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Date Posted: 23:06:40 10/09/05 Sun
Author: Finn Mac Cool
Subject: Re: It parallels "The Train Job" actually
In reply to: Dlgood 's message, "Re: It parallels "The Train Job" actually" on 10:07:57 10/09/05 Sun

Even people who really believe in something are only willing to go so far with it, most of the time. The Operative has certainly killed a lot of people, but I doubt it was anywhere near the scale of Miranda, nor as vicious as what the Reavers probably did to that woman in the hologram. During the 60's and 70's in the Deep South, there were members of the Ku Klux Klan who probably felt that beating, dehumanizing, and occasionally killing black civil rights activists was the right thing to do, but, if asked to be an accomplice to raping, torturing, and killing young black children, might very well back out. A member of the IRA might commit some armed robberies and assassinations but still not want to be involved with the movement anymore if they tried releasing smallpox in England or something like that. Similarly, I feel, the Operative was willing to commit assassinations, coverups, and even mass murders of innocent and not so innocent people, but causing the deaths of millions of people and creating a race of cannibal rapists and then being asked to kill generally decent people to cover it up went beyond what he was willing to do. True, the Alliance had good intentions on Miranda, but it did show the Operative that the Alliance's efforts could fail on a truly cosmic scale, that their pursuit of a better world really could create more harm then good, and it made the crew of Serenity's mission more noble (thus making it harder to justify killing them). Almost everyone has a line; even true fanatics have a point where they'll think "this is going too far." The Operative did do something abnormal for fanatics in that he actually acted on these concerns rather than continuing to follow orders out of peer pressure or fear of reprisal. That can be explained away, though, by the fact that he was an unusually brave and honorable person. If convinced that the Alliance was in the wrong (at least on that occasion), then he might very well pursue a course of trying to right that wrong with the same conviction he used to use when carrying out missions for the Alliance. He's also used to life and death situations and can handle himself in them just fine. As such the Operative would not be as intimidated by the thought of the Alliance coming after him as other people might be.

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Replies:

  • Somebody has to change their mind -- Pip, 05:21:07 10/16/05 Sun
  • Re: Somebody has to change their mind -- dlgood, 15:49:27 10/16/05 Sun
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