Sir Patrick Stewart reminds me that, as part of my recovery from my lazy and narrow 1990s conservatism, I may need to get back to my core Star Trek values and fully embrace globalism. In a conversation with NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro about his new series Picard, the British actor talks about how changes in the Star Trek universe as depicted in this new series reflect changes in our world:
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Just as he comes – well, this Picard is very different. We find him at the beginning of the first episode earthbound, in retirement, writing books. Let’s listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “STAR TREK: PICARD”)
STEWART: (As Jean-Luc Picard) I never asked anything of myself. I haven’t been living. I’ve been waiting to die.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What happened to Picard?
STEWART: Well, I’m sorry to tell you that, because the backstory is gradually revealed through the first season, I can’t really go into detail. But there was a time when he was captain. There was a time when he was admiral. And then he became involved in a huge refugee problem. And he made some errors of judgment, mistakes.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And the world that he believed in sort of was different in a way.
STEWART: Yes, it was. And this was something that I talked about at my very first meetings, why I was going to pass on their offer. And then as they talked and I heard them discuss the atmosphere and mood this new series would be, then my interest was intensely sparked because in the 17, 18 years since we wrapped “Next Generation,” the world has changed significantly, especially in the last few years. Both our countries know this. And, personally, I speak with profound regret about our country’s decision to leave the European Union. I mean, the European Union always made me feel – well, we are heading towards our own federation of planets. Somewhere down the line, that will come about. And I am angry, disappointed and embarrassed by our decision to leave the union [Lulu Garcia-Navarro, “Patrick Stewart Didn’t Want to Reprise Captain Picard in a Post-Brexit World,” NPR: Weekend Edition Sunday, 2020.01.12].
Indeed, Boris Johnson and Donald Trump make it look like we’re sliding into the petty and murderous strife of the Mirror Universe, not the striving utopian alliance of the Federation.
I’m not some delusional fanatic who thinks Star Trek predicts the future (although… cell phones? iPADDs?). But I grew up loving a show (then shows) that showed a universe in which humanity survived and thrived because it quit building walls and throwing rocks and missiles and genetically modified tyrants at each other at each other and instead recognized that we are all in it together, that we have to work with each other and with all the strangers we meet to make life better for ourselves and everyone else. Separating and squabbling, viewing each other as opponents and enemies, means we will lose when a real threat shows up in Sector 001. To see any nation moving away from the lessons and ideals of Star Trek bothers me as it bothers Sir Patrick and should bother you.
The only justification for the now ironically named United Kingdom to pull out of the European Union, or for the United States to alienate back out of the Paris climate accords, tear up NAFTA, threaten to withdraw from NATO, and otherwise act with a reckless unilaterality that alienates its allies, is based on the assumption that our interests are not the same as the interests of the rest of humanity. Boris Johnson’s and Donald Trump’s separatism rests on fundamental mistrust of fellow men and women. And as we learn from Star Trek and every other narrative that plays well on our screens, mistrust leads to ruin.
My evolution from conservative to liberal coincided with my marriage, my fatherhood, and my realization that my fate is inextricably bound to the fate of my community. As much as I may fantasize that I am a rugged individual beholden to no one, that vision does not reflect reality. I don’t write without readers, or an Internet, or a computer made in China.
The same is true of every community—city, state, and nation. We sink or swim (literally, amidst climate change), together, depending on the decisions we make as a species on this single planet. No wall on this planet can separate our fates.
Should we be nervous about forming a global government in which we would have only one out of 23 votes? Sure… but no more nervous than the 192 other countries who’d have even fewer votes.
If we are all human beings with equal rights and equal stake in the fate of our single planet, aspiration toward Federation is only logical.
Cory says, ” I may fantasize that I am a rugged individual beholden to no one, that vision does not reflect reality.” His actuality contrasts strongly with what Governor Noem will say in her State of the State.
“South Dakota is open for business!” she proclaims. “Our tax structure is stable and unchanging.”
~ We liberals in our liberal states (who reach into our paychecks every month, to help SD pay it’s bills) find that to be disgusting.
Two closely related factors that immediately come to mind that lie beneath objections to Stewart/Picard’s world unity hopes and dreams are fear and ignorance.
The fear factor seems premised on the idea that new people are untrustworthy and dangerous. Perhaps this is a holdover from ancient humans that regularly faced predators.
The ignorance factor stems from an inability to recognize several realities, including these: First, there are dangerous and untrustworthy individuals throughout humanity but it has little or nothing to do with national origin – there are both good and bad people in all nations. Second, humans have gained great advantages in their lives and communities from working together with others, especially people from different nations. A failure to recognize these realities undermines the goal of world unity.
The good news is that throughout human history both fear and ignorance have gradually, but consistently, dissipated. That bodes well for the future if humanity survives long enough to overcome these and other impediments, such as individual greed.
