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Audacity of Truth
Gaffetastic:
Vice President Joe Biden had his “oops” moment Wednesday speaking in a 49er-crazed SF when he told a crowd at a city political fundraiser that “the Giants are on their way to the Super Bowl.” - SF Chronicle, 1-18-12
A starry-eyed view of politics
And I don’t mean starry-eyed as in “Oh my goodness, there’s Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie!” but instead starry-eyed as in literally looking at two mega-successful galactic movie enterprises (no pun intended – or maybe it was 
) from a political standpoint: Star Trek and Star Wars.
John Hood, president of the non-profit independent North Carolina think tank John Locke Foundation, reposted last month a piece he had originally written back in 2002 about how Star Trek is liberal, while Star Wars is conservative. Here’s a snippet:
• In the future world of Star Trek, money and capitalism are treated in a negative light. At several points in both the television series and the films, an addled Gene Roddenberry tried to insert in the story that money itself had been disinvented, but this ludicrous premise didn’t even work in fiction and was discarded. Instead, those engaged in free enterprise are portrayed as evil, ruthless, and physically revolting — the stooping, big-eared, and sniveling Ferengi race of The Next Generation being a kind of psychological projection of how Roddenberry and other Star Trek creators see the world of business.
In Star Wars, on the other hand, two of the main heroes — Han Solo and Lando Calrissian — are present or former smugglers and businessmen. In “The Empire Strikes Back” Lando is employed as the administrator of a mining colony that thrives by being outside the taxing and regulatory authority of the evil Empire. Later, in “The Phantom Menace” an attempt by the Trade Federation to tax and monopolize interplanetary commerce turns out to be part of a nefarious conspiracy to overthrow the Galactic Republic.
Check it out in its entirety and discuss in the comments 
I wish I possessed the creativity to compose something about how voter registration drives would be portrayed in either Star Trek or Star Wars! LOL …
Also – if you’re a North Carolina resident, make sure to bookmark both the John Locke Foundation site as well as Carolina Journal. While it’s the national news that attracts the most attention, it’s important to also keep our eyes on what’s happening in our own backyards. That’s where it all starts.
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14 Responses to “A starry-eyed view of politics”
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I’ve been a die-hard Trek fan since I was about seven years old, even though it’s thoroughly liberal. I just think it’s been some compelling story telling.
Conversely, I’ve always been somewhat surprised that Star Wars is as conservative as it is, especially considering how George Lucas is just a screaming liberal.
Within the Star Trek universe, it occurs to me that a “voter registration drive” would contain an element of conspiracy. The Romulans would play the part of the Republicans and the vote within the Federation would likely be based on either Ohio or West Palm Beach county. The valiant crew of the Starship Enterprise (or the Defiant or the Voyager), would swoop in–in the nick of time–to preserve the order humanity has evolved to.
In Star Wars, the voter registration drive would be the something the Rebellion (along with Han and Lando, although I prefer Natalie Portman
) would be fighting for and the Empire would be trying to take away as many rights as possible—keeping the galaxy under their thumb.
That said, I’ll still be watching Captain Kirk at 11pm EDT.
~WS~
Harlan Ellison, one of my favorite writers, wrote the script for “City On The Edge Of Forever,” which is perhaps the most fameous original Star Trek episode (the one with Joan Collins). In it, the entire crisis is started by Dr. McCoy accidentally injecting himself with a massive dose of a medication he just used a small amount of to save a crew member, and the side effects are delusions and paranoia. In the original Ellison story, it was a crew member dealing a dangerous drug onboard. Roddenberry told Ellison “this is the future, people don’t do drugs” to which Ellison reportedly replied “Yeah right.” The original script by Ellison was much much more realistic and darker, but it was apparently too much for Roddenberry’s pollyanna approach to the future.
Soooo if Star Wars is Conservative, then the good guys, would be Republicans. The evil guys would be Democrats. Yeah I can live with that. It is pretty true too. The Empire(Dems) want to control everything, and tax you into outer space, then there is the whole bigger government thing a.k.a. The Empire.
Meanwhile back on the farm the poor Reps are scraping out a living trying to provide a needed product to the people, and along comes the Empire(Dems) killing our families, and chasing after some stupid plans. Yeah that sounds about right. 
