As an Irishman, i always found it interesting that UK broadcasts of TNG removed a scene where Data and Picard discuss the reunification of Ireland in 2024 due to terrorism and how sometimes it can work.
@@anonb4632 even if reunification comes from a referendum, Data's words are not necessarily wrong - the GFA allows the possibility of such a referendum, and many argue we wouldn't have the GFA without the IRA.
@@kaitlyn__L I suspect it may happen within my lifetime, although corporate interests are undermining countries so much that it's debatable how much difference it will make. The SDLP, and even some in Sinn Fein, want peaceful reunification. Not everyone wants to whip out their Armalites.
@@kaitlyn__L The GFA came about *in spite of* the IRA. It was mainly the work of the SDLP and UUP under Hume and Trimble. They got outflanked by Adams and Paisley... But as someone said of them, it was "Sunningdale for slow learners"... Sunningdale being an agreements in the seventies to try and get a better deal for RCs and cross-community agreement. The IRA along with the UVF etc trashed that.
They removed because the terrorist attacks were happening literally at the time. This wasn't the past. This was the present, in the 80s and 90s, Irish terrorists were bombing British cities. The way Americans think of Muslims since 9/11, that's how British people saw Irish people at the time. There only finally was peace and diplomacy and discussion once the terrorist attacks stopped, and Tony Blair got the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. Yep, that late in history, after TNG had already gone off the air. If they'd left that line in in the UK broadcast, it would be the equivalent of having an episode of star trek weeks after 9/11 saying that Al Queda were right, and they achieved their goal, and were successful. Can you imagine how Insulting that would be to the thousands of people who died in 9/11? Literally weeks after the attack, a Sci fi TV show saying that Osama Bin Laden was right to do what he did? These days there's much much less Irish hate in the UK. Tons of my mates are from Ireland. We never even discuss the troubles, they do seem like they're long gone now. We're just brothers from another mother. Especially here in Liverpool where I moved to permanently after I came to Liverpool for university, after I'd grown up near London. I love this city so much that I had to stay here, it's got the best most friendliest people I've ever met. And tons of them are Irish, or of Irish descent. Look at someone like Wayne Rooney. He's English born and raised, but all his grandparents were Irish, so he could have played for the Republic of Ireland national team if he wanted, but he chose to play for England instead. Liverpool is so close to Dublin, that probably the majority of people from Liverpool are of Irish descent. Reunification is still just a dream though. The UK isn't being bombarded with Irish terrorist attacks every month anymore, the bombing has stopped for now. But Northern Ireland don't want reunification. They like being British, they want to he British, so why would they choose to become republican Irish? That's the problem really. The Republic of Ireland want to take Northern Ireland for themselves and add it to the rest of their country. But Northern Ireland don't want that, and until they do, neither peaceful discussion or terrorist bombings is going to change that. It's like Gibraltar. Spain wants to take Gibraltar for themselves and add it to the rest of Spain. But Gibraltans are probably the most patriotic British people there are. They just simply do not want to he Spanish. They want to be British. So unless Spain and Ireland pull a Putin move and just invade and say "it's mine now" like he did with that part of the Ukraine they annexed, then nothing is going to change any time soon. Ireland cannot just simply annex Northern Ireland when Northern Ireland don't want it, and Spain can't just annex Gibraltar when Gibraltans don't want it Ireland certainly have the right to do all this though. I agree with them. The UK is historically the most evil country. We are worse than nazi Germany. We killed more people anyway. We commited genocide in Ireland, and all the stuff Japan did to China, the rape of nanjing, that was literally worse than the holocaust, we did the same thing to Ireland with the black and tans. Winston Churchill is worse that Hitler. No hyperbole. He invented concentration camps, and he committed a genocide in the Indian subcontinent during world war II and nobody ever talks about it. He's treated as a hero for stopping one genocide, even though he was doing his own genocide at the same time. He was in charge of the whole black and tan rape of nanjing-style horror that he commited on the people of Ireland. So I get it. Ireland have the right to self defence. But I don't know how it will work until northern Irish people want reunification themselves. If they continue to want to be British, then no bombing or diplomatic talks will change anything
Phase 1: Literally doesn't know the word for terrorist. Phase 2: Is a terrorist just a freedom fighter on the other side? Phase 3: Terrorism isn't an abstract concept; it's something we need to talk about.
The concept of terrorism is huge and varied. Terrorism needs to be defined, especially to differentiate it from freedom fighting. And the differences between retail and wholesale terrorism need to be considered.
I very much liked the commentators from the real world for context. It really drives home the points which I interpret to be your theme/arguments. Well done.
Star Trek was able to do all this because of its episodic nature. Each episode could explore another facet of the subject, from a different perspective. We could get the sympathetic terrorist or the evil extremist and get away with it. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Food for thought when planning the future of the franchise.
6:02 Just to make sure this part is not obfuscated: Quote: Guantánamo, which has held as many as seven hundred and seventy-nine prisoners, now houses just seventy-six. But it remains open, at a cost of $445 million last year-an expensive reminder that the United States, contrary to the ideals of its judicial system, is willing to hold people captive, perhaps for life, without a trial. For Obama, it is also painful evidence of the difference between the campaign promises of a forty-six-year-old aspirant and the realities of governing in a bitterly polarized time. Last March, when he made an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio, a seventh grader asked what advice he would give himself if he could go back to the start of his Presidency. Obama said, “I think I would have closed Guantánamo on the first day.” But the politics had got tough, he said, and “the path of least resistance was just to leave it open.” www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/why-obama-has-failed-to-close-guantanamo
"In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely. In May 2018, the first prisoner was transferred during Trump's term; this reduced the number of inmates to 40."
"The U.S. military court and prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have cost more than $6 billion to operate since opening nearly 18 years ago and still churn through more than $380 million a year despite housing only 40 prisoners today.Sep 11, 2019 "
Its probably also worth noting that ST was willing to look at the validity of terrorist action over the consequences of its victims whilst the US was commissioning terrorism without consequence, and only started really examining the latter once it experienced the consequences of its own actions.
Great comment. Modern trek is so crude by comparison to even series 1 of kirk trek. How about this gem from spock (paraphrased) 'Labels do not make an argument' Nu trek is obsessed with labels. And is written using a sledgehammer.
