Obey Zolac!

"Fate has ordained that the men who went to the Moon to explore in peace will stay on the Moon to rest in peace. These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery, but they also know that there is hope for Mankind in their sacrifice. In ancient days, men looked to the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations; in modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood. For every human being who looks up at the Moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever Mankind."

—Excerpt from In Event of Moon Disaster by William Safire, a speech prepared for President Nixon to read in the event that Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were stranded on the Moon.

Michael Stevens read this excerpt in this episode of Vsauce (relevant section starts at 9:24) and, I don't know. I just started feeling really emotional about a hypothetical event that, thankfully, never happened, and I wanted to share it.

ETA: Ooooh, only just now, months later, recognizing the reference to Rupert Brooke's The Soldier: "If I should die, think only this of me; / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England." Well played Safire, well played.

So I don't usually do this, get involved in the big grand moral discussions in fandom, but tonight I have Things To Say.

I've been thinking all day about the new Sherlock episode, and about the argument being made loudly across much of the internet regarding the plot and characterizations in this episode and sexism.

Me, I loved the episode. Passionately and wholly and unreservedly. It didn't even occur to me that there might be anything wrong with it until I started poking my nose around the fandom. Now, I do consider myself a feminist, and I've read the arguments and I think they're very reasonable (some especially excellent points were made in the comparison to the source material), and I'm glad the issue is being discussed... but I think every scene that has come up in discussion is open to interpretation, or at least, I interpreted them differently, and personally feel that certain other interpretations may be entirely missing the point. Maybe I'm an optimist, maybe I'm naïve, but either way this is the point at which I respectfully... well, maybe even "disagree" is too strong of a word, but I respectfully refuse to be offended.

( Spoilers for 'A Scandal In Belgravia' )

EDIT: For anyone angered or offended or hurt by anything I have said (and I know there have been some already), please accept my sincere apologies. I must ask that you believe that it is not my intention to shut down, dismiss, or offend anyone; I made my best attempt to make it clear that all of the above are my personal opinions, that my read of each scene was colored by how it resonated with my personal experiences, and that all other opinions are valid and welcomed.