Is the Alliance Evil? (Firefly)

Originally Posted by Cyantre

The Alliance is evil, perhaps in the worst way...

It's the perfect example of what happens when a government gains too much power and tries to create a utopian society. The Alliance didn't develop PAX to make people happy, it was to make everyone docile. It back-fired, but if it had worked the people would have no aggressive tendencies. Therefore, no one could ever rise up and overthrow the corrupt government.

The Alliance is the worst kind of evil, by masking itself as "something better".

I don't think this was the purpose of their tests there. Look at how the populations of all the other planets we see in the series live, how the people on these planets treat each other. I think the reason that they were trying to make people chill out was so that they'd treat each other better, behave with more civility. If people aren't acting like complete no-class jackasses towards each other, then the Alliance can reduce head count in the military and law enforcement agencies, which would significantly cut costs. They could then funnel the cost savings into other programs that would be beneficial to its citizens {and also increased salaries for high ranking government officials, but that is neither here nor there}.

Jam it back in, in the dark.