July 25, 2015

Is Captain Kirk a conservative?

Some comments on the following subject:

Ted Cruz: ‘Star Trek’s Captain Kirk was probably a Republican

Kirk is militaristic, makes up his own reality, and thinks of women in sexual terms. I wouldn't rule out his being a moderate 1960s-style Republican.

William Shatner shoots down Ted Cruz: Captain Kirk is no Republican

Shatner says Kirk is apolitical? Okay. I could see Kirk as a "rely on yourself" libertarian-leaning type. I.e., don't trust government or anyone giving orders or computers. He might not vote--but if he did vote, he might prefer a moderate Republican.

Spock, McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura would be Democrats, of course. Scotty and Chekov might lean to the conservative side just like Kirk.

Federation politics

It's funny that Star Trek is overtly apolitical--never discussing politics except on alien worlds. Yet the Federation is a utopian ideal and we know it has a president, at least. So it should be championing democracy and elections, not ignoring them.

I presume it's a democracy and people vote, although I suppose a Federation computer could pick officials using its awesome AI. Yet the characters literally never discuss this among themselves. No off-hour chats between Sulu and Chekov or O'Brien and Bashir about whom they're supporting in the next election.

You remember the TNG episode about the game that hypnotized the whole crew? The creators could've made it a political video instead of a game. Candidate X using subliminal messages to win an election and take control of Starfleet. That would've been a bold commentary on our society.Kirk has disobeyed Starfleet more times than MacArthur disobeyed Truman, but with better results. I guess that's not really political, but for some reason seemed an appropriate analogy.Old Vulcan proverb: "Only Nixon could go to China." Kirk is Nixon.

Of course, Kirk would never take Cruz's side in anything. He'd scorn a blowhard like Cruz. He'd treat him like Harry Mudd or Cyrano Jones...as a big fat joke.

Same with Cruz's other hero, Spider-Man. Except the comparison there would be to an egotistical egghead like Dr. Octopus.

For more on the subject, see The Native Spock and The Political Spock.

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