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jasonderoga86
As a child, I was always a fan of Star Trek. My first glimpse of it was a random episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The odd-looking USS Enterprise-D going into warp captivated me, and I was hooked for the whole episode; I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but I was enthralled. As I got older, I recall a plane trip where my dad read a pamphlet to me about the Star Trek Original Series films, starring a guy called Captain Kirk. I was intrigued, as I only knew of a Captain Picard. As he read, he told me about another guy simply called Spock. There was no image, so I didn’t see his face until elementary when Dad had rented the first Star Trek film I saw, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Now, admittedly, this film was pretty much a whack job, but at the time I thought it was cool. Then, in around 3rd grade I believe, I went to a birthday party sleepover where the birthday boy played the movie my dad spoke of back on that plane trip: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. I was too young to understand the plot of the film, and soon dozed off (as I slept, I learned that after the film finished, my friend then put on the Arnold Schwarzenegger Predator film – and a few partygoers had nightmares the whole evening. I was spared, I guess).
I didn’t get another chance to see this film again until college, around when I was working my first job. Perhaps coincidentally, this around 2007, when Barack Obama was approaching the White House. He was campaigning on a single word: Change. And he had indeed “fired up” supporters of that campaign – voters who were displeased with the outgoing President George W. Bush’s “War on Terror” debacle that cost American and Iraqi lives and failed to net Osama bin Laden (whom Obama would take out in just 3 years while Bush couldn’t do it in eight). The contender was John McCain, who made quite a few blunders – “Bomb, bomb, bomb. Bomb, bomb Iran”, referring to his opponent as “that one” during the first presidential debate. Speaker John Boehner at the time was convinced the “inexperienced” Obama would fail. “Hell no, you can’t!” he threatened. And in response, Obama fired back: “Yes, we can.” And he did. We did.
One day I bought a DVD copy of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and, since I had the day off from work, watched it in full from start to finish. After the credits ended, I saw that this film couldn’t have come to me at a better time. Of the Original Series films, it and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan are my favorites.
To me, the film encompassed the kind of mentality that this nation had back then as far as the future, when a new unknown was at hand. The country’s first Black President was now in the Oval Office. John McCain, for all his faults back then, gave a very honorable concession speech; though his voters were furious, he was able to calm the crowd and get them to face reality (I won’t say anything about Sarah Palin. The less this country sees of her, the better). Change was now in effect, and I was very hopeful. Hope, by the way, was another big word Obama campaigned on.
But then came the final year of his second term. The optimism I had for the country was somewhat stymied by the emergence of a person who obviously sought to undo everything Obama did. During the GOP debates, all the other candidates looked at this fool and called foul right off the bat: “He is an amoral narcissist!” “Absolutely unfit for office.”, they said. But somehow the guy stole his way into the Oval Office. Obama campaigned on change. But this guy? He campaigned on populism, on White supremacy. And he put it into effect on Day 1, saying he would “end the carnage” and make the nation “great” again, an obvious allusion to Reagan’s “great” quest, which itself was indicative of the days of the Confederacy. For the next four years, systemic racism flourished, hate crimes surged, and marginalized groups (and students) were targeted in mass shootings, some of them the worst for these marginalized groups in this country. And of course, the breaking point was the execution of unarmed George Floyd in the worst way possible. America was literally hell for anyone except Whites, and even then, if one was White, they had to be on board with the populist agenda. And what did the Turd-in-Chief do through all of this? Blame the Democrats, blame the “fake news media”, blame the “Russia hoax” (He shamefully used the Stoneman Douglass Parkland School shooting to divert attention from the investigation into his illicit election through Twitter. Twitter!). Completely irresponsible, but then again, he never cared anyway. He was too busy ruling with an iron fist.
As this fool’s term was ending, a pandemic ravaged the nation – a pandemic he chose to ignore because he was more concerned about how to steal the next election. Not even the Turd himself contracting Covid-19 was enough to knock him off his high horse. When the election approached, the lies started spreading (“vote twice if you have to!”), and there was an endorsement of a domestic terrorist group as an obvious fall back in case lies weren’t enough. All of this ended up in the ultimate disgrace: the nation had seen its first treasonous incumbent President defy the Constitution that swore him into the White House. A coup d’état, based on a lie to keep a fascist dictator wannabe in power for God knows how long. And I wasn’t shocked. I saw this coming. But I was sad, and a word did slip past my lips: “Why…?”
Now, I look back at Star Trek VI, and I understand why. I understand why it happened, and why it’s so important to me now. All of this happened because of a crusade to undo Obama’s accomplishments. To undo the change he had set in motion.
