Thought of the Day for TPTB
Why It's Perfectly Reasonable To Dislike Jonas Quinn by Brionhet
I'd kind of decided to let this go, but here's my explanation about just why it's completely justifiable to hate this character's guts [Based on his actions in 'Meridian' only]. I don't care at all about the actor, but the character is disgusting and insulting, and the reasons don't have much to do with Daniel.
NOTE: Some of this explanation will include spoilers for Meridian. If you don't want to be spoiled, better quit now.
To evaluate the issue of whether there's justification to completely dislike the character of Jonas Quinn, I feel there are at least three highly pertinent questions one must address.
First question: based on the information we've been given, is this man's character something worthy of admiration?
The answer to this question, unfortunately, is a resounding 'No.' So far, we've seen him cowering in terror in a situation where his planet was in danger of destruction which he was in a position to stop. He didn't. He allowed the alien guy to do it (and incidentally sacrifice his life) while he kept his lily-white nice and safe. Then, of course, he did his best to ensure that said alien, who was at that time dying an agonizing death as a result of saving Jonas's world, would be blamed for the accident that caused the trouble in the first place, even though he knew very well it was a complete lie. Then he indulged in a bit of theft, and turned traitor. Nice guy. Not.
But this is far from the only reason to reject this character.
The second question is, does he have anything to offer to the SGC that would make it worth while to take him in and put him on staff?
Answer: No. He hasn't got a single thing to offer that can possibly be any good to them. He's an expert on... nothing. He's not (as Teal'c is) an expert on the Goa'uld. To best of my knowledge, he isn't a language *or* culture expert. He knows absolutely nothing about the Earth cultures that have been so key to understanding so much that the SGC has found on the other side of the Gate, not to mention the importance this knowledge has had in understanding the actions of the Goa'uld. He's supposedly an ethicist (one who, as pointed out re. the first question above, is devoid of any personal ethics). And this is going to be useful... how?
And as a corollary to this issue, we have probably the single thing about what is planned for this character that infuriates me the most. Supposedly, he's going to sit down in a comfy chair somewhere and read a few books and he will magically, immediately *become* the kind of expert Daniel has been for so many years.
This is just plain putrid, folks. It's a crashing, overwhelming insult to every academic on this planet. You don't become an expert by reading a few books. Or a hundred or a thousand. Especially in the kinds of fields which were Daniel's forte. Every scholar knows that memorization is the lowest, basest form of learning. And that's *all* he or anyone else can do by reading books, no matter how many he reads. That's why people like Daniel Jackson do so much field work. That's why a real education only *starts* in a classroom. And that's also why a PhD almost always *does* mean something.
And of course, having never set foot on this planet before, Jonas can have none of the conditioned understanding of human culture that is the basis of understanding its wide variations. He would need a lifetime of learning to acquire even a normal level of understanding.
In short, he's utterly, totally useless.
And of course, that leads us to the final question: Just how probable is it that the SGC (and the US military and government that control it) would invite this person into the SGC, let alone put him on *any* field team (and particularly the flagship team)?
Answer: Just how stupid do they think we are?
Always supposing that, under the circumstances, a person like this would be given asylum in the first place, the only residence he'd ever be allowed, for the rest of his life, would be some containment somewhere. He'd be worse than useless on a field team. He has all of the negative points that Daniel had back in the beginning, and absolutely none of the positive ones. He has no useful skills, and the useful skills Daniel had were the *only* reason he was tolerated on what is, as has been so often pointed out, a military team. An *elite* military team.
Jonas is worthless to a field team. He has demonstrated that he's not trustworthy, and that his ethics are, to say the least, very questionable. He's demonstrated that he's pretty much a coward. In what *possible* way can they justify undermining the SGC and SG-1 by putting this nothing on that team? It's completely, utterly absurd.
There is no insult greater than the assumption that we are all idiots. Their intent to ignore this final issue is absolute evidence that TBTP now in control of Stargate SG-1 think we are all so stupid that we'll buy into anything.
By Brionhet
13th June 2002
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