It bothers me of how much corruption there is within Starfleet.

[The Rock]

For a humanity that has evolved past greed and selfishness after first contact with the Vulcans in the years after World War III, there sure seems to be a lot of corruption with Starfleet. The "corrupt admiral" is a trope in Star Trek.

There seems to be a number of corrupt regular members of Starfleet as well (such as what Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight" and to me what he did will forever make him a monster). And let's not even mention Section 31!

It bothers me because there seems to be a LOT of corruption for a group of people who are explorers. It would be one thing if there was just a little bit of corruption because there will always be some bad apples no matter how much humanity has evolved but for there to be as much as corruption as we have seen so far throughout all of the shows and movies is a bit ridiculous to me.

Am I alone in thinking this?

 

[RichMerk]

No, I agree. I think Section 31 is one of the worst things they ever added to Star Trek. But people love it. I think it speaks to how much the world has changed since the 60's.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Apparently even in a post-scarcity economy, there will still be people who seek after power. Either for its own sake, or because they sincerely believe that somebody else (even if they are acting entirely in accordance with the "next man's nose" principle) is wrong, and sincerely believe that they have a right to violate that principle in order to "correct" those who are merely different.

Consider the ENT-era Vulcans: acting on a thoroughly corrupted version of Surak's teachings (that turned out to be the work of covert Romulan agents), until T'Pol and T'Pau made contact, and spread the authentic teachings. Or the TNG era interpretations of the Prime Directive that revered the letter at the expense of the spirit.

 

[fireproof78]

For a humanity that has evolved past greed and selfishness after first contact with the Vulcans in the years after World War III, there sure seems to be a lot of corruption with Starfleet. The "corrupt admiral" is a trope in Star Trek.

There seems to be a number of corrupt regular members of Starfleet as well (such as what Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight" and to me what he did will forever make him a monster). And let's not even mention Section 31!

It bothers me because there seems to be a LOT of corruption for a group of people who are explorers. It would be one thing if there was just a little bit of corruption because there will always be some bad apples no matter how much humanity has evolved but for there to be as much as corruption as we have seen so far throughout all of the shows and movies is a bit ridiculous to me.

Am I alone in thinking this?

It's why I like TOS. It could preach but also recognized the flaws of humanity and that corruption was possible. Ambition was still celebrated while recognizing it needs limits.

TNG seemed to act like humanity had reached utopia and that human vice somehow was extinguished. Neutral Zone being the most explicit example.

I think the corruption comes from unchecked ambition.

 

[BillJ]

It's why I like TOS.

TOS RULZ!!!

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

With no money to fight over, the prize that corruption seeks to gain is more intangible; the maintaining of one's current or achievement of an improved situation, greater influence over events, revenge, the keeping of secrets, and so on.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I agree too. Star Trek has had corrupted humans since season one with Roger Korby, Tristan Adams and Ben Finney, but when bad admirals became a trope, that was the point to slam the breaks on that idea. I think they actually kind of did, but the situation got way messier with the introduction of Section 31.

At first they were like a bad admiral conspiracy, but writers seem to fall in love with the idea of a shady black ops department that makes the hard choices to the point where they've apparently been made a crucial part of Starfleet. A bad admiral department, acknowledged by the characters as just being how their system works. I kind of don't like it!

 

[C.E. Evans]

There's never been any real indication that greed and selfishness went away by the time of Trek. People still desire things and often for solely personal reasons. Unlike James Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard often placed Humanity on a pedestal and proclaimed that Humans had evolved past certain things, when in reality, it hadn't (it was what Q was arguing in "Encounter At Farpoint"). The overall standard of living for the Human race had improved significantly and there was less social discrimination, but take away a Human's comforts, and he or she will steal, lie, cheat, and even kill in a heartbeat.

 

[Kor]

Iirc one of Roddenberry's TMP-era ideas was that Starfleet folks tended to be more old-fashioned "throwback" types, not quite up to the hippy-dippy advanced "new human" trends of general humanity on Earth. So perhaps non-Starfleet humans were really the ones who were all about bettering themselves and the rest of humanity, while the ones in Starfleet, especially those who had gotten themselves into positions of authority, were still a little more susceptible to greed and corruption and mad power trips.

Kor

 

[FredH]

For a humanity that has evolved past greed and selfishness after first contact with the Vulcans in the years after World War III, there sure seems to be a lot of corruption with Starfleet. The "corrupt admiral" is a trope in Star Trek.

There seems to be a number of corrupt regular members of Starfleet as well (such as what Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight" and to me what he did will forever make him a monster). And let's not even mention Section 31!

It bothers me because there seems to be a LOT of corruption for a group of people who are explorers. It would be one thing if there was just a little bit of corruption because there will always be some bad apples no matter how much humanity has evolved but for there to be as much as corruption as we have seen so far throughout all of the shows and movies is a bit ridiculous to me.

Am I alone in thinking this?

You’re not wrong; you should be bothered by it. I think even the stories themselves want you to be.

