What if Jasmine had been Allowed to Reign over Humanity?
POSTED BY: RiveR6213
UPDATED: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 04:02
VIEWED: 7475
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True but you wouldn't know that because you would be under the brain-washing spell of Jasmine. River KNEW she had been screwed with, but you wouldn't have that luxury, so you'll be a happy little minion until Jasmine gets around to putting you on the menu. Just pray she isn't wearing a lobster bib when your turn comes...
-River
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Which makes her the scariest villain ever in the Jossverse...in my opinion.
"In Joss We Trust."
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That's why I loved that season, cuz at the end you're not sure who won, the good guys or the bad guys. I mean Jasmine offered world peace, the only price was a little free will. Is that price too high? or is it reasonable for what she was offering?
What I always like to think about is that if Jasmine had been allowed to spread and hadn't been stopped, what would have happened between her and the first evil. Because remember thats the same time season 7 of buffy was happening.
It would have been an interesting showdown between Jasmine and the First, because world peace doesn't really fall into the first's plan.
"Haha, mine is an evil laugh."
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I don't know if the following example illuminates or confuses the issue, but...
Domesticated animals raised under humane conditions live pretty good lives, with lots of food, little disease, a little bit of leisure time (if they are free-range/pasture-fed/etc.) and no predators except us... and the end is as free of pain and fear as we can make it. On the other hand, they can't do anything to change their or their offspring's eventual fate. They basically live and die for the sake of another species (us).
Wild animals have to look for their own food, deal with constant change in their environment (including the encroachments of expanding human settlement and other living things also wanting to use the same environment), fight for status amongst their own kind (if they are social animals), and deal with predators and disease on their own. On the other hand, the actions they take can make a difference to their own and their offspring's survival. They live and die for their own sake, even if they inevitably end up as some other species' dinner.
Which would most of us prefer? Is there any point to living life for the sake of another?
Just my two cents,
Indigo S.
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River, what I think you're overlooking is the fact that if Jasmine had succeeded, Humanity would have ended. There might have been shiny, happy, human-looking "meat puppets" walking around, but that's all. Being angry, sad, selfish and cruel is part of the human condition, as is personal choice. I know it's tempting to wish that a powerful, parental figure would swoop down and magically make all of our problems go away, but that's a trap. Confronting and working to solve our own problems is where our true strength lies. As Angel said, "Our fate has to be our own, or we're nothing".
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Thank you for reminding me of that quote. I'm gonna borrow it and add it to my signature.
"In Joss We Trust."
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Yeah I'm going to have to say that without freewill life is pointless. There's no reason to exist if we are just consuming resources to eventually die.
Currently we can contribute to society and hopefully make the world a better place for the next generation and they will do the same and so on.
If Jasmine won then the human race would cease any progress. I think the best thing to do is look at the creatures she left. Their world looked pretty bad and they seemed to be like addicts going through withdrawal. So, apparently she failed there and left their world a wasteland and their people empty shells. It's possible that she doesn't possess the concentration to control a whole world of beings and still have them make their own food and distribute it and fight disease and all the other things that society does to keep us alive. The people might end up like Miranda and just stand there and die. Then when the world begins to collapse from her lack of attention she moves on to the next world. Just a theory though.
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Quote:
Originally posted by jwhedonaddict:
Thank you for reminding me of that quote. I'm gonna borrow it and add it to my signature.
"In Joss We Trust."
You're welcome! It is a particularly insightful point and worth remembering.
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Very true!
One that has stuck with me is "If nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do." The quote I use the most to pull me out of my 'funks'.
I used to have it taped to a mirror and I would always be asked what it meant. I took it down because I got tired of explaining it so much...I mean, isn't it obvious?! I know it by heart now anyway!
"Our fate has to be our own, or we're nothing."--Angel
"In Joss We Trust."
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It's an argument that's older than you think, River. It goes all the way back to Genesis.
For many, The Garden of Eden is the story of the evolution of human consciousness. When Adam and Eve were in the garden they existed in a state of blissful ignorance. They had everything they needed and wanted for nothing, but they were not aware of themselves.
When they ate the apple from the tree of knowledge, they "saw that they were naked." They achieved conscious awareness for the first time. Hence they were expelled from the garden. Once they had become consciously aware, they could never be ignorant again. Instead of being blissfully happy, they became aware of hurt, suffering, need and everything else that comes with the human package.
That's the price we pay for human awareness - the loss of paradise, of ignorant joy. Is it a bad thing? I have to say no. If we were all still in the "garden" then sure, we'd be happy, but we wouldn't be what we are. We wouldn't really be human at all.
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