@16:04 re: Krall After watching "Beyond" (the best out of Abrams trilogy imo) I saw Edison as an analogue for Timothy McVeigh. He was executed in 2001 charged with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history. McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, was motivated by revenge, and was heavily critical of American foreign policy.
@esphaeraspraestans4212 mabye feel descovery and pacard really went off the rails. it was no longer a utopia to lookforward to just more bla bla evil ai, bla bla war destruction like eveyother sifi. i liked the other star trecks when its about explotrion, complex quesions, and a better sytem of goverment then we have anywhere on earth. it just became like eevy other scifi.
Given the contemporary examples of American catharsis over 9/11 are 24 and in science fiction specifically Battlestar, I actually think Trek covered the issue in a relatively mature and responsible way. Battlestar in particular is notably terrifying in the political thesis it puts forward.
I would've picked 24 as the terrifying one myself. That show normalized torture for so many americans, it was even cited by Antonin Scalia in the dissenting opinion when the Supreme Court ruled on torture.
@@DrTssha 24 was fox news propaganda in a fictional TV show format basically. It was entertaining, sure, but it was absolutely horrifying in the way it depicted people like Muslims. They treated Jack Bauer as always being justified in being a massive cunt. We don't get fox news in the UK but we have our own things that are close enough, like Sky news and The Sun, which are also owned and run by Rupert Murdoch just like fox news is. But because it was in America, it was all distant, it had nothing to do with the UK (except for that one mini season set in the UK) so we brits just ate it up and didn't think for one second about the implication of all of it. Most fans of it were my age at the time, teenagers. We didn't understand the politics around it. But then eventually I went and got a degree in Politics at uni and I understand it more. I do love the show still, as a guilty pleasure. But yeah it's that George Bush Jr era presidency republican politics in fictional TV show format. And the show eventually gets so ridiculous, with literally nukes exploding in American cities, and all of it I wonder, is it on Disney+ now? Now that they own all the fox stuff, every fox thing except for the news part of the business, Rupert Murdoch still controls that whole news empire. But damn its been a couple years. Maybe I'll watch 24 again...
You also have to acknowledge the tone shift after 9/11. Before, Star Trek had a distant view, yes they showed terrorists as people, but there was still a "terrorism only happens other places, to other people" view. As soon as the towers fell, suddenly terrorism was wholly bad. I think the Syrranites arc only happened in 2004, when the average citizen had cooled down more or less and realized what Bush and post- 9/11 America had done. This is backed up by the major critique of what America had become a year later, in Revenge of the Sith
I really wish you delved more deeply into DS9, as that show did way more on this topic then just Kira or the Maquis, like how near the end of the dominion war the Cardassians basically turned into the Bajoran terrorists/freadom fighters and how shocking that was for everyone to realize. Or the Homefront 2 parter which which is basically a post 9/11 terrorism trope trifecta, but made before 9/11.
This was such a good and interesting duology of videos! It was really great to have an in depth look at how Star Trek has looked at this complex and important issue and the diverse ways it has. Thank you!
All art deserves some introspection, despite middling delivery. Artists are trying to say something...separating what is being said from how it is being said is tough for many.
It's being written as we theorize. See: ua-cam.com/video/M44QMKWMxuQ/v-deo.html Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson (Bashir and Garak) reading new material. 😁👍
@@interstellarsurfer With the way current politics and and corporate interests are heading in America it wouldn't surprise me if talking at all about terrorism will one day become just something that ins't allowed on TV anymore.
interesting lens for the xindi, but I always saw them more as a less centralized, less enlightened counterpart to the federation -perhaps even partly its inspiration since the Xindi Confederacy predates the federation charter... The Dominion is another good example...
Such a great series, I wish more people would have watched this! Tying the narrative of a fictional universe to the real one makes the discussion about it much less hostile and vastly more gripping. You have earned yourself a subscriber.
I'm pouring me a long rum, for the first 10 minutes, then a second for the final 10 (just so you know, it might take me 2+ minutes) DS9 dealt with terrorism in a much more truthful light. No punches pulled.
@@Trekspertise I know, I could have gone on for an hour, possibly dishonoring my own honorable Veteran status. Rock on Star Trek, keep keeping the world honest! Or, was that about the rum ;-)
@@interstellarsurfer I've told no honorable lies. Now, my ex-wife, she can school anyone on lies, honorable or otherwise. She was the Stephen King of lies,, especially with twist ending and suspense throughout! Bless her black heart...
Good video. Btw, I don't know if someone has ever said this to you, but I think you could probably do a really good Rod Serling impression. You've got just the right cadence of tone.
In regards to John Brown: there is no moral equivalence between violence against the oppressed and violence against the oppressors. This largely seems to hold through phase 2, and still breathes in phase 3, though I think sidelined.
exactly because the violence of the oppressors is what fomented the violence against oppression. they are not equivalent, and the violence of resistance to oppression is justifiable
The problem with that line of thinking is all one need do is consider themselves somehow "oppressed" and identify an "oppressor" and violence is justified.
@@runevi with all due respect that is a silly argument because there are objective criteria that identify who is an oppressor who is oppressed; e.g., being under occupation, warred upon, otherwise coerced, etc
To be fair, more often than not, the only difference between military action, an act of war, and everything labeled as acts of terror... is merely the budget available to take such actions.
Stellar content! I need to rewatch DS9 and ENT now, I feel like there is so much that I missed. 🤔 VOY was my bag, back in those days. 90,000 lightyears from Earth and it's problems.
Logic extremists in various forms have come up several times in extended universe literature. It's always interesting to see that Vulcans are much more like us than they care to admit. 😉
One side I have never seen to be brought up when it comes to this topic. The people who know and understand the immense amount of life that is lost in these attacks and understand it affects so many people in so many ways both now and in the future, but they don't feel anything. No sadness or remorse, just understanding what has happened.
