Responses to "Why Tom Zarek Was Right"
By Concerned Colonial Citizen, fearing reprisals from the authoritarian Roslin-Adama politico-military clique, has gone into hiding. Here are some well considered responses to his letter. Spoileriffic, as always:
Spencer Ackerman:
It is true that the rebel Cylon do not offer supremely meaningful military assets, with the exception of the benefit to tylium efficiency. But that’s a myopic point that misunderstands the sort of war this is. The value the rebel Cylon offer lies in the fact that they understand hostile-Cylon capability, psychology and strategy. Combined with the diminunition in the hostile Cylon’s objective resources, this mixture of assets could be decisive. The hostile Cylon now has his back against the anvil of his new circumstances, and stares at the Colonial hammer perched above his head. All the initiative now rests with the Colonials — if, that is, the fleet takes the decisive step to ally with the rebels. Finally, it is he, and not us, who will have to roll the Hard Six.
Another Concerned Colonial Citizen, via Amanda Marcotte:
I agree that an alliance with the Cylons is hard to swallow, as they did try to kill us all. But the recent discovery that Earth was also wiped out in a nuclear holocaust should impress upon the fleet the value of laying down arms and really considering pacifism. That the entire planet of Earth was populated solely by Cylons should impress upon us this fact—our struggle is not unique, but everyone, regardless of machine or human status, is subject to the same result if they indulge the cycle of violence, which is total annihilation. It’s true that putting our trust in the Cylons means flirting with the end of humanity, but not putting our trust in the Cylons means embracing our end. Given the choice between a 50% chance of utter destruction and a 100% chance of utter destruction, I’ll take the former, thank you very much.
Gaius Baltar, via Jason Sigger:
We have seen clear evidence that the Cylons known as “skinjobs” are capable of rational thought and emotion. They have fought along side of Colonial pilots and were, as the author of the original letter notes, responsible for destroying the main Resurrection hub, which doomed them – as well as the entire Cylon fleet – to mortality. This act ought not be diminished. Their technology is said to be able to increase our FTL drives by a third. Again, this is not an insignificant point – our fleet lives and dies by the supply of tilium fuel that is supplied by one Colonial fuel tanker. We cannot afford to ignore the point that we may not reach a habital planet based on the current reserves, and what if the one tilium fuel tanker is destroyed? It is said that the rebel Cylons are capable of giving birth. As our numbers diminish every week, can we afford to ignore the Sharons and Sixes that may be able to help boister our community?
What was the original Cylon plan? Was it a crusade to kill or convert the pagan humans to monotheism? Was it a plot to create a hybrid species, in the hope they would lead to lasting peace between the cultures? Or was it simply a war of revenge, or expansionist aggression? Or perhaps it was something else altogether. Until we know what the plan was, we cannot make final determinations on the moral standing of the Cylon empire.