united nations

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The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
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United Nations Urges Human Rights for Clones (Sort Of)

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Elizabeth Weinbloom
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
Putting aside some qualms about the existence of this event... omigod I wish I was there! Kick ass. And great write-up, Meredith!
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Andrew Liptak
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
Was this recorded at all?
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Shiryu
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
I gotta see this! Hope the video pops out somewhere...
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PVIII
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
I want to go to there.
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Alexis
03/18/09

@PVIII: Seconded.
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AvenueOfTheStrongest
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
All the United Nations needs to do now is think of a hip new name. Nations? Instant turn off, makes viewers think of geography. United? Appeals to a hard core set of diplomacy enthusiasts but scares away most demographics. I'm thinking World1 or maybe You+. The latter would be pronounced almost the same as U.N. (youand) but really broaden the brand.
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limber
03/18/09

@AvenueOfTheStrongest: N8-UNz? You see, it retains the original "UN", while also incorporating the hip new textual speaking!

(Sadly, I could not figure out how to incorporate a venereal disease.)
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rachaeljean
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
I'm with Chimaera, PLEASE let there be a Hulu or Youtube of this out there.... Meredith, keep us in the loop!
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Meredith Woerner
03/18/09

@rachaeljean: I'm going to keep looking, and I'll post it if I see it asap.
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LeopoldNestor
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
And it occured just before the series finale. How coincidental and not planned as a publicity stunt at all!

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lilad
03/18/09

@LeopoldNestor: So?
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AdaMedora
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
I work for the UN and was (happily) present at the panel yesterday. The UN has realized the power of media to make people think about the issues we are facing; I don't see why some find the event offensive. As Craig Mokhiber said, the best science fiction is a comment about the present, and the Battlestar has certainly addressed many of the questions we are facing. To see the whole room (and no, it was not filled with high school students only, the tickets offered to the UN staff were taken within first five minutes) shout 'So say we all' was surreal, and for a little while I forgot the details that frustrate my daily work and thought about the utopian aspirations of the UN, and was glad I was a part of it..
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limber
03/18/09

@AdaMedora: Yay! So jealous of those who got to go, sci fi isn't taken into account nearly as much as it should be when talking about theoretical expansion on new technology or events. It's also nice to have a bit of idealism thrown in with the grinding realism and politics of the UN's daily work.

There are just those out there who haaate sci fi in any form, and will cling to that hatred until the day they die. Silly, and they're just missing out anyhow (I'm looking at you, MOM.)
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Prabodha
03/18/09

wow... i've been reading this site for awhile, and after seeing Meredith's piece, i had to sign up and say hello to everyone out there. and to AdaMedora: thanks for backing it up with a first person reality check. BSG goes so deep into human spirit & struggle & still completely rocks as sci-fi. looking forward to seeing more...
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twophrasebark
03/18/09

@AdaMedora: I think the problem with the event was the ironic fact that it wasn't open to "the public." There was not one ticket available to Joe Schmoe to engage this panel.

When I called the UN, I was given the Orwellian explanation that the public couldn't go, because it wasn't being held "in a public place."

WTF did that mean? I could have asked to go as a journalist, but I had no reason to cover this. And as someone who has been to a thousand of these types of events, I knew there would be plenty of random schmoes there (i.e. press, friends of friends, what have you).

It's just kind of weird to seriously talk about human rights and then set up an elitist event. And yeah, I know you invited 100 high school kids, but... I dunno. Still didn't ring right to me.
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AdaMedora
03/18/09

@twophrasebark: I am sorry, given the interest they should probably consider holding the event in a larger space; I am not sure they expected it. But what I saw was a bunch of kids, some press people, and the UN staff, although the women sitting next to me was showing me her two tickets, saying that, unfortunately, she couldn't find anybody to come with her!?!! But I was responding to the idea that it was for some reason undignified for a UN to hold such an event. On the side note, I never thought that I would hear Isac Asimov quoted from the podium in the UN...
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twophrasebark
03/18/09

@AdaMedora: I think your explanation is really fair and reasonable. Thanks.

I watched some of the video from the UN website and it seemed like it turned out really great.
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TableNine
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
Wow, Eddie was bust yesterday. I was in a diner on 69th and Broadway around noon with some friends waiting to see the 2pm Watchmen on the IMAX. EJO was at the next table having lunch with a friend and chatting up the busboy in spanish. One of my friends and I had to restrain ourselves from saluting. After lunch we went to the theater, only to see him in the row directly behind us!
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CodenameV
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
you know, some people say Starbuck waterboarding Leoben in season one's "Flesh and Bone" was controversial, but the way I see it....what's contoversial about waterboarding is more "what if this guy doesn't really know anything"....but in that episode, Leoben openly said...in fact was *taunting* Starbuck, that "I have placed a nuclear bomb somewhere in the fleet, set to go off", and she wants to know where it is....of course it turns out he was lying and it was all a bluff, but the fact remains. Yeah they were torturing him, but for something *very specific* that they thought he had set in motion.