Love is but a song we sing
Fear’s the way we die
You can make the mountains ring
Or make the angels cry
Though the bird is on the wing
And you may not know why
Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now (get together by the Youngbloods)
Picard was right, war is obsolete and the antithesis to love and peace.
Been there, done that just over 100 years ago and then, did it again 30 years later, and now again. Anglo Saxons are dry drunks that fall from the wagon periodically to try to destroy the demons in their heads with wars. The difference is that those dry drunks now get paid well to keep losing wars. The biggest loser now is the winner.
Too much central control by Brussels over what were independent countries not so different from the debate over state’s rights. Baldy must have forgotten he didn’t like The Borg individual freedoms are more important. Resistance is NOT futile unless you want to be a drone: defined by Merriam Webster -2: one that lives on the labors of others: PARASITE.
Great film “PARASITE”. Could be the first subtitled nominee to win a Best Picture Oscar. It’s about wealth inequality in South Korea. You know, Happy. Like those North Face puffer coats you own.
PARASITE: Just a different name for SOCIALIST.
Two pair of reading glasses, equal a parasite.
Today’s farming practices
“The term socialism refers to any system in which the production and distribution of goods and services is a shared responsibility of a group of people. Socialism is based upon economic and political theories that advocate for collectivism. In a state of socialism, there is no privately owned property.”
Bankers and insurance companies own the property, you just rent from them. If it all goes to hell, the government gives you a bailout.
So there ya go, nothing wrong with being a Socialist as we are there. You cannot have capitalism without socialism.
It’s true that humans have only had lasting success when working together communally. Individuals may have sharp, creative minds that brought about new ideas, beauty, ways of being and more, but all of that meant nothing in isolation.
I think HC is telling us he’s a SD taker PARASITE. He takes from Minnesota, Colorado, New York, California, Washington, DC, etc, via democratic socialism. Per HC’s definition, SD and its citizens are PARASITES.
Fear and ignorance—BCB gets me thinking about how we misread the badness of the world, underestimating the amount within our circle and overestimating the amount without. Viewing ourselves as part of a single, species-wide community would rectify that simple moral/psychological math error.
Debbo appropriately turns Hap’s odd invocation of parasitism: my still imperfect shift toward a communitarian view stems from the realization that my independence was a delusion, that I derive great benefits from living in community and have some obligation to engage with and support that community.
From that realization, accepting global community is inescapably logical, rather like how once you accept that logic of health insurance, you inescapably conclude that the optimal system involves the largest risk pool, achieved through universal health insurance. If we are stronger together (if I may invoke Supergirl’s family motto and the ethos of Team Flash, just to show how comic-booky my worldview is), then we are strongest all together.
Being together means making decisions together, and sometimes that feels like losing more arguments. But what we lose in in-the-spot autonomy we gain in a better quality of life and more real liberty. That’s always the case when we move from the state of nature to the social contract: the freedom of anarchy isn’t very fun when you have to constantly scrap for yourself and have no one to turn to for help. The liberty of community requires more complicated decision-making, but it provides richer rewards and more real choice. In community, I can choose among being a writer, a teacher, a registrar, or a computer guru rather than choosing between being a hunter or a gatherer. In an interconnected world, I can choose among strengthening my child with piano lessons, art lessons, trips to California and France, and other opportunities versus choosing whether I will protect her from barbarians with clubs or stone knives. I can’t obtain such options in community by my own choices; I have to participate in larger, multi-vocal discussions about how to collect taxes, regulate buildings and businesses, inspect private goods and services for safety, and establish and maintain rules for global trade and travel.
If we don’t like control from Brussels or Washington or Pierre or City Hall, it may be because we have allowed special interests to take over those decision-making apparati. Or it may be that we just lost a few important votes to a majority that doesn’t share our ideas and values on specific issues. If we respond to such unresponsive or unrepresentative decision-making councils by Brexiting, we set the stage for secession ad anarchiam. Treating every disagreement as grounds for divorce (or for never getting married) takes us right back to a Hobbesian life that is at least solitary and poor, if not nasty, brutish, and short. The proper communitarian response to alienation from one’s government is to get involved with one’s government, to recognize that the European Union and the South Dakota Legislature are democratic institutions that we ultimately control, if we are willing to do the hard work of exercising that control. The government is us. The Union is us.
Parasite, just a different name for fetus.
By Hap’s definition, the State of South Dakota is a parasite. The state and the people living there suck resources provided by other states to the federal government which get redistributed to the parasites in South Dakota. Those parasites give back nothing of value.
There are a lot of blowhards in South Dakota puffing about being “independence” and about “central control.” But where, in South Dakota, are these “independent” men? Oh, they’re just about done feeding off the rest of us.
Happy, I don’t think every business owner would like you calling them a parasite!