If you are not a part of Adama’s inner circle, all you know of Cylons is that they infiltrated the Colonies, sabotaged the technology and committed genocide on humanity. Likely, your family and friends, they killed them all. You have been living a miserable life since. Now, Adama wants Cylons to retrofit the jump drives on all the ships. The biggest reason the fleet is around is that they had the ability to jump away from a fight. But you have to trust him that they wont sabotage. Not this time around.
If not in Adama’s inner circle, you know them as machines posing as humans. You know part of their programming can activate and make them turn on you, just like Boomer did when she shot Adama.
You know the last experiment in Cylon - human appeasement as New Caprica. You lived through hell there, never knowing if you or your new loved ones were going to be taken away and never return.
Now Adama wants an alliance with Cylons. His second in command is a Cylon. His most trusted engineer, a Cylon. He trusts that one of his officers, which he regards as a daughter is not a Cylon even though she came back from the dead in a brand new Viper. He’s confidant that this time around, none of them will betray his trust. You have to blindly trust him on this.
Adama refuses to recognize the authority of elected leaders when it comes to their refusal of an alliance with Cylons. The highest elected leader, the President, who you trusted was the dying leader who would bring you to Earth, well she’s still alive. She is in a relationship with Adama, and until recently all but abdicated her responsabilities. You have to blindly trust her, even though she is supposed to be dead by now and she sleeps with Adama.
Now, I love the show. Off course I’m siding with Adama and the gang. I enjoy the Cylon - Human alliance angle. It’s a good story.
But in real life, considering that cultures typically go through generations and generations holding grudges and killing each other before calmer heads prevail, if ever, that most humans are wired to distrust and fear people who are different, I find it impossible that an Alliance with the Cylons would be acceptable by even the tiniest percentage of people in the fleet. In real life, the people of the fleet not only would not follow blindly Adama, they would want his head on a spike for even suggesting an alliance. Regardless of what he did for them in the past. They would think he is insane.
Yes, I’m siding with Adama and the gang because as a viewer I’m priviledge to what he knows and more and because I’m attached to those people.
I also absolutely understand that a lot of people want him out of power, even through bloodshed. If I were just some dude on a civy ship or a low ranking soldier, I would be sympathetic to the mutiny, I might even take part in it. Not big on blind faith in military and political leaders when their actions defy logic and common sense. This kind of faith, historically, usually results in disaster.
But if I didn’t know I was in a TV show, I’d be avoiding both sides at this point and let them work it out. Were the mutiny run by another leader, or the fleet for that matter, though, I’d be able to choose a side.