5. Sacrificing The Sacred Cows
Another convention Babylon 5 threw out the airlock was the almost sacrosanct idea that Earth was untouchable. Although DS9 briefly flirted with the idea of unrest at home in "Paradise lost/Home front", and the introduction of Section 31, in general Earth has always been regarded in the Trek universe as the cradle of humanity, the homeland, the one place where everything is tickety-boo and dare anyone say a thing against it. JMS did not take this route. He saw Earth and its inhabitants as just as full of flaws as any alien planet. In fact, even from the very first episode the president of Earth is under pressure for trying to make things easier for aliens to migrate to the homeworld, and there are factions --- some of them very militant --- who oppose this. Again, sound familiar? This would eventually culminate in an all-out
coup d'état leading to civil war on Earth, as JMS would describe and portray a dark, chilling tale of Orwellian proportions as Earth fell under the shadow. Babylon 5 was more true to life, if such can be said of a science-fiction show. It always irked me that Captain Picard would solemnly and proudly declare that "On Earth/In this century we have eliminated such things as war, poverty, crime, homelessness, prejudice, insert vice here". Come on, Gene! Mankind has not managed to eliminate even one of these in over two thousand years: what makes you think he would do so in two hundred? Or three? Or five? If anything, as time has gone on, we have added new forms of prejudice and hatred to our dubious dark repertoire. JMS realised this, and thought that the Earth of the future would likely not be that unfamiliar to our own. He envisaged an Earth where corruption, greed and megalomania were still in vogue, where one faction still struggled for power against another, where the strong oppressed the weak and a small minority of the elite imposed their will upon the majority. Indeed, even the Minbari, Centauri, Narn and other races did this, with ruling councils or imperial courts issuing their edicts, and the people expected to follow them. We'd all love to think that in the year 2250 or 2350 or even 2450, if we last that long, Man will be an enlightened, noble creature who will be much more in tune with his surroundings, exploring the universe and sharing his knowledge with any alien races he meets. The truth is likely to be much different. The Earth/Minbari war was started by one man with an itchy trigger finger who misinterpreted a signal from an opposing fleet, but you can't blame him: this "shoot first" mentality has been ingrained into our fighting forces since the time of the Romans, and before. We just can't help getting into fights. Man is not likely to change, if he survives, but the Babylon Project was an attempt to do what we could to come to terms with our alien neighbours, work with them and try to live in peace. Of course it failed, but it was a nice idea though in the end an admission that humans really don't work that well with other races. Well, after all, if we can't get along with our own kind how do we expect to live in harmony with people from other worlds?