This just proves my point on the last video even more. Attacking civilians who may not even be aware of the actions of their state governments is abhorrent, illogical, inhumane and completely unjustifiable. People arent synonymous with their national governments, rulers, aristocracy whatever, the people in power are called. Basically no one in nearly any country has any say in what the state and the capitalist plutocrats do. Unless you are at the top of government of a billionaire you have virtually no voice. America is not a democracy no matter what propaganda says. The government does the opposite of what the majority want 75 percent of the time. We don't even vote presidents in. Representatives have to be in one of two parties and be rich. That is not democracy. The judicial system is so anti-democratic i sincerely can't believe people don't talk about it more. The judges are picked by the president for live. Uh that's extremely scary and authoritarian. Congress only does the will of their billionaire masters. We are a plutocracy we aren't a democracy. Almost everyone is subject to an authoritarian government. We need to realize this and create solidarity with the people all over the world. I promise you have more in common with the average civilian in China or France or South Africa or Venezuela or Egypt or Poland wherever than you do with the billionaires and elected representatives. These people literally do not live in the same world as us. Though you may be better of than the average person in the developing world, or you have a completely different religious belief, or ethnic traditions, and you may think you have nothing in common with them, you do. They are all humans forced into subjection by state militarism and capitalism.
Funny thing is, however similar were the parallels between the Xindi storyline and real world events, some may not have been so intentional; I've heard repeatedly that the reason the Xindi were designed to be warring tribes was not to parallel factions in the Middle East, but as a way of copying what had been successful on DS9 with the Dominion: multiple groups (in that case, the Jem'Hadar, the Vorta, and the Founders).
Just a slight correction, the Xindi were ONE race made up of different species. They shared a home world originally. Also, they’re SYRRANNITES, not Syrianites. They’re not from Syria.
I have a suggestion for an episode series. It is clear with such a long running show that a number of actors have occupied multiple roles in the star trek franchise. May i suggest a series that looks at some of these actors and outlines the characters and maybe even ranks the gravity of each character performance. A few that come to mind off the top of my head are Marc Alaimo, David Warner, Jeffery Combs, Diana Muldur and even Armin Shimmerman.
DS9 had so many eps of Kira being frankly...a terrible monster to good people, when she talks about how ANY Cardassian was a "legitimate target" after one of her victims brings up that her bombs killed children, killed families. When she tells Damar he needs to be willing to kill his own people if he's going to be an effective terrorist. She's bad ass, and horrible.
WOW, I am mouth open, incredible analysis... I never thought to find a video that interesting between scifi and real human issues along history.... wow... well done guys
I think the tone shift largely followed the popular feeling that America was already the Federation rather than the messy, unenlightened pre-warp society it "is." Media and popular perception, in pre-2001 America, saw the U.S. as an innocent, guiding party in foreign affairs--much like how the Federation sees itself. When those towers fell, the populace had to deal with the cognitive dissonance of realizing that America itself was acting as the "terrorizing" force in foreign policy (to use the language of that 2002 Enterprise episode). I don't think many people still have processed that dissonance and that's why media still tries to resolve the causes and the effects of 9/11 to this day.
"Media and popular perception" - No, that is just a US POV. A lot of people outside the USA see it as a very warlike nation. America's advantage is its geographic isolation which has sheltered it for decades and allowed it to operate at arm's length.
@@anonb4632 Yeah, of course. I should have phrased it better. I didn't really clarify since a lot of the writers are American so I figured that would be implied.
This explains why i couldn't keep watching after the xindi attack story line started. I had great personal losses on 9/11. I never understood why i couldn't watch anymore, despite star trek having been something that my father and i shared before he was taken from me. I understand it now. It was opening woulds with allegory I didn't understand at the time. 23 years later, I finally finished enterprise and specifically went looking for this take. You were able to articulate everything that i couldn't sort in my head. Starfleet isnt always he good guy, much like America wasn't the good guy in our response to 9/11. Honestly, i wish they had never done all that in the middle east using my dads name on their shield. He wasn't a bad person. He wouldn't have wanted blood paid for his life, definitely not in countries not even involved in his death.
I'm only now getting really annoyed at somethinf. The xindi arc & xindi attack *should* have been the Earth/Romulan War, rather than the xindi arc & pushing the Romulan bit till later with telepaths. If they wanted to introduce the xindi, do it, sure, but that attack & season would da been better spent as the E/R war & the start of the planetary alliance that would become the UFP!
If any of you enjoyed this video and want to support Trekspertese, I would also recommend you look at the channel Steve Shives. He just did a video essay on this same topic. ua-cam.com/video/OykhNN25aVk/v-deo.html Both Steve Shives and Trekspertese have great Star Trek videos. As a Star Trek fan, support them both!
Watching the people running and covered in soot and ash is surreal. And considering the modern health effects we are seeing even today? That is just scary. No other words can be said. I liked the Xindi Allegory throughout, but the most damning is the NSA/Section 31 parallels. Part three? Please? No? Well that is okay I love you anyway.
Come to think about it, after the events of Star Trek: Picard Season 1. On how the Federation realize that it was a Romulan cult who did the attack on Mars. There’s a possibility that some people in the Federation would think of Romulans as Terrorist. And most likely some racist tendency of humans against Romulans in the Second season of PIC..
There’s certainly an idea. We can assume, based on Federation resistance to saving the Romulans, that many species were already racist against them to begin with.
What is surprising is that you did not cower away form touching a narrative that most Americans do not agree with. That is why free speech is protected in US constitution, the underlying principle is that the majority is not necessarily right. A minority could be the bearer of truth, American revolutionaries were a minority at first. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, a 122 year old colony of the USA, and can relate to much of what is discussed here.
The question of terrorism as a means to an end will probably be explored again, the Capitol attack last week has sparked another inflection point in American history. This is a problem within the US own domestic concepts of freedom, liberty, and fairness. Societal issues are coming into conflict and there are extremist again rising to the challenge with terrorist tactics.
Great video, I know a lot of people like myself have been so unhappy with the injection of politics in current Trek but Enterprise season 3 was the "right" way to take contemporary world events and adapt it into sci-fi in a proper way. The fact the Xindi weren't 100% evil and were being manipulated while also show division in their factions was really well done. As much as I love the optimistic future in TOS and TNG, I find Trek to be more daring when they do a Xindi or Dominion arc where the Federation is on the back foot and diplomacy just isn't cutting it. I wish they got Manny Coto/Ira Steven Behr to do the Klingon War in Discovery and the Romulans in Picard. Also, I recall hearing that the Suliban were named after the Taliban, but the Suliabn weren't great villains.
