Saturday, January 8, 2011

Blog 4:Startrek, The Turnabout


Since I’ve always loved older movies I decided to take on Star Trek. The episode I watched was called the Turnaround intruder from the original series. In general the episode focused on how a woman with a enormous desire for power exchanges bodies with captain Kirk and irks the entire crew of the Enterprise to the point of mutiny. Eventually the Captain regains control of his body and his ship.

This episode was extremely interesting in a couple of facts one being the tremendous deference to a chain of command. On more than occasion when the captain (in reality the woman) breaches rules and decency of the real Kirk, the crew chooses not to do anything. The buildup is altogether very gradual. This raises an interesting question; in the future with a larger population will our governments become more centralized and hierarchical. None of these features are bad in a government however excess of any of these can bend the very concept of democracy, stifling questions and preventing solutions. When a chain of command is revered as God, I think people need to ask questions about it.

A counter point that can be put forward is that the Starship is a military vessel and most militaries would not be able to function without a clear adherence to authority. This however must not come at a price of lost effectiveness. People say that a good army exists to protect democracy not practice it. Could that be as hypocritical as a clergyman condemning premarital sex yet assaulting 14 year old choir boys?

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