Wednesday

agendas, agendas...

So the other day I was watching Star Trek The Next Generation and actually found myself unable to foresee how a particular episode would end. (amazing, I know) There was a conflict of liberal agendas and to the end I was unsure who would prevail, Cultural Identity Man or Make Love Not War Man. After a lot of tension and dialogue, Cultural Identity Man won. I was almost surprised; I had thought that nothing was more important living in peace with the rest of the universe, but turns out that if your heritage involves war and bloodshed...can't stop you from embracing it because THERE ARE NO MORAL ABSOLUTES in the 24th century. It's terrible. I am led to suspect that the intrepid captain and crew of the Starship Enterprise would accede to the traditional needs of Muslim terrorists to wreak havoc and kill infidels. After all, we can't understand all cultures, but apparently we have to "respect" them and let them wend their merry way through history. Ah... I think I would prefer to hang out with Hernando Cortes rather than Jean-Luc Picard (I know Picard doesn't exist, give me a break for my hypothetical situtation) because quite honestly I would rather wipe a civilization that was into human sacrifice, not try to understand it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's exactly why I love Riker's character so much - yes, yes, I know he is full of personal flaws and is not as wise or nuanced as Picard - but he is the one who will say "I don't care if it is their culture - it's stupid, and/or wrong."

Or Worf, who can be relied on to just want to use phasers and torpedoes and be on his way.

Catherine_Creagan said...

or take over the role of Captain Obvious. As Stephen and I liked to say "we KNOW, Worf."

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