DS9 is my favorite, partly because of the long arcs and great character development, partly because of the darker themes. Moral issues are greyer on the frontier.
Isn't that the point of the resultant Federation, to stop military behaviors however any wars there maybe? However they are couched? Current doings are presented in the clip. The Country of Afghanistan is about ready to fall, perhaps the war there was a religious war all along? I gather that for some there certainly have that point of view. It might be interesting to note that the folks there and are fighting in are richly financed. By whom? Perhaps that might be the real question to ask.
Birmingham native here again, fun fact, the biggest white separatist militia racist I ever knew growing up was in fact named John Frederick Paxton. Always thought that was surreal when the episode originally aired.
I am pleased you explore this subject. The many perspectives on why groups and individuals commit these actions. But, I found that many of situations where US Government or military involved with other countries. especially in Mideast, the American people never get whole truth. Beyond the Drumbeats about Democracy, Or humanitarian support there's hidden agenda. Many of countries USA involved with has something we want, either resources or leadership claims want form a democratic government. Yet, it's individual Kings, Prime Ministers or Presidents with own personal agendas. We know how that has turned out.
I think it's time Hollywood stopped influencing itself with 9/11 sentiment. We get it, it was awful, but try to step away from what you felt because of it, and dip your toe into the other side, at least know what it was like for us here in the so called third world. Or just abandon the whole terrorism notion altogether. Find something new and better to fixate on. Perhaps nobility, humility and other personality aspects, all as interpreted by a certain group's collective mythos. It definitely would be great to see Star Trek Discover deal with such a topic, considering he upcoming season 3.
Just wait. For at least the next decade, or more, all you're going to get are pandemic related, or flavored, stories, along with possibly social equality ones as well. They may be hidden under various other subtexts, but they'll be about the 'Rona or the protests.
I’m surprised you guys didn’t bring up Section 31 and it’s parallels to the NSA or the CIA. Still an awesome video.
Would have been lovely to do so, but would have been a very long video, indeed!
@@Trekspertise I look forward to your thoughts on this should you find the time and money to make such a video!
@@00Glitch I would like Kyle to continue to Live Long and make videos, thank you very much !
Section 31 could represent deep state and the MIC. That is dangerous territory to venture in.
Great idea for another video 🙂
As an Irishman, i always found it interesting that UK broadcasts of TNG removed a scene where Data and Picard discuss the reunification of Ireland in 2024 due to terrorism and how sometimes it can work.
Yes, because that whole thing is raw and NOT just among unionists. Some people want Ireland to be reunified by peaceful means.
@@anonb4632 even if reunification comes from a referendum, Data's words are not necessarily wrong - the GFA allows the possibility of such a referendum, and many argue we wouldn't have the GFA without the IRA.
@@kaitlyn__L I suspect it may happen within my lifetime, although corporate interests are undermining countries so much that it's debatable how much difference it will make.
The SDLP, and even some in Sinn Fein, want peaceful reunification. Not everyone wants to whip out their Armalites.
@@kaitlyn__L The GFA came about *in spite of* the IRA. It was mainly the work of the SDLP and UUP under Hume and Trimble. They got outflanked by Adams and Paisley... But as someone said of them, it was "Sunningdale for slow learners"... Sunningdale being an agreements in the seventies to try and get a better deal for RCs and cross-community agreement. The IRA along with the UVF etc trashed that.
They removed because the terrorist attacks were happening literally at the time. This wasn't the past. This was the present, in the 80s and 90s, Irish terrorists were bombing British cities. The way Americans think of Muslims since 9/11, that's how British people saw Irish people at the time. There only finally was peace and diplomacy and discussion once the terrorist attacks stopped, and Tony Blair got the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. Yep, that late in history, after TNG had already gone off the air.
If they'd left that line in in the UK broadcast, it would be the equivalent of having an episode of star trek weeks after 9/11 saying that Al Queda were right, and they achieved their goal, and were successful. Can you imagine how Insulting that would be to the thousands of people who died in 9/11? Literally weeks after the attack, a Sci fi TV show saying that Osama Bin Laden was right to do what he did?
These days there's much much less Irish hate in the UK. Tons of my mates are from Ireland. We never even discuss the troubles, they do seem like they're long gone now. We're just brothers from another mother. Especially here in Liverpool where I moved to permanently after I came to Liverpool for university, after I'd grown up near London. I love this city so much that I had to stay here, it's got the best most friendliest people I've ever met. And tons of them are Irish, or of Irish descent. Look at someone like Wayne Rooney. He's English born and raised, but all his grandparents were Irish, so he could have played for the Republic of Ireland national team if he wanted, but he chose to play for England instead. Liverpool is so close to Dublin, that probably the majority of people from Liverpool are of Irish descent.
Reunification is still just a dream though. The UK isn't being bombarded with Irish terrorist attacks every month anymore, the bombing has stopped for now. But Northern Ireland don't want reunification. They like being British, they want to he British, so why would they choose to become republican Irish? That's the problem really. The Republic of Ireland want to take Northern Ireland for themselves and add it to the rest of their country. But Northern Ireland don't want that, and until they do, neither peaceful discussion or terrorist bombings is going to change that.
It's like Gibraltar. Spain wants to take Gibraltar for themselves and add it to the rest of Spain. But Gibraltans are probably the most patriotic British people there are. They just simply do not want to he Spanish. They want to be British.
So unless Spain and Ireland pull a Putin move and just invade and say "it's mine now" like he did with that part of the Ukraine they annexed, then nothing is going to change any time soon. Ireland cannot just simply annex Northern Ireland when Northern Ireland don't want it, and Spain can't just annex Gibraltar when Gibraltans don't want it
Ireland certainly have the right to do all this though. I agree with them. The UK is historically the most evil country. We are worse than nazi Germany. We killed more people anyway. We commited genocide in Ireland, and all the stuff Japan did to China, the rape of nanjing, that was literally worse than the holocaust, we did the same thing to Ireland with the black and tans. Winston Churchill is worse that Hitler. No hyperbole. He invented concentration camps, and he committed a genocide in the Indian subcontinent during world war II and nobody ever talks about it. He's treated as a hero for stopping one genocide, even though he was doing his own genocide at the same time. He was in charge of the whole black and tan rape of nanjing-style horror that he commited on the people of Ireland. So I get it. Ireland have the right to self defence.
