How Does Starfleet Justify an All-Vulcan Crew?

[Bad Thoughts]

What proof is there that Vulcan ships are meant to be racially exclusive AND that they are not meant to represent the best of the planet Vulcan--

Proof? How about DS9's Take Me Out to the Holodeck?

I am familiar with TMOTTH, and that is not quite proof that the ship was specifically composed to be all Vulcans. There could be other reasons, which no of us would think were negative, why it would happen that it's an all Vulcan crew. I doubt anyone would scream racism if Sénégal sends an all African football team to Brazil this year, would they?

 

[mlk]

That is a very silly thing to say, considering white culture is mass marketed all across the globe, preserved immaculately in every North American and European museum, taught almost exclusively in schools, and treated interchangeably with the term 'Fine art'.

Somehow I don't think European/white people need any help preserving their culture.

It's not silly at all. Imagine a european country today say that this country should only be for the original people, there would be cries of racism heard around the globe, calls for boycotts, comparisons to Hitler etc.

When an African country says that this country should only belong to the black people of that country they would be applauded. Just look at Japan, they have a culture that would if applied into Europe be called extremely racist but since they are not white they are not only tolerated but in many ways admired. Same way in Star Trek, when a ship is only Vulcans it's all good but imagine a Star fleet captain say this ship should be only humans.. Cries of racism

 

[BigJake]

It's not silly at all.

I'd use a much stronger word to describe it, that's true enough.

Just look at Japan, they have a culture that would if applied into Europe be called extremely racist but since they are not white they are not only tolerated but in many ways admired.

No, this is pretty much true only in your self-pitying fantasy. In the real world Japan is pretty much known for being racist. All Nippon Airways was called out for it quite recently, for example.

 

[Warped9]

A crew being predominantly of one species (for environmental reasons) isn't the same as exclusively of one species.

There is no evidence that Spock is indeed the only non-human aboard the Enterprise. We only know that budget constraints didn't allow them to show others. This is a bit of a dodge because they certainly could have had a guest alien officer or crewman like any other guest crewman we've seen for one episode. A Vulcan nurse or Engineer or an Andorian security guard could have been shown even in the background. They probably just didn't think of it.

Mind you the presence of Arex and Mress in TAS does retcon other species besides Spock aboard ship.

This is something that could so easily have been done in a one shot. They could have done what they did in the Star Trek Continues episode where a female Commodore is shown on a viewscreen. TOS could simply have done something like that to establish other aliens in Starfleet. It wouldn't have been a major character and yet it would have been a great bit of world building.

 

[Timo]

TOS-R could also have done that for the sheer fun of it, like they adjusted one of the Romulan ships to no longer be a mere reuse of a Klingon design. Say, one of the background humans could have been tinted purple, or given a pair of wiggly mandibles - in a scene that flies by so fast that the end effect qualifies for subtle.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Warped9]

^^ Yeah, but that's another discussion given the debates over what was done in TOS-R. Some wish they had gone farther and others think they went too far.

 

[Cyke101]

A crew being predominantly of one species (for environmental reasons) isn't the same as exclusively of one species.

There is no evidence that Spock is indeed the only non-human aboard the Enterprise. We only know that budget constraints didn't allow them to show others. This is a bit of a dodge because they certainly could have had a guest alien officer or crewman like any other guest crewman we've seen for one episode. A Vulcan nurse or Engineer or an Andorian security guard could have been shown even in the background. They probably just didn't think of it.

Mind you the presence of Arex and Mress in TAS does retcon other species besides Spock aboard ship.

This is something that could so easily have been done in a one shot. They could have done what they did in the Star Trek Continues episode where a female Commodore is shown on a viewscreen. TOS could simply have done something like that to establish other aliens in Starfleet. It wouldn't have been a major character and yet it would have been a great bit of world building.

Your post just reminded me, too -- regardless of whether this helps/hurts either case, we should remember that the galaxy has, for some reason, plenty of alien species who look human anyway. "Oh, that engineer? He's a Betazoid -- from the north side."

 

[BillJ]

^^ Yeah, but that's another discussion given the debates over what was done in TOS-R. Some wish they had gone farther and others think they went too far.

And some think they went not too far enough!

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUMdCV-Z7kk[/yt]

 

[T'Girl]

... and that is not quite proof that the ship was specifically composed to be all Vulcans.

If starship captains have a measure of say in who is assigned to their ships, it would be easy to see Captain Solok picking only Vulcan candidates for positions aboard the T'Kumbra. Any non-Vulcan who were assigned could be fairly quickly "encouraged" to seek transfer by the crew's general attitude toward them..

There could be other reasons, which no of us would think were negative ...

Vulcans are shown to be bigoted and condescending toward non-Vulcans through-out the multiple series. Tuvok was sent to psychological reconditioning when he began a romance with a non-Vulcan. In Take Me out to the Holosuite, Solok's anti-Human bigotry was very apparent in Sisko's office in a early scene.

