Reflection, Class 11

I wanted to start by making a few comments on Tim's post. Just about his discussion of the Jesuits and missionaries. Did the Jesuits really try to force their beliefs on the Runa? Perhaps their worldview or cultural biases, as we discussed in class, but there was no mention of evangelization or trying to teach them about God or Catholicism. They seemed to just do their thing, i.e. say Mass, and if the Runa came, great if not, that's fine too. I think the story comes off as more tragic because all of the changes that the group brought in the lives of the Runa were by accident, they were something the Runa picked up, like the garden. Granted, we also discussed the nature of the mistakes made by the group, and perhaps the whole revolution idea was more deliberate but again, it spread without their help in the end as most of them were dead.
Also, with regards to Sofia's actions that ended up getting most of the group killed. I don't think it would be believable if she did nothing in that situation. She'd clearly developed as a character, she'd lost much of her detachment both with her contact with the other group members and her marriage to Jimmy (which, okay, might have been a little forced but it sort of comes down to a last man on Earth sort of thing). If Sofia hadn't done anything I think other group members might have, just based on their characterization. Jimmy certainly seemed a caring about others kind of guy and I think he would have done something, maybe tried to protect some of the babies or something along those lines. They might not have called for an uprising but I doubt they could have stood by and done nothing.
Finally, our discussion of who to bring on the trip. I do think that the group wasn't outfitted properly for the kind of mission they were on, they had somewhat less of a full group but they had a good starting point at least. Here's Mel's and my "fun" list for our sci-fi character crew:
1. Han Solo- pilot/con man/skepic, can also fix stuff
2. Emilio Sandoz- still useful as a linguist and could do some comparative religion in a pinch
3. EMH Mark 1 (ST:Voyager)- doctor/comparative culture analyst/biologist, doesn't need to eat so food would last longer too
4. Jayne, with Vera- security guy, knows how to deal with alien worlds already
5. Daniel Jackson (Stargate SG-1)- anthropologist (any other ideas for a better fit here would be welcome, he's all we could think of)
6. Data- general knowledge/engineer, sort of a walking authority on anything and everything
7. Counselor Troi- empath/diplomat, she also has training in reading the emotions of aliens
8. Maguyver- survivalist, not exactly sci-fi but again, we had a lack of insight as to who else would be useful here