Re: Your Thoughts Needed—Solving real issues

[StarTrek_Log]

Hi all,

To build on the recent thread "Your Thoughts Needed," it made me wonder what we could accomplish if we applied some of our ST knowledge and logic to today's world issues?

I realize it's fictional, but the philosophy and science of ST is legitimate enough to lend some solutions to the real world. For example, how might the Federation handle diplomacy between the US and China's rising star? Isn't there an analogy to be had in the relationship between the Federation and the Romulans?

So, here's a challenge to all my fellow fans: Pick one world issue and place it in the Star Trek context; how would the Federation handle it?

LL&P

[sojourner]

Not sure how this is different from the original thread but here goes:

Replicators for everyone!! World economies crash!! Nations loose power over their peoples! chaos! anarchy! Switzerland takes over the world!

[Gaith]

Well, we could start by having all nations embrace both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which many Middle Eastern countries denounce as anti-Islamic), along with its explicit requiring of democratic governments, as well as Trekkish secularism.

[Jonas Grumby]

Would I be playing fair to just focus on some of the later, less well-loved episodes of Trek? That way I could just basically ignore any problem, confident that a last-minute deus ex machina will save the day!

[T'Girl]

StarTrek_Log wrote:

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Isn't there an analogy to be had in the relationship between the Federation and the Romulans?

Sure, we could place a Romulan neutral zone-like barrier on the American southern border, while the occasional ship did get through, the Romulans did not simply flow across.

Greece could have one on their northern border too, where they're currently building a giant physical barrier. A similar barrier could stop all those fukking rockets that the Palestinians keep firing into Israel. Another between Afghanistan and Pakistan (actual India might like one too). Don't forget Taiwan.

Good fences make for good neighbors.

Gaith wrote:

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Well, we could start by having all nations embrace both the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Are you kidding, have you ever actual read that thing? It's the death of national sovereignty, in over sixty years less than a third of all the nations have signed it. Please.

as well as Trekkish secularism.

From the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 18:
Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion [snip] freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Maybe instead you'd like all nations to embrace just bit and pieces of the declaration?

[sojourner]

^I'm ah, not sure what's wrong with that last part?

[T'Girl]

Well article eighteen does seem okay, other parts are icky.

[Gaith]

By "secularism", I meant US-style governmental secularism; per the Declaration, everyone is of course welcome to privately worship as they wish.

Name some other "icky parts, then, please?

[T'Girl]

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the UDHR (pretty obvious).

First off, according to the UDHR, there only one thing more important than Human Rights, what is that you ask?

"These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

And then there is article 14, article 14 provides:

"1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

"2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations."

The UDHR thus recognizes no rights against the authority imposing it (the UN), only against lesser authorities. This put the UDHR radically at odds with the American Bill of Rights, which protects all parties, and protects them in many cases from the authority of the American government itself.

Let us move on to article 28, "Education ... shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace."

Article 5's turn now, and don't get me wrong, there are some good things in the UDHR and in article 5, but 5 has something interesting,

"No one shall be subjected to torture (okay so far) .... or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment (that's okay too) ... or punishment.

Now wait one damn minute "No one shall be subjected to [snip} punishment. You can only imagine what the ACLU would do if America signed and ratified this thing with that statement in it. The standard form of "punishment" for crimes in America is imprisonment.

Article 22 "Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security ..., " not every citizen of the nation, every member of society. An important distinction, a fair sized percentage of the people in America currently are illegally present here, shall they all receive social security? And outside the United States many third world nations have no prospect of providing this to their citizens.

Perhaps the UN can help them by taking money from developed nations and redistributing the money
(less the United Nations usual corruption fee) to the third world?

Article 24 "Everyone has the right to [snip] holidays with pay." Okay, now how is this a "right?"

[Shatnertage]

Back to the OP: I would solve the mortgage/consumer debt crisis by getting all of the world's financial databases in one place and talking them to death. There would be a tremendous feel-good moment as citizens of earth are liberated from their underwater mortgages and crushing debts from stuff they couldn't afford to pay cash for in the first place, followed by some good-natured ribbing between my first officer and CMO. Then we ride off into the sunset.

Naturally, we never stop back to see how our crippling of the world's financial system might have had a few negative side effects.

[RandyS]

sojourner wrote:

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Not sure how this is different from the original thread but here goes:

Replicators for everyone!! World economies crash!! Nations loose power over their peoples! chaos! anarchy! Switzerland takes over the world!

All this plus free love.

[T'Girl]

And buckets of L.D.S.

[Gaith]

Well, okay, so the UNDHR might not be perfect, but isn't its fundamental spirit miles better, on balance, than a lot of the undemocratic, theocratic, liberty-stifling governments around?