What I liked best about it is that Zack also went along with it at first, not because he was brainwashed or evil, but simply because the Ministry of Peace paid him some extra and he didn't realise until later what it really meant.
Yes, exactly! Because... well, they don't need him to do anything other than what he's already doing, right? And after that slow, gradual slide, there isn't any way to backpedal from it. While Sheridan et al can hang in the middle, trying to keep Earth off their backs, Zack doesn't have a choice. He is either for Nightwatch, or against it. And he is stuck in the 'for' camp until it gets to a point where he realises he would be irrevocably committed. It's great that he had that choice and he made the right call, but thinking about it logically, there must have been others who reached that point and went, "well, but if I back out, it's going to go badly for me and I have a family. So I guess I'm committed to this." There is a certain freedom that all those characters enjoy of having very few areas in which they can feel pressured.
Also, I used to think that "The Illusion of Truth" was unrealistic, but on my last rewatch I realised that it was scarily accurate portrayal of how the pro-Russia propagandists work today. It just seemed so over the top that surely no-one could really believe it, but if you replaced Minbari and aliens with immigrants, it wouldn't be that far removed from stuff that's being shared on social media...
Yes, OMG. Same for Trump, for UKIP, for all those acceptable faces of xenophobia and racism we see getting more and more airtime.
no subject
Yes, exactly! Because... well, they don't need him to do anything other than what he's already doing, right? And after that slow, gradual slide, there isn't any way to backpedal from it. While Sheridan et al can hang in the middle, trying to keep Earth off their backs, Zack doesn't have a choice. He is either for Nightwatch, or against it. And he is stuck in the 'for' camp until it gets to a point where he realises he would be irrevocably committed. It's great that he had that choice and he made the right call, but thinking about it logically, there must have been others who reached that point and went, "well, but if I back out, it's going to go badly for me and I have a family. So I guess I'm committed to this." There is a certain freedom that all those characters enjoy of having very few areas in which they can feel pressured.
Also, I used to think that "The Illusion of Truth" was unrealistic, but on my last rewatch I realised that it was scarily accurate portrayal of how the pro-Russia propagandists work today. It just seemed so over the top that surely no-one could really believe it, but if you replaced Minbari and aliens with immigrants, it wouldn't be that far removed from stuff that's being shared on social media...
Yes, OMG. Same for Trump, for UKIP, for all those acceptable faces of xenophobia and racism we see getting more and more airtime.