space opera and the western imperialist mind

[devp]

Did you ever notice that it's hard to have a space opera... and *not* refer to the worlds as "colonies"? Or "settlements"? Or a "frontier"?

Maybe I have Firefly brain damage! I don't know. But I keep rewriting every other word the change this stuff.

(Matt: you ever have this problem?)

[Chris Chinn]

It's funny because I find myself often thinking about how space is effectively the Imperialists' wet dream- tons of resources, uninhabited, waiting for people to acquire.

Which, funny enough, seems to be the story they always transform actual history into - "Oh, well some people lived here on THIS AWESOME LAND that was just WAITING for someone to come by and ACTUALLY USE IT" etc.

I'm guessing maybe if we research more language used around inhospitable areas- Antarctica, desert areas, we might find some alternate words.

I'm guessing stations and outposts will be common terms.

Chris