Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom

November 27, 2001 7:46 AM

Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom Bush has said this in a recent speech. The Nightwatch Officer also says this to Zack in the Babylon 5 emp "Messages from Earth". Does B5 mirror our reality in a strange warped way? Can a shadow of President Clark be seen in President Bush? Is Ashcroft heading a real world Nightwatch? Where does the line blur between TV news and ISN?
posted by mfoight (29 comments total)

What the?

I think it's a pretty common saying. Thomas Jefferson said once said "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance." Which is only a few words difference and carries the same meaning. I don't see you drawing the connection between Jefferson and the destopic (iirc) world of b5.
posted by delmoi at 7:57 AM on November 27, 2001

The power of myth is very strong, mfoight. Use the myth.
posted by stbalbach at 7:58 AM on November 27, 2001

It's been said a lot. All we can tell now is that Prez Bush's speechwriters are unoriginal and bad with quotes.
posted by fidelity at 8:03 AM on November 27, 2001

or is bush more like londo mollari?
science fiction often says more about when it was written than when it is set.
check the name of the linked url
posted by asok at 8:07 AM on November 27, 2001

I've always likened W to Emperor Cartagia, myself.
posted by Fenriss at 8:14 AM on November 27, 2001

And Mr. Ashcroft looks suspiciously like the cigarette-smoking man on the X-files.
posted by yesster at 8:15 AM on November 27, 2001

"With great power comes great responsibility" Superman™
posted by thirteen at 8:24 AM on November 27, 2001

Mr. Ashcroft has such a lovely singing voice, I can't imagine him smoking.
posted by fidelity at 8:24 AM on November 27, 2001

Thirteen, that quote is from Spiderman
posted by Outlawyr at 8:26 AM on November 27, 2001

In an insane society, the sane man appears insane.
posted by yesster at 8:31 AM on November 27, 2001

"D'oh" Homer Simpson®
posted by thirteen at 8:32 AM on November 27, 2001

"D'oh" Homer Simpson®
posted by thirteen at 8:32 AM on November 27, 2001

At least W didn't say, "Eternalacious vigilancy is the price of freedomitude."

Maybe he's trying to send a coded message to our boys in 'stan.
posted by MonkeyMeat at 8:36 AM on November 27, 2001

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man needs only half a seeing eye dog--Chaw On Tese
posted by Postroad at 8:36 AM on November 27, 2001

Or maybe Bush is Sheridan.

Our (America's) news, almost exclusively, is left-biased. Likening them to ISN, which was the propaganda engine for Clark, would liken the liberal movement to Clark's side of the coin- a role it fits nicely, imho.
posted by dissent at 8:44 AM on November 27, 2001

John Ashcroft is really the Evil Emperor Asscroft.
posted by blackholebrain at 9:02 AM on November 27, 2001

RE: the "liberal" news media:

``The truth is, I've gotten fairer, more comprehensive coverage of my ideas than I ever imagined I received,'' Buchanan told the Los Angeles Times. He said his residential campaign had ``For heaven sakes, we kid about the liberal media, but every Republican on earth does that.''
posted by Fenriss at 9:08 AM on November 27, 2001

Cripes. Bad editing. Anyway, you see my point. Unlesss Pat Buchanan isn't a conservative enough example?
posted by Fenriss at 9:11 AM on November 27, 2001

Sheridan makes a point of attempting to bring the galaxy together with the alliance, not an isolationalist approach. Sheridan did not dodge the draft. Sheridan uses violence as a last resort.
why am i bothering?
posted by asok at 9:29 AM on November 27, 2001

Cripes. Bad editing. Anyway, you see my point. Unlesss Pat Buchanan isn't a conservative enough example?

Buchanan abandoned conservatism many years ago, my friend.
posted by ljromanoff at 9:34 AM on November 27, 2001

Buchanan's a loon, not a conservative.

Oh, Bush is using violence as anything other than a last resort? The point at which over 3,000 of your civilians are killed, out of the blue, no warning, no remorse, is not a time for last resorts?

Bush isn't building an alliance? I'd say he is. Although I really have to think any unilateral moves would be utterly justified, and that an isolationist stance is worthy of consideration if it serves the national interest. Whether it does is another matter...

As to draft dodging... no arguments per se [I would tend to agree his Guard duty was a way out of active duty], but I'd be willing to bet you wouldn't be raising that issue if a liberal held the presidency. And in any event, it's far more honorable than running off to, say, Oxford...

No, Bush is not a perfect match for Sheridan... but he's closer to that, than to Clark.
posted by dissent at 11:06 AM on November 27, 2001

"Crazy people are not crazy, if one accepts their reasoning" — Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Of Love and Other Demons (via no spiffy names here)
posted by mmarcos at 12:40 PM on November 27, 2001

Clark took over ISN with armed force and turned it into his propaganda machine. Governments these days are more sophisticated and more subtle. Though I imagine Bush would like to have a Psycore to separate the patriots from the traitors.
posted by euphorb at 12:59 PM on November 27, 2001

"Our (America's) news, almost exclusively, is left-biased."

Hello? If that's a joke, I'm not laughing.
The only way that statement makes sense is if you're so far to the right that you've fallen off the common sense plateau. Which is possible now that I think about what you just said....

Washington Times...check...left wing
Fox News network...check...left wing
Rush and Clear Channel...check...left wing
Wall Street Journal....check...left wing

hmmm...guess where a person comes from determines where s/he considers to be the left. Maybe it was a mirror trick?
posted by nofundy at 1:21 PM on November 27, 2001

Dissent, I think the Clark-Bush connection is more along the lines of the political environment they created: both have the "excuse" they need (ie. threat to planetary freedom = War on Terrorism) to do more or less what they want to further their own grab for power, including writing themselves around those pesty civil liberties, and persecuting any who openly disagree.


I agree the ISN and NightWatch connections are tenuous at best, but then again we're not as close to the inner circle now as we are when we're watching B5...
posted by CleverHans at 1:29 PM on November 27, 2001

"People sometimes say to me: 'Be careful! You will have 20 years of guerrilla warfare on your hands!' I am delighted at the prospect! . . . [we] will remain in a state of perpetual alertness. We may have a hundred years of struggle before us; if so, all the better -- it will prevent us from going to sleep!"

-- Godwin vs. MetaFilter
posted by holgate at 3:44 PM on November 27, 2001

Washington Times...check...left wing
Fox News network...check...left wing
Rush and Clear Channel...check...left wing
Wall Street Journal....check...left wing

You've run out of counterexamples (one of which isn't even a news source) before you're on to your second hand and you think you've proved your point?
posted by ljromanoff at 3:55 PM on November 27, 2001

"Who watches the watchmen?" -- Juvenal, The Satires

Ok, I admit it, I got it through Alan Moore.
posted by Hildago at 4:41 PM on November 27, 2001

"Our goal is clear, to rid the world of evil"
-The superfriends, the caped retard squad, islamic terrorists, presidento bush.

"We are fighting to protect all of civilization"
-Green lantern corps, islamic terrorists, presidento bush.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king, but the three eyed man is still a freak.
posted by fuq at 5:54 PM on November 27, 2001