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Star Trek - symbolism at it's worst?

Star Trek - symbolism at it's worst?

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The Borg is obviously the Star Trek version of the soviet communists.
The Klingon empire is clearly driven by pre nineteenth century Japanese
samurai-like characters. The romulans? Too obvious. The cardassian
represent countries guilty of all sorts of atrocities that the US has
cooperated with (naturally without knowing what really went on in those
countries at the time - cough). The federation is the US, right? Always
fault free and morally superior to any other part of the world. They make
mistakes, but never purposely try to destroy other people's lives or
anything - cough, cough.

But then I remembered. The ferengi. They don't fit in with this
propaganda that is otherwise so clear. We all know that when commerce
and wealth becomes your main goals in life bad things start to happen.
Megalomaniac greed is not far from putting such values ahead in
life. The ferengi is a clear and comedic strike in the face of capitalists,
and unlike the borg and other enemies of the federation, the portrait of
the ferengi is a spot on likeness of your average capitalist. There's no
disputing that money and greed will turn you into a foul, manipulating
little cretin (huge forehead, devious eyes and tiny fangs are common
attributes you'll find in any real-world capitalist - honest), whereas
communism won't necessarily turn you into a mindless drone capable of
any atrocities in favour of the collective good.

So, is Star Trek merely the dream of a world where no such ideologies
rule, and if so, exactly what is the ideology proposed by the Star Trek
authors? Is there a name for it? A world without commerce in the sense
we know it while still protecting the rights of the individual.

Or am I just reading too much into these similarities between real life
ideologies (and countries practising them) versus the different worlds in
Star Trek?

Q represents the idea of an omnipotent God actually being just
another being (har-har) with some advanced technology at its disposal.
Species 8472 is the star trek version of the alien monster, while the
hirogen is a predator rip off. So none of these characters and their
civilisations are relevant to the discussion I'd say.

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Originally posted by Jigtie
The federation is the US, right? Always
fault free and morally superior to any other part of the world. They make
mistakes, but never purposely try to destroy other people's lives or
anything - cough, cough.

[/i]
No, the UN is the Federation...not the US.

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Originally posted by uzless
No, the UN is the Federation...not the US.
Amazing how you just bitch slapped my entire post into smithereens with
one simple revelation of truth. Of course! The UN is the model used for the
united federations of planets. It all makes sense now.

Thanks. 🙂

You could have waited a little though. 😛

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Originally posted by Jigtie
The Borg is obviously the Star Trek version of the soviet communists.
The Klingon empire is clearly driven by pre nineteenth century Japanese
samurai-like characters. The romulans? Too obvious. The cardassian
represent countries guilty of all sorts of atrocities that the US has
cooperated with (naturally without knowing what really went on in those
...[text shortened]... of these characters and their
civilisations are relevant to the discussion I'd say. [/i]
You're talking about the gossip stories -- none of that really happened. Besides, the only Enterprise worth mentioning is the one captained by James T. Kirk. Back then, the delineations were pretty clear: the Federation was the West, led by the United States (else why was Federation HQ in San Francisco?), the Klingons were the Soviet Union, and the Romulans were ancient Rome.


The federation?

- No money
- No profit
- The benefit of all
- Everyone is equal
- Don't get involved, just observe.

Sounds an awful lot like communism, if you ask me.

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Interesting how both of you have completely different ideas on what the
federation is supposed to symbolise. I think uzless is right though. Your
description of communism shavix, fits ironically well on UN, doesn't it?

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The ferengi are the French!

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Originally posted by Jigtie
The Borg is obviously the Star Trek version of the soviet communists.
The Klingon empire is clearly driven by pre nineteenth century Japanese
samurai-like characters. The romulans? Too obvious. The cardassian
represent countries guilty of all sorts of atrocities that the US has
cooperated with (naturally without knowing what really went on in those
...[text shortened]... of these characters and their
civilisations are relevant to the discussion I'd say. [/i]
Ferengi are the McCarthyists.

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name the source from which Roddenberry ripped off the formula for Star Trek.

Hint: the look of the source was itself ripped off from John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction cover art done by Kelly Freas.

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Originally posted by Scriabin
name the source from which Roddenberry ripped off the formula for Star Trek.

Hint: the look of the source was itself ripped off from John W. Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction cover art done by Kelly Freas.
Wagon Train.

2 edits
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Originally posted by der schwarze Ritter
You're talking about the gossip stories -- none of that really happened. Besides, the only Enterprise worth mentioning is the one captained by James T. Kirk. Back then, the delineations were pretty clear: the Federation was the West, led by the United States (else why was Federation HQ in San Francisco?), the Klingons were the Soviet Union, and the Romulans were ancient Rome.
Amazing. DSR acknowledges SF as part of the US!

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Originally posted by Jigtie
The Borg is obviously the Star Trek version of the soviet communists.
The Klingon empire is clearly driven by pre nineteenth century Japanese
samurai-like characters. The romulans? Too obvious. The cardassian
represent countries guilty of all sorts of atrocities that the US has
cooperated with (naturally without knowing what really went on in those
...[text shortened]... of these characters and their
civilisations are relevant to the discussion I'd say. [/i]
Wikipedia says: Technocracy. Seems about right to me.

Now what?

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Originally posted by uzless
No, the UN is the Federation...not the US.
The UN isn't remotely close to a federal government.

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What does "Q" symbolize?