In reply to Seppo Helava.

I think I get what you're saying, but I also think that having characters conflate symbols, ideals, groups, and individuals was a big part of why the show worked for me. (Whether it was intentional or not). We've got so much lazy discourse now, where people refuse to meet each other from where they're coming from, and instead either try to make everything too simplistic, or just say "it's complicated" as an excuse to do nothing. Like someone wears an American flag pin, and the response is, "Oh, so you're in favor of drone strikes against civilians, then?"