undefined | Better HN

0 pointsrayiner12y ago0 comments

Your explanation is probably part of it, but there's are lots of social factors in play. Gene Roddenberry was a member of the greatest generation. It was in a lot of ways a much more idealistic time in American culture than today.

One of the empirically observable facts is that faith in public institutions is a lot lower today than it was back then. I think this phenomenon cuts in the opposite direction compared to what a lot of people on HN would suppose. When people have less faith in the system, they have less faith that the system will protect them, and are more willing to embrace characters that will act outside the system to get the job done. Hence the popularity of the Jack Bauer character: the guy who ignores taboos against torture or procedural limitations like warrants in order to get the job done and save the day.

That's starkly different to the world conceived of in Star Trek. Star Trek is a world where government (the Federation) is morally virtuous, and institutional rules like the "Prime Directive" are to be followed rather than broken.

0 comments

5 comments · 2 top-level

humanrebar12y ago· 2 in thread

> One of the empirically observable facts is that faith in public institutions is a lot lower today than it was back then.

I wonder if Gene Roddenberry would have had different opinions of public institutions if he grew up after the collapse of the USSR.

eli_gottlieb12y ago

Actually, those of us born around the time the USSR collapsed are more in favor of public institutions: we've seen what happens in their absence.

mattlutze12y ago

Is this your personal ethos being projected across our entire generation, or are you referring to research that shows, when compared against public opinion of similarly aged people over the last many generations, we favor public institutions?

1 more reply

WalterBright12y ago· 1 in thread

Captain Kirk violated the Prime Directive in practically every episode.

dkuntz212y ago

The Prime Directive wasn't mentioned until the end of the first season, and it wasn't defined until the end of the second season.

And, provided someone previously broke the Prime Directive, inadvertently or not, Starfleet personnel are permitted to directly intervene and ignore the Prime Directive to minimize the harm caused. And most cases where Kirk "violates" the Prime Directive, someone else already interfered, meaning no violation occurred.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse