It’s things like this Battlestar Gallactica at The UN that make me wish I wasn’t a college student by day, blogger by night, and was instead full-time pop culture obsessing. The United Nations (yes, that’s right, the same group that sanctions human rights violations and ostensibly organizes the nations of the world together in peace) hosted a Battlestar Gallactica forum (chaired by none other than Whoopie Goldberg) this past Tuesday. Now, on the surface, this seems pretty ridiculous, but I think it speaks to popular culture’s unique ability to shape, change and challenge the debate about the issues that define our times, and specifically BSG‘s continual determination to do just that. As much as I wish Ron Moore had a clear endgame in mind when he started BSG, I think that the show has actually benefitted a lot from its ability to accurately reflect back the turbulent and strange times in which we live. It started as a 9/11 allegory and has morphed into one of the most complex, frustrating, and honest portrayals of politics in the modern world. All while also providing us with creepy/sexy storylines involving robot love. It’s amazing.

Check out the link up top to read a first hand account of the awesome power of Adama (Edward James Olmos) both on and off screen as he gets a room full of delegates to echo back “So say we all.”