But I don't know how it will work until northern Irish people want reunification themselves. If they continue to want to be British, then no bombing or diplomatic talks will change anything
Phase 1: Literally doesn't know the word for terrorist.
Phase 2: Is a terrorist just a freedom fighter on the other side?
Phase 3: Terrorism isn't an abstract concept; it's something we need to talk about.
Exactly.
3 - Terrorism is *kind* of an abstract concept. The effects are there to see, but it is not an object. Terrorists on the other hand are.
2 - Not necessarily. Terrorism and crime overlap. In some places, including Ireland, terrorist groups have raised funds through drug dealing.
@@anonb4632 The IRA also executes drug dealers.
The concept of terrorism is huge and varied. Terrorism needs to be defined, especially to differentiate it from freedom fighting. And the differences between retail and wholesale terrorism need to be considered.
I very much liked the commentators from the real world for context. It really drives home the points which I interpret to be your theme/arguments. Well done.
Thank you for watching it :)
Star Trek was able to do all this because of its episodic nature. Each episode could explore another facet of the subject, from a different perspective. We could get the sympathetic terrorist or the evil extremist and get away with it. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Food for thought when planning the future of the franchise.
6:02 Just to make sure this part is not obfuscated:
Quote: Guantánamo, which has held as many as seven hundred and seventy-nine prisoners, now houses just seventy-six. But it remains open, at a cost of $445 million last year-an expensive reminder that the United States, contrary to the ideals of its judicial system, is willing to hold people captive, perhaps for life, without a trial. For Obama, it is also painful evidence of the difference between the campaign promises of a forty-six-year-old aspirant and the realities of governing in a bitterly polarized time. Last March, when he made an appearance in Cleveland, Ohio, a seventh grader asked what advice he would give himself if he could go back to the start of his Presidency. Obama said, “I think I would have closed Guantánamo on the first day.” But the politics had got tough, he said, and “the path of least resistance was just to leave it open.”
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/08/01/why-obama-has-failed-to-close-guantanamo
"In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely. In May 2018, the first prisoner was transferred during Trump's term; this reduced the number of inmates to 40."
"The U.S. military court and prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have cost more than $6 billion to operate since opening nearly 18 years ago and still churn through more than $380 million a year despite housing only 40 prisoners today.Sep 11, 2019
"
Karen Woolley weird how they agree on so much
Its probably also worth noting that ST was willing to look at the validity of terrorist action over the consequences of its victims whilst the US was commissioning terrorism without consequence, and only started really examining the latter once it experienced the consequences of its own actions.
"Whatever it takes" Wow, Archer and Tripp seem sinister in that scene.
For real.
Great topic.
This effort to challenge an audience with a bit of nuance and real dilemmas is what raised Star Trek above most other comfortable TV
Great comment.
Modern trek is so crude by comparison to even series 1 of kirk trek.
How about this gem from spock (paraphrased)
'Labels do not make an argument'
Nu trek is obsessed with labels.
And is written using a sledgehammer.
The wait is over. I'm getting my popcorn ready
me too
As so often, good science fiction is not about the future, but about the present.
EXACTLY
@16:04 re: Krall
After watching "Beyond" (the best out of Abrams trilogy imo) I saw Edison as an analogue for Timothy McVeigh. He was executed in 2001 charged with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in US history.
McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, was motivated by revenge, and was heavily critical of American foreign policy.
Definitely the best villain in the reboot trilogy.
They keep making the Federation as bad as us instead of showing them be a good example of what we could be.
@Esphaeras Praestans They did vs the 1960's US. TNG was better than 1980's/90's US.
@esphaeraspraestans4212 mabye feel descovery and pacard really went off the rails. it was no longer a utopia to lookforward to just more bla bla evil ai, bla bla war destruction like eveyother sifi. i liked the other star trecks when its about explotrion, complex quesions, and a better sytem of goverment then we have anywhere on earth. it just became like eevy other scifi.
Despite coming out in 1996, the episode that understood the reaction to 9/11 the most is DS9's "Home Front/Paradise Lost".
A nice episode. Wish we had the space to discuss it.
Given the contemporary examples of American catharsis over 9/11 are 24 and in science fiction specifically Battlestar, I actually think Trek covered the issue in a relatively mature and responsible way. Battlestar in particular is notably terrifying in the political thesis it puts forward.
I would've picked 24 as the terrifying one myself. That show normalized torture for so many americans, it was even cited by Antonin Scalia in the dissenting opinion when the Supreme Court ruled on torture.
@@DrTssha 24 was fox news propaganda in a fictional TV show format basically. It was entertaining, sure, but it was absolutely horrifying in the way it depicted people like Muslims. They treated Jack Bauer as always being justified in being a massive cunt. We don't get fox news in the UK but we have our own things that are close enough, like Sky news and The Sun, which are also owned and run by Rupert Murdoch just like fox news is. But because it was in America, it was all distant, it had nothing to do with the UK (except for that one mini season set in the UK) so we brits just ate it up and didn't think for one second about the implication of all of it. Most fans of it were my age at the time, teenagers. We didn't understand the politics around it. But then eventually I went and got a degree in Politics at uni and I understand it more. I do love the show still, as a guilty pleasure. But yeah it's that George Bush Jr era presidency republican politics in fictional TV show format. And the show eventually gets so ridiculous, with literally nukes exploding in American cities, and all of it
I wonder, is it on Disney+ now? Now that they own all the fox stuff, every fox thing except for the news part of the business, Rupert Murdoch still controls that whole news empire. But damn its been a couple years. Maybe I'll watch 24 again...
Great break down. I have been working on my Undergrad in Counter Terrorism and Terrorism. Your assessments and analysis are on point.
YES! I have been looking to Part 2 soI am glad it has arrived.
And Great job exploring how Star Trek has handled the issue of Terrorism.
