Past Tense and Real Life

[JPT]

For a while now, I have been pondering on the thought that the US might actually be heading towards a similar situation that appeared in Past Tense where the poor and homeless are forced to stay in certain areas and cannot leave.

Do you think that something at least very similar may happen in real life fairly soon?

 

[the_wildcard]

Hmmm well I don't think it'll occur ALL across the US, but maybe in select cities.

It's funny because I think Past Tense was set in San Francisco right? And well, San Francisco has a huge homeless problem, so I could see it happening in San Francisco, lol.

 

[eastman23]

Actually, something like the Sanctuary Districts were being considered at the time the episode was conceived. From the DS9 Companion:

The timing on the episode couldn't have been more appropriate. Only a few days later, the writing team was shocked to read the headline on the front page of the Los Angeles Times: "Homeless Camp Weighed in L.A. Industrial Area." The article described a plan proposed by the city to "make downtown Los Angeles friendlier to business ... by shuttling homeless people to an urban campground in a fenced lot in the city's core industrial area." Dissenters quoted in the article claimed that " ... building a large fence would make it nothing more but a prison."

"The article came out as we were planning the episode, literally when we were breaking the story," René Echevarria recalls.

 

[cwalrus2]

Past Tense supposedly takes place in 2024 which is 16 years from now. I can certainly see someone proposing a similar solution to the homeless problem. Funny how some DS9 episodes continue to be relevant today.

Of course, we're only 7 years away from Buck Bokai's rookie year although I doubt that London will join the MLB anytime soon.

 

[Robert Treat]

I remember reading in a textbook by J. M. Dillard and the Reeves-Stevens that the episode was intended as "a wake-up call" to warn people that such a thing could happen.

 

[Opus]

They did get the '99 Yankees right.