If you liked Survivor’s Quest, you will like Outbound Flight

I had been waiting for Timothy Zahn’s next book for a while, as I think he is probably the most gifted of the Star Wars authors. While Outbound Flight does indeed give us some clues to future developments and a solid background of Admiral Thrawn, it is not the tour de force that the Thrawn trilogy was, nor does it match the epicness of the Spectre/Visions duo logy. It is an enjoyable read, mostly along the lines of Survivor’s Quest, though a bit more involved in ways, and a bit less in others.

Outbound Flight was the main focus of Survivor’s Quest, so it is fitting that the book that explains the history of the Outbound Flight project would be very similar to that book in length and composition of story. With that said, Outbound flight includes all the characters that you met in Survivor’s Quest, as well as some new ones, and of course some old favorites (most notably Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker). Most of the characters not invented by Zahn act in the way you would expect them to act, with Obi-Wan’s righteousness and subtle direction and Anakin’s dangerous ambition coming out as clear as day.

However, as has been faulted to Zahn before, some of the characters seem perfect to the point of being flawed. This was always the complaint about Mara and Thrawn. People who disliked the Thrawn character because he was so calculating and seemed to know all the right moves will find more of the same in Outbound Flight, as Thrawn is clearly on the top of his game even pre-Clone Wars. We also meet a pre-super Car’das, who shows a clear talent for scheming and catches the eye of Thrawn, which was interesting. The C’baoth character is odd in that he is very much like his clone from the first trilogy. Although, because of events in Survivor’s Quest, I assumed C’baoth would be crossing into the darkside, I did not expect the seemingly indifferent attitude from the rest of the jedi cast in this one. I suppose the Jedi at this point are losing their powers to see the darkside in others (after all the Emperor is right under their noses), but the way C’baoth is acting it is quite obvious.

Apart from those character flaws, the book is written cohesively and follows a very good story line about the Outbound Flight project. There are, of course, more clues about the mysterious “threat” from outside the galaxy that was a major theme in the last duo logy and the reason why we remain conflicted about Thrawn’s goodness as a character. Is he fighting for power and gain, or does he fight to protect our galaxy from an unseen invader. You find in this book it may be the latter, and we find that the Emperor may agree.

I would definitely recommend that fans of Zahn’s work read this book, as well as anyone with an interest in Star Wars. However, if you have not yet read Zahn’s previous work, start with the Thrawn trilogy (Heir to the Empire, etc), then the Visions duo logy (Spectre of the Past, Visions of the Future), and then Survivor’s Quest. To get the most of this book, at least Survivor’s Quest should be required reading.

The biggest disappointment is that everyone is even more excited about a large magnum opus that Zahn seems to be building up to, but hasn’t got the energy to write. Who wants to read the book(s) where everyone from the previous books must work together in a conflicted and convoluted way to defend the known galaxy from these terrible invaders? Hell yeah. Zahn should no longer be concerned with keeping his books in line with all the mediocre Star Wars authors, as catering to their ridiculous plots and characters seems to bring his books down. Just continue on and create the masterpiece and we will enjoy it.

I just have to comment about this escalating situation all over the world, as it seems to be becoming a flash point for major violence, and I don’t see it ending anytime soon, perhaps escalating more as larger amounts of people catch wind of it.

For those of you that don’t know, a Danish newspaper published various cartoons relating to Islam and caricatures of the prophet Muhammad. The cartoons were largely poking fun at various aspects of contemporary fundamentalist Islam. Though largely benign to western people, these cartoons are viewed as very serious shots at Islam, even blasphemy. This all began around October and has been building ever since. There has been continued threats and violence to Danish people, as well as the taking over of an EU office by masked gunmen in protest. The Danish prime minister has refused to really apologize for the cartoons, and I think he is correct.

As Americans and Europeans, we share a common western culture that values liberalism and democracy, and all the individual rights that encompass those ideas. Many other parts of the world value a different set of principles. The difference is obvious, but the question is should we capitulate and give up some of our free speech rights to more radical and less liberal parts of the world who take offense to western values. The answer is an emphatic NO!

We have protesters who are so angry that Islam is characterized by violence that they are committing large scale acts of violence as protest. We have more moderate Muslims condemning the violence but saying that westerners, the Danish in particular, should recognize the differences of cultures and apologize. Finally there are the fundamentalist Islamics who are already so angry at the west as a whole that violence has been occurring for decades. There is irony in each of these situations. How can someone protest and deny Islam is a violent religion by committing acts of violence? How can you preach for taking care in noticing cultural differences and then overlook the core difference in liberal ideology in the west that permits such speech? The anti-western movement and the movement against post-modernity has been going on in the middle east for decades, and I don’t think it is going anywhere until one of two things happen: the majority of the middle east adopts liberal values or they are marginalized by continued conflict and evaporating global importance (resources such as oil being used up).

One thing is clear. No one who values their free speech or western values needs to give in to “terrorist” demands that cartoons and humor about Islam is forbidden. It should be quite obvious to the middle east and Muslims who are protesting that the west is not going away, nor will it adopt Islamic values.