Thank you for checking it out :)
You also have to acknowledge the tone shift after 9/11. Before, Star Trek had a distant view, yes they showed terrorists as people, but there was still a "terrorism only happens other places, to other people" view. As soon as the towers fell, suddenly terrorism was wholly bad. I think the Syrranites arc only happened in 2004, when the average citizen had cooled down more or less and realized what Bush and post- 9/11 America had done. This is backed up by the major critique of what America had become a year later, in Revenge of the Sith
I am very glad that this video has finally dropped. I have been waiting anxiously for it.
Incredible high value content. Thank you, keep it up!
Please more of this.
Instant click. Can’t wait. Great work man.
Huzzah!!
This was impressive.
I really wish you delved more deeply into DS9, as that show did way more on this topic then just Kira or the Maquis, like how near the end of the dominion war the Cardassians basically turned into the Bajoran terrorists/freadom fighters and how shocking that was for everyone to realize. Or the Homefront 2 parter which which is basically a post 9/11 terrorism trope trifecta, but made before 9/11.
Did you see part one?
@@Trekspertise Not in a while, but yeah. Um, crap, did I just stick my foot in my mouth? haha
Well, we don't focus on Major Kira and the Cardassians a bit. But we could have gone deeper.
This was such a good and interesting duology of videos! It was really great to have an in depth look at how Star Trek has looked at this complex and important issue and the diverse ways it has. Thank you!
Always appreciate all the hard work you guys put into these videos, thanks you so much!
Thank you for watching them. Always a pleasure to show them to you.
the Xindi attack was 7mill initially, it went up to 11mill eventually
the NY 9-11 (not the CIA-backed 9-11 in Chile) was 6000 initially and went down to half eventually
i think we need Data to search for,"Dancing Ferenghi" in his memory banks...
I'm looking at post-Abrams Trek with new eyes, as if it actually asks questions about the human condition.
Damn you, Trekspertise!
Love the video, and want more literary-style analysis of "The Greatest Franchise Ever".
All art deserves some introspection, despite middling delivery. Artists are trying to say something...separating what is being said from how it is being said is tough for many.
We will do more, and discuss other sci-fi properties, as well.
Thank you for continuing to produce excellent Star Trek video essays. Really interesting pair of videos!
Thank you for checking it out :)
I appreciate this series. Thanks for making it!
Thank you for watching it :)
This is probably your best video yet
Many thanks! We aim higher every time we can =)
Makes me wonder what today's current events will lead to in Star Trek lore in the future after the pandemic ends.
It's being written as we theorize.
See: ua-cam.com/video/M44QMKWMxuQ/v-deo.html
Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robinson (Bashir and Garak) reading new material. 😁👍
@@interstellarsurfer With the way current politics and and corporate interests are heading in America it wouldn't surprise me if talking at all about terrorism will one day become just something that ins't allowed on TV anymore.
"Logic extremists" is such a lazy unimaginative name. Might as well call them "bad thinking wrongdoers."
Al-Qaeda translates to "the base" or "database", does it not?
@@Trekspertise No just the base.
@@Trekspertise Whoa there, you almost gave _Log Horizon_ a whole new meaning for me. 😅
I'm sure they don't call themselves that.
@@hdattila are you talking about the Logic Extremists or Al-Qaeda, because Al-Qaeda most certainly calls itself that.
interesting lens for the xindi, but I always saw them more as a less centralized, less enlightened counterpart to the federation -perhaps even partly its inspiration since the Xindi Confederacy predates the federation charter...
The Dominion is another good example...
Such a great series, I wish more people would have watched this!
Tying the narrative of a fictional universe to the real one makes the discussion about it much less hostile and vastly more gripping. You have earned yourself a subscriber.
Welcome aboard! Got more like this coming :)
I'm pouring me a long rum, for the first 10 minutes, then a second for the final 10 (just so you know, it might take me 2+ minutes) DS9 dealt with terrorism in a much more truthful light. No punches pulled.
Careful! Not too fast!
@@Trekspertise I know, I could have gone on for an hour, possibly dishonoring my own honorable Veteran status. Rock on Star Trek, keep keeping the world honest! Or, was that about the rum ;-)
@@Damaged262 There is no dishonor in honesty, or honorable lies. It is, what it is. 👍
@@interstellarsurfer I've told no honorable lies. Now, my ex-wife, she can school anyone on lies, honorable or otherwise. She was the Stephen King of lies,, especially with twist ending and suspense throughout! Bless her black heart...
@@interstellarsurfer Oh believe me, honorable lies and dishonorable truth-telling exist. It's just rare that they are justified.
Good video.
Btw, I don't know if someone has ever said this to you, but I think you could probably do a really good Rod Serling impression. You've got just the right cadence of tone.
It's come up once or twice :)
In regards to John Brown: there is no moral equivalence between violence against the oppressed and violence against the oppressors.
This largely seems to hold through phase 2, and still breathes in phase 3, though I think sidelined.
exactly because the violence of the oppressors is what fomented the violence against oppression. they are not equivalent, and the violence of resistance to oppression is justifiable
The problem with that line of thinking is all one need do is consider themselves somehow "oppressed" and identify an "oppressor" and violence is justified.
@@runevi with all due respect that is a silly argument because there are objective criteria that identify who is an oppressor who is oppressed; e.g., being under occupation, warred upon, otherwise coerced, etc
Maybe, but there is a practical equivalence. You're anger might be justified, but that doesn't make it useful.
How long have I waited for this!!
Brilliant and thoughtful as per usual. I could only hope to be a fraction as thoughtful as you are. Thank you for the education 🙏
Thank yo my for watching!
Good work Kyle very thoughtful and thought-provoking. Let’s hope it’s not the end of everything. Scared me for a minute.
Thank you, sir!! It really came together well :)
Insightful, subjective, entertaining. Well done.
To be fair, more often than not, the only difference between military action, an act of war, and everything labeled as acts of terror... is merely the budget available to take such actions.
An excellent piece of work! I really enjoyed this one. It is one of your best.
Thank you very much!
I've waited patiently so long for this thank you for putting this work together. thank you.
Thank you for watching :)
Yes! Happy Tuesday night to me!
Stellar content!
I need to rewatch DS9 and ENT now, I feel like there is so much that I missed. 🤔
VOY was my bag, back in those days. 90,000 lightyears from Earth and it's problems.
