Is episode "Past Tense" an omen of a Donald Trump presidency?

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by marsh8472, Jan 14, 2017.

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Is episode "Past Tense" an omen of a Donald Trump presidency?

  1. Nonsense, things will not get that bad at all

    28.6%
  2. The episode will be accurate

    8.2%
  3. It will be worse than the episode predicts

    40.8%
  4. No idea

    22.4%
  1. marsh8472

    marsh8472 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    According to the star trek timeline by the early 2020's, just after this upcoming presidential term, there is going to be a sanctuary district in every major city. It is a place to lock up the ones, behind a wall, who cannot find jobs during rough economic times. People were not taken care of and there was a lot of civil unrest. It was described as a depressing chapter in Earth history. Could this episode be an omen of the result of a Donald Trump presidency? Will things get as bad as they predicted?
     
  2. Triskelion

    Triskelion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    To be honest, from my perspective the events in Past Tense look more like the result of Democratic policies playing out. Working from a position of ideology, and the handouts far exceeding the entrepreneurs. But also, I'm sure Canada and Australia would love to have those disenfranchised masses to put to work in their hinterlands.

    Now, Make Room! Make Room! strikes me as a more plausible scenario.
     
  3. Paradise City

    Paradise City Commodore Commodore

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    Trek doesn't really have a great record of predicting the future. The US suffers from a trillion dollar debt count long before a Trump presidency became a dot in anyone's eye, which to my untrained eye is bizarre number that was gonna come back to bite in some configuration or manner in the future. This is one of a thousand possible outcomes of that. .

    The sanctuary district is a sincere but woefully inadequate effort to deal with presumably apocalyptic levels of mass unemployment. But it is a sincere and well-meaning effort nevertheless. It's just whatever regime that arranged for the sanctuary district mismanaged it, the regime promptly fell into exhaustion without following it through and of course the concept is ill-convinced itself.
     
  4. marsh8472

    marsh8472 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It may be some kind of radical democratic solution to an economic problem. Either a democratic state solution or presidential, keeping in mind that Trump has been a democrat before. For the events of "Past Tense" to come true in just a few years would require things to get bad quickly. This would imply that any economic plans that come from a Trump presidency in the next 4 years will not lead to any improvement.
     
  5. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    As anyone who's ever dealt with the Jobcentre in England knows, it's the present.
     
  6. mos6507

    mos6507 Commodore Commodore

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    Don't you really mean The Mark of Gideon?
     
  7. Triskelion

    Triskelion Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^Ha ha, no flies on you, mos6507! ;)
     
    Last edited: Jan 14, 2017
  8. Spot261

    Spot261 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I used one once. Apparently someone sticks a label saying "scum" on your head when you walk in.
     
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  9. Voth commando1

    Voth commando1 Commodore Commodore

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    This is a very political thread and I'm pretty sure it's a provocation.
     
  10. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Wasn't it one of his campaign promises?
     
  11. Lance

    Lance Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Or Centrelink in Australia, who are currently on a drive to weed out people who are 'gaming' the social welfare system by presuming that everybody who is claiming benefits is guilty of that, and sending the debt collectors around. It's now up to individual people to prove their innocence, and innocent people have been sent debt notices for money that they don't actually owe, but the process through which they must go to sort it out is needlessly complicated, exacerbated by the fact that you can't actually sit down with an actual person and explain your situation to them. The entire system is automated. Definitely brings to mind that bit in DS9: "Past Tense" where Sisko asks about how he's supposed to find a job if he's locked up in the sanctuary district. 'Take a number and we'll get back to you. Eventually. Maybe. If the computer doesn't lose you in the queue first.'

    Bureaucracy is the enemy of us all.
     
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  12. kkt

    kkt Commodore Commodore

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    It's not about any one leader, even Trump. It's people as a whole not caring about the disadvantaged, demonizing them, thinking they can't afford to help.
     
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  13. arch101

    arch101 Commodore Commodore

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    I've thought that the world these eps envision could actually transpire for years now- long before Trump even ran.
     
  14. Tenacity

    Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    No, this episode is what would have happen if Trump hadn't been elected.

    Which sounds just as ridiculous as the quoted passage.

    Not that I can't see some asinine solution to homelessness like this being put into place, but more likely by local city governments, and not the national government.
     
  15. saladdays

    saladdays Captain Captain

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    This thread needs to go.
     
  16. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    I suppose if it were Trump's idea, the district would be primarily Muslim and Hispanic.
     
  17. Tenacity

    Tenacity Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Wrong.
     
  18. AntonyF

    AntonyF Official Tahmoh Taster Rear Admiral

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    I think to tie it to a Trump agenda is narrow and a bit blind really. The poll as such is very leading, and takes a US-only view so I won't answer.

    These stories don't get created in a vacuum. It was happening, it is happening worldwide. Some towns in the UK unemployment is rife, it's just there's not a wall around it. With the increase in robotics, it will get worse.

    The idea is that automation will bring costs down. And I could see the world moving much more to self-employed, local services... almost a return to old. People working in their local community, and often for more services industries - everything from dog walking to massage therapists to local food producers.

    But for that to work, cost need to come down. Housing needs to be cheap. We're caught in the horrible situation where automation will make loads of jobs obsolete while costs also go up.
     
  19. Savage Dragon

    Savage Dragon Not really all that savage Moderator

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    Despite the reference to DS9, this really is just another political thread. Moving to Misc.
     
  20. Robert Maxwell

    Robert Maxwell memelord Premium Member

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    That's not how national debt works, at all.

    Yeah, it seems like an ambitious, well-meaning, but half-baked and under-funded endeavor. I don't recall that we got much of a sense of what life was like for most Americans in that scenario, but the impression is that there's simply a massive job shortage, perhaps due to automation or a generally depressed economy. The wealthy get to maintain their luxuries, while the poor see their options slashed and slashed and slashed until they have no choice but to be ghettoized into Sanctuaries--no doubt an attempt to streamline social welfare programs to make them more efficient, but which conveniently keeps the "human rubbish" away from the eyes of "decent folk."

    True.

    Nah, I think it's a good opportunity to discuss and educate.
     
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