Nice to know I'm not alone in my feelings about race. I think more people need to wake up a realize that there is only one race on this planet.

Not bad for a fluff piece.

Edward James Olmos for President of Earth, LOL!!!

Yeah. I'm tired of seeing lawyers taking the seat of power and proving everything we always hate about them with every election.

So say we all!
So say we all!

The UN is full of countries like N Korea wouldn't kill their own people because freedom is a threat to them.
That's the human race they represent.

Carnival used to be a tradition where the fools were kings and kings became fools. Of course carnival ends, everything goes back to normal and we all agree it is better that way.

But somewhere down the line, the fools permanently took over and whenever somebody we now perceive as court jester utters the truth we chuckle and go back to "normal".

And for a minute you imagine a world in which Galactica writers pass resolutions and UN politicians create TV shows. A horrid TV world, void of any quality entertaining. I would take it nonetheless. Just don't drop us all into a black hole, like Galactica is certainly going to do on Friday and we have a deal.

Here here Admrial!

It's amusing seeing some U.N. hacks try to twist the show into something it isn't.

The_1337...

you're not so 1337 if you never caught the galactica concept of "the human condition"

the show always has been.. and on friday shall show WILL be.. about the human condition... hate, love, fear of those that we do not understand...

ie: non-understanding is NEVER the proper justification for hatred and refusal to understand

This is a TV show - a work of fiction. It's a yarn; a story...nothing more.
If the UN staff think it's real or believe it says anything about reality, then the UN has really lost the plot.
What next? Tom and Jerry as a discussion of the cold war?

Astounded ... so you think that anything fictional can never say anything about reality?

Wow ... that's astounding. Perhaps you should look up the word "allegory" in a dictionary. Fiction is often allegorical, and science fiction particularly tends to be more allegorical than other forms of fiction, especially but not exclusively in printed form.

James,
Of course, good writing can say something about reality. But let's face it, Battlestar Galactica, while entertaining is little more than a soap opera with special effects. And given the way they change the character to suit the story; include the appropriate "who's sleeping with whom" every few weeks, it is indistinguishable from a soap in many ways.

Don't get me wrong, I watch the series and look forward to the finale, but it is entertainment. BS is not a comment on society.

In a world where the economy has gone to pieces; millions are struggling - I think the UN should be doing something better with their time than hosting a BS convention.

Wow. Just wow. I would have hoped that (a) the United Nations had hundreds of better things to do with their time and (b) that the folks behind Battlestar Galactica never took their show anywhere near this seriously.

So instead of ending the suffering in Darfur or something equally as important and vital the vaunted and mighty UN plays host to BSG crew. This is why the US is the biggest donor? Sickening. Especially when we realize how much the UN has failed over its lifespan. Disgusting. Its good to know that all the souls that have been lost because the UN refused to act can rest peacefully now that Moore and crew have graced the UN for their official BSG summit.

Gee, maybe raising public awareness of current events (humanitarian, economic, etc...) is part of the UN's goal? And maybe by meeting with the cast of a groundbreaking, thematic show helps accomplish that?

Now if only they could find somebody to discuss it on the internet and raise awareness further...

And blaming the UN, rather than its designers, for its failures to act is silly. Too many countries have exercised veto power and they all share the blame. It is like the Bush administration blaming "government" for the failures of Katrina rather than accepting responsibility and admitting that it was "poor government".

Astounded, your second post is much more reasonable than your first.

BSG does have certain soap opera-ish qualities to it (what drama doesn't?), but that doesn't preclude the possibility of social commentary.

For example BSG has tackled issues such as abortion, election rigging, suicide bombings, religious intolerance, racism and so on.

It's sad to see my very valid earlier comments about Israel and America benefiting from this show's honest portrayal of the motivation for terrorism and suicide bombings and criticism of certain people at Sci Fi/USA's disrespect toward The 4400 and forcing BSG to end early weren't posted.

Also, the UN can only act in places like Darfur with the permission of the host governments. Nations like the US have long prevented it having any independent authority that could over-rule them, which is why US war criminals have never been brought to justice. I'd rather blame the UN for backing US and Israeli moves to disqualify the Hamas government, which had every right to rule as much as a war criminal like Ariel Sharon.

Anyway, Craig Mokhiber hit the nail on the head; it's too bad they got someone like Whoopi Goldberg to moderate things she can't understand.

Also, to those who doubt BSG's unprecedented guts in exploring political issues, why, then, is it that Nazi propaganda films were so dangerous; they portrayed fictional events, but helped perpetuate a culture of intolerance. Same with a US film called "Birth of a Nation" that tried to encourage hatred toward blacks.

Pop culture is a vital part of how we see things. Most people will never visit the Middle East or talk to the kinds of folks who have lost loved ones from US-sponsored or direct attacks in Vietnam, Latin America or the Middle East. BSG allows audiences to see those perspectives and not just regard them as "the other" as Star Trek The Next Generation usually did, so the viewer, who identified with the perfect protagonists, could dismiss them as "foreign" views. It places the audience in the real world's "other"'s perspective and that's a massive change.

Star Wars failed to successfully criticize the American Empire attacking Vietnam, as he meant to convey, because he made the bad guys so unrecognizably evil and the good guys so pure. Guys like George W. Bush were raised on this kind of simplistic fiction, so they never had to think about the complexity of our world and how desperate conditions make all of us vulnerable to terrible things, including war crimes and terrorism. If he understood this, he would never have put US troops in conditions where they were likely to carry out Haditha or Abu Graib; I don't think he would have cared, but others might have and realized Nazis and Americans aren't any different when you really get right down to human nature.

Also, the sexual drama is more brilliantly explored here than on some of the greatest drama in film. Maybe it's because I came to BSG at a time, when I was shocked by my own moral failings and my capability of wrong doing, despite trying my best to do what's right, but I find a very real comfort in BSG's adultery and painful side of love -- much more than the "uplifting" moments that feel forced and awkward. I absolutely adored the Starbuck-Lee-Dualla-Anders love quadrangle. Brilliant stuff.

That BSG had the courage to tackle alot of issues that mirror our current world is no small feat. That the UN established an outreach program to bring issues like this to the table thru the eyes of a popular TV show is just as great. PUBLiC AWARENESS is what it's all about.

BSG merits this opportunity because sci-fi, in general, can take on these issues without offending anyone thru conventional news issue fronts like CNN or skewed political perspective.

Science fiction is a groundbreaking medium in which to explore these issues. Let's keep it simple folks, this was a wonderful thing in and of itself. Congrats to both BSG actors/staff and the UN for bringing this to everyone's attention.