I just don't get it. What is the freaking problem of those directors, trying to rewrite federation into some kind of dystopian tech fascism?
I was annoyed by the first Star Trek movie by JJ Abrams, with those police cops. I was alienated by those anti-android resentments in Picard. I stopped watching Discovery after the first episode, because the main protagonist was sent to some kind of labor prison for disobedience, where prisoners regularly die. I didn't think it could get any worse but just watching the first 10 minutes of Starfleet Academy makes me want to bury the whole franchise [edit: and stopped watching]. Some drumhead court-martial, lifelong prison sentence, violently separating a mother from her child and some goons beating up a prisoner. How in the hell is this the same federation of TNG, Voyager and DS9?
Star Trek is supposed to be the ONE fiction with a positive, utopian view on mankind and the future. I totally get the attraction of dystopian settings but for that I can read some Warhammer 40k novels. This really makes me furious.
Fortunately there is still Strange New Worlds.
Please spoiler me, when this bullshit in Starfleet Academy gets turned around in some twist, because otherwise I will just ignore the show.
I think it's extremely disingenuous to equate "bad things happening sometimes" with "dystopia."
The point of everything you mentioned (except for the police in '09, which you don't actually seem to have an issue with aside from the fact that they exist?) is that these things can be overcome, which is precisely the opposite of a dystopian setting.
I'd also like to highlight that the Federation is never described in-universe as a Utopia (the only example that comes to mind is Pelia sarcastically describing Earth specifically as a "no money, socialist utopia").
Since the TOS days the messaging has always kinda been that "Utopia" is about the journey more than the destination.
Yeah, someone summed it up very well elsewhere in the thread: "utopia" describes an ideal to strive toward, but is inherently unachievable, if only because you will never find two people who have the same utopic vision.
Unless "utopia" includes some sort of system for forcing everyone to think alike... 🤔
To be fair I also have a problem with the fact the police exist
I certainly am not a fan of policework as it is currently, commonly conducted, but I have a hard time imagining a society that has laws, but doesn't have a dedicated system to uphold those laws that involves some kind of police.
A neighbourhood watch would be way cooler. Daddy Kirk's neighbour pulling up next to little Kirk and going "Whatcha doing with dad's car, kiddo?" would be way more Trek but wouldn't satisfy JJ's craving for pointless action sequences.
It's an interesting idea, but it also tiptoes right up to the line of "neighbours spying on each other on behalf of the state" - not great!
LPT just buy a Ring doorbell instead
Who has time in this day & age for all of their civic duties, amirite?
Join your smarter neighbors today! Farm out that friendly 24/7 vigilance to a "dutiful", "well-trained", "totally incorruptible", perfectly "safe", 100% "benign algorithm" that simply "stores all data" to keep "everyone" safe!
Join us, citizen.
While you still have the choice to. 😶🌫️
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Police have only existed for about 2% of the history of human civilization, and yet you cannot imagine a future without them. You'll accept physics-breaking technologies like transporters and warp drives. But a world without cops? That's a bridge too far.
If you can offer a compelling argument about how those other 98% were more fair and just, and can outline exactly what that better system was, I'm all ears.
Our modern police grew out of slave catchers. That's the root of the institution. Traditional law enforcement methods were more fair and just because they kept law enforcement within the actual communities. In Medieval cities, it was common for every able-bodied male to have to spend a certain number of nights per year working in the town guard. It was your civic duty, just like jury service is today. There were no cops on the streets of ancient Rome.
Policing in the US right now isn't local. Cops rarely actually live in the cities they work in. Ideally police would work in their own communities so that they have a firm connection to them. However, police had laws written that prevent cities from only hiring residents to work their police forces. That's why in many American cities police feel more like an occupying army than an actual expression of the people's legal authority. They don't feel like they're part of the community, because they literally aren't part of the community. Police don't like to live where they work.
Making law enforcement a full-time profession was a terrible mistake. It creates a barrier between citizens and the people that are supposed to be their public servants. Sure, some specialties, like crime scene investigator or detective, require a professional approach. But average beat cops should be replaced with citizens serving short-term roles as community guards.
Honestly, if you've seen how police respond to calls, I would trust the average citizen with a weekend quick course under their belt a lot more to respond to a 9/11 call than a police officer. Such temporary officers wouldn't get infected with the us-vs-them "warrior policing" mindset that has so damaged the American police profession. It's hard to smash an innocent person's skull against the pavement when that person is your next door neighbor who you have to look in the eye every day.
Making beat-cops a full time job was one of the greatest mistakes we ever made. And it is one we have the power to correct.
Abolishing the police does not mean embracing anarchy and abandoning law enforcement. There many ways of enforcing the law other than mob justice or a professional police class.
So you're just advocating for a different system of policing, which does not at all contradict what I originally said. Cool.
No. You're just making the illogical error of assuming "police" and "law enforcement" are synonyms. Nuance matters.
Nevermind the downvotes. You're technically correct, and that is the best kind of correct. 🤌🏼
You realize that for millenia, philosophers fantasized about the concept of a police force that existed just to enforce laws, and not just be military guards?
The issue is not the concept of police. It is the leadership and the police unions.
Preach it, citizen.
... Oh. You meant in Star Trek.
Both is good