Pegasus-Six (Gina...really one of the best characters the show ever had) was really just revenge. I don't even think they ever got actual "information" out of her successfully, while Caprica-Sharon (Athena) actually "defected" sort of to the humans and at the same time, was willingly telling them Raider combat specifications, etc.
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Meredith Woerner
03/18/09

@CodenameV: they talked about it from every angle too, about how he didn't know anything so you didn't know who to root for or who was the villain.
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Aaron Altman
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
Meanwhile, they did the same thing at the League of Nations for Metropolis. Fritz Lang also yelled "so say we all" but no one responded because the film wasn't a talkie. :-)
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Pope John Peeps II
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
Last night, I sat among the Twelve Colonies with Admiral Adama and President Roslin at the United Nations' ECOSOC Chamber, to talk about human rights issues, and fill the space with "So Say We All."

If this post is about an actual, serious event and not a tongue-in-cheek joke about how a fatuous sci-fi show is grandstanding and being taken way to seriously, then I am actually morally offended that this event took place.

If this is a joke, then it's slightly confusing??
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Alexis
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II:

I dunno, I like to think that fiction (especially sci-fi) can often make people open their minds to new ideas. Real art (whether it be TV show, literature, etc) should be more than something to entertain us.

That being said, this is still a weird effing event.
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Pope John Peeps II
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II: A quick google search led me to the horrifying belief that this absolute mockery even took place.

Let me just say that I don't even have the words to describe how absolutely offensive this event is. It's shallow, venal, idiotic and offends me as a thinking being.

For a panel of actors and producers to assemble in front of a gathering of high school students, take questions from children and then berate the representative of an organization that actually tries to help the real world despite all its failings and setbacks seems to me to be the absolute height of hubris.

I understand that the UN is an organization that suffers from very poor and unfortunate marketing, but this event simply demeans them.
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Aidan_
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II: Man, most of the time you've got some good insight, but I've got to ask: what is your deal with genre media? Did somebody break a plastic lightsaber over your head as a kid or something?
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Pope John Peeps II
03/18/09

@Aidan_: I love the idea of entertainment and speculation. That's why science fiction is so liberating and compelling. But there's a very sharp and unnerving line between people who think about "ideas" and "concepts" and people who try desperately to fix problems in the relentlessly complicated world we live in. I don't honestly believe the one should ever complicate the other.
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Alexis
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II:

So are you annoyed because you think this TV show is irrelevant to current issues, or just pissed because they're intellectualizing and relating a TV show to real problems? It seems like the latter, which I can empathize with if it were for shows I felt were irrelevant. But since I like BSG and I do feel that just because you're an actor doesn't mean you can't have an educated opinion on anything, I don't find this offensive. It's pretty obvious that they're trying to use a popular medium to relate larger real world issues with kids/people who normally don't care, but is there really an issue with getting people concerned and interested?
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Meredith Woerner
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II: To be fair and I don't think I said it enough in the post. There were 300 high school kids there that had all prepared amazing in depth questions about scifi, the gov. and the UN. If this is a way to get kids to learn more about UN field work, or to try a grapple with real ideas, not just "torture bad," but what's really behind the motivations for actions like this then I'm for it.
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Meredith Woerner
03/18/09

@Meredith Woerner: and by 300 I meant 100 (snyder slip up)
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Lassus
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II: Oh, piss off you self-important prig.
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limber
03/18/09

@Pope John Peeps II: BSG has been a conduit to make a large audience consider the ramifications of stuff like torture, government control over human rights, racial prejudice, survivalism, etc. These aren't things that are struggled with in most entertainment.

The actors, writers and producers spent a hell of a lot of time thinking about the actions and reactions of those events, so why not bring them into this discussion?

Or more plainly -- even if you think this event did no good, how did it do harm to the UN?
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Pope John Peeps II
03/18/09

@Lassus: sorry buddy. I've been around long enough to know that the only people I reduce to one line responses are people sort of like me - surly and cantankerous. But only the stupid ones are reduced to one line. The smart ones take up the discussion. Maybe you'll join in one day.

But don't just try to flame me. It won't work. You've done it before, if I recall and I worked out poorly for you. Just PM the account if you want to flame me. I never read it anyways.
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Alexis
03/18/09

In reply to The Night Battlestar Galactica Took Over The U.N.
"His voice echoed throughout the chamber growing louder until - I kid you not - he was yelling, "So Say We All," and the crowd answered right back."

Bad. ASS.
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OW-Holmes:Bringer of Fear
03/18/09

@Evlsushi: That is seriously TOO awesome. I nearly started to cry just reading about it.

I love you Olmos.
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