Pro Star Fleet Or Anti Star Fleet

[John200]

I always found it interesting that in the Star Universe there we're people who couldn't give a damn about Star Fleet ,or had a bad opinion of it all together.

Just wondering...if you lived in a time where Star Fleet was a reality what would your take on it be?

Me personally I would love to travel space ,but as a whole it might not be for me.

 

[T'Girl]

Even in our own society there are people who dislike or hate the military and the police. I don't know what the civilian populace thinks of Star Fleet, Kirk's son certainly had a shitty oplnion of the "military", but I bet the folks on the outer colonies near the Klingons and the Romulans love them to death.

 

[Tom Riley]

If I lived in a time where Starfleet was a reality... I'd be IN Starfleet. I suppose that would make me Pro.

 

[SilentP]

If I lived in a time where Starfleet was a reality... I'd be IN Starfleet. I suppose that would make me Pro.

Agreed, though I'd probably not have the adacemic style of mind to be an officer, have to go in as enlisted.

 

[Deks]

Starfleet on the other hand is not exactly as filled with trigger happy morons as the military is.
The Academy cherishes mental developement for the most part and physically it tries to prepare you for a lot of contingencies.

I would say there are much more different aspects between StarFleet and the military.
StarFleet is also NOT a military organization.

 

[Finn]

I always found it interesting that in the Star Universe there we're people who couldn't give a damn about Star Fleet ,or had a bad opinion of it all together.

Well...Duh. We see the same kind of sentiments today, not just in the military but other professions as well. How is that "interesting?"

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Starfleet on the other hand is not exactly as filled with trigger happy morons as the military is.
The Academy cherishes mental developement for the most part and physically it tries to prepare you for a lot of contingencies.

Deks--that is an EXTREMELY ignorant statement to be making about the military, one that reflects absolutely zero knowledge of actual people who are members of the military, as well as no idea of how the military actually trains and furthers the growth of its personnel.

 

[Delta1]

StarFleet is also NOT a military organization.

If we maintain the somewhat archaic distinction between "military" and "naval" forces, then you are correct. Starfleet is not a military force, because its unit of power projection is not the soldier (miles), but the ship (navis).

I suppose the populace's view of Starfleet would be shaped by the media. As loyal television viewers, we know Starfleet is generally heroic and saves the Federation from total annihilation every other month or so. But how much of this filters back to the civilian populace? And how much of it sticks?

Remember that Starfleet has done a lot of bad, too. Or at least things that can be construed as bad. Their lax security nearly let Genesis get out of hand. Their leadership conspired with the Klingons and Romulans to start a war. Their game of morality chicken with Q ultimately led the Borg to Earth. Their incursion into the Gamma Quadrant touched off the Dominion War. They attempted a coup on Earth. And let's not forget the flag grade officers who have gone insane or otherwise been compromised.

I would probably view Starfleet as a necessary evil. I'd probably join it, too.

 

[Delta1]

StarFleet is also NOT a military organization.

If we maintain the somewhat archaic distinction between "military" and "naval" forces, then you are correct. Starfleet is not a military force, because its unit of power projection is not the soldier (miles), but the ship (navis).

I suppose the populace's view of Starfleet would be shaped by the media. As loyal television viewers, we know Starfleet is generally heroic and saves the Federation from total annihilation every other month or so. But how much of this filters back to the civilian populace? And how much of it sticks?

Remember that Starfleet has done a lot of bad, too. Or at least things that can be construed as bad. Their lax security nearly let Genesis get out of hand. Their leadership conspired with the Klingons and Romulans to start a war. Their game of morality chicken with Q ultimately led the Borg to Earth. Their incursion into the Gamma Quadrant touched off the Dominion War. They attempted a coup on Earth. And let's not forget the flag grade officers who have gone insane or otherwise been compromised.

I would probably view Starfleet as a necessary evil. I'd probably join it, too.

 

[DonIago]

Tough call, as joining Starfleet during, say, the time of TNG is probably a very different experience from joining during the height of the Dominion War.

It's an interesting question, how much people not involved with Starfleet get to hear about their actual accomplishments. B5 touched on this, noting that most humans were completely unaware of the Shadow War because Earth's government kept them out of the loop.

Given the current human-alien ratio it would seem humans generally favor Starfleet, and I'd like to think news services in that time period are reasonably honest.

 

[Starbreaker]

The math is way too hard for me, so no.

 

[John200]

I always found it interesting that in the Star Universe there we're people who couldn't give a damn about Star Fleet ,or had a bad opinion of it all together.

Well...Duh. We see the same kind of sentiments today, not just in the military but other professions as well. How is that "interesting?"

