Quote of the Day: Poor Zathras Edition

“I have to admit, the combination of being right and wholly irrelevant is insanely frustrating.” – Bernard Finel

I’m reminded of another sage with a similar fate: “Zathras warn, but no, no one listen to poor Zathras, no.” – Zathras

There is, I must admit, something surreal about correctly predicting, for example, that Obama would continue every one of the Bush foreign policy initiatives he campaigned against or the inevitable mission creep in Libya and nobody noticing. Then again, nobody much notices when I get ’em wrong, either.

FILED UNDER: National Security, Popular Culture, , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Michael says:

    A Babylon 5 quote? I keep finding new reasons to like this blog. And from one of the best episodes too. It sure it showing it’s age though.

  2. legion says:

    I don’t suppose you recall how many lefties screamed down the well over the last decade or so that:
    – GW Bush was an incompetent career failure with the intellectual depth of skim milk
    – Trickle-down economics doesn’t work; it just transfers money directly to the wealthy
    – Iraq had nothing at all to do with 9-11
    – Iraq has no WMDs
    – The “free market” can’t regulate itself with no oversight & can’t be trusted to obey laws with no regulatory agencies watching them at all
    – Wall Street caused the recession, not poor people & not immigrants
    – Obama’s health plan doesn’t use “death panels”, but private insurers have for years
    – The Tea Party is just a piece of astroturf manufactured by the GOP to re-direct voter rage away from themselves
    – The Ryan budget plan is a completely made-up piece of crap with no actual budgetary value whatsoever

    Leftys have been proven right about these and a lot of other things over the years, but are still reflexively disregarded by the same people who have been habitually _wrong_ about _those exact same things_.

    Welcome to our world, James.

  3. legion says:

    Although, as Michael reminds me, mad props for the B5 clip.

  4. Steve Verdon says:

    It sure it showing it’s age though.

    Yeah the special effects aren’t as snazzy, but the story is still good…currently re-watching it (while doing boring stuff in Eve Online like hauling stuff between solar systems).

  5. matt says:

    Sadly I only have the season 3 dvds. I’ve been trying to find a place to watch the episodes online or something but I’ve only found pirated copies 🙁

    Not many places seem to even sell the season DVDs anymore 🙁

    Eve online is EVIL!!

  6. Michael says:

    Yeah the special effects aren’t as snazzy

    Yeah, but when you consider that Star Trek DS9 was still using physical models for their spaceships, it had a huge technical advantage.

    Sadly I only have the season 3 dvds.

    Luckily you have the best season. Also, I think they’re all on Netflix now.

  7. You gots ta love Zathras.

    i re-watched practically the whole show a couple of year ago and the story holds up exceptionally well. It is one of my all time favorite shows.

  8. Dodd says:

    You take, Zathras die. You leave, Zathras die. Either way, it is bad for Zathras.