ALT.SF4M Amusements 10/7/99 • j********o@***.com 08/10/1999 00:00:000 UTC Re: Voyager this week, where the Klingon babe has to visit Klingon hell. OK, so ignoring the fact that it's another damn Theatre of the Mind episode, and that they've done this *exact* same story before with Chakotay (and others, too!) - where somebody has a near-death experience and then recreates it at great risk to finish some "spirit quest..." And ignore the nonsense that she could get into trouble when the Doctor said she'd be safe - look, they have to understand neurophysiology *really*, *really* well by then - near-death is not going to be a mysterious phenomenon, and the Doctor always seems to vastly underestimate the risk, while Janeway keeps authorizing procedures that turn out to be much riskier than predicted... What really bothers me is that New Trek advances this most poisonous and un-American distilate of multiculturalism, that one is irrevocably anchored to one's ethnic heritage. Bellana is half-human, but that doesn't count - she's really half-Klingon, therefore, she goes to an ethnic afterlife - she has no choice as to what she can be. The answer always lies in embracing one's (no-European) heritage, never in seeking one's own identity and casting off the shakles of history. And, of course, Klingon or American Indian mysticism is fine, but not European, never in a million years. Religion is for slags - "We Earthmen have evolved beyond that nonsense!" (It's sort of like the school lawsuit in Brewster (near here - in fact, the school principal held that job at my high school while I was there) where kids had an art project in which they crafted statues of Hindu gods - I don't know who should be more offended: Christians, whose religion is forbidden, or Hindus, whose gods are dismissed as so fantasical that it is considered harmless for children to form idols of them!) I'd kill to have that episode end with a Christological scene, like if despairing in the clutches of the barge-man, she'd cried out for her estranged human father, and received a divine response... "Release her." "You have no power here, human coward." RRRummmble. "Release her." "What is this 'p'tach' to you?" "Tiny seeds wash far out to sea - lost, hopeless, doomed. Jagged islands of barren rock are thrust up from the deep - empty, lifeless, silent. A seed, wave-tossed, is cast upon the naked rock. It finds purchase and sprouts, reaching lonely up toward heaven. The seed multiplies, the rock grows green in the sun, and other castaways find shelter in the grass. The island thrives, brimming with sound and motion, and the generations of life. I am the branch of David - she is the seed, and this is the island. I am the seed, and the island is in your heart." "You speak in riddles, fool!" "Then let me be plain: I am the shepherd, she is the lamb - and I will redeem her. Release her now... And spread the news of my coming - for I shall return." • Farrell McGovern 08/10/1999 00:00:000 UTC JohnGorno wrote: > What really bothers me is that New Trek advances this most poisonous and > un-American distilate of multiculturalism, that one is irrevocably anchored to > one's ethnic heritage. Bellana is half-human, but that doesn't count - she's > really half-Klingon, therefore, she goes to an ethnic afterlife - she has no > choice as to what she can be. The answer always lies in embracing one's > (no-European) heritage, never in seeking one's own identity and casting off the > shakles of history. Actually, many of us outside of the US *like* un-american Multi-Culturalism. It is, in fact, the basis of Canadian Society, what we call our "Cultural Mosaic". > And, of course, Klingon or American Indian mysticism is fine, but not European, > never in a million years. Religion is for slags - "We Earthmen have evolved > beyond that nonsense!" (It's sort of like the school lawsuit in Brewster (near > here - in fact, the school principal held that job at my high school while I was > there) where kids had an art project in which they crafted statues of Hindu gods > - I don't know who should be more offended: Christians, whose religion is > forbidden, or Hindus, whose gods are dismissed as so fantasical that it is > considered harmless for children to form idols of them!) Acutally, most Hindus have "idols" of their Gods, usually of Ganesh (sp?), the Elephant faced God. Many Pagans also have "idols" of their Gods. > I'd kill to have that episode end with a Christological scene, like if > despairing in the clutches of the barge-man, she'd cried out for her estranged > human father, and received a divine response... But the problem would be to find a geniunly Christian response. Most Christian Mysticism comes from Pagan roots, as do virtually all of the Christian Holidays. Farrell McGovern, Druid Silver Fox Grove, �r nDra�ocht F�in www.adf.org -- Farrell J. McGovern Sysadmin/Security for Unix Systems Using Linux since kernel ver. 0.12 Specialist in Linux Systems • s******j@f****.**o.com 08/10/1999 00:00:000 UTC On 08 Oct 1999 06:00:12 GMT, JohnGorno wrote: >Re: Voyager this week, where the Klingon babe has to visit Klingon hell. OK, >so ignoring the fact that it's another damn Theatre of the Mind episode, and >that they've done this *exact* same story before with Chakotay (and others, >too!) It's a drama, not SF. Drama written by drama majors. Drama majors who can't imagine anything actually interesting happening in space, so they turn to Holodecks and other dream-worlds. So, what do you expect? >What really bothers me is that New Trek advances this most poisonous and >un-American distilate of multiculturalism, that one is irrevocably anchored to >one's ethnic heritage. Bellana is half-human, but that doesn't count - she's >really half-Klingon, therefore, she goes to an ethnic afterlife - she has no >choice as to what she can be. The answer always lies in embracing one's >(no-European) heritage, never in seeking one's own identity and casting off the >shakles of history. They're pleasing their customer base. Klingons are _interesting_. (David Brin pegs this to the fact that they're the only race that is allowed to have testosterone.) Mystical journeys are interesting, at least to ahistorical, alienated middle class 'Trek fans and those drama majors. >And, of course, Klingon or American Indian mysticism is fine, but not European, >never in a million years. 'cause it's too damn complex, dude! Klingon mysticism you can make up on the spot. American Indian mysticism . . . well, you take the bits that sound interesting and fufilling, and there you go: _Wisdom_! You think those drama majors would be writing for Television if they actually had a handle on life? Hey, notice how they're really careful to avoid mentioning exactly WHICH tribe Chakotay belongs to? He follows a kind of homogonized Taos New Mexico Crystal, Feather, and Macrobiotic Enema Store style of native spirituality. Now THAT'S insulting; dozens of cultures thrown in a blender and strained to create a mild, inoffensive broth to thicken weak plotlines. Screw it all. The real world is getting more bizarre than TV SF anyway. Read today how some guys wired up a cat to act as a video capture board. Things that Man Was Not Meant To Know? All in a day's work, and just wait until next week... -- +-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-+ SeJ@ay-oh-el-dot-com ~ stefanj@eye-oh-dot-com http://www.io.com/~stefanj/ CHARGES APPLIED FOR UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL EMAIL!