As one would expect, Babylon 5 set up Earth as a metaphor for post-WWII America, with the galaxy as the world. Hardly surprising, and not even remotely subtle. Where I'm going with this post is globalization, internationalization and what that does to racial politics. In the universe of Babylon 5, Earth is one of the younger space-faring civilizations, and it rises to prominence when the Dilgar-- stand-ins for the nazis-- start rampaging around the galaxy, killing and conducting despicable medical experiments and such. Earth turns the tide of the Dilgar War, and becomes a major player in the galaxy. There are older, and more technologically advanced civilizations at that point, but suddenly, Earth matters. Not a subtle metaphor. Then, arrogantly, Earth gets mired in a messy war that ends in a very ugly way-- the Minbari War. In other words, a metaphor for Vietnam. This one is not as straight-forward a comparison, since the Minbari were actually far more technologically advanced, and simply chose not to destroy humanity, but the WWII-to-Vietnam sequence was the point. Anyway, the result of all of this is that Earth is suddenly one of the major powers in the galaxy, constantly on the brink of war, but you also have a relatively recent entry into a broader set of relations, more trade, more cross-civilization interactions, etc.
In Star Trek, as a point of comparison, any racism you see is generally other species because Roddenberry was a hippy-dippy kind of guy painting a utopian future. Straczynski? Not quite. Racism gets redirected. Early in the show, you see a group called "Homeguard," which is just part of what is happening on Earth. Homeguard is a reaction to the increased interactions that humans have with other space-faring civilizations, other cultures, etc. The "other" is constantly being redefined. What you don't see in Babylon 5 is much in the way of skin color tension within humanity. Why not? Because that isn't how "other" is defined within that universe. And that's the point. "Other" is constantly being redefined.
What does it mean to be "white?" White identity matters a lot in modern politics, but how we define "white" changes a lot over time, and it does so specifically to exclude whomever the "other" of the time is. Whether that is the Irish, southern Europeans, Latinos, or whoever. It doesn't matter. "White" doesn't actually mean, "white," in terms of the light spectrum. It is some weird cream color... whatever? Yes? No? I don't know what to call it, and I don't really care, but "white" isn't really the correct word. Someone who knows shades of stuff can put a real name on it, but while I am considered "white," if you put that shade in any context other than human skin, it isn't called, "white." Whiteness is whatever "other" isn't. Whiteness and other are defined in relation to each other, which is how you get the interesting historical tidbit of Irish people having not been considered white, but now being considered white.
Take that impulse-- that idiocy-- and extrapolate to space travel and interaction with other space-faring civilizations. What happens? Interaction with other species from other planets and "other" gets redefined to them. Racism doesn't go away. It never goes away. It just gets redefined and redirected, and the danger comes from those who choose to exploit it. That's a big part of what happens to the politics on Earth in Babylon 5.
There's nothing subtle about what I'm writing here, just as there was nothing subtle about Laura Ingraham's over-the-top xenophobic rant. I won't link to it because I can't listen to that shit anymore. However, it sounds a lot like what the members of Homeguard say on Babylon 5, and I think we can also dispense with the notion that Trumpism, or anything associated with it, is about "economic anxiety." The economy is indisputably booming, Trump brags about it constantly, and the sentiments are still there. You can't have it both ways. You can't take credit for a booming economy while claiming that all of the negative stuff is because people are terrified because of the horrid economy. I'll have none of that here. Logical consistency may exist nowhere else, but I will maintain it here.
Trade and trade agreements are not motivating political issues for most people because most people cannot do anything more than use the words. The vast majority of voters don't know squat about NAFTA, TPP or anything else related to international trade. Immigration has been floating around the edges of partisan politics for years, though. It has divided the Republican Party, though, because the business community requires immigration, knowing that it is an economic benefit (anyone remember George W. Bush's immigration proposal?), while the white identity politics faction of the party recoils at anyone they currently define to not be "white," which was how George W. Bush's immigration reform proposal got quashed by his own party after the 2004 election.
The most dangerous political figures are the ones who look at xenophobic tendencies and choose to exploit them. That was a big part of how everything went wrong in Babylon 5. That show aired 20 years ago. There's far more, and I kind of feel like writing this stuff. So, more to come. Maybe some of you will keep reading! After all, this blog is named for an obscure sci-fi show that most people have never seen.
