The mood I am in today, we're going to rerun an old entry that still has a lot to teach us.
Well, that's an extraordinary and unsurprisingly dumb interpretation.
--Jeb Bartlet, Debate Camp
Nothing gets under my skin like stupidity. Someone comes along trying to pull a fast one and they're about as obvious as a five year old eyeing the plate of cookies and saying "Hey look behind you!" It's less that they're out to get you and more the painful transparency of their approach. No, I'm not fooled. It's pathetic you thought anyone would be!
That was how this week began, and it's a thoroughly depressing way to begin. So I went to the old blog to copy over an important inspiration post: Joe Straczynski's FAITH MANAGES. Now that it's here, I expect to refer back to it often.
Babylon 5 ended its 4th Season with an episode called The Deconstructin of Falling Stars. They knew then that they had been picked up for the 5th season, a 5-year arc being what JMS always intended to tell his story. The episode ends with these words...
DEDICATED TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO PREDICTED THAT THE BABYLON PROJECT WOULD FAIL IN ITS MISSION.
FAITH MANAGES.
A not-so-subtle jab at pundits on Usenet and elsewhere who confidently said every year that B5 would not be renewed for another season. JMS had this to say on the message boards where he was free to speak openly:
"The truth (is) that in 10 years the naysayers will be forgotten, and made irrelevant...but the show, the *show*...goes on. And will be around long after they and I have gone to dust. And all people will know when they see that card 50 years from now was that some jerks said it couldn't be done, and they were wrong, because they are *always* wrong. If you have the dream, the ability and the passion, you can bring your dreams to life despite overwhelming opposition. That's the message.
But for those on the other side, they will never see anything other than meanspiritedness because that's all they can *ever* see... because that's all they can bring to the table.
There's an old saying about books, which I'll rephrase to include B5: Babylon 5 is like a book, and a book is like a mirror: if an ass peers in, you can't exactly expect an apostle to peer out.
There will always be short-term setbacks, but as long as we climb back a few inches higher than we were before we fell down, we keep moving toward the goal of becoming a better people, and getting off the planet. Taking our place among the stars. While it's vaguely possible that I may *see* a Mars colony sometime within my lifetime, I know that I will never live there...but that ain't the point, it isn't a victory if *I* do it, and a failure if *I* don't, it's if *we* do it or not. Maybe we'll do it today, maybe we'll do it tomorrow, the point is to decide to DO it, and then by god DO IT.
And yeah, that little closing card is going to remain on the show for its life...which will be long, long after its detractors (and admittedly myself) have gone to dust. On the one hand, it is a statement of hope to anyone else out there who has a dream, to follow it no matter who speaks against you, no matter the odds, no matter what they say to or about you, no matter what roadblocks they throw in your way. What matters is that you remain true to your vision.
On the other hand, for the reviewers and the pundits and the critics and the net-stalkers who have done nothing but rag on this show for five years straight, it is also a giant middle finger composed of red neon fifty stories tall, that will burn forever in the night.
In billiards, we call that a bank-shot."
I just love that. Joe is the first to speak of the empowerment of the individual. You can fight city hall, you can make a difference in the world, and god's curse on anyone that tries to tell you otherwise. He can also craft stories that not only express his ideas about humanity, that not only demand the most from an audience, they're also ENTERTAINING AS ALL HELL! You've gotta love that. How can you not love that?
And for all that, he's not afraid to stand up, point to an ass, and say "that is a ass" and then give him/her/it/them the finger in fifty foot
neon red letters that will burn forever in the night. 
