Xena Fan Viewpoint

[Guest guest]

Recently the Xena: Warrior Princess episode "The Way" was shown in the USA.

 

A week or two before the episode, news came out about protests over the episode - even before it had been aired. Xena fans (I being one of them) rather wondered about that, but didn't take it very seriously. There is something in each episode that is bound to offend someone, even the fans themselves! Xena fans were (mostly) enjoying the Indian Arc (of which "The Way" was a part). After each episode, the 'true-history' buffs would go research the truth behind what we'd seen fictionalized in Xena and tell other Xena fans about this information. Not only were Xena fan's enjoying an entertaining show, but we were learning vast amounts about a culture we had never thought much about until now.

 

Finally, "The Way" was shown. The protests continued. A rumor started that "The Way" was being pulled from the air. Conformation of this as fact came.

 

Xena fans, several million people, got mad. Very, very mad. Many wrote letters protesting censorship and started equating Hindu's with 'bad.' Research on the 'true history' behind "The Way" and Krishna came to a halt as the effort to stop the censorship took up everyone's attention and time.

 

Luckily Xena fans are smart and don't equate all Hindu's (or Vaishnava or Indians) with the protesters that got "The Way" pulled.

 

I came across VNN and was both happy and sad to see some of these stories and editorials on "Xena Meets Krishna." One person seems to think 'any news is good news' in one part of his letter and then wants Krishna spoken of only in the highest terms in another part. If people learn to equate Krishna with "those zealot protesters" or any number of worse terms, how is this glorifying Him? You're defeating your own purpose! Not only that, but you are stopping the very learning and research that you say you want to promote! Though I'll grant you probably didn't know Xena fans actually do research things in the show.

 

I think that an request for a "To learn the truth about (appropriate praise) Krishna, you can (places to learn more, like web sites, organizations, religious books, etc.)" screen proceeding the actual episode would have been granted. Several million people would have had a chance to be educated instead of turned off by the censorship issue. It's not too late to do this even now.

 

I doubt this letter will make any difference, but I wanted you to know the other side of this debate, maybe get another perspective. I felt so strongly that this needed to be heard that I wrote this despite the fact that I am literally afraid for my life - afraid someone might take my letter badly because it shows that their approach might not always be the best approach. Is this the reputation you really want?