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TOS Klingons had ridges!

"Only a fool fights in a burning house! "
And
"We have always fought. We must. We are hunters, Captain, tracking and taking what we need. There are poor planets in the Klingon systems, we must push outward if we are to survive."

I am actually a huge fan of TOS (and Ford extrapolated) Klingons and have some sympathy for the bad press that they get. I cannot agree with their more violent actions but understanding is not necessarily forgiving.
Klingons are humans from another mother....
 
Klingons can go on and on about honour as much as Vulcans go on and on about logic. At least Klingons don't expect honour from aliens and yet Vulcans seem to be surprised when nonVulans act illogically, as if the whole galaxy should embrace their religion. They are philosophical extremists.
 
Klingons can go on and on about honour as much as Vulcans go on and on about logic. At least Klingons don't expect honour from aliens and yet Vulcans seem to be surprised when nonVulans act illogically, as if the whole galaxy should embrace their religion. They are philosophical extremists.
They're snobs.
 
They're snobs.

I don't agree. I think that is a problem with the way they are handled after TOS. Classic Vulcans hearken to this somewhat Post-War ideal of humanity where the emotions are not non-existent but controlled. More Man in a Gray Flannel Suit than Flower Child, but nonetheless. And their spiritualism lends to a Flower Child ideal. So they are a mix of those strains of Post-War ideals. Although the seeds of dissent on Vulcans are there even in TOS, in the TNG era of the franchise, the whole thing became a major area to dissent against from a humanist perspective. The Borg are Vulcans taken to a critical extreme: no emotion, order, and the needs of the many outweighing the few. DS9 Vulcans are especially nasty; a Vulcan serial killer, for goodness sake. And the whole thing has become this odd thing where Vulcans are treated as snobs who do not get along with anyone, coldly lord over other species, and always want to leave the Federation. And that isn't fair to the original intent. The Vulcans are Confucian bureaucrats with a flair of Taoism (philosophical and even spiritual) in the mix: logic works because it is the natural way of things to work. Without logic, emotion leads to selfish outburst and self interest, chaos, and harm to everyone whether in the short term or the long term. It is therefore control and responsibility for the benefit and selfless prosperity of the whole and of their fellow sentient beings. Their greeting and farewell is literally a well wish: peace and long life, live long and prosper. That is the entire purpose of their philosophy.
 
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Klingons can go on and on about honour as much as Vulcans go on and on about logic. At least Klingons don't expect honour from aliens and yet Vulcans seem to be surprised when nonVulans act illogically, as if the whole galaxy should embrace their religion. They are philosophical extremists.
Or you can think of it the other way that Vulcans believe that everyone is capable of joining their religion while the Klingons think they are more honourable/better than everyone else.
 
I don't agree. I think that is a problem with the way they are handled after TOS. Classic Vulcans hearken to this somewhat Post-War ideal of humanity where the emotions are not non-existent but controlled. More Man in a Gray Flannel Suit than Flower Child, but nonetheless. And their spiritualism lends to a Flower Child ideal. So they are a mix of those strains of Post-War ideals. Although the seeds of dissent on Vulcans are there even in TOS, in the TNG era of the franchise, the whole thing became a major area to dissent against from a humanist perspective. The Borg are Vulcans taken to a critical extreme: no emotion, order, and the needs of the many outweighing the few. DS9 Vulcans are especially nasty; a Vulcan serial killer, for goodness sake. And the whole thing has become this odd thing where Vulcans are treated as snobs who do not get along with anyone, coldly lord over other species, and always want to leave the Federation. And that isn't fair to the original intent. The Vulcans are Confucian bureaucrats with a flair of Taoism (philosophical and even spiritual) in the mix: logic works because it is the natural way of things to work. Without logic, emotion leads to selfish outburst and self interest, chaos, and harm to everyone whether in the short term or the long term. It is therefore control and responsibility for the benefit and selfless prosperity of the whole and of their fellow sentient beings. Their greeting and farewell is literally a well wish: peace and long life, live long and prosper. That is the entire purpose of their philosophy.

The only Vulcans depicted in the TOS era were Spock, Sarek, T'Pau, T'Pring and Stonn. The only one who seems close to the Vulcan ideal is Spock. The rest exhibited the least best traits of logic, especially T'Pring and Stonn.
Sarek does not acknowledge his own son for 18 years and rejects his firsborn son. He marries a human but does not allow the same choice for his part human son.
T'Pau seems prejudiced to non Vulcans
Stonn has an affair with T'Pring
T'Pring well...watch Amok Time

Actually I take it back, since logic is not about being moral its about being logical. True logic has no place for compassion, generosity, kindness since these are emotions. Spock in TMP was coldhearted to his former friends and colleagues until he met V'Ger.
 
An "image" of Surak was also depicted in "The Savage Curtain," not to mention that there were other unnamed Vulcans in the background of "Amok Time" and "Journey to Babel," as well as in the Mirror Universe in "Mirror, Mirror." Among the wedding ceremony Vulcans in AT, the executioner actually did something to contribute to the story. How accurate the image of Surak was is certainly debatable, but he/it was evidently drawn at least partly from Spock's own thoughts.
 
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