Great discussion
Logic extremists in various forms have come up several times in extended universe literature. It's always interesting to see that Vulcans are much more like us than they care to admit. 😉
Vulcan are basically just repressing their emotions, they're no different than humans or their Romulan cousins.
Fantastic video essay!
Thanks for watching!!
Excellent Series, well done
Excellent videos. Please continue with these!
It's only been 3 months but it feels like a year
We'd love to move at a faster rate. That's what Patreon is for ;)
Love your vids, keep them coming!
Excellent Pair of videos
Thanks!!
One side I have never seen to be brought up when it comes to this topic. The people who know and understand the immense amount of life that is lost in these attacks and understand it affects so many people in so many ways both now and in the future, but they don't feel anything. No sadness or remorse, just understanding what has happened.
That's the way of history.
This just proves my point on the last video even more. Attacking civilians who may not even be aware of the actions of their state governments is abhorrent, illogical, inhumane and completely unjustifiable. People arent synonymous with their national governments, rulers, aristocracy whatever, the people in power are called. Basically no one in nearly any country has any say in what the state and the capitalist plutocrats do. Unless you are at the top of government of a billionaire you have virtually no voice. America is not a democracy no matter what propaganda says. The government does the opposite of what the majority want 75 percent of the time. We don't even vote presidents in. Representatives have to be in one of two parties and be rich. That is not democracy. The judicial system is so anti-democratic i sincerely can't believe people don't talk about it more. The judges are picked by the president for live. Uh that's extremely scary and authoritarian. Congress only does the will of their billionaire masters. We are a plutocracy we aren't a democracy. Almost everyone is subject to an authoritarian government. We need to realize this and create solidarity with the people all over the world. I promise you have more in common with the average civilian in China or France or South Africa or Venezuela or Egypt or Poland wherever than you do with the billionaires and elected representatives. These people literally do not live in the same world as us. Though you may be better of than the average person in the developing world, or you have a completely different religious belief, or ethnic traditions, and you may think you have nothing in common with them, you do. They are all humans forced into subjection by state militarism and capitalism.
Coroborated by the failure to change Soviet or Mainland-Chinese Strategie by bombing North Korean or Vietnamese Civilians.
You should convert these video essays into podcasts. They are so thoughtful.
You like podcasts? We have one - Wikisurfer.
Funny thing is, however similar were the parallels between the Xindi storyline and real world events, some may not have been so intentional; I've heard repeatedly that the reason the Xindi were designed to be warring tribes was not to parallel factions in the Middle East, but as a way of copying what had been successful on DS9 with the Dominion: multiple groups (in that case, the Jem'Hadar, the Vorta, and the Founders).
2:22 Wow....I forgot about this scene. For the first time in my life, I understand how he feels...
Just a slight correction, the Xindi were ONE race made up of different species. They shared a home world originally.
Also, they’re SYRRANNITES, not Syrianites. They’re not from Syria.
One is just an accent quirk.
But the other was prevented by the laws of biology.
I have a suggestion for an episode series. It is clear with such a long running show that a number of actors have occupied multiple roles in the star trek franchise. May i suggest a series that looks at some of these actors and outlines the characters and maybe even ranks the gravity of each character performance. A few that come to mind off the top of my head are Marc Alaimo, David Warner, Jeffery Combs, Diana Muldur and even Armin Shimmerman.
One mistake: When you talk about Desert Crossing at the bottom it says that it is from Star Trek: Discovery. It is of course from Enterprise.
One always slips by :(
Trekspertise Regardless this was a great video essay. You guys have some of the most professional Star Trek breakdowns of anyone on UA-cam.
21 downvotes?! Was it something we said?
DS9 had so many eps of Kira being frankly...a terrible monster to good people, when she talks about how ANY Cardassian was a "legitimate target" after one of her victims brings up that her bombs killed children, killed families. When she tells Damar he needs to be willing to kill his own people if he's going to be an effective terrorist. She's bad ass, and horrible.
The Cardassians were Nazis.
WOW, I am mouth open, incredible analysis... I never thought to find a video that interesting between scifi and real human issues along history.... wow... well done guys
Glad you enjoyed it Thank you for taking the time to watch =)
9:48 "The Syrianites"
Not a very creative name based off of Syria
Lazy writing prevails these last several years. 😕
Suliban/Taliban
I think the tone shift largely followed the popular feeling that America was already the Federation rather than the messy, unenlightened pre-warp society it "is."
Media and popular perception, in pre-2001 America, saw the U.S. as an innocent, guiding party in foreign affairs--much like how the Federation sees itself. When those towers fell, the populace had to deal with the cognitive dissonance of realizing that America itself was acting as the "terrorizing" force in foreign policy (to use the language of that 2002 Enterprise episode). I don't think many people still have processed that dissonance and that's why media still tries to resolve the causes and the effects of 9/11 to this day.
"Media and popular perception" - No, that is just a US POV. A lot of people outside the USA see it as a very warlike nation. America's advantage is its geographic isolation which has sheltered it for decades and allowed it to operate at arm's length.
@@anonb4632 Yeah, of course. I should have phrased it better. I didn't really clarify since a lot of the writers are American so I figured that would be implied.
This explains why i couldn't keep watching after the xindi attack story line started. I had great personal losses on 9/11. I never understood why i couldn't watch anymore, despite star trek having been something that my father and i shared before he was taken from me. I understand it now. It was opening woulds with allegory I didn't understand at the time.
23 years later, I finally finished enterprise and specifically went looking for this take. You were able to articulate everything that i couldn't sort in my head.
Starfleet isnt always he good guy, much like America wasn't the good guy in our response to 9/11. Honestly, i wish they had never done all that in the middle east using my dads name on their shield. He wasn't a bad person. He wouldn't have wanted blood paid for his life, definitely not in countries not even involved in his death.
13:31 What series was that episode part of again?
He has it in the text at the bottom of the screen. The ep was "Desert Crossing", the series was Enterprise.
@@Markie-lc2es Are you sure that's what it says? Read it again.
Yea, we know. One of these kinds of errors always manages to slip through =(
This was super interesting! 10/10
Are you going to do an video on Lower Decks?
