Geez, another stereotype reinforced... RE: Rising Stars+religion

[B5JMS Poster]

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From: Jonathan Biggar <jon at floorboard.com>
Date: 3 Apr 2000 12:15:41 -0600
Lines: 36

Jms at B5 wrote:
> 
> >I know it's not comics' or any writer's job to portray reality
> >exactly, but I often wonder why "religious" figures are so often
> >picked out by writers to serve as the heavy in these stories.  And
> >they are almost always given personality traits that would be closer
> >to Jim Jones/David Koresh than to any spiritual leader I've ever met.
> 
> Even-handed means that one does not favor one side or the other.
> 
> It seems that your definition of even handed is to commend it when it agrees
> with your side and to condemn it when it shows another side...if I show
> religion in a positive way, then I'm even handed; if I show one person who is
> not a nice person who is religious, then somehow that's wrong.
> 
> Sorry, that is the *definition* of even handed: showing the two sides, the
> good and the bad.

I don't think that Greg was necessarily complaining about you in
particular, but about the fact that fiction writers (for all media
types) certainly overuse the "corrupt religious leader" theme.  On the
other hand, they overuse the "corrupt politician", "corrupt business
leader", and "corrupt police chief" themes, among others as well.

Given your very positive portrayal of religious leaders in B5, I'm more
than willing to give you a pass on this one, as far as even-handedness
goes, but I do agree with Greg that the particular characterization you
chose is rather tired, and the level of heavy-handed "preaching" that
writers tend to use with this theme can get offensive.

-- 
Jon Biggar
Floorboard Software
jon at floorboard.com
jon at biggar.org


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 3 Apr 2000 17:25:59 -0600
Lines: 22

>Given your very positive portrayal of religious leaders in B5, I'm more
>than willing to give you a pass on this one, as far as even-handedness
>goes, but I do agree with Greg that the particular characterization you
>chose is rather tired, and the level of heavy-handed "preaching" that
>writers tend to use with this theme can get offensive.

Kinda funny since I based about 90% of it on stuff I saw one night recently
watching Trinity Broadcasting....

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
B5 Official Fan Club at:
http://www.thestation.com
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synthetic worlds, ltd., permission
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