DS9 is probably the best-written Star Trek show, but what worries me is how many of its fans think that Sisko's war crimes are "badass" and that his worldview should be emulated. Many DS9 fans seem to think that the show's shades of grey renders the Roddenberry vision on display in TOS and TNG invalid - dismissing it with "it's easy to be a saint in paradise".
There are a lot of things to criticize with Discovery, but what it absolutely nailed was the Lorca twist. Lorca arguing about how rules are made to be broken, sometimes you gotta commit a war crime or two, and "context is for kings", was a perfect summation of the mindset of these kinds of Trek fans. So when it was revealed that he was actually from the universe where humanity had given in to this mentality and thus failed to create the Federation, that was the perfect "sci-fi twist" that Star Trek excels in.
The fact that there's open conflict between Ulf and Daemon is certainly going to be reported to Ormund. Once he knows that little morsel of information, methinks that his covert campaign of sowing discord is going to become a lot more focused. Couple that with the fact that another dragonrider is alone and vulnerable within his own walls...
Oh, I wasn't arguing in favor of the system. I was just pointing out that if one was to look for the mustache-twirling villains behind everything, they wouldn't find them at Blackrock. The people working at Blackrock are simply deluded enough to think that they can stave off the pension bomb forever if they just keep the numbers going up forever. As you rightly point out, the system isn't sustainable. But as long as the overall economic system doesn't get the drastic general overhaul that it needs (but that nobody has the stomach for), it'll remain a Nash Equilibrium whereby nobody can move to end it unless everyone does.
The main problem is that investment funds need the constant growth in order to pay for people's pension. If you don't have index funds that return above a given yield, year on year, then there's no way for pensions to work because there aren't enough young people being born to work and pay taxes to support the older people's pensions. That's why every financial services company is pushed, hard, to return more and more profits. That's why governments don't regulate them harder: because they NEED the financial sector to be greedy on an epic scale, or else the economy doesn't work.
WILL: "Jesus, Seth; listen, if you really wanna do this with your life, you have to believe you're necessary. And you are. People wanna live like this, in their cars, and their big fuckin' houses that they can't even pay for? Then you're necessary. The only reason that they all get to continue living like kings is 'cause we've got our fingers on the scales in their favor. I take my hand off? Well then the whole world gets really fuckin' fair, really fuckin' quickly, and nobody actually wants that. They say they do, but they don't. They want what we have to give them, but they also wanna, you know... play innocent, and pretend that they have no idea where it came from. Well, that's more hypocrisy than I'm willing to swallow, so fuck 'em. Fuck normal people. You know, the funny thing is, tomorrow, if all of this goes tits-up? They're gonna crucify us for being too reckless. But if we're wrong? And everything gets back on track? Well then the same people are gonna laugh 'til they piss their pants, 'cause we're gonna look like the biggest pussies God ever let through the door."
SETH: "You think we're gonna be wrong?"
WILL: "Nah, they're all fucked."
The whole world economy is based on a system whereby the global regions and demographics that Have, extract wealth and value from the regions and demographics that Have Not. And everybody here commenting on this post are Haves. Maybe not on the scale that some others are, but I know I certainly didn't have to walk several hours today just to get clean drinkable water. Given what some people are forced to do without despite how hard they work, I really shouldn't be able to afford the lifestyle I have for the amount of work I do. But I can, and that's because my government tilts the scales in my favor. And even I'm financially screwed compared to some other people! The only way to fix it is a complete overhaul, and nobody has the stomach for that.
Maybe? I honestly have no idea how intercontinental politics work in Star Trek but having diplomats between Earth nations by the time of the Federation seems as redundant as having diplomats between US states now.
A Marquis is a type of French nobleman, like the Marquis de Sade.
A Maquis is a French word for shrubland, which was the type of rough terrain that rural cells of the French Resistance hid in during WW2, which was why these rural cells gained the name the Maquis. This in turn inspired the resistance fighters in the demilitarized zone between the Federation and Cardassion Union, particularly in the Badlands.
That would matter in a criminal prosecution where guilt must be proven beyond all reasonable doubt. However in a civil suit, all the BBC needs to do is convince a jury.
Jake's tricky because he was born on Earth, but if he moved around with Benjamin then he lived in space too, on various ships and DS9, but also Mars (Utopia Planitia shipyards) and even Romulus (Sisko had an embassy posting for a while). If I list Jake and Wesley as Boomers I might have to put Nog down for that too. Also, I'm not sure WHAT Wesley's deal was; if he had been moved around with Beverly and/or Jack Sr, then Picard would already have met him before TNG.
PS: after going through all the live-action shows, I finally found one in SNW: Erica Ortegas is from Colombia. Now the only continents with no main-character representation are Oceania and Antarctica, and Antarctica doesn't really count.
EDIT: Finished (live action, anyway). It really stands out, now, how little Discovery cared about the backstories for its command crew outside of one or two writer's faves.
EDIT 2: Damn it, I forgot the Picard series. (I might finish the list later)
EDIT 3: TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DSC, PIC, SNW and LD all done. Have had to go to Memory Beta for some of these. I understand that there are also shows called Prodigy and Starfleet Academy but I've never watched them.
If you insist that strict capitalism has never failed because neither the USA nor any other Western nation has ever practiced pure unadulterated capitalism, then you necessarily have to accept that strict Marxism has never failed either, because neither the USSR nor any other communist nation has ever practiced pure unadulterated Marxism.
Sometimes it's weird to rememer that Uhura (Kenya), M'Benga (Kenya), and LaForge (Somalia) are the only three main cast members I can think of in the Star Trek franchise from the entire continent of Africa.
DS9 is probably the best-written Star Trek show, but what worries me is how many of its fans think that Sisko's war crimes are "badass" and that his worldview should be emulated. Many DS9 fans seem to think that the show's shades of grey renders the Roddenberry vision on display in TOS and TNG invalid - dismissing it with "it's easy to be a saint in paradise".
There are a lot of things to criticize with Discovery, but what it absolutely nailed was the Lorca twist. Lorca arguing about how rules are made to be broken, sometimes you gotta commit a war crime or two, and "context is for kings", was a perfect summation of the mindset of these kinds of Trek fans. So when it was revealed that he was actually from the universe where humanity had given in to this mentality and thus failed to create the Federation, that was the perfect "sci-fi twist" that Star Trek excels in.
I enjoy DS9, but not uncritically.