Jolt Country

General Observations

How Star Trek Resolves Problems

Five minutes before the end credits roll. The Federation is facing the combined might of the Granfaloonian Empire. The mad Federation admiral who is trying to plunge the Galaxy into war is confronted by KirkPicardSiskoJanewayArcher:

Mad Federation Admiral: I hate the Granfaloonians! They burned my village, murdered my parents, raped my sister, kicked my dog, and installed Windows 2350 on my computer! I want to boil them in oil, skin them alive, cut their eyes out and give them all wedgies!

KirkPicardSiskoJanewayArcher: Stop it! That isn't nice!

Mad Federation Admiral: Okay.

Roll credits.

How Star Trek Resolves Problems II

Klingon: The Klingon Empire will fight to the last Klingon rather than surrender this planet!

Romulan: Romulans prefer death to dishonor. We will never surrender!

KirkPicardSiskoJanewayArcher: Why don't you just share nice?

Klingon and Romulan: We never thought of that. Thanks!

Why is Spock Such a Threat?

The original Star Trek went to some trouble to create Spock and even more effort to ridicule him at every opportunity. In episode after episode, Spock is portrayed as emotionally crippled by his rationality, and secretly longing to have the emotions of humans. Meanwhile, Kirk and McCoy get into one stupid bind after another because of their emotional immaturity.

Vulcans played only a minor role in Star Trek: Next Generation, but the role of Spock was carried on by the android Data, who proved repeatedly to be more human than most humans, but who still wanted to experience emotions. All together now: "If I only had a heart..."

Voyager was the next series to feature a Vulcan, Tuvok, but in that series, the rational Janeway treated Tuvok with respect as a friend and colleague. Seven of Nine to some extent played the role of Spock.

Enterprise, the latest series, goes back to the roots, in a number of ways. Scott Bakula plays Jonathan Archer in this prequel to Star Trek. In the mid 22nd century, humans are just novices at interstellar travel, and have been patronizingly treated by Vulcans for nearly a century. Watching Archer run his ship, you understand what's to patronize. He clearly studied Shatner's acting style. His foil is a beautiful but icy Vulcan female officer who is constantly nagging him to do picky stuff like reconnoiter situations before charging in with an away team, not put all his key people in danger, stuff like that. In other words, things any military person in the 21st century (or Hannibal's army, for that matter) would regard as simple common sense.

The nagging question to me is why Vulcan rationality is treated like such a threat. We live in a society full of people who buy blindly into beliefs that would embarrass a Cro-Magnon shaman, and a world full of people who can't let go of defeats that happened centuries ago. It's not like rationality is an overpowering force in the world. The problem in our society is not that people are out of touch with their emotions. The problem in our society is precisely that people need to get out of touch with their emotions for a while.

I suspect, in fact, the problem is an inferiority complex. People who can't deal rationally with life need constant reassurance that their way is better. The reassurance has to be constant because it rests solely on emotion and can't be sustained in the face of uncertainty like rational beliefs can. Folks, you don't have an inferiority complex. You're really inferior.