Well for an organization that is portrayed as the end all be all of Earth's future.

Lets face it in this time period they seemed to look at you like you have two heads if you don't like Star Fleet.

You're seen as a rebel.

 

[Finn]

When?

Kirk didn't seem surprised when David talked that way about Starfleet. Same goes for Picard when we saw his father scolding him for joining Starfleet.

 

[T'Girl]

Same goes for Picard when we saw his father scolding him for joining Starfleet.

In the fluffy utopian paradise of 24th century Earth, the average human may possess a mistaken belief that the universe is a calm peaceful place, just like Earth is. Ben Sisko's father, a seemingly intelligent man, couldn't wrap his mind around the danger that Earth was in from the Dominian. The senior Sisko being one of the few civilian humans we've ever seen, might be the norm. Picard's brothers Robert hardly comprehends that his brothers flying around in his starship is the reason he can live a quiet country life.

Fault may lay with Earth's government, news media and education system.

Few people on Earth may be intellectually capable any more of understanding what it is Star Fleet does.

 

[Finn]

^Wow, that is incredibly ignorant. We know very little of 24th Century Earth, and even when it comes to Starfleet. I deeply doubt that the actions Starfleet took in regards to the Maquis was the only questionable thing on their record. There are probably many more valid reasons for the civilians to dislike starfleet even with the Romulans, the Dominion and all.

Robert's resentment toward his brother has nothing to do with Starfleet. It was like that between them their entire lives. Please don't assume the civilians on Earth are not intellectually capable. That is just absurd. Would you be intellectually capable if you lived in the 24th Century, better than billions of civilians living out their "fluffy utopian life" on Earth?

 

[Anwar]

Well, we've never seen what the media of the 24th century is like so we don't know how the civilians would view Starfleet aside from a few examples who were meant to be anti-starfleet types to play off the Fleeters (Picard's brother and father, Sisko's father).

We get some better ideas of why people would dislike Starfleet in ENT, with those survivors of the Xindi attack blaming some of the ENT crew for letting aliens know about Earth and all that.

 

[Myasishchev]

Starfleet on the other hand is not exactly as filled with trigger happy morons as the military is.
The Academy cherishes mental developement for the most part and physically it tries to prepare you for a lot of contingencies.

I would say there are much more different aspects between StarFleet and the military.
StarFleet is also NOT a military organization.

Indeed. Starfleet is just an organization tasked with the national defense and provided a monopoly of genocide-level force to do so.

At any rate, I'd be generally fond of but specifically indifferent to it, as I am my country's own volunteer military. That is, I'd be generally interested in what they do and their history, combat and exploration alike. However, there's no way you're getting me on a starship when there are holodecks to be had.

 

[C.E. Evans]

*Watches the thread slide into yet another "Is Starfleet military or not military thread"*

In any event, every organization has its detractors because no one ever has the same viewpoint about anything. Some may see Starfleet as being a good thing, others may see it as a bad thing. It almost doesn't matter what Starfleet's mission or purpose actually is because it kind of boils down to "If it ain't helpin' me, then it's a problem."

 

[QCzar]

I'd definitely be indifferent myself, as I am to our own military and civil services. I'm more interested in what the many non-humans of the Federation must think of Starfleet, considering so few seem to participate in it.

Indeed, it does make one wonder whether the level of participation and presence of a given race is representative of their a) interest in it, b) their opinion of it or c) their relative power or presence within the Federation overall. I think it's safe to say, for instance, that the Vulcans of Spock's era probably weren't too fond of Starfleet, whereas it's more difficult to gauge in Tuvok's era. Even relatively human-like aliens (Trills, Betazoids, etc.) only pop up occasionally.*

That has always got me thinking that many UFP races regard Starfleet as still an essentially human organization, dating right back to the ENT era. Either that or there are like ten times as many humans in the UFP (which is entirely possible). Also makes me wonder what, if anything, survives of their own space-exploration organizations. We know the Vulcans are still tooling around in their own ships, but what about, say, the Andorians or the Tellarites?

* = Although I believe, as many do, that this is largely a television production conceit (humans are cheap(er)) and not an actual reflection of what the writers intend us to think of the Federation, vis a vis how heterogeneous it is. That's not to say they haven't written dialogue suggesting it's homo-centrism.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Starfleet on the other hand is not exactly as filled with trigger happy morons as the military is.
The Academy cherishes mental developement for the most part and physically it tries to prepare you for a lot of contingencies.

Deks--that is an EXTREMELY ignorant statement to be making about the military, one that reflects absolutely zero knowledge of actual people who are members of the military, as well as no idea of how the military actually trains and furthers the growth of its personnel.

QFT.

And oh, I'm pro.