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Spoilers Captain Archer's Response in Cogenitor

There's a brief mention of them in a Enterprise novel and the Cogenitors are not mentioned. Captain Archer wanted alien technology to fight the Romulan attacks on Starfleet and civilian ships.
 
Tripp acted according to Starfleet doctrine in response to the Cogenitors response for asylum.

Archer however only acted in his own best interest after he had been taken into the center of the sun.

Just like the Synth, do the Cogenitor species not have the same freedom to make choices?
 
I’ve just started this episode as part of an enterprise rewatch. Trip’s reaction to anything “non-traditional” is an interesting trek commentary on the southern states. See also his reaction to Phlox’s wife’s advances. If he wasn’t from Texas with that twang would he have been the character selected for these storylines?
 
Actually, it WAS Trip's fault.
He directly MEDDLED into the internal affairs of another species (a much more advanced, albeit peaceful one), even though he knew going out into space he might encounter alien beings who do NOT share humanity's point of view... and it resulted in a death of the Cogenitor (via suicide).
His actions led to its/her death.

Was it Trip's right to interfere? Nope. He went to see the Cogenitor in secret and taught it/her to read and write.
Other NX-01 crewmembers had the sense not to poke too deep into the cultural norms of other species (and Trip was already told its not something for him to worry about)... but Trip just couldn't resist himself.

He acted irresponsibly, and I think Archer may have been correct in not granting her the asylum.
Granting her the asylum could have created a massive problem with diplomatic relations (which I'm sorry DO take precedence in First Contact scenarios), and a potential tactical conflict (which quite frankly, the NX-01 wouldn't be able to survive).

I completely agree with you. Everything would have been fine if Trip had just kept it in his pants.
 
I still think it's amazing that people excuse the chief engineer and his wife, who were basically slave owners who treated Charles like meaningless chattel, and condemn Trip, who opposed this. Does culture truly excuse everything?
 
I think it's extremely dangerous to judge a culture based on less than 40 minutes of exposure to it.

Is there a contemporary culture that would look good viewed through such a limited filter?

As for this case in specific, the individuals in question were likely raised from Day One with an understanding that this is the right and proper place of cogenitors in their society. It's easy to look in from the outside and say, "How can you do this???" without even getting to know the people involved.
 
If Charles lot in life was so awful that she chose to kill herself rather than endure it, then the culture that generated that choice is to blame.

A cogenitor's choices would have to be limited so that they can do their job effectively. With an occurrence rate of 3 percent, one cogenitor has to service (on average) 16 couples. That means they move around a lot, and they can't have much participation in the lives of their children. It DOES NOT mean they can't have names, nor does it mean they can't have a dish of ice cream or the occasional mountain climbing trip. A culture that denies them these things is toxic.
 
If Charles lot in life was so awful that she chose to kill herself rather than endure it, then the culture that generated that choice is to blame.

You are applying human standards to an alien culture. Who said you could do that?

There is no such thing as a universal standard. What works for the Vissians may not work for humanity. Doesn't give us the right to judge them.
 
Archer killed an entire sentient species on a philosophical whim without any instructions from his superiors. He wasn't going to bat an eye on one asylum seeker.

Yes, he's quite erratic. Sometimes he gets involved, sometimes he does not. You never know on what criteria he bases his involvement or lack of such...

"Andorians in a Vulcan temple" --> involved
"species threatened with extinction" -->> don't care
"Species hunted"---> involved
"Colonists bullied and ransomed" ---> involved

...:confused:
 
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion considering some of the responses here, but:
I think Trip did Starfleet, Earth, and the later Federation a favor.
Sooner or later there would have been problems with their 'culture/society' treating an obviously sentient segment of their species the way they were treating them.
Whether you think what he did was right or wrong, I think it was better for the bigger picture for that issue to be forced right away like that.
Some of you have stated your opinions that they would have potentially started an armed conflict against Earth over such things. If there had been years or decades of Earth turning a blind eye to that before there was some 'incident' over it, that potential armed conflict would have been more-or-less guaranteed.
As-is, the end effect is that species and their civilization just decided to not have relations with Earth.

Meanwhile, since I don't think we've heard of that species and their civilization again after that, who's to say what effect that incident really had in the long term?
I find it plausble that within their civilization that there would be a segment of the population who believed differently, as Trip did, about their 'cogenitors' and how they were regarded/treated; since when do thinking beings all think exactly alike? No doubt that segment believing in 'cogenitor rights' would be a minority, but word of this incident with the humans on Enterprise would make its' way through their grapevine, stirring controversy and discussion about their 'cogenitors'.
Or, perhaps, even without Enterprise and Trips' actions, it was inevitable that there'd sooner or later be reforms in how these 'cogenitors' were treated.

Alternately, word got to the Cogenitors, they committed suicide en masse or otherwise tensions within Vissian society reached a breaking point, and the civilization died off.

Hopefully not, as the Vissians generally seemed like a good people. For all we know, their government was already trying to find ways to get out of their dependence on the Cogenitors.

I'd certainly like a follow-up to this episode. There's no way to know what impact the events of the episode may have had.
 
There is no such thing as a universal standard. What works for the Vissians may not work for humanity. Doesn't give us the right to judge them.

Congratulations. You have just legitimized slavery and oppression. Would you like a Confederate flag to hang on your porch?

Better news: the Vissians were a friendly and affable species. When they heard about the Federation, they would undoubtedly have been interested in joining. And if the Federation charter prohibits caste discrimination, it's probably not very friendly to gender discrimination, either.
 
So what would you have the Vissians do? You're quite willing to criticize them, but what's your solution to their problem?
 
It's an enzyme.

You can clearly milk it.

But this couple on the episode paid for the authentic experience.

Are they clones?

That might close down the Gene pool?

Yes. I understand that congenitors are real people who are enslaved, but if you had the technology to triplicate a congenitor and end the baby gap you'd just plain have to.

Move: Never Let Me Go.

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Clones are raised in an English boarding school, with limited rights, to have their organs harvested in their mid twenties.

So maybe there are congenitors with rights, and clones of congenitors who are cattle to have sex with.

Congratulations. You have just legitimized slavery and oppression. Would you like a Confederate flag to hang on your porch?

Better news: the Vissians were a friendly and affable species. When they heard about the Federation, they would undoubtedly have been interested in joining. And if the Federation charter prohibits caste discrimination, it's probably not very friendly to gender discrimination, either.

Black people were enslaved to make cotton.

Congenitors were enslaved to make babies.

Omg.

PLANET OF THE INCELS!!!!
 
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I rather prefer to believe that the Vissians didn't have a way to solve the Cogenitor problem or they would have already done so. That said, there may have been considerable social inertia hindering efforts to even pursue that research.
 
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