. So that's what I think sums up the reasoning. The culture had changed or the culture was more complex that at first glance. So choose what suits you,

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. – H.L. Mencken

CAUSAL

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
Ok so I’m watching Serenity, and thinking of Miranda, which reminds me:

This assumes that you’ve seen the movie. If not go out and buy a copy widescreen to see it all, full screen to make up for the fact your TV isn’t the size of a movie screen, and three more copies of each as penance.

Anyway I was watching Serenity and it occurred to me that Miranda is an example of extremes, what Aristotle would call vices of excess and deficiency. The ones who laid down and died would be exhibiting vices of deficiency, Reavers are a picture perfect example of excess.

Normal people follow the middle path between the two, which brings us to Buddha.

The Alliance is a body of people principally from the central planets who are mostly Buddhist. How the hell could a group made primarily of Buddhists not see the inherent wrongness in forcing a group of people to abandon the middle path by drugging them?

How did you arrive at the conclusion that the central planets are "mostly Buddhist"? The only evidence for that seems to be that Inara is a Buddhist. For a man versed in Aristotle, this seems to be a pretty flimsy bit of induction. Before anyone tackles the question you posed, I'd like you to defend the proposition that the central planets are mostly Buddhist.

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

CHRISTHECYNIC

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 2:29 AM

Well I have to admit that apparently I jumped a bit too far. The main religion on the two founding planets of the Alliance was Buddhism, according to A Brief History of the Universe Circa 2507 A.D. by Joss Whedon as it appears in The Official Visual Companion but having something be the main religion on the founding planets is far from being the majority in the resulting culture.

Therefore I abandon my proposition that they are mostly Buddhist, and leave this thread and question to fend for themselves.

Or not.

Even without the, "mostly," I think the question does hold, if on a lower level. These people are in a culture that came from one where Buddhism was, if not the majority religion, the main religion and even in a perfect separation of church and state they must have had the value of moderation drilled into them from the start.

How does one go from the belief structure that encourages the middle path to the belief that forcing a tilt is a good thing? Even if they had gotten exactly what they wanted they would have still forced people out of the middle, just not nearly as far.

CAUSAL

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 3:18 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
How does one go from the belief structure that encourages the middle path to the belief that forcing a tilt is a good thing?

Perhaps the idea was that artificially inducing non-violence would help these folks find the middle path that much easier?

Incidentally, it wouldn't make any more sense if the core worlds were dominated by Christians. The bevavior of medieval European kingdoms and the early Catholic church notwithstanding, Christianity is a religion of non-violence as well ("turn the other cheek" and all that). Perhaps the problem isn't that Miranda offends the ideology of one religion, but that "making people better" is simply wrong in itself (vs. wrong-for-Buddhists).

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

GORBA916

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 8:03 AM

The name Miranda is loosely based on William Shakespeare's last play "The Tempest"

Quote:
The sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, and his daughter, Miranda, have been stranded for twelve years on an island in the Adriatic, after Prospero's jealous brother Antonio—helped by the King of Naples—deposed him and set him adrift with the three-year-old girl. Possessed of magic powers due to his great learning and prodigious library, Prospero is reluctantly served by a sprite, Ariel, whom he has rescued from imprisonment in a tree. Ariel was imprisoned by the African witch Sycorax, who had been exiled to the island years before and died before Prospero arrived. The witch's son Caliban, a deformed monster who was the only non-spiritual inhabitant before the arrival of Prospero, has been compelled by Prospero to serve as the sorcerer's servant, carrying wood and gathering pig nuts. Caliban, provoked by the comeliness of Miranda, has proposed to her that they join in sexual union in order to create a new race to populate the island.

Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tempest_%28play%29

-------------------------------
O Serenity, O Serenity! Where art thou Firefly?
Deny thy networks and refuse thy box-office totals;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet....

STDOUBT

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 8:29 AM

Hiya,
Governments are not religions.
The Parlament borked Miranda, not some
group of Buddhist fellers.
Given your premise, would you consider the
American govt. to be Christians? If you would,
you. would. be. wrong. They can call themselves
whatever they want. For example, I'm a Rocket
Scientist. Trust my math! ;]
Though governments often use religion to
to further their ends, I never got the impression
that the central govt. in the Serenity 'verse
held *any* sort of religious aspect.
Just sayn'

OOKAMIKAWAHARA

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 9:32 AM

Just a quick response to your post here. Remember a government is a government with no religous overtones. Even if you do have religion mixed in, a govt will still function while following or not following the rules etc of such religion. A good case in point is Japan. It is primarely Buddhist/Shinto as major religion although there are other ones. Anyways during WW2 you had the Japanese biological weapons unit 731. They carried all sorts of medical experiments on civilian Chinese and also possibly Allied POWs similar to Miranda ie using live humans as test subjects. Pure War crimes. However, does this make Japan a bad country? (yes and no!!) Yes in that this is a stain of dishonor on Japan, but other countries (U.S. included) have similar stains of dishonor. No in that, that was the past. As long as a country learns from its dishonors and past mistakes and do not repeat them, then the past mistakes can be redeemed!!! Anyways there is my 2 cents. Hope that helps.
mata, Ookami yori

Suren Sarge, ain't this a whole heapen load of trouble.

CAUSAL

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 1:58 PM

It's a mite simplistic to say that governments are just governments, pure and simple, with no entanglements in religion. This seems to assume that American secularism ("separation of church and state") is the norm not just all over the world, but in all times. Even in our own time, you can see this is not the case (with Islamic theocracy in Iran, for example).

________________________________________________________________________
I wish I had a magical wish-granting plank.

CYBERSNARK

Tuesday, December 27, 2005 3:21 PM

Our own Shepherd said it best, I believe: "A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned."

Also, I believe that a good portion of all organized religions are made up of hypocrites who just want a way to justify their own agendas.

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We applied the cortical electrodes but were unable to get a neural reaction from either patient.

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