Sarek: "Tellarites do not argue for reasons. They simply argue."

Thank you Mr. Ambassador, engage on prejudice much?

 

[Kirby]

Say, one of the background humans could have been tinted purple, or given a pair of wiggly mandibles.

Why not Zoidberg?

 

[T'Girl]

^ That's Doctor Zoidberg !!!

 

[Smellincoffee]

Maybe one of the perks of being one of the signing members of the UFOP, or the mentorish planet to Earth, was that Vulcan got to send out a few homogeneous crews so they weren't constantly being grated by other species having personalities.

 

[alpha_leonis]

It's been years since I've seen "A Private Little War", but my memory tells me that McCoy introduced Dr. M'Benga to Kirk as the "chief of the Vulcan ward." Perhaps that's a suggestion that there are other Vulcans on board -- it would seem silly to have an entire "ward" for just one Vulcan (and a half-human one, to boot.)

Sarek: "Tellarites do not argue for reasons. They simply argue."

Thank you Mr. Ambassador, engage on prejudice much?

Or it could be "logical" to interact with a Tellarite on Tellarite terms?

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That is a very silly thing to say, considering white culture is mass marketed all across the globe, preserved immaculately in every North American and European museum, taught almost exclusively in schools, and treated interchangeably with the term 'Fine art'.

Somehow I don't think European/white people need any help preserving their culture.

It's not silly at all. Imagine a european country today say that this country should only be for the original people, there would be cries of racism heard around the globe, calls for boycotts, comparisons to Hitler etc.

When an African country says that this country should only belong to the black people of that country they would be applauded. Just look at Japan, they have a culture that would if applied into Europe be called extremely racist but since they are not white they are not only tolerated but in many ways admired. Same way in Star Trek, when a ship is only Vulcans it's all good but imagine a Star fleet captain say this ship should be only humans.. Cries of racism

That doesn't mean it's okay for white people to be racist, it just means there are too many racists. You sound like a kid who got in a fight with his little brother, then when his parents grounded him he protested "Why doesn't HE get punished?!"

Two things though that apply to modern Earth and do not apply to 24th Century Star Trek.

1) White people happened to spend a great deal of the last millennium conquering, slaughtering and enslaving anybody who wasn't like them, so there are a lot of fresh cultural wounds.

2) As a result of said conquering, white people control the majority of money and power in the globe, and because they have that power and that privilege they have more tools to fight back against racist behaviors.

Hostility that travels up the power gradient is less destructive than hostility that travels down the power gradient. It's hard to justify complaining about social injustices when your rich grandparents paid for you to go to private school.

Neither of these apply to the 24th century Federation. They apply to Bajor, but not at all to humans or Vulcans.

And the only reason that ship was predominantly Vulcan was that they needed an all-Vulcan baseball team to be their enemies, we shouldn't read any more into it than that.

 

[Shawnster]

What proof is there that Vulcan ships are meant to be racially exclusive AND that they are not meant to represent the best of the planet Vulcan--

Proof? How about DS9's Take Me Out to the Holodeck?

I am familiar with TMOTTH, and that is not quite proof that the ship was specifically composed to be all Vulcans. There could be other reasons, which no of us would think were negative, why it would happen that it's an all Vulcan crew. I doubt anyone would scream racism if Sénégal sends an all African football team to Brazil this year, would they?

That's not a correct analogy. Of course Senegal will send an all African football team to Brazil, the same way the Federation will send an all Federation team to the Galactic Olympics.

To make the analogy work, would it show favoritism if Senegal sends a football team comprised exclusively of residents of Dakar to Brazil? See, in such an analogy COUNTRY = GALACTIC SPECIES and PLANET = CITY.

 

[Shawnster]

It's been years since I've seen "A Private Little War", but my memory tells me that McCoy introduced Dr. M'Benga to Kirk as the "chief of the Vulcan ward." Perhaps that's a suggestion that there are other Vulcans on board -- it would seem silly to have an entire "ward" for just one Vulcan (and a half-human one, to boot.)

Close...

M'BENGA: We've no replacements for the damaged organs, sir. If he's going to live, his Vulcan physiology will have to do it for him.
MCCOY: Agreed. Sterilite off.
CHAPEL: Yes, sir.
MCCOY: He'll live or die now, Jim. I don't know which. Doctor M'Benga interned on a Vulcan ward. He couldn't be in better hands.

 

[T'Girl]

White people happened to spend a great deal of the last millennium conquering, slaughtering and enslaving anybody who wasn't like them

Unlike non-Whites thorough-out history.

 

[BigJake]

Oh, this is going to be edifying, I can tell.

 

[T'Girl]

It's almost like we're taking turns.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Vulcans don't have the stones to deal with their own problems.

The moment that they found out that Aliens existed, and that they would never have to talk about other Vulcan's sexlives, the Vulcan jumped on that train hard.

(Selar was a Xeno-Biologist.)