In The Undiscovered Country, we see the Federation of United Planets seeking to cease all hostilities with the Klingon Empire after the Klingon’s moon Praxis explodes, consequently posing an extinction risk to their race. Both sides want peace; Chancellor Gorkon of the Klingon High Council leads the peace summit, and the Federation President, with Captain Spock as his envoy, arranges to host the summit. But forces on each side also believe this to be problematic; Captain Kirk is still bitter about his son David’s murder at the hands of the Klingons in the past, and Gorkon’s Chief of Staff, General Chang, is suspiciously coy about the whole idea. When Gorkon is suddenly assassinated after a dinner between Klingons and the USS Enterprise crew, Kirk and medical officer Leonard McCoy find themselves with blood on their hands; Gorkon was assassinated by Starfleet crewmembers while Enterprise had fired on Gorkon’s personal ship, Kronos One. The two are arrested, and a rift is driven between the two sides. Gorkon’s daughter, Azetbur, is subsequently named Chancellor in his place, and though she wants Kirk and McCoy put on trial and punished, she still wants the peace conference to go forward despite her people’s pleas for war; she puts it to them bluntly: “War is obsolete… as we are in danger of becoming.”
Eventually, Kirk and McCoy escape from prison, and the true conspirators of the assassination are revealed: Gorkon was murdered by Starfleet crewmen under the orders of a Vulcan named Valeris, who herself was on orders by Federation officers conspiring with rogue Klingons to prevent the peace summit from reaching its conclusion. Basically, these rogues would rather keep killing each other than live in harmony. General Chang tries to hold off Kirk and the Enterprise crew in a space battle while Federation officer Colonel West, disguised as a Klingon, attempts to assassinate the Federation President. The conspiratorial murder is foiled however, and both corrupt Starfleet and Klingon officers are arrested. Chancellor Aztebur demands an explanation for the commotion, and Kirk explains it to her: “Some people think the future means the end of history, but we haven’t run of history yet. Your father called the future ‘The Undiscovered Country’. People can be very frightened of change.” Azetbur accepts Kirk, who accepts her in return, both believing their lost loved ones’ (Gorkon and David, respectively) faiths have been restored. And at long last, the Federation and the Klingon Empire achieved peace. And peace has always been a central theme of Star Trek from the beginning.
Which brings us back to now. America is a mess, to put it bluntly. One political party wants to move forward, the other wants to move backward. One believes in peaceful diplomacy, the other believes in fascist extremism. And at the center of it all is what Captain Kirk explained to Chancellor Azetbur; one side wants change, the other doesn’t. Looking at American history, it's clear as day that both left and right have extremist factions. But it’s also as clear as day the bulk of extremism stems from the right wing. One need to look no further than Jan. 6, 2021, because the first American coup d’état -- one in which many people died; a majority of them trying to protect American democracy than undermine it -- was staged by the far-right-wing arm of the Republican Party, itself under the control of an unhinged, power-mad despot with delusions of grandeur. And why? It all goes back to the reason for this madman’s campaign back in 2015. He ran to undo Obama’s goal. He ran to undo what his right-wing sycophants wanted undone, what they were afraid of, and are still afraid of. He ran to undo change. And now, he wants to run to kill the other theme Obama campaigned on. He wants to kill hope for a better union, a better America.
I hope all the remaining free-minded citizens in this country can stand up and fight this reprehensible fascist agenda from becoming reality. In all honesty, this is an insult to the Founding Fathers and a literal desecration of the Constitution that binds America together. The United States still stands as the world’s oldest democracy – about 200 years, two centuries – and it cannot be dismantled by the carnal aspirations of an unintelligent, illiterate turd-dunce with a God complex. That is the worst fate a democracy as old as this can suffer. 2024 will be America’s most significant year to date. Let’s make sure it survives.
no subject
Date: 2023-11-15 02:40 am (UTC)https://www.facebook.com/TrekAgainstTrumpOfficial/posts/pfbid02CRcY7xYDvZvaLo2E2RpGpim5qSXQYi2kJfvRgeiuLhia74KX9aQxkxUnLtcPBQ6ql
Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 03:36 am (UTC)That's why I always bring up how hatred can literally destroy a person. The mental stress from a fixation on hatred, revenge, and destruction wears a person down. Interestingly enough, I look at hatemongers like Marjorie Taylor Greene. She's been quoted saying she wants Democrats assassinated. But just recently, she received a detailed death threat phone call. Her response? "Political violence is unacceptable. I was threatened, my family was threatened." Right. Political violence is unacceptable... unless it's directed at Democrats (like Paul Pelosi). These right-wingers love to talk about murdering their enemies, but when gun is pointed at them, suddenly it's not funny anymore -- just ask Josh Hawley.
Re: Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 03:42 am (UTC)Re: Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 03:46 am (UTC)Re: Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 03:57 am (UTC)Re: Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 05:00 am (UTC)Re: Oh yeah! That! 👍
Date: 2023-11-15 06:26 pm (UTC)