tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452732101544377991.post1471171089709275027..comments2023-05-29T06:12:59.272-05:00Comments on Disjointed Observations: Star Trek's Hypocritical FederationJonathan Polkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01629784845492490477noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452732101544377991.post-52732612965272074042009-12-23T22:01:57.867-06:002009-12-23T22:01:57.867-06:00It's interesting, I would have sworn that the ...It's interesting, I would have sworn that the capitalism angle was present with the Ferengi from the beginning, though not in the "comic" manner of DS9, but I can't find much evidence of it. I remember reading or hearing that Roddenberry saw them as a satire of 20th century enterprise, and the hamhandedness of the idea feels very late Roddenberry, but that's hardly good evidence. I'll look at the season 1 TNG Ferengi episodes sometime, when I can bring myself to face the sheer tackiness of early TNG.<br /><br />I still mean to say some things about Bajor and Cardassia, but it's late now and I'm even less cogent than usual.Brendan Moodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18029384135423483043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452732101544377991.post-60610032307125495442009-12-10T23:27:33.878-06:002009-12-10T23:27:33.878-06:00Great analysis, Brendan. With regards to the Domi...Great analysis, Brendan. With regards to the Dominion, especially, you have helped me in my struggle to articulate a specific point.<br /><br />While I agree w/ your assessment of the Ferengi, I am not sure that when they were conceived to be the primary TNG villains, the capitalism run amok angle was really all that present in the beginning. Is it possible that we are retconning our analysis of their early portrayal?Jonathan Polkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01629784845492490477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7452732101544377991.post-61712697923967476082009-12-08T14:01:51.086-06:002009-12-08T14:01:51.086-06:00A nice overview. I don't have anything to say...A nice overview. I don't have anything to say to it as such, but that's never stopped me from making comments before. Seriously, what follows are perhaps just other ways of making the same points, but may be helpful or interesting all the same.<br /><br />Star Trek struggles, as the mainstream American liberalism from which it more or less derives struggles, with the balance between respect for diversity on the one hand and a sense of its own greal moral worth on the other. It's difficult to manage genuine respect for difference if you think you're better than those who embrace that difference. The difficulty is heightened with Star Trek because it's a utopia. If these other societies aren't members of the Federation, they are by definition excluding themselves from the perfect government. How can that be worthwhile or respectable behavior?<br /><br />It's telling that, for all its putative complexity, when DS9 did a war it was basically an epic tale of Good vs. Evil. The Dominion is not presented with any ambiguity: it's an oppressive dictatorship, and its soldiers are different sorts of clones, and therefore not people as such at all. I appreciate that DS9 tried to examine the consequences of the existence of the Jem'Hadar, but I can't escape the feeling that as a concept they remove some of the moral atrocity inherent in war: if the enemy you're aiming your weapons at doesn't have a family and a life back home, it's that much easy to fire.<br /><br />It's against this backdrop that the approving analyses of "In the Pale Moonlight" (the episode where Captain Sisko does the things described in paragraph two, for any readers who don't follow Star Trek) emerge. The Dominion is so broadly sketched and so awful that the greater good argument has a certain logic.<br /><br />Other Star Trek aliens tend to be simplistically imagined in similar ways. Take the Klingons. For all that there's been a lot of elaboration of the species over five series and eleven movies, the basic idea (warrior culture with honor obsession) is very crude. There's little sense of the intellectual complexity that would characterize a real global society. Almost all Klingons have the same cultural heritage and the same approving response to it. Even an honor-based national culture in our own history wouldn't be quite that rigid.<br /><br />That last paragraph doesn't feel quite clear. Let me try again with the Ferengi. The Ferengi were conceived as pure antagonists, the big enemy of The Next Generation, a satire on free-market capitalism. The basic concept is that they are simultaneously comical and threatening. For all the additions to the Ferengi mythos over the years, this basic idea remains, and it prevents presentation of the characters or their beliefs as truly respectable. You can't respect a punchline.<br /><br />There's more to be said here, including some consideration of the Bajorans and the Cardassians, but I'll come back to that later if I can organize my thoughts.Brendan Moodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18029384135423483043noreply@blogger.com