Are Federation politicians immune to sex scandals?

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by Lt. Cheka Wey, Aug 4, 2013.

  1. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Except he did have hair, even if it was just an "old man's fringe" around the back. Deltans are completely bald.
     
  2. Shawnster

    Shawnster Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well, there is also adultery. Previous posters have commented that consensual sex between consenting adults is nobody's business but the parties involved. Is the innocent mate involved? Perhaps what is meant that it's not the voting populace business if a 24th century politician cheats on his or her spouse.

    Some may disagree with this, however. If a politician is not able to keep to the vow he or she swore to a spouse, and if said politician feels the need to lie and be deceitful about the extra-marital relationship, then how can that politician be trusted to stay faithful to any other vow that is taken? If a politician can feel that his marital vow can be broken, what is to stop him from likewise breaking his vow to the people he represents?

    Or, what happens if some third party chooses to use the marital affair as a source of blackmail? A politician that is actively hiding or covering up some form of conduct that he doesn't want revealed is opening himself up to possible blackmail or coercion if an outside source discovers the secret. This can be disastrous to a government official.

    Or, you have the whole Baltar from NuBSG storyline where the unscrupulous outsider uses sex as a means of manipulating a political leader into compromising state security. We're not so much concerned about the politician boinking the hot blonde, but we're concerned that the politician allowed the hot blond to manipulate him in exchange for said boinking.

    I don't see how the 24th century is above and beyond such problems.
     
  3. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Till the tabloids find out your favorite program is "Vulcan Love Slave".
     
  4. TorontoTrekker

    TorontoTrekker Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Not necessarily: Ilia was bald, but Jedda was not.
     
  5. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Deltans do that so that they won't take advantage of others. Remember, sex is involved in literally every facet of Deltan society. When a Deltan interacts with a lot of non-Deltans, there are bound to be problems, unless the Deltan takes precautions.

    No, he's human. His name is Hiram Roth.
     
  6. Shaka Zulu

    Shaka Zulu Commodore Commodore

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    Bald, and with a beard? He's human. Deltan men don't have facial hair.

    Kirk's behaviors in the new movies would be grounds for scandal in Starfleet alone (especially his amorous pursuit of Chapel).
     
  7. Shat Happens

    Shat Happens Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    So maybe Deltans, unlike Terrans, grow hair as they age. Or maybe Deltans, being Deltans, have a condition analogue to Earth's legendary "hairy palm", but there it's called "hairy head" and very much celebrated. That would explain Ilia being celibate, young and bald. What about this theory?
     
  8. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Interesting, didn't realize he was meant to be Deltan. I based my comment on the novels of today (yeah, I know, not canon) stating that all Deltans are bald. Which I guess means they're either unaware Jedda was meant to be Deltan or they're just ignoring it since it wasn't canonically stated. Indeed, I believe there was even a line on Enterprise describing Deltans as bald. Although, that conversation was only about their women. So I guess if we count Jedda as a Deltan, we could theorize that perhaps Deltan men grow hair but the women do not.
     
  9. Shawnster

    Shawnster Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Did we see any other Deltan women besides Illia? Maybe she chose to shave her head for some reason. Perhaps the shaved head is part of the oath of celibacy?
     
  10. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Or the result of a silly bet.

    There's a lot of background on the little details of the TOS movies, especially ST:TMP which was grossly overthought and really represented something of a 90/10 split of material left out and material included in the actual film. We aren't really obligated to believe all of it, though, not if we confess to the canon faith. In onscreen terms, Ilia's baldness is not explained as being species-typical, species-atypical or anything else. Her oath of celibacy is not extrapolated on, either - perhaps she was a notorious sex offender who was all over the news before she reformed and joined Starfleet?

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  11. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Again, I refer to Enterprise where Mayweather describes a time when he was growing up when Deltans were visiting his family's freighter. He described all the women that visited as bald.

    Now, okay, maybe being bald is only fashion thing that Deltan women choose to do. I suppose we could go all day with this.
     
  12. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Umm, I don't think he did - at least not according to the transcript of "Bound".

    The attributes given were "unbelievably attractive" and "very open about -", with the last bit cutely cut off by Travis dropping the weights he's lifting. No mention of baldness, but that doesn't mean much since lack of hair didn't slow down Mayweather in the butterfly girl scene of "Broken Bow". No mention of oaths of celibacy, either.

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  13. Shawnster

    Shawnster Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    After ST:TMP I concluded bald is beautiful. And I was 8 at that time.
     
  14. Star Wolf

    Star Wolf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The way the characters reacted to Geordi, Barkley and Quark using unlicensed representations of real people suggest there are still some taboos. It would be like producing porn today just using the likeness of someone else
     
  15. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    More like producing porn, and using a computer to insert (so to speak) someone into the sex scene. In the future, do you control and "own" your image?

    :)
     
  16. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    You can't even walk down a public street today without being monitored by any number of cameras. Even more so when everyone has a built in camera in their phone they can fit in their pocket. If you go out in public at all, I'd have to say what you look like is public domain.
     
  17. Star Wolf

    Star Wolf Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yet even on DS9 were it was perfecting acceptable to use a holosuite to beat off. The public drew a line at using the image of Kira or Dax for that purpose. And if people react that way there is the possibility for a politician to go beyond the community's norms and lose enough votes to be a critical issue.
     
    Last edited: Aug 8, 2013
  18. Shaka Zulu

    Shaka Zulu Commodore Commodore

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    Pretty fracking much, and the law agrees, too.
     
  19. 1001001

    1001001 Serial Canon Violator Moderator

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    I don't think people are allowed to profit from someone else's image.

    So people can be filmed by security cameras in public, and should have no expectation of privacy in that sense, it's quite another thing to license and sell someone's image for money.

    Whether it works that way in the future Federation I don't think has been established. Holodecks on the Enterprise don't make a profit (unless people sell programs to Starfleet, but then you get into the whole "no money in the future" thing again).

    As for Quark's, well...he would probably either find some loophole or change the image just enough to squeak by.