Another thing, I am completely and totally DISGUSTED at the major media outlets of the United States for being hesitant about showing the cartoons. This is ridiculous. I’m wondering if they even value free speech at all, or just use it as a tool when they think they can milk money out of some kind of juicy tidbit they get their hands on. Is the issue too hot? Are you afraid you will lose your vast viewership in the Middle East? (laugh) How can you coherently even do a story on these cartoons without showing them to anyone?

As for the counter to all this, the growing anti-Muslim sentiment that probably triggered these cartoons. Deal with it. Seriously, stop being cry babies. Sometimes in life your feelings are hurt and people don’t believe the same as you do. This isn’t “politically correct” world where we have to be careful what we say … this is clear cut free speech. Was it irresponsible to publish the cartoons? Probably. Was it driven by anti-Muslim sentiment? Probably. Should this kind of activity be permissible? ABSOLUTELY. It’s fundamental to liberal values to have almost unfettered access to freedom of speech, even when such speech may hurt someone’s feelings or interfere with their belief.

Of course my view is that something as widespread as religion (there are thousands of religions, maybe millions from the past, present, and more in the future) should not be something you fight over. Your religion is just one of many, you can believe everyone else is going to hell or something, just keep it to your damn self and quit trying to tell everyone else. Unfortunately it is in the nature of Christianity and Islam to spread aggressively which causes inevitable conflict.

Anyway, here are the cartoons .. because I happen to value my freedom of speech and expression.

Blizzard says no to any player who wants to role-play a same sex marriage. Apparently Blizzard has the policy that if anyone in the game ever thinks that what you say or do is offensive and they report it, then it is. This is the best policy to keep everyone happy, while at the same time pissing everyone off. Way to go Blizzard.

Because girls kissing or getting married to each other in a game is going to make your daughter a lesbian, or guys role-playing gay relationships is going to turn your WoW addicted nerdy son into a raging homo. Its just distasteful! It ruins the entire sanctity and seriousness of .. uhh .. virtual world marriages! Because its so hard to ignore someone in game and the game is clearly about chatting and never playing.

This is ridiculous and I think Blizzard knows it. This is a policy that says, no one may make references to sexual orientation, ever. This is to keep people from harassing other people, calling them gay and what not. Ok, that’s a good policy I guess. Now when a man and woman in game role-play a couple … isn’t there an implied sexual reference? Even expressed in many cases? It’s not getting reported, and if it is, how is it treated? The same as if it were a gay reference? I doubt it.

What about when that big ugly Orc marries that blood elf or something. That’s more offensive than girls kissing for sure. But why does anyone even care? Seriously, if you think boys and girls kissing the same sex is the most terrible thing happening in your life and it needs to stop .. MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS. WHY DO YOU CARE?

There was a gay player in my World of Warcraft guild when I played, and he played a lot. It’s these kind of policies that drive away players that are really playing the game, not farming loot and gold 24/7.

Bottom line Blizzard takes a biased and discriminatory approach to the whole thing. They make the assumption that any reference to alternate sexuality is immediately offensive. When a gay person acknowledges that he or she is gay, they are not offending themselves or anyone else. When someone continually harasses a player using sexual orientation references, its the harassment part that’s important. The sexual orientation part is just what he uses to accomplish it, he could just as easily be calling him an asshole over and over again.

I loved this little story that I came across tonight and just had to post it for anyone that happens to read it. It comes from “Buddhism Plain and Simple” by Steve Hagen.

There is an old story about a man who came to see the Buddha because he had heard that the Buddha was a great teacher. Like all of us, he had some problems in his life, and he thought the Buddha might be able to straighten them out.

He told the Buddha he was a farmer. “I like farming,” he said, “but sometimes it doesn’t rain enough, and my crops fail. Last year we nearly starved. And sometimes it rains too much, so my yields aren’t what I’d like them to be.”

The Buddha patiently listened to the man.

“I’m married, too,” said the man. “She’s a good wife … I love her in fact. But sometimes she nags me too much. And sometimes I get tired of her.”

The Buddha listened quietly.

“I have kids,” said the man. “Good kids, too … but sometimes they don’t show me enough respect. And sometimes …”

The man went on like this, laying out all his difficulties and worries. Finally he wound down and waited for the Buddha to say the words that would put everything right for him.

Instead the Buddha said, “I can’t help you.”

“What do you mean?” said the astonished man.

“Everybody’s got problems,” said the Buddha. “In fact, we’ve all got eighty-three problems, each one of us. Eighty-three problems, and there’s nothing you can do about it. If you work really hard on one of them, maybe you can fix it - but if you do, another one will pop right into its place. For example, you’re going to lose your loved ones eventually. And you’re going to die some day. Now there’s a problem, and there’s nothing you, or I, or anyone else can do about it.”

The man became furious. “I thought you were a great teacher!” he shouted. “I thought you could help me! What good is your teaching, then?”

The Buddha said, “Well, maybe it will help you with the eighty-fourth problem.”

“The eight-fourth problem?” said the man. “What’s the eighty-forth problem?”

Said the Buddha, “You want to not have any problems.”

Some ancient eastern wisdom is actually pretty damn contemporary. Try to eliminate all your problems, and problems will pop up in their place always. Ignore your problems and distort the reality of them and they will haunt you forever, eventually piercing through your veil of ignorance. Deal with problems as the come, prudently and logically and without worry, in the moment. Worrying about something before it happens does nothing, and similarly stressing over something that has already happened will never change the past.