XPost: rec.arts.tv, rec.arts.sf.tv, rec.arts.movies.current-films   
   XPost: rec.arts.sf.written   
   From: jwkenne@attglobal.net   
      
   Sea Wasp wrote:   
   >     The resolution was, to me, brilliant. There was NO WAY that there   
   > could be a military resolution directly; the Alliance, powerful though   
   > it was, simply didn't have what it took to deal with EITHER the Vorlons   
   > or the Shadows, let alone both. There was no way they could, by   
   > themselves, negotiate a peace between two groups who were basically   
   > religious fanatics. The BEST that they could do was to GET BOTH GROUPS'   
   > ATTENTION...   
   >   
   >     ... but then what? Get stomped flat?   
   >   
   >     No. Because...   
   >   
   >     Lorien was there. Could he, by himself, take them on? Probably not.   
   > Oh, I think he was clearly vastly more powerful as an individual than   
   > any one Shadow or Vorlon, but the entire races assembled would have   
   > mopped the metaphorical floor with him.   
   >   
   >     But...   
   >   
   >     As I said before, these were two religious fanatic sects. And   
   > exactly who was there at the START of their religion? Who helped guide   
   > them and raise them to the godhead, who gave them their missions?   
   >   
   >     Lorien.   
   >   
   >     And here he is. It is as though two fanatical sects of Christians   
   > were warring, and suddenly Jesus himself appears to them. And they   
   > *KNOW*, both sides, that it really is Jesus himself. No tricks, no lies   
   > -- the Shadows and Vorlons recognized Lorien without any doubt at all.   
   >   
   >     And HE WOULDN'T TALK TO THEM.   
   >   
   >     Instead, he stood there, supporting, and forcing them to listen to   
   > this child, this lesser creature -- and thus, by direct implication,   
   > telling them "You have made a terrible mistake, both of you. A mistake   
   > so terrible, so basic, that even this child can tell you what is wrong.   
   > And I am so very disappointed in you that if you do not acknowledge this   
   > child and his people that I am not going to even speak to you again."   
   >   
   >     As I said, brilliant.   
      
   Thank you for that. It's a way of seeing it that I never noticed before.   
   (My own mind runs to the obvious Vietnam analogy.)   
      
   --   
   John W. Kennedy   
   "The blind rulers of Logres   
   Nourished the land on a fallacy of rational virtue."   
      -- Charles Williams.  "Taliessin through Logres: Prelude"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)