MovieChat Forums > Caprica (2010) Discussion > Help me understand the STO. SPOILERS we...

Help me understand the STO. SPOILERS welcome.

posted 11 years ago by Mazryonh
16 replies | jump to latest

I'll admit that I've only seen bits and pieces of this show when it was still on the air. However, there are a few things I don't understand about the STO that I'd like explained before I give the show another try.

First, the humanoid Cylons in the main nBSG show liked to spout that "God is love." Of course, given this assertion, it begs the question of why they authorized the genocidal Fall of the 12 Colonies that resulted in billions dead, but they must have gotten their monotheistic ideals from the STO in the first place. How did the STO justify suicidal terrorism in the name of their "loving God"?

Next, it's not exactly well-known, but terrorism doesn't work. Not for successfully propagating a worldview, or for initiating large-scale social/political change. You can read a brief analysis about this here:

http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/grantwalliser/2013/09/27/does-terrorism-work/

Can you imagine if, instead of going door-to-door, holding "all welcome" information seminars, and accosting potential converts on the street, Scientologists/Jehovah's Witnesses/Mormons/what-have-you started shooting and bombing unbelievers in an attempt to get people to capitulate to them? This would work even less than the strategies they use now. Note that terrorism isn't the same as full-blown conquest--plenty of people converted when the Muslim conquests were in full swing centuries ago. How does the STO expect to win converts through these methods?

Furthermore, what exactly was so corrupt and decadent about the polytheistic colonies that required such a drastic religious revolution from the point of the STO? From what I remember the main societal problems in Colonial society in Caprica's time are holoband and drug addiction. We don't kill internet and drug addicts in reality, we send them to treatment (whether such treatment is better-off being religiously-affiliated is another story). Were the clerics of the other gods known for being corrupt and spreading corruption/decadence, then?

And how exactly were the STO going to convince people that having avatars survive the deaths of their physical bodies was "apotheosis"? I read that most in the STO thought it was hogwash, but all it would take for the converts to realize that avatar uploading in no way let someone survive death would be for someone to meet their avatar while the real person was still alive. Then they would realize that a V-world avatar is but a poor approximation of the real person, similarly cut-off from the real world.

I'd appreciate it if anyone could clear this up for me.

[–] CigarDoug 8 years ago

Can you imagine if, instead of going door-to-door, holding "all welcome" information seminars, and accosting potential converts on the street, Scientologists/Jehovah's Witnesses/Mormons/what-have-you started shooting and bombing unbelievers in an attempt to get people to capitulate to them? This would work even less than the strategies they use now. Note that terrorism isn't the same as full-blown conquest--plenty of people converted when the Muslim conquests were in full swing centuries ago. How does the STO expect to win converts through these methods?

Take a look at what radical Islam is doing in the world:
-- Blowing up churches and religious statues of any non-Muslim religion.
-- Murdering non-Muslims and Muslims of other sects who refuse to convert.
-- Seizing territory by force when they have the means, and terrorism when they don't.
-- Flooding the west with thousands of Muslim refugees, including a certain number of radicals within the mix.
-- Demanding special treatment, Muslim-only zones, and the institution of Sharia Law within their neighborhoods.
-- Refusing to integrate into the societies they are invading.
-- Send roving gangs to rape and harass women, then blame the victims.
-- Claim to be oppressed and harassed by the police.
-- Demanding that churches stop sounding bells and dogs be removed from neighborhoods because it offends their religion.
-- Use white liberal guilt and political correctness to shut people up who point all this out.

It is actually pretty effective, I fear that a majority of Europe will become majority Muslim within a few years, or at least allow large sections of their countries to be controlled by Muslims.