I like reading the comments to find funny jokes but this Ashley bit has given people headaches, I'm hoping I can explain the situation in an easier, light-hearted way:
Let's say humans and Dolphins are living together on Earth as they do now, Dolphins being fairly 'intelligent' (like the aliens in Mass Effect). A lot of humans know a decent amount about Dolphins and we tend to get along with them well. However, Dolphins do have a much deeper culture than we understand (we don't speak Dolphin, know their exact history, and don't live around them in the ocean,). Now say Ashley and some fellow humans were brutally attacked by Dolphins while swimming in the ocean (some 'rogue' Dolphins, the 1% of Dolphins that may actually do some harm.) That would be enough to make Ashley 'hate' Dolphins (I believe Ashley's 'unfamiliarity' with the aliens is the main reason for not 'trusting' the aliens in Mass Effect at this point, but using this attack as a more direct example). Then years later, Ashley has to work along with the Dolphins on the Normandy (work with me here). Is Ashley's vocal disdain for working with them justified? Sure. Is that the opinion of everyone else on the ship? No (especially Sheperd!). Honestly we don't know much about her yet (never played Mass Effect so following along with the GBeast crew), so as a result we are making interpretations of her based on what we know ("judging' if you will).
Is Ashley racist? By definition (From Google: A person who shows or feels discrimination or prejudice against people of other [aliens], or who believes that a particular [alien] is superior to another] No. (I don't see anything mentioned in regards to humans being the best, or some alien species is inferior in comparison due to this, this, or this.
Is Ashley xenophobic? By definition (From Google: Having or showing a dislike of or prejudice against [aliens] from other [planets]. Sure (her attacked by the Dolphins if you will), but she has yet to outright say why and may change.
In regards to the "Can't tell the aliens from the animals" statement, I see it as a figure of speech (her saying it as a joke, but may have flew under a few people). Going back to my previous analogy of the Dolphins, say Ashley was just plopped under the ocean where there are tons of other 'aliens' like it was her first time at the Citadel. Some are more intelligent 'aliens' (e.g. Dolphins, Octopus) and some are more 'animals' (e.g. starfish, sea urchin). Because she is so unfamiliar with all these species on the Citadel, she doesn't know who from what.
In regards to Kaiden and Ashley being dull and uninteresting, I believe most of it is due to them being 'humans'. In the gigantic, unknown universe known as Mass Effect, humans would be the least interesting to us. As a result, we know the least about them (as of now) and not much of a motive to get to know them. Personally, I feel Kaiden has nothing really going for him but I am loving Ashley's sass.
I hope this cleared some issues, I just want to see more joke comments next episode!
jbird1215's comments