This didn’t even cover the profit motive that led to the wars in the Middle East. It’s like talking about Harry Potter without mentioning magic.
Only so many hours in the day.
I'm only now getting really annoyed at somethinf. The xindi arc & xindi attack *should* have been the Earth/Romulan War, rather than the xindi arc & pushing the Romulan bit till later with telepaths. If they wanted to introduce the xindi, do it, sure, but that attack & season would da been better spent as the E/R war & the start of the planetary alliance that would become the UFP!
Allegedly, if ENT had gotten a 5th season, it would've been the Romulan War arc. I believe in the novelizations of ENT the war is covered.
Where can I find the article by Jay Manning on which this video is based?
Can you put a link to part 1 in the description?
If any of you enjoyed this video and want to support Trekspertese, I would also recommend you look at the channel Steve Shives. He just did a video essay on this same topic.
ua-cam.com/video/OykhNN25aVk/v-deo.html
Both Steve Shives and Trekspertese have great Star Trek videos. As a Star Trek fan, support them both!
The caption at 12:55 says Star Trek: Discovery which should be Enterprise. Awesome video
Yea. One always slips through :(
Brilliant Video Essay !!! I have to say to the current creators of the Star Trek Universe. Bring back the MACOs.
Thanks for watching!
Idris Elba was GREAT in Star Trek Beyond. His speech? I felt that.
Watching the people running and covered in soot and ash is surreal. And considering the modern health effects we are seeing even today? That is just scary. No other words can be said.
I liked the Xindi Allegory throughout, but the most damning is the NSA/Section 31 parallels.
Part three? Please? No?
Well that is okay I love you anyway.
Maybe a part three is possible. Just have to see where Trek goes next.
Come to think about it, after the events of Star Trek: Picard Season 1. On how the Federation realize that it was a Romulan cult who did the attack on Mars. There’s a possibility that some people in the Federation would think of Romulans as Terrorist. And most likely some racist tendency of humans against Romulans in the Second season of PIC..
There’s certainly an idea. We can assume, based on Federation resistance to saving the Romulans, that many species were already racist against them to begin with.
Need more of your content
Working hard to make more!
3 months for the 2nd half of a video to drop. Thats got to be some kind of record.
It takes time to craft artisanal, organic video content. Water and patience ;)
@@Trekspertise it was worth waiting.
What is surprising is that you did not cower away form touching a narrative that most Americans do not agree with. That is why free speech is protected in US constitution, the underlying principle is that the majority is not necessarily right. A minority could be the bearer of truth, American revolutionaries were a minority at first. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, a 122 year old colony of the USA, and can relate to much of what is discussed here.
The domain name redirects to this UA-cam channel. Where exactly is part 1?
ua-cam.com/video/qtq8eYpqRCg/v-deo.html
The question of terrorism as a means to an end will probably be explored again, the Capitol attack last week has sparked another inflection point in American history. This is a problem within the US own domestic concepts of freedom, liberty, and fairness. Societal issues are coming into conflict and there are extremist again rising to the challenge with terrorist tactics.
Great video, I know a lot of people like myself have been so unhappy with the injection of politics in current Trek but Enterprise season 3 was the "right" way to take contemporary world events and adapt it into sci-fi in a proper way. The fact the Xindi weren't 100% evil and were being manipulated while also show division in their factions was really well done.
As much as I love the optimistic future in TOS and TNG, I find Trek to be more daring when they do a Xindi or Dominion arc where the Federation is on the back foot and diplomacy just isn't cutting it. I wish they got Manny Coto/Ira Steven Behr to do the Klingon War in Discovery and the Romulans in Picard.
Also, I recall hearing that the Suliban were named after the Taliban, but the Suliabn weren't great villains.
DS9 is my favorite, partly because of the long arcs and great character development, partly because of the darker themes. Moral issues are greyer on the frontier.
Oh hey it's Mr. Krabs lol
Isn't that the point of the resultant Federation, to stop military behaviors however any wars there maybe? However they are couched? Current doings are presented in the clip. The Country of Afghanistan is about ready to fall, perhaps the war there was a religious war all along? I gather that for some there certainly have that point of view. It might be interesting to note that the folks there and are fighting in are richly financed. By whom? Perhaps that might be the real question to ask.
Birmingham native here again, fun fact, the biggest white separatist militia racist I ever knew growing up was in fact named John Frederick Paxton. Always thought that was surreal when the episode originally aired.
Hello Bham!
I am pleased you explore this subject. The many perspectives on why groups and individuals commit these actions. But, I found that many of situations where US Government or military involved with other countries. especially in Mideast, the American people never get whole truth. Beyond the Drumbeats about Democracy, Or humanitarian support there's hidden agenda. Many of countries USA involved with has something we want, either resources or leadership claims want form a democratic government. Yet, it's individual Kings, Prime Ministers or Presidents with own personal agendas. We know how that has turned out.
I think it's time Hollywood stopped influencing itself with 9/11 sentiment. We get it, it was awful, but try to step away from what you felt because of it, and dip your toe into the other side, at least know what it was like for us here in the so called third world. Or just abandon the whole terrorism notion altogether. Find something new and better to fixate on. Perhaps nobility, humility and other personality aspects, all as interpreted by a certain group's collective mythos. It definitely would be great to see Star Trek Discover deal with such a topic, considering he upcoming season 3.
Just wait. For at least the next decade, or more, all you're going to get are pandemic related, or flavored, stories, along with possibly social equality ones as well.
They may be hidden under various other subtexts, but they'll be about the 'Rona or the protests.
@@Corbomite_Meatballs Problem is, we already had the Genophage in Voyager.
Art is a response to reality. The solution is simple.
Just cancel terrorism in reality and art will follow suit.
Yes!
Huzzah!
and don't forget about Terran-ism
Yes, that's an important part in this discussion. This is clearly a statement against right wing politics and terrorists who act in a racist way.
You tagged "Desert Crossing" as being an episode of ST Discover; you may want to change that.
One always slips through. Unfortunately, nothing can be changed.
Enterprise got actualy realy good (and meaningfull) just before it got axed.
star trek is deep as sam harris rediscovering utilitarianism.
Clancy brown is always good.
❤️❤️❤️