Easy Vegan Debunk of Stargate Soft Disclosure Conspiracy Theory

There are some scifi fans who believe that the Stargate TV show is soft disclosure to the world of extraterrestrials and a real international space travel program.

It’s a simple no-go: 45’s sons would have shot the Furlings for so-called “trophies.”

The 5th race? Maybe when our species learns to peacefully coexist with all fellow Earthlings, of all species, let alone other species on other planets.

These theorists can get back with me after that happens for a reevaluation.

Until then… I disbelieve.

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Don’t Leave Your Messages to Chance: The Importance of Artist and Author Notes for Progressives

Edouard Manet, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, 1882, Wikipedia

What possible social messages do you see in the above painting? Do you see class hierarchy of a working woman serving wealthier people? A woman’s body on display as something to purchase, along with the items on the counter? Or, do you hone in on the legs of the trapeze artist in the upper corner that one can hardly see and theorize the painter was making a statement about loss of mobility? This trapeze discussion actually happened in a class I once took and I felt uncomfortable with people assigning meaning to something the artist may not have intended and who was no longer alive to speak to confirm or deny it.

Big difference in weight of content messaging and interpretation, isn’t there?

Why leave the message of your work to such chance? Meanings get lost in time– and even presently, across cultures in a digital, global age. Sometimes, meanings and themes can even be deliberately glossed over or ignored, especially messages about justice for fellow animals. Do you want to leave your audience fixated on an inaccurate or irrelevant detail while your work’s real message is sidelined?

This goes double for fiction writers. It has historically been more common for non-fiction authors and visual artists to have statements included with their work than for fiction authors. This needs to change and is starting to.

Ao3 roused getting me thinking about this, with its author notes and end notes sections. Creatives need to make more use of such features regular parts of fiction books, too, with intros and afterthoughts. As creatives, we should have our say, especially if we want to drive home points about nonviolence. And, self-publishing platforms make it easier than ever. I even saw one author write her own study questions, for readers and book clubs to use to reflect.

You put a lot of thought and effort into your works and want to see the world be a better place. Tell people loudly and proudly! Don’t leave your deepest and most important messages to chance or to other peoples’ whims.

Racist and Speciesist Hierarchies of Animal Analogies in Science Fiction

“We’re just cattle [sic]* to them.” –AU McKay to Sheppard in Stargate Atlantis episode “Vegas”

Just as with Keller talking over Todd in “Infection,” here is another white Westerner on SGA trying to define another galaxy’s culture they hardly know, with us/them whitesplaining, this time while also simultaneously asserting anthropocentric speciesism on Earth. Cows have become what critical theorist scholars refer to as “the absent referent” in comparing inequitable treatment, used as metaphors while also being placed into a human-centered hierarchy imposing categories of “uses” on others. The character McKay himself, in this reality, said baby cows taken from the dairy industry and whose bodies are kept shackled and anemic are “delicious,” in spite of having a sister who does not eat fellow animals. The addition of the qualifier “just” (as in “only” or “merely”) amplifies the colonialist overwriting of Wraith culture as well as tries to further diminish cows in the contrived, human-centered hierarchy. Humans should not be needlessly harming anyone of any species and analogies about harming fellow animals should not exist.

Speciesism correlates positively with racism, sexism, and homophobia and correlates negatively with empathy and open-mindedness. Many anti-Wraith xenophobic people frequently repeat McKay’s speciesist line and they also say that the Wraith race should be genocided. This shows intersectionalism and how oppressions overlap, i.e. racist xenophobia against the fictional Wraith race and speciesism against real-life fellow animal Earthlings. Outgrouping and objectification are toxic! People who recite this quote are never very rational and often make up scenes, too, because needless violence and bigotry have nothing to stand on.

The Wraith haters who cite this quote are looking to enforce both racism and an anthropocentric and speciesist world view: 1) against fellow animal Earthlings, to try to justify continuing to commodify and kill them for palate entertainment and 2) against a scifi race, to uphold a false sense of anthropocentric superiority in the face of a technologically-advanced and physically stronger fictional culture capable of interstellar space flight, to try to justify their genocide (and especially to try to deny to Wraith fans the hints of interracial relationships and mutual respect and affection between humans and the Wraith, as human-hybrids, mentioned in “Common Ground” when John gets the Gift of Life and seen on “The Hive” with Neera and other humans in soft and pretty clothes and Wraithy hair wraps being lovingly touched by the Queen).

The humans-as-cows analogy doesn’t make any sense from the Wraith point of view either. Wraith cannot take lifeforce from any animals other than humans (or fellow Wraith, as human hybrids). There was no evidence of cows in Pegasus, so that would be an anachronism. The Wraith do not artificially breed/inseminate humans, mutilate them, or take milk meant for human babies (Google the video “Dairy is Scary”). If Wraith treated humans the way many humans treat cows, we would literally be in deep crap. Cows are peaceful social mammals and the Wraith do not see most humans as peaceful. The Wraith would rather blow themselves up than to be captured alive by humans. But, many Wraith also work with humans, on individual and hive levels. They give their close human worshippers (a label for any humans associated with the Wraith) the Gift of Life, as they do for their Wraith brothers, as Todd did for John. Several hives fought alongside the New Lanteans against the Asurans, even though New Lanteans were the ones who had compelled the Asurans to attack in the first place. And, Todd’s crew are more willing to do something to help, while most people spouting the cow analogy are less likely to leave fellow animals alone, in spite of being such an easy switch and better for health and the environment too.

