Paxton's Lies in 'Terra Prime'

[aeverett]

In the scene where Trip is supposedly modifying the array, he gets into a conversation with one of Paxton's men, named Daniel. Trip is trying to convince the man that he shouldn't judge all aliens without even talking to one, and the man accuses Trip of 'doing more than just talk' and essentially implies that Elizabeth's conception was accomplished the old fashioned way between Trip and T'Pol. Now, considering how relatively high up in Terra Prime this Daniel guy appeared to be, it seems odd to me that he believes Trip and T'Pol got pregnant naturally and that the baby just fell into Terra Prime's hands. It makes sense that Paxton would be selling the baby that way to ordinary people watching at home, but not to his top generals.

So did this Daniel guy really believe baby Elizabeth was naturally conceived, or did he just know that Trip and T'Pol were lovers, via the Enterprise grapevine, whose rumors probably filtered down to Terra Prime, and was making a point that just because Paxton created Elizabeth didn't mean the next hybrid baby wouldn't come out of an inter-species whoops moment and that Trip and T'Pol were temping fate in a dangerous way?

 

[MacLeod]

One just has to look through history and the number of people who believe lies that someone tells them. Go back far enough enough and even today you might find some people who think it's wrong for people of different skin colours to procreate. Remember as well today marks the 77th Anniversary of the start of WWII, with many Nazi's holding the beliefs about their racial superiority.

Fear can be a very powerful weapon if used correctly, fear of change and Paxton's message was one of fear. The world around us is costantly changing and we can either embrace change or allow it to change us. <insert> group is coming for your job, vote for me and I'll build a wall to stop them. Vote for me and I'll lead us out of <insert group> and thing's will better, you'll see. We won't have to put up with their rules.

 

[aeverett]

One just has to look through history and the number of people who believe lies that someone tells them. Go back far enough enough and even today you might find some people who think it's wrong for people of different skin colours to procreate. Remember as well today marks the 77th Anniversary of the start of WWII, with many Nazi's holding the beliefs about their racial superiority.

Fear can be a very powerful weapon if used correctly, fear of change and Paxton's message was one of fear. The world around us is costantly changing and we can either embrace change or allow it to change us. <insert> group is coming for your job, vote for me and I'll build a wall to stop them. Vote for me and I'll lead us out of <insert group> and thing's will better, you'll see. We won't have to put up with their rules.

My question wasn't about Paxton's motives or agenda, but what his highest ranked followers believed. Yes, they were extremely xenophobic, but they were competent. They weren't keystone cops. What's more, they appeared to have been with Paxton for a while. My issue is how Paxton introduced Elizabeth. Did he tell them she was created by Terra Prime to scare humanity out of complacency? Did he try to pawn her off as an unintended consequence of human/Vulcan nookie that even her parents didn't want to own up to? Did he go so far as to say she was planned by a besotted human Engineer and his devious Vulcan lover? And how did he explain how she ended up in Terra Prime's keeping?

We know rumors of Trip and T'Pol's affair didn't stay on Enterprise. Soong taunted Trip in Cold Station 12, when he spoke about Trip's Vulcan 'friend', so if a prisoner like Soong can get that gossip, so can Terra Prime with its spy directly on Enterprise. My question is how Elizabeth was sold to the already loyal to Terra Prime.

 

[MacLeod]

Sometimes it doesn't take much to convince people who already hold beliefs. People can very easily buy into things, how many of Hitler's high level staff could see that he was insane yet still followed him and his beliefs? It really doesn't matter what yarn Paxton spun about Elizabeth, it's what the other people believe. If they hld xenophobic views, it won't matter to them if she was created in a lab or naturally, it's an abomination to them.

 

[2takesfrakes]

In Daniel's conversation with Trip, he was talking to someone who already knew the infant's origins, or at least, that Elizabeth wasn't the result of natural childbirth. It was just a sort of "short-hand," that's all. Sometimes, if you phrase something inaccurately, you'll $ave yourself a lot of time, rather than being technically correct but having to go through every detail, because of it. But Paxton was not above withholding information from his followers, or distorting facts to further string them along and we see that in the show, as well. But that specific line from Daniel is just a throw-away and I wouldn't be concerned with its implications. It was just used for brevity.

 

[locutus101]

In the scene where Trip is supposedly modifying the array, he gets into a conversation with one of Paxton's men, named Daniel. Trip is trying to convince the man that he shouldn't judge all aliens without even talking to one, and the man accuses Trip of 'doing more than just talk' and essentially implies that Elizabeth's conception was accomplished the old fashioned way between Trip and T'Pol. Now, considering how relatively high up in Terra Prime this Daniel guy appeared to be, it seems odd to me that he believes Trip and T'Pol got pregnant naturally and that the baby just fell into Terra Prime's hands. It makes sense that Paxton would be selling the baby that way to ordinary people watching at home, but not to his top generals.

So did this Daniel guy really believe baby Elizabeth was naturally conceived, or did he just know that Trip and T'Pol were lovers, via the Enterprise grapevine, whose rumors probably filtered down to Terra Prime, and was making a point that just because Paxton created Elizabeth didn't mean the next hybrid baby wouldn't come out of an inter-species whoops moment and that Trip and T'Pol were temping fate in a dangerous way?

Everyone knew at this point that Elizabeth was a binary clone ( which is not apparently a clone that's written in binary code). It would have been hard to hide that fact from anyone. So either Daniel is a low grade moron, which I am not ruling out, or he was just speaking metaphorically, er allegorically, er he was making a point... of sorts...

 

[Tim Thomason]

Don't forget: it's probably public record that Trip, regardless of his relationship with T'Pol, was the first person to become pregnant via an inter-species relationship.

 

[locutus101]

Don't forget: it's probably public record that Trip, regardless of his relationship with T'Pol, was the first person to become pregnant via an inter-species relationship.

Well, given that he had no part in it (genetically) he was no more pregnant than the people on the Nostromo.