Wesley Crusher: Racist

[RandyS]

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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Yeah, that's exactly what Wesley is

If anything, Mendon is the racist.

But considering the same actor played both characters, they really do look alike to me.

They even sound alike.

[BriGuy]

SchwEnt wrote:

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Aw, lots of people in ST were racist, or specie-ist.
How many times does someone remark "Typical Klingon, always yadda yadda yadda" or "That would be the Romulan way of..." or "Leave it to the Ferengi to..." or "Only a Vulcan would do something something".

No one seems to mind generalizing entire races. But use that same language when talking about Irish or Japanese or Jews or Africans or French or Hindus or any other human group...

If you think about it, every race/species in Trek is stereotyped, as in known for a particular way of acting, thinking, behaving, doing things, etc.

[Cyke101]

Tosk wrote:

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Putch.

All Putches look the same to me!

[Hober Mallow]

Ar-Pharazon wrote:

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Yeah, that's exactly what Wesley is

If anything, Mendon is the racist.

But considering the same actor played both characters, they really do look alike to me.

R. Star wrote:

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You know, you can blame Wesley for a lot of things, chief among them being an annoying ass, but rascist? That's stretching things to the point of absurdity or just plain trolling.

LOL!

I was going to do an eye-rollie and say something like "typical Trekkies can't tell when someone is obviously posting in good humor..." but then I realized that now *I* was being prejucide and generalizing.

[The Borg Queen]

Does "Geostructure" mean planet though, or is just another word that means something vaguely similar to family/household? Perhaps Mordock & Mendon were cousins.

[MacLeod]

Not a direct analogy I know, but lets say you spend one or two days with a person, then a few months later you see someone who looks exactly like them. Only it's their twin.

^Like above I got the impression than geostructure didn't mean planet, but somthing along the lines of what The Borg Queen says. Gamily/household may be to narrow a definition however and ethnic group might be too broad a definition.

[Trekker4747]

The Borg Queen wrote:

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Does "Geostructure" mean planet though, or is just another word that means something vaguely similar to family/household? Perhaps Mordock & Mendon were cousins.

"Geo-" is a prefix that means "earth." We could quibble that in a world where other habitable planets it's been based more on "soil" or simply "planet" than the literal planet called "Earth." "Structure" of course means a construct.

So "geostructure" could either mean "we're from the same planet" or "we're from the same continent" on the planet. Which would mean that Mendon and Mordock we're of the same "race" of Benzites. (Living on different continents would probably be the same on Benzar as it would be on Earth. Humans who evolved in Europe look different than humans who evolved in Africa; in the latter the harsher sun causing more melanin in the skin to develop producing people with darker skin.)

So, again, (in the show context) Mendon and Mordock only "look alike" because they happen to be from the same area of the same planet.

Kidding aside on calling Wesley a racist for his comment, and it was obviously put there to explain to the audience that this wasn't the same Benzite we saw earlier (though there's no reason people would make such a connection given the context of his visiting and being told he has a different name), it's pretty... "Unprofessional" to go up to an alien and assume he's someone of the same race you know from a year ago when a)you were just told his name and b)just told he was visiting on an exchange program and not an officer!

[Ben]

SchwEnt wrote:

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Aw, lots of people in ST were racist, or specie-ist.
How many times does someone remark "Typical Klingon, always yadda yadda yadda" or "That would be the Romulan way of..." or "Leave it to the Ferengi to..." or "Only a Vulcan would do something something".

No one seems to mind generalizing entire races. But use that same language when talking about Irish or Japanese or Jews or Africans or French or Hindus or any other human group...

Would it be "specie-ist" to say something like:

- Typical squirrel, always gathering nuts and burying them!
- Has anyone seen my rat collection? That snake better not have eaten them alive again!
- Damn that cold virus! Always making people sick!

[GulGoneCrazy]

Cardassians are the only proven racists or biggest in ST as we seen how they treated the bajorans.They probably did same thing on numerous planets.They enslave or kill all prisoners and always acting so egoistic.
For example "Cardassians never make mistakes" Dukat said.
They always threat to anybody no matter even they are on much weaker side.
Cardassian empire is often called a Cardassian union but there is no evidence that they give other races a equal membership in their space.I mean just watch attitude of any cardassian and u will notice that they always look form above and they are acting so superior.
Also garak made a direct racial insult on two romulan soldiers when he is aboard on commanders Lovak warbird.

[Mott the barber]

Something about the title of this thread alone makes me lol.

[CommanderRaytas]

JRoss wrote:

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Some of us do have trouble telling people apart and we are not racists. I'm in customer service and I have a hard time. One blonde white woman from another? Not easy. One Shaven-headed square-jawed black man from another? Not easy. Yeah, I can't always tell black people apart, but it's also white people, latino, etc.

Happens to everyone, I suppose. Whilst living in South Africa, I had little enough to do with non-whites, but the blacks of the ethnic group predominant in Joburg had a tendency to wear knitted hats on a daily basis, making it hard for me to tell them apart, as the mind lumps people you don't know and who kind of resemble each other together, for economy purposes.

On the other hand, there's a certain type of young, slim, white blond woman my mind insists look all the same.

Doesn't make us racist. Makes our brains effective engines, though. Although in my case, I have trouble remembering faces anyhow. No photographic memory to speak of, sadly.

Sheds a different light on all those times people confused me for my sister....

[Therin of Andor]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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Yes, Wesley, I'm sure all Benzites look alike to you!

Mordock and Mendon were played by the same actor, using the same appliance made for that actor, in order to save money. So Wesley was correct: the two Benzites he'd met in his life were identical.

[Mars]

Trekker4747 wrote:

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"A Matter of Honor"

Yes, Wesley, I'm sure all Benzites look alike to you!

Well maybe they do, have you ever considered that? Since their aliens, its quite possible that they all look alike and Wesley Crusher isn't just saying that as a put down.

[Mars]

CommanderRaytas wrote:

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Happens to everyone, I suppose. Whilst living in South Africa, I had little enough to do with non-whites, but the blacks of the ethnic group predominant in Joburg had a tendency to wear knitted hats on a daily basis, making it hard for me to tell them apart, as the mind lumps people you don't know and who kind of resemble each other together, for economy purposes.

On the other hand, there's a certain type of young, slim, white blond woman my mind insists look all the same.

Doesn't make us racist. Makes our brains effective engines, though. Although in my case, I have trouble remembering faces anyhow. No photographic memory to speak of, sadly.

Sheds a different light on all those times people confused me for my sister....

One has to keep in mind that aliens aren't all analogous to different human races on Earth. In Star Trek some aliens are smarter, some are dumber, some are greedy, some are warlike to name a few stereotypical traits.

[Mars]

GulGoneCrazy wrote:

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Cardassians are the only proven racists or biggest in ST as we seen how they treated the bajorans.They probably did same thing on numerous planets.They enslave or kill all prisoners and always acting so egoistic.
For example "Cardassians never make mistakes" Dukat said.
They always threat to anybody no matter even they are on much weaker side.
Cardassian empire is often called a Cardassian union but there is no evidence that they give other races a equal membership in their space.I mean just watch attitude of any cardassian and u will notice that they always look form above and they are acting so superior.
Also garak made a direct racial insult on two romulan soldiers when he is aboard on commanders Lovak warbird.

Not by a long shot. Andorians don't like vulcans for example.