"And all they know of hate/ is that it couldn't beat the love out of me"

-Andrea Gibson, Ashes

This is a post about star-whales.  The sliding scale of idealism versus cynicism is a huge topic (as in, existentialist authors have written quite a bit on it in order to understand the meaning of existence), but this is going to be my attempt to cover this part of it.

What is a star-whale?

Technically, this.  I think it's cute.

The star whale is a character in Doctor Who.  But there are a lot of star whales.  Basically, you know one when you see one.  Sometimes you're not quite sure, but you get this "ooh, I think that's a star whale!" feeling.  It's kind of like gaydar.

Amy: Amazing, though, don't you think. The star whale. All that pain and misery and loneliness, and it just made it kind

Doctor: But you couldn't have known how it would react.

Amy: I didn't. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind and the very, very last. Sound a bit familiar?

"And it just made it kind" = star whale.  D'ya ken?

Now that sounds nice, you say.  The fewer sociopaths in the world, the better.  Unfortunately, this means you have a relentless idealist on your hands.  Pause for a moment and think- all that pain and misery and loneliness made it kind?  What sane person responds like that?  Wouldn't they get trampled over by those less concerned with their idealism?

Why yes, in fact, they do.  The star whale is tortured for a couple hundred years and almost made into a vegetable to serve others purposes.  You see, earth that was (sorry, Firefly reference, can't help myself) was burning, and the citizens of the UK were having trouble finding transport.  Like a miracle, the star whale appeared and they captured it.

"'What's that?'  'Well, like I say, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly...'  'Or?'  'Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button.'"

Thing is though, star whale.  Lonely because it is the last of its kind.  Old, kind, alone- it "couldn't bear to see children cry" as their planet was destroyed.  And so it swooped in and left itself wide open to attack.  Amy sees this, frees the creature, and miraculously enough it keeps going because, well, this was what it wanted to do in the first place, save people.  'Cept no one could even conceive of that before.  This is why someone snidely saying "Harry Potter should have been a sociopath" annoys me a bit more than it should.  Why do I still even remember that?  I thought I didn't hold grudges.  Oy vey.

In Doctor Who, the death of Jenny, the Doctor's daughter, is a good exploration of idealism.  The Doctor is a pacifist; once upon a time he had to do quite a bit of killing, and he tells Jenny "the killing, after a while, it infects you" and "there is always a choice".  She chooses not to kill someone shooting at her.  Later in the episode, this person kills her.  The Doctor laments "she was too much like me".  But when he grabs the gun that killed her from her murderer he tosses it to the ground and says "I never would.  You got that?  I never would!".

I find this brand of wide eyed idealism impressive.

The Eleventh Doctor continues this trend.  Complicated episode, but basically a random handful of people has to be, as the Doctor urges, the "best of humanity" when making contact with another species.  One of the humans kills one of the other species.  The species was gearing up for war anyway, but there were opportunities for peace before the murder.  This murder leads to the death of Rory, Amy's husband (both are companions of the Doctor).  At the end, the Doctor tells the woman (after saving her life though he certainly could have left her to be killed by the sister of the creature she murdered) "An eye for an eye.  It was never the way.  Now you show your son how wrong you were."

This is pretty much how I see it.  Keep on keeping on, my shiny idealists and "it is better to do the wrong thing for the right reasons than the right thing for the wrong reasons" people.  And why I think socialism doesn't work.  It would be neat if everyone were up for it though.  (though don't get me wrong, I like me a little socialism and because I am an idealist I would love for it to be more feasible over time- a Star Trek sort of world, Gene Rodenberry brand futuristic idealism)

Is the character a fool or a hero?

Yes.

So, summary for the feasibility of idealism, mostly in Doctor Who.  An idealist can survive with a no second chances code, which allows them to keep the ideals intact.  There is nearly always a third way, and that is a good thing to stick to.  By being an idealist you may leave yourself open to being a star whale, but the moral lesson can still be intact.  Say, you are crucified... now you know how that one ends.  Agape.  Foolish, yes.  Heroic, yes.  Suffering?  Terrible, but ok as a personal decision.  A quixotic crusader sets out knowing the consequences of idealism, and is therefore not an immature wide-eyed idealist.

Challenges to idealism?  When the anti-hero is far more practical than the third way ideal.   Basically, when the harm does not come to you but to other people or when you fashion others into weapons for a cause.  Also, there is the annoying idealist argument- "The Doctor.  How sanctimonious is that?  The man that makes people better".

This excerpt on Gandhi (link to source) is a good real world example of harm coming to other people:

"But wasn’t Gandhi’s nonviolent action designed to avoid violence? Yes and no. Gandhi steadfastly avoided violence toward his opponents. He did not avoid violence toward himself or his followers.

Gandhi said that the nonviolent activist, like any soldier, had to be ready to die for the cause. And in fact, during India’s struggle for independence, hundreds of Indians were killed by the British.

The difference was that the nonviolent activist, while willing to die, was never willing to kill.

Gandhi pointed out three possible responses to oppression and injustice. One he described as the coward’s way: to accept the wrong or run away from it. The second option was to stand and fight by force of arms. Gandhi said this was better than acceptance or running away.

But the third way, he said, was best of all and required the most courage: to stand and fight solely by nonviolent means."

Idealism does come at a price.  I mean, you could not ask people to come.  The Doctor gets tired of losing people and pushes them away, but he does need them.  You can also try to protect people while holding your ground.  Basically, it is in the 3 responses Gandhi talked about.  If you are going to choose the third way and stand your ground and be that good person, you have to face the consequences of an uncaring world.  

The next post will be about the episode "Midnight", because that was an interesting attack on idealism that created a star whale.