Keep in mind NJO started before 9/11. Star By Star came out a month after 9/11, and the series wrapped at the US invaded Iraq. I don't think considering when it was written is great evidence. Yes the Saddam gassing the Kurds stuff already happened, but it wasn't much of the zeitgeist. NJO was plotted well in advance and most books finished their first drafts before the US was in Afghanistan.
Not to say american neoliberal militarism was not an influence, but the Vong are honestly a less egregious example as things go. The EU of that era had that horrid trend of military characters always being right and for dramatic tension they have to defy orders. I love the X-wing series but they do that shit every fucking novel.
Outbound Flight overshadows any influence on the Vong for me because unlike the Vong, the events of that story actually do come right out and try to justify military intervention and have the enemy "use human shields", with Zahn literally saying it let him write about Iraq without saying "Iraq"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfBC6c_0YWw
There are certainly liberal western biases to the entire Vong plot, particularly creating an invading enemy to defeat while writing yourselves a way to see reasonable and benevolent, in this case not using the bioweapon. I just don't think the Vong storyline should be lumped in with the one-off retcon implication that Palpy was "protecting the galaxy from the Vong"
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Keep in mind NJO started before 9/11. Star By Star came out a month after 9/11, and the series wrapped at the US invaded Iraq. I don't think considering when it was written is great evidence. Yes the Saddam gassing the Kurds stuff already happened, but it wasn't much of the zeitgeist. NJO was plotted well in advance and most books finished their first drafts before the US was in Afghanistan.
Not to say american neoliberal militarism was not an influence, but the Vong are honestly a less egregious example as things go. The EU of that era had that horrid trend of military characters always being right and for dramatic tension they have to defy orders. I love the X-wing series but they do that shit every fucking novel.
Outbound Flight overshadows any influence on the Vong for me because unlike the Vong, the events of that story actually do come right out and try to justify military intervention and have the enemy "use human shields", with Zahn literally saying it let him write about Iraq without saying "Iraq"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfBC6c_0YWw
There are certainly liberal western biases to the entire Vong plot, particularly creating an invading enemy to defeat while writing yourselves a way to see reasonable and benevolent, in this case not using the bioweapon. I just don't think the Vong storyline should be lumped in with the one-off retcon implication that Palpy was "protecting the galaxy from the Vong"
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: