Not evolve? Perhaps "whole heartedly reject" political correctness or "be reviled by" political correctness would work better.
But the 24th humans do know better than us primitive modern humans. I mean if you had 18th century humans walking around your house wouldn't you get annoyed with them as well? It would be like "Rutherford Ford Buechele!" What have I told you about not trying to cook the family cat in the microwave and Sally Hempfield would you please stop pooping in the bath tub." As for you Henry Concord II we told you before that trying to put curses on our children to save them from their devil phones will no longer be permitted.' Jason
it's so sad that people are so easily offended, that they are waiting.. almost eager to BE offended, and then they lash out on those who offended them like "why would you do that?"
Disabled people shouldn't exist in Star Trek, they grew Worf a new spine after all and Geordie got his visor which let him see more than other humans. Riker having a "Whaaaaat, seriously?!" reaction that someone can't hear actually makes a lot of sense, he most likely never met a deaf person in his life.
I wouldn't go so far as to say that Riker was "offended" by Riva's disability, but he sure didn't seem to like it very much...
I would posit that unless one has had to deal with a lifetime of being "not what was expected", it's difficult to grasp how small comments and facial expressions can cause emotional wounds.
I'm a piece of shit because Star Trek shows a level of technology and medical science that can fix disabilities? WTF?
Thread re-opened after time enough to cool down. Speaking as a fan, not moderator, I find Riker’s observation to be completely benign. He obviously has only anecdotal info about Riva’s negotiating history and expected one average male biped to arrive. Riva and his chorus completely defied that expectation and was worth of comment. I once was paired with another instructor who turned out to be a man in a motorized wheelchair. He greeted my look of curiosity upon his arrival with “Not what you were expecting, am I?” all issues of ableism evaporated in that instant.
Thank you, Mr. Mutai Sho-Rin, I realize a lot of folks might see certain behaviors and dialogue as benign and/or just non-issues. Actually, that's now lot of marginalization happens. I'd to apologize for my comments. I absolutely hope there would be colonies out there by the 24th Century where ASL is the primary language, and hearing folks is in the minority if any. I actually hoped NuSpock was talking about a Deaf colony, when he mentioned Laurentia (google "Laurent Deaf" if you are wondering why) in the 2009 star trek movie. I always felt this episode wasn't a good representative of the Deaf, and I did find Riker's comment coming off the transporter pad, with some hint of disdain asi if he thought "fuck, the dude's deaf", even when I saw it as a kid. This episode is one I like to skp when I do a TNG rewatch. I'm aware the actor is well respected in the theater circles, but I thought he was awful in his TNG role.
It goes back to my earlier comment: "the Deaf community today has a strong shared culture and identity, and many do not consider deafness to be a condition that needs to be cured." Those who are not in this community don't necessarily understand this viewpoint. I do wonder, how would the Deaf/ASL community adapt to a future where advanced medical technology can give everybody perfect hearing for free? Will many decline such medical intervention? Kor
I’m sure some would decline It’s not really up to you or us to decide or judge if we don’t have some kind of visual impairment. I’ve met blind folks who don’t want sight... That’s the point.
I'm not sure. Some might decline a VISOR for their own personal reasons. And it really isn't up to the "normative" majority to make them feel that they have to accept it, or make them feel marginalized if they don't. But since the discussion focuses on a deaf character, from what I understand, deafness has much more of a sense of cultural identity than blindness does. Much of this has to do with communication methods. ASL is a distinct language (as are other sign languages), and many prefer to communicate in sign language rather than in English. Offering mass "cures" could be taken as an affront to the culture. Kor