Pro Star Fleet Or Anti Star Fleet

[Cyke101]

^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?

Agreed. I also take issue with the notion that Earth's media and educational system has some sort of anti-Starfleet bias. The few times that we see the media, they're pretty supportive or helpful of Starfleet (ie that rather large amount of fanfare for the Enterprise-B's maiden cruise, or Jake Sisko's journalistic role up to and during the war). As well, we've also seen non Starfleet scientists working well with Starfleet despite working for a separate entity.

True to life, we do see civilians who are against Starfleet, but we also see a good amount of civilians who are very much for it. As someone earlier pointed out, you'll find a variety of opinions out there in the Trekverse.

Oh, and for me, while I'm against a number of military practices and the decisions that various Commanders-in-Chief have made, I'm not against the military itself and I'd probably be in Starfleet. For the US, in addition to protecting the nation, people who have come from a military educational background greatly enhanced our scientific, technological, artistic, and cultural knowledge, from particle physics and diplomacy strategies to Gore Vidal and Bill Cosby.

 

[DonIago]

To be fair, while we know the press reported on the launch of the B and the Dominion War, we don't know -what- they reported. Just because they were there doesn't mean they had positive coverage.

 

[sbk1234]

When I daydream about being in that universe, I see myself as a Starfleet officer. I guess that makes me pro.

 

[Myasishchev]

To be fair, while we know the press reported on the launch of the B and the Dominion War, we don't know -what- they reported. Just because they were there doesn't mean they had positive coverage.

"Another Cardassian colony world was annihilated from orbit today by a Romulan fleet while Starfleet vessels passively observed."

 

[DonIago]

"Incompetent Starfleet Captain Allows El-Aurian Refugees to Die, Claims Equipment Failure"
"Documents Leaked Alleging Starfleet Endorsed Genocide of Founders, Fabricated Evidence to Bring Romulans into War"

I have to assume Section 31 would do everything they could to prevent Sisko's actions in ITPM from ever coming to light.

 

[stonester1]

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

I'm in the service, put me in the pro camp.

 

[T'Girl]

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?

During the TOS years, many of the non-human races were (budget reasons) seen as completely human in appearance. Aboard Kirk's Enterprise the ship may have been crewed by fewer humans than we thought. Consider that Kirk stated that one-third of the crew was female, but didn't follow with two-thirds are male. If the boys and girls were in equal numbers then one-third of the crew would have been a different kind of gender ?

And I sometimes wonder about Mister Sulu, who is by appearance Japanese, but Sulu isn't a Japanese name, perhap his father wasn't human?

 

[The Badger]

^Interesting point about the crew ratios on Enterprise.

Given that the Intrepid was described in The Immunity Syndrome as having an all Vulcan crew, I think it likely that, in Kirk's time at least, most starships had mainly one species as crew. With perhaps a few of different races, like Spock.

 

[QCzar]

^The Badger may be on to something, as we also see this is DS9. The series don't dwell too much on the differences between the races but there might be very legitimate, practical reasons for having mostly segregated crews. These are, after all, species which evolved in wildly different environments and societies. One ship may not always be able to accommodate them all.

Maybe there's an all Betazoid ship where the crew has...different...uniform codes.

 

[barnaclelapse]

I'd probably be a big fan. The good certainly seems to outweigh any kind of bad, but I could just be taking a very simplistic view of the whole thing. My vote for it being a good thing is somewhat contingent on my obsession with someday being in outer space. I'll certainly admit that.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

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.

People like you should be deported!

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Not deported--people have a right to their ill-informed speech, unfortunate as it may seem. Our soldiers fight and die so that people have the right to speak openly, even when they speak foolishly. But the rest of us definitely have a right to call people on it when they talk like that, and to tell the rest of the story.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

Not deported--people have a right to their ill-informed speech, unfortunate as it may seem. Our soldiers fight and die so that people have the right to speak openly, even when they speak foolishly. But the rest of us definitely have a right to call people on it when they talk like that, and to tell the rest of the story.

Good point, we need an Obsidon Order to deal with people like that!

 

[Thor Damar]

Not deported--people have a right to their ill-informed speech, unfortunate as it may seem. Our soldiers fight and die so that people have the right to speak openly, even when they speak foolishly. But the rest of us definitely have a right to call people on it when they talk like that, and to tell the rest of the story.

Good point, we need an Obsidon Order to deal with people like that!

Ah no, you see that's how Cardassia ended up as it did, a secret police more obsessed with gathering power for itself and maintaining said power that forgot its role a a servant of the state which itself is an instrument for the people. Although the Order was a feared and rightly respected external intelligence agency it still came to be a malignant cancer on the collective soul of the Cardassian people.

Plus you can't just arrest and torture those whom you disagree with, it's far better to engage with those beliefs that you consider wrong and defeat them in the forum of debate. After all the whole point of victory is to make the other side aware of just how wrong they really were...

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

Not deported--people have a right to their ill-informed speech, unfortunate as it may seem. Our soldiers fight and die so that people have the right to speak openly, even when they speak foolishly. But the rest of us definitely have a right to call people on it when they talk like that, and to tell the rest of the story.

Good point, we need an Obsidon Order to deal with people like that!

Ah no, you see that's how Cardassia ended up as it did, a secret police more obsessed with gathering power for itself and maintaining said power that forgot its role a a servant of the state which itself is an instrument for the people. Although the Order was a feared and rightly respected external intelligence agency it still came to be a malignant cancer on the collective soul of the Cardassian people.

Plus you can't just arrest and torture those whom you disagree with, it's far better to engage with those beliefs that you consider wrong and defeat them in the forum of debate. After all the whole point of victory is to make the other side aware of just how wrong they really were...

LOL I wasn't serious.

 

[Thor Damar]

^ I know, but would you deprive this Cardassian of a chance to monologue?

 

[Nerys Myk]

I have family in the military (my dad was 20 year vet of the USAF) and they perform vital functions in both war and peace. Starfleet is the same. So count me as pro.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

^ I know, but would you deprive this Cardassian of a chance to monologue?

Never! Especially not Damar.



But really, I am pro on this... although I think we should all hold our horses when it comes to defending everything the military does, or bashing it, too. The military itself is needed in our world, unfortunately, but that doesn't turn every soldier into a hero... or justify war.

 

[GalaxyClass1701]

^ I know, but would you deprive this Cardassian of a chance to monologue?

The only person that talks more than a Cardassian in Morn

 

[Colonel Midnight]

Count me in on the "Pro" side of the argument.

Then again, I've been knuckle-dragging and trigger-happy (supposedly) actively for the past 18 years (and proud of having that status), so what do I know?

Cheers,
-CM-