"Inalienable human rights"

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

Okay, I get that the "Human" part made Azetbur mad. But "inalienable" does not mean "not for aliens". It means "unremovable". As in, no one can take away the fact that someone should be able to have/do/be something, whether or not they actually get the chance to have/do/be it.

I'm surprised the Federation language police hadn't excised that word in favor of a neutral sounding alternative long ago. http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/inalienable

Maybe you were confused by an unfamiliar word, but Nick Meyer, the actors and most of the viewers were clear that the word "inalienable" has nothing to do with "aliens".
Further, it's clear in the scene that the word "inalienable" is not the issue. "Human rights" is the issue.

Yep

No, it is very much part and parcel of what she takes issue with. She puts a concerted emphasis on both the "alien" and the "human":

AZETBUR: "Inalien..." If only you could hear yourselves. "Human rights." Why, the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a homo-sapiens-only club.

"Inalienable" means "not alienable," at the root of which is indeed "alien," meaning "strange" or "foreign" (derived from the Latin word alienus, meaning "of or belonging to another"), i.e. not yours, not like you, not your kind. That's why we call extraterrestrials—and immigrants, some of whom object to it for the same reason—"aliens" in the first place. Along with "human rights," Azetbur sees it as condescending ethnocentric language on our part, perceived by her to suggest we see ourselves as being above or better than Klingons, our values as being superior, our point of view as the only one that matters. This is echoed by Kerla's concern that joining together with humans will result in the annihilation of Klingon culture, that they will be expected to give up their own ways and follow ours, to assimilate.

 

[eyeresist]

The phrase comes from Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights..."
Nothing to do with foreigners, or outsiders, or space aliens. Just a word that happens to include a word you have heard in another context, with a different meaning.

"Inalienable" has nothing to do with aliens or even foreigners. It means "cannot be moved or taken away", and in context it means that these "natural rights" are inherent, and cannot be negotiated or removed.
To say that the word "inalienable" is derogatory to aliens is a silly as saying that words like enigma and niggle are insults to African Americans. They're not. They just sound similar.

Vocabulary: Nick Meyer has it. Others don't.

 

[locutus101]

The phrase comes from Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights..."
Nothing to do with foreigners, or outsiders, or space aliens. Just a word that happens to include a word you have heard in another context, with a different meaning.

"Inalienable" has nothing to do with aliens or even foreigners. It means "cannot be moved or taken away", and in context it means that these "natural rights" are inherent, and cannot be negotiated or removed.
To say that the word "inalienable" is derogatory to aliens is a silly as saying that words like enigma and niggle are insults to African Americans. They're not. They just sound similar.

Vocabulary: Nick Meyer has it. Others don't.

I think Azetbur was just playing on words. Using it as an excuse to distrust the federation.

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

The phrase comes from Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights..."
Nothing to do with foreigners, or outsiders, or space aliens. Just a word that happens to include a word you have heard in another context, with a different meaning.

"Inalienable" has nothing to do with aliens or even foreigners. It means "cannot be moved or taken away", and in context it means that these "natural rights" are inherent, and cannot be negotiated or removed.
To say that the word "inalienable" is derogatory to aliens is a silly as saying that words like enigma and niggle are insults to African Americans. They're not. They just sound similar.

Vocabulary: Nick Meyer has it. Others don't.

Its usage to mean "cannot be removed or taken away" is derived from its meaning "cannot be alienated," i.e. rendered another's, apart from you. I would respectfully encourage you to examine the etymology, and to familiarize yourself with the concept of "othering." Nick Meyer indeed knows his vocabulary, and was using it quite deliberately to make a point here.

 

[locutus101]

Its usage to mean "cannot be removed or taken away" is derived from its meaning "cannot be alienated," i.e. rendered another's, apart from you. I would respectfully encourage you to examine the etymology, and to familiarize yourself with the concept of "othering." Nick Meyer indeed knows his vocabulary, and was using it deliberately to make a point here.

"Alienated" sounds like a lame excuse for a school kid...

"What happened to your homework? Alien ate it."

 

[eyeresist]

Its usage to mean "cannot be removed or taken away" is derived from its meaning "cannot be alienated," i.e. rendered another's, apart from you. I would respectfully encourage you to examine the etymology, and to familiarize yourself with the concept of "othering." Nick Meyer indeed knows his vocabulary, and was using it quite deliberately to make a point here.

I think Meyer would rather stick his hand in a blender than use the word "othering".

The additional meaning you are attributing to "inalienable" not only unlikely, it's superfluous, because the whole concept, and more, is covered by the word "human".

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

If you watch the scene, it is quite clear that she emphasizes and objects to the "alien" in "inalienable" as well as the "human" in "human rights." If you don't wish to see it, so be it.

 

[locutus101]

If you watch the scene, it is quite clear that she emphasizes and objects to the "alien" in "inalienable." If you don't wish to see it, so be it.

I believe it made more sense in the initial script, where the words she objected to were "human rights".

 

[The Mighty Monkey of Mim]

I believe it made more sense in the initial script, where the words she objected to were "human rights".

How does it make less sense for her to object to both uttered in the same breath, as she does in the film?

I think Meyer would rather stick his hand in a blender than use the word "othering".

The additional meaning you are attributing to "inalienable" not only unlikely, it's superfluous, because the whole concept, and more, is covered by the word "human".

That the word "inalienable" (which, again, literally means "cannot be made alien") is not in the script draft quoted upthread makes it all the more obvious that it was intentionally added. It makes no sense to think this was an accident or coincidence. Meyer surely wouldn't have written it in nor directed Rosanna DeSoto to deliver her response to it that way if he did not desire such "superfluous" emphasis.

Here's a little snippet from Meyer's memoir The View From The Bridge that might be of interest, since you find this so "unlikely":

"...for what were Kirk's adventures but a species of gunboat diplomacy wherein the Federation (read America, read the Anglo-Saxons) was always right and aliens were—in Kipling's queasy phrase—'lesser breeds'? Yes, there was lip service to minority participation, but it was clear who was driving the boat."

And yes, the phrase of course alludes to Jefferson's famous words...words which today for many carry an unintended irony, coming from the mouth of one who owned fellow men—not to mention, ahem, THE WOMEN!—as slaves. (On the other hand, he also campaigned against the Alien and Sedition Acts, among other more positive deeds.)

I have always wondered why the writers depicted the Klingons as being enamored with Shakespeare. The Klingons are suppose to be a xenophobic people that are extremely proud of their own culture and heritage. Yet they have an admiration for the literary work of an alien, a human, a species that is an enemy of the Klingons.

"in the original Klingon" - The Klingons were kind of representative of cold war Russians, and in TOS Chekov would claim various things were really invented by Russians. Apparently this was a thing Russians did at the time? So Klingons claiming Shakespeare is a sort of extension of that idea.

Everybody does that all the time...

According to Meyer and Flinn in the commentary for the Director's Edition of STVI, it was a reference to the co-opting of Shakespeare by the Nazis, a scenario that closely parallels @velour's description above.

As for the "invented by a Russian" meme, I'm sure there are various contributors to it coming about, but one may be the Russians crediting Alexander Popov with the invention of the radio, which in the West is usually credited to Guglielmo Marconi. I've often wondered if American chagrin at Soviets crowing over their early victories in the Space Race might have played a role in its popularization, as well.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Re Shakespeare, you could take it to mean the original Klingon translation, as opposed to later ones, if you wanted to. But I'm guessing he didn't mean that.