[steve-b]

As with many people, I knew of him from watching Babylon 5. His character was very, VERY non-PC, so I naturally liked it. He's said more than once that the character was basically his personality in a costume.

I recall an anecdote that he suggested that application of the death penalty be speeded up to the point where the state would need to replace the electric chair with "electric bleachers". JMS wrote that into a subsequent Garibaldi line.

[Frank_Discussion]

LOL! Nice. Very nice.

[Question_Assumptions]

For all of his liberal leanings and atheism, JMS is a good enough writer that he could write conservative characters and religious characters believable enough that real conservatives and religious people could identify with them. That's the sign of a great writer. Most lesser writers wind up writing their opinion and put it up against straw man bad guys. JMS understands that people often have understandable reasons for holding different points of view.

What I found particularly funny was that years ago, a liberal on a message board claimed that he thought Garibaldi was racist. Bear in mind that in the course of Babylon 5, Garibaldi is not only just about everyone's friend but he reads the Narn religious book and ends as a close friend of the black Dr. Franklin (sadly, the actor who played the doctor passed away -- he was a good actor). Why did they think he was racist? My guess is that it was the liberal knee-jerk reaction to anyone who isn't politically correct (Garibaldi does say some very un-PC things) and sounds conservative -- to the liberal mind, they must be racist, even when the evidence strong suggests exactly the opposite.