EDIT: Also, remember that all the corruption you’ve seen is over the course of 54 years of the franchise, and a lot longer in-universe. It doesn’t mean that the whole thing is brimming with corruption everywhere; but it’s realistic that there’d be as much as we’ve seen (and presumably plenty more here and there), even in a “better” society — which the Federation is.

 

[Nerys Myk]

For a humanity that has evolved past greed and selfishness after first contact with the Vulcans in the years after World War III, there sure seems to be a lot of corruption with Starfleet. The "corrupt admiral" is a trope in Star Trek.

There seems to be a number of corrupt regular members of Starfleet as well (such as what Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight" and to me what he did will forever make him a monster). And let's not even mention Section 31!

It bothers me because there seems to be a LOT of corruption for a group of people who are explorers. It would be one thing if there was just a little bit of corruption because there will always be some bad apples no matter how much humanity has evolved but for there to be as much as corruption as we have seen so far throughout all of the shows and movies is a bit ridiculous to me.

Am I alone in thinking this?

"...it's just a show and you should just relax."

Shows centered around perfect people perfectly doing perfect things are boring and makes for bad TV.

What makes "explorers" immune from corruption? History shows they're a pretty vile bunch.

Well, if Starfleet was a real organization with hundreds (thousands?) of ships, bases, and facilities all manned by countless personnel, then number of "bad actors" seen across the various shows and films would be small.

I know the people in charge forget this all the time, but Starfleet is a multi-species organization. So "humanity" should stop being a descriptor for Starfleet and the Federation's motivations.

 

[FredH]

It's why I like TOS. It could preach but also recognized the flaws of humanity and that corruption was possible. Ambition was still celebrated while recognizing it needs limits.

TNG seemed to act like humanity had reached utopia and that human vice somehow was extinguished. Neutral Zone being the most explicit example.

I think the corruption comes from unchecked ambition.

Well, Jean-Luc Picard did (act like it was a utopia). Which is why it hit him that much harder when political reality smacked him in the face in the runup to PIC.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Well, Jean-Luc Picard did (act like it was a utopia).

I'd say, rather, that he sincerely believed it was a utopia. And the events leading up to PIC Season 1 hit me pretty hard, which is why I found Last Best Hope to be, despite being superbly well written, the one ST novel I sincerely wish I could un-read.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I honestly never bought Picard saying humanity had evolved even when I was 6. And seemingly, neither did any of the writers who have written for Trek since his passing.

DS9 had the Federation saved by just a little attempted genocide by Section 31. Imagine if they had Twitter in Trek's world and that came out.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

It's the kind of lie people tell themselves and others in the hopes it will become true. It's also the kind of lie those who want to posture and sell themselves and their worldview to others who don't share it would spread far and wide. Possibly a little guilt thrown in, as well ("we're superior, so we don't share your problems - you ought to change your ways")

 

[kkt]

I honestly never bought Picard saying humanity had evolved even when I was 6. And seemingly, neither did any of the writers who have written for Trek since his passing.

DS9 had the Federation saved by just a little attempted genocide by Section 31. Imagine if they had Twitter in Trek's world and that came out.

I agreed with Bashir, it was wildly unlikely that the attempted changeling genocide could have been kept secret. People in Section 31 and Starfleet Medical, Bashir himself, O'Brien, Sisko, Ross, Odo, Quark, and lots more all chose to keep quiet? Come on.

 

[Firebird]

There's a key line from Khan in Space Seed that - even though it comes from a despotic villain - hits things right on the nose:

"Captain, although your abilities intrigue me, you are quite honestly inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, I am surprised how little improvement there has been in human evolution. Oh, there has been technical advancement, but, how little man himself has changed. Yes, it appears we will do well in your century, Captain."

Ultimately, human nature doesn't seem to change much between our contemporary age and the time of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th centuries.

 

[FredH]

There's a key line from Khan in Space Seed that - even though it comes from a despotic villain - hits things right on the nose:

"Captain, although your abilities intrigue me, you are quite honestly inferior. Mentally, physically. In fact, I am surprised how little improvement there has been in human evolution. Oh, there has been technical advancement, but, how little man himself has changed. Yes, it appears we will do well in your century, Captain."

Ultimately, human nature doesn't seem to change much between our contemporary age and the time of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th centuries.

After which Kirk outthinks him and physically beats him up.

 

[Firebird]

After which Kirk outthinks him and physically beats him up.

Doesn't mean Khan was wrong about humanity not having evolved much, though.

And honestly, Kirk suddenly being able to beat Khan with a sucker punch with a glorified wrench/greeble on the Engineering set never made sense to me.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

The same smug sense of superiority persists even when human nature and biology remain mostly as they've always been.

And honestly, Kirk suddenly being able to beat Khan with a sucker punch with a glorified wrench/greeble on the Engineering set never made sense to me.

Alloys that Khan and his followers were not engineered to resist a blow from, as they did not exist yet?