Clinging to the false analogy that the human-hybrid Wraith see non-hybrid humans as cows is a self-serving, ineffective attempt to try justify real-life, human-made violence and it is unacceptable. Such analogies only highlight that the human race needs to clean up their collective act to remove needless violence.

(*The word “cattle” gets the notation [sic] because the speciesist term itself denotes and condones placement of others in a human-centered hierarchy, as property/use/commodification, as capital, just as live”stock” does. Fellow animals are someONE not something.)

Abundance vs Scarcity Mindsets in Fandom as It Pertains to Viewing Opportunities and Other Races

I’ve blogged before about optimism in Wraith fans in this light-hearted, but true example.

Time and time again, I have seen seen a marked difference in mindsets within the Stargate Atlantis fandom from many years of viewing fanart, fanfiction, including the licensed tie-in books, and forum posts.

The Abundance Mindset (most fans of Wraith and other scifi races)

*Expanded circles of compassion, often including all animals (humans and insects are animals)

*See opportunity everywhere and that gains can be had with knowledge, learning, sharing, and cooperation

*Engage in continuing education, keep current with books and podcasts, do life-affirming activities

*Think creatively, brainstorm a multitude of mutually beneficial solutions for all; going beyond merely asking if something wonderful can be done to how all it can be done

The Scarcity Mindset (most xenophobic people)

*Concern limited to the self, probably also immediate family, and maybe those of the same skin color, sexual orientation, gender, national origin, etc.

*See life as a zero-sum game, to be lived in fear, with violence as the only solution against “the other”

*Stuck in the past, yearn for “simpler” time periods when there was more oppression

*Think retractively, even imposing additional constraints (!) on characters and settings that were not seen in the TV show at all, getting facts incorrect, further obscuring, narrowing, and eliminating available options

What mind-forged manacles might be weighing down those trapped in scarcity mindsets in real life, thereby diminishing opportunities, inclusiveness, and tranquility? Who taught and/or continues to reinforce the mindset of scarcity and, thus, keep people from becoming more in real life too? Parents? Teachers? Managers? Anyone else continuing to enable apathy and to not expect the best versions of ourselves?

Thankfully, the mind works as a muscle and those in the scarcity mindset can break free and jump onto a better track of mind, with positive books and techniques, such as The Miracle Morning. It just takes awareness and willingness.

*(Thinking back to my grade school years, I can say that every single book I was forced to read had an unhappy ending that conveyed the message of, as Homer Simpson put it, “You tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try.” I never accepted that and even went so far and to give one teacher a list of books similar to the ones she was teaching in time period and in theme, but that had positive outcomes as rewards for courage and ingenuity. What she did with that list was up to her.)

Ever wonder what future generations will think of your works?

Some writers wonder about how their works will stand over time and what aspects of society they take for granted are that people in the future will find laughable or even repellent.

Most of the time, from the pages of the people waxing philosophical about this, one can see that they are 1) not following any blogs of progressive younger people or trying to understand the issues young people face and 2) not in touch with many younger people in general. It shows, because when they and their audience insult younger peoples’ acts of virtue, there are no younger people following to challenge said posts.

Young people are the future, so wondering about a future audience (or feigning to wonder) makes little sense if one already does not care what young people value today.

What themes are on the minds of progressive young people? That mindset is what the future audience is going to embody. Freedom of gender expression. Switching to zero waste and biodegradable items. Cruelty-free living, vegan/fair trade. Tackling violence in school systems. Ending police brutality. These are just some examples.

Those forward-thinking values, which are mistakenly treated as inconsequential to some from older generations, are going to be of increasing importance to younger generations who grapple with growing population density and environmental degradation that past generations handed them. And, they will be passing these preferences for nonviolence on to their children and grand-children who will further advance still more nonviolent preferences. Each generation allows the next to dream bigger and better, more inclusive and more peaceful.

The future is already here. Diversify your subscriptions to include voices of progressive people younger than you, including especially those from different backgrounds than you.

PS: To try to stay up-to-date, whatever violence younger generations want to leave behind them, don’t rebel or try to condone the status quo by offering so-called right ways to do wrong things, as that only draws more attention to the archaic concepts. Search engine algorithms will know it is yesterday’s old news and not rank it very highly. Unless deliberately trying to show how life was in the historical follies of the era, when in doubt, leave it out.

Paint For My Fellow Vegan Wraith Fans

Sherwin Williams has us covered. 🙂 Any old green will not do. No. Such a nice minty, Wraithy green. It could maybe be a little brighter, but I will take it. 😀

Now, I also want a Season 5 Wraith Finger Armor Blue, a Hiveship Biolight Blue, a Wraith Eyes Green Gold, a Wraith Coat Black, a Wraith Hair White, etc. XD

There. Fixed it.

😀 😀 😀

What I see as a Wraith worshipper. That green hand was just begging to be made over. LOL!

But, seriously though, buy these chips. The Ranch and the Peach Habanero flavor are vegan/cruelty-free and available at health food stores and at VeganEssentials online store.