Canales News Briefs

October 21, 2004

"...Shooting makes me feel better..."

-Observation by Officer Aeryn Sun, a

character from the Scifi Channel show

"Farscape", from a segment in the latest

mini-series "Farscape-The Peacekeeper Wars"

and as played by actress Claudia Black.

To All,

One finds positive portrayals of armed self-defense where one can these days, give Hollywood's terminal case of political correctness:

Coming A Long Way:

It should not surprise firearms activists that one stands a better chance of finding "fairness and balance" on the cable/satellite channels than on the networks. From politically correct sitcoms and talk shows to the attempts by Network News to influence Presidential campaigns, the networks have fallen by the wayside for the most part.

Oddly enough though, it is still the specialty work done in science fiction that seems to lead the way in helping demonstrate the current cultural shift in favor of, among other things, armed self- defense against criminals and tyrannical governments. The latest in this genre is the now-concluded series "Farscape", which is the tale of a human astronaut dropped into another part of the galaxy by way of a capricious "worm hole" in space. Episode to episode, fans were witness to main character John Crighton's attempts to get back to Earth while at the same time keeping his skin in a radically different environment.

A more exact series story line can be found on a variety of fan-sites dedicated to the show. Farscape itself is, among other things, a fine representation of that concept within science fiction that Man is an adaptable and formidable critter against any and all comers (no matter how gooey they look). But it is also an effective representation of what one could call "The Third Way" of portraying female characters as synthesis of traditional feminine characteristics and the more "modern" (to borrow a feminist concept) attributes of self-assurance and strong will. Claudia Black's portrayal of the character

of Aeryn Sun transcends the older, and more "PC" manner in which capable, strong-willed women are somehow limited to those with a Liberal, Social Justice viewpoint.

This transcendence has long been exemplified in society by American women historically. Pioneer women were known to have run farms and ranches singlehandedly, while at the same time taking the occasional pot shot at intruders and a prospective meal. In more modern times, the multitudes of women dedicated to earning a living and participating in the shooting sports (as well as the political activities that safeguard the shooting sports) have been growing steadily since those first dark victories of the gun control movement in the 1960's. But Hollywood is typically a "day late and a dollar short" in picking up any cultural trends that go against the Tinseltown worldview. It apparently takes an independent production on a cutting edge channel (in this the Scifi Channel) to highlight the very same strong woman that firearms activists, among others, have come to recognize all these years.

Claudia Black's Aeryn developed throughout the series from being "...just a soldier..." to being a definitive example of The Capable Woman in what would otherwise be a "purely male" context. Centcom Generals would probably want to have a division of soldiers, male or female, with the attributes of an Officer Sun. Aeryn was just as tough and stoic as another character, D'argo, a male warrior. Yet the feminine side is not represented so much by the salon veneer one finds in "Desperate Housewives" as Aeryn's gradual acceptance that she "is made better" by adding and maintaining personal relationships (In this case, the love interest with the Crighton character and the friend-loyalty relationships with the shipmate characters of the series).

For firearms activists specifically, Aeryn's familiarity (some would call it reliance) with armed self-defense is exemplified throughout many scenes in "The Peacekeeper Wars". Aeryn Sun's marksmanship, of course, is never in question. Aeryn has the presence of mind (and is tough enough to "...chew her own arm off...") to give suppressing fire during a battle while at the same time going through the first stages of child-birth (It seems that Sun's human ancestors had been genetically modified by another alien race in the past, so that pregnancies were short and deliveries generally less in duration. Pain was a different issue.). Ultimately, in the climactic confrontation between two opposing factions at the beginning of an interstellar war, Aeryn stands with confronting the warring sides with the threat of total annihilation, even though there is risk to her new-born son, rather than let a conflict escalate to immolate billions of innocents. Her support for this course of confronting the warring parties is instrumental in the story line of helping end the war early and saving the galaxy.

It is this last, a stand for principle as well as the willingness to confront threats rather than "tolerate them", that highlights real women and men today. Her willingness to fight after the failure of diplomacy (In "Peacekeeper Wars", the negotiations fail when the only available negotiator capable of getting a peace deal through is shot by one of the warring sides, the iguanid Scarrans) is representative of the modern rationality that includes a balanced approach between altruism and the worth of individuals. In "Peacekeeper Wars", Aeryn explains that diplomacy is preferential, but that force is what works when the success of diplomacy is in question and, implicitly when "all the marbles" are on the line.

It is a pity that the economics of television would not allow for a full 7 year run for Farscape. But the values of the story were inspirational enough to motivate the show's fan base to clamor for story closure. Like other classic heroines, Black's Sun is there to help rebuild, to be a mother after the end of conflict. But fitting in with the recognition that modern-day women are more, Sun was an integral part and partner in the eventual outcome of the stories line of galactic peace. If this is not a role model for the modern age, then truly nothing is.

Foie Gras? What Foie Gras?:

To real sportspersons, there is something "Yeeeecccchhh" about a hunter that won't carry out his or her own meat.

Yet today the public is treated to the sight of a Real-Tree-clad Kerry exiting corn fields after a purported goose hunt empty-handed. Apparently it is for lesser mortals, the hired help, to carry out the future Christmas dinner. Of course, such practices also maintain the plausible deniability that the Kerry Team needs to keep the Sierra Club, Earth First!, and the Humane Society in line prior to Election Day's votes. No photos of Kerry actually holding the carcasses makes it easier to keep Pamela Anderson and a host of other celebrities on the Reservation.

Like the skiing episode, no reporters were allowed close enough to see whether the Junior Senator from Normandy/Haiti brought down the purported bag of 4 Canadian honkers (Sort of symbolically ironic, in an odd sort of way.). And if it were not for Kerry's refusal for revealing things medical (The botox seems to be wearing off again), one could ask the attending physician as to whether Kerry's shoulder was bruised from shooting geese with a superposed scattergun. Otherwise it will be left to speculation whether it was Kerry, or the Detail, that was truly the Founder of the Feast in this case.

In reality, gun owners have a right to be suspicious of Kerry on hunting and gun issues. It is not uncommon for the "well-to-do" to favor gun control for the masses. After all, this makes for an easier hunt if the "hoi polloi" are not competing for the same Christmas goose or fall venison. Also, 20 years of an antigun record in Congress is not offset by a couple of photo ops in camouflage in a battleground state. As such, today's photo op does not produce a statement so much as beg the question- Despite Kerry's claim to be a hunter, will he continue to advocate the ban on semiautomatics, and deer ammunition, the imposition of ownership permits for firearms, and a collective rights interpretation of the Second Amendment should he become President? If gunowners-cum-voters truly realize that the answer to this is "yes", then Kerry's goose, to paraphrase Rush Limbaugh, "...is cooked...".

Respectfully,

Anthony Canales

SFVMC-NRA