General Star Trek thread

AMKC wrote: »

Do you think Humans will ever overcome Bigotry and if so when? Archer said in Enterprise Season 2 Episode 14 that humans had overcome Bigotry in the 2050s sometime but no exact date just about a century before that episode.

I think so, eventually; much of the bigotry we deal with today are "only" holdovers from embedded historical contexts we simply accept as the status quo. Like, I think we sometimes forget first and foremost Star Trek is an American show with an American sense of self: it's easy to forget that in the US, there are (just about) still people alive who lived through the Jim Crow era, or the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (well, I don't know if there are survivors, given the subject). Heck the US police force has origins in slavery enforcement. Bigotry is still part of the social consciousness, and healing takes time.

Dropping "the patriarchy" into the conversation can send folks running for the hills, but when you read of historical civilisations, it can really open the eyes to just how commodified women's lives were from country to country - and disentangling that cultural sense of lopsided equality takes time. If you want to get a sense of just how obscene it got, read a little on the history of women's medicine. It's ... astonishing how much women suffered simply because they were either not worth the hassle, or male doctors made ignorant assumptions about female bodies (and to pivot back to racism, the father of gynaecology made many of his discoveries by operating, without consent, on black slaves). There's a LOT of baggage to get rid of.

Right now, I see humanity as entering its adolescent phase; that awkward period when things go a bit insane as old ways are shaken off and a future tries to assert itself through wild swings in the opposite direction. And as much as people like to cry about SJWs or whatnot, I'd rather folks make mistakes through good intentions than the opposite.

As to the when? I dunno, 2050 feels incredibly optimistic. Archer spoke from a script written in the early days of the internet, probably by a bunch of white guys, and I myself swing wildly as to whether the internet is a Net Benefit to humanity or a Net loss. Whether it helps mend bigotry or create more instead. It certainly makes it _easier_ to be a bigot.

edit: did I take that answer too seriously? I can never telll :pac:

Evade wrote: »

I'd imagine First Contact had a lot to do with it, nothing unites people like having another group to compete with. It's that old saying attributed to the Bedouin "I'm against my brother, I'm with my brother against my cousin, I'm with my brother and cousin against everyone else."

I'd generally agree with you (there's a first ), but ... in real life? These days? Maybe there's room for scepticism. I'm not even sure First Contact would rattle our cages enough anymore. For a start, you'd now have to reckon with a cohort of humanity that'd scream "FAKE NEWS" at a First Contact scenario; the world is burning and half the internet wants to demean and scream at the teenager acting as ambassador against climate collapse. While Star Trek's general allergy towards the subject of earth religions, ignores that other likely scenario that the event would cause a huge schism among religions across the globe. Possibly causing some serious regional conflicts to properly kick-off. There'd be a lot of very nervous generals, looking for any excuse to finally give their neighbours a good licking

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Interesting topic, if you watch Grey's or Station 19 at the moment it seems horrifically over the top in terms of anti black story and the moralising in it as someone outside of the US. but I guess for the US audience it might actually hit home and be accurate...

Don't watch either shows but at this stage, if the only way America can deal with its racism is through entertainment media then fair enough, it isn't produced for my approval or "enjoyment". I'd be lying if the county's foibles don't interest me, like a continent sized reality show. There doesn't seem to be political will to implement reparations or some kind of official atonement ala South Africa, so seems fitting it's only through TV and film the country can parse its past and present.

Keeping it related, Trek IMO has always been part of that public domain conversation too, even to this day, as much as some online seem to rage against this idea it was ever thus. Shítty writing is the true albatross of Trek these days, but this isn't caused by or formed from any sense of empowerment or continuing inclusivity. And again, we're only glomming onto American pop culture, it's not really for us (foreign box offices notwithstanding WRT the movies)

It was never any different IMO. And continues to be. "Foreign" people in the original runs amounted to Brits or Irish (or "French" by way of the RSC :rolleyes:) but American TV never really had much of an international perspective beyond 3rd world clichés or London / Paris (basically the only two EU locations according to US telly. Or rather, excuses for holidays for the producers and cast). The original series was basically about America the Melting Pot, rather than anything completely global.

It's a shame, cos that helms officer on Discovery sounds to have an African accent so clearly they're aiming for more international flavour - just forgot to give her any kind of character (still can't remember her name)