I tell ya, you just can’t make this stuff up. – Lorica
OMG I just thought of something. Could you see Hillary as Darth Vader, and ST as the Princess??? Where do I get a Ticket?!?!?! – Lorica
Lorica, my only stipulation in that is that I not be made by producers to wear my hair like Princess Leia. Other than that …
*sigh* Wear your hair anyway you wish!
In the future world of Star Trek, money and capitalism are treated in a negative light. At several points in both the television series and the films, an addled Gene Roddenberry tried to insert in the story that money itself had been disinvented, but this ludicrous premise didn’t even work in fiction and was discarded.
It is true that Roddenberry was a pink-squeak, although his socialist proclivities never prevented him from cashing those fat checks he received from NBC and Paramount. But give the man his due – he had the foresight to cast ultra-uberbabe Nichelle Nichols in the role of Uhura and dress her in a fetching miniskirt “uniform” for most of the episodes in the original series.
Check out her website – she is still heart-stopping beautiful!
According to the authority granted to me by the Order of War-Luvin’ Chickenhawks of America, I hereby pardon Gene Roddenberry.
You My Dear can wear your hair anyway you desire.
I like blondes in pony tails, maybe sort of an “I Dream of Genie” look. 
– Lorica
Actually, both Star Trek and Star Wars are pretty lefty. But here is why I think conservatives will prefer the original Star Trek to Star Wars:
33 Reasons Why Uhura Is The Galactic Babe And Padmé Is Just Celestial Eye Candy (And Why Star Trek Is Better Than Star Wars)
1. Uhura: Star Fleet Officer. Padmé: Ex-Queen and current Senator. Set phasers on disintegrate, Mr. Sulu!
2. Uhura: Attended Star Fleet Academy (Communications Engineering). Padmé: Attended some galactic women’s college and probably has a degree in Xenogender Studies.
3. Uhura: Shuttling from unexplored planet to unexplored planet. Padmé: Shuttling from Naboo to Coruscant to Naboo to Coruscant to ……..
4. Be honest, ladies – who would you rather have guard your back if you were stranded on a planet filled with atomic mutant 30-foot human-eating giant cockroaches with PMS?
5. Be honest, gentlemen – who would you rather kiss for a couple of million light-years?
6. Uhura: Low, silky voice. Padmé: High, squeaky voice.
7. Uhura has prettier eyes.
8. Uhura has prettier hair styles.
9. Uhura has better clothes.
10. Uhura has beautiful skin.
11. Aw, heck – Uhura has a better bod, period!
12. Padmé never faced the menace of the Romulans.
13. Or the Klingons.
14. Or the Prime Directive.
15. Or the management of NBC.
16. Can Padmé speak Swahili?
17. Can she use a phaser?
18. Or the transporter?
19. Uhura: Has tribbles as pets and loves to stroke them.
20. Padmé: She is a tribble (Hmmm …. interesting mental image forming …. best to move on).
21. Uhura resisted the testosterone-marinated Captain Kirk during a five-year voyage.
22. Padmé could not resist the airhead pretty-boy Dark Lord of the Sith for five minutes.
23. Uhura slapped the evil phaser-wielding Sulu and forced him to back down just by waving a knife in his face.
24. Padmé whined while her airhead pretty-boy Dark Lord of the Sith hubby tried to croak her.
25. Best romantic line: Padmé – “You’re breaking my heart.” Uhura – “Hailing frequencies open, Captain.”
26. Best come-on line: Padmé – “Hold me like you did on Naboo.” Uhura – “This isn’t reality – it’s fantasy!”
27. Uhura: The U.S.S. Enterprise. Padmé: A B2-looking space-plane thingamajig.
28. Typical planet: Uhura РThe City on the Edge of Forever. Padm̩ РNaboo.
29. Uhura: The library computer on the Enterprise. Padmé: C3P0.
30. Uhura: The Federation. Padmé: The Republic.
31. Uhura: The Vulcans. Padmé: The Ewoks.
32. Uhura: The Horta. Padmé: More Ewoks.
33. Uhura: Boldly Goes Where No Man Has Gone Before. Padmé: Did I mention the Ewoks?
Lets see…. In Star trek, the laser cube addition stardate 5412.32, the evil NeoCon Prandigon war scouts are sent out on election day, to jam balloting computers, transport them to abandoned planets, or change Dem votes to Republican. After the election, The UberSpace DNC demands several 1000 real time recounts ,and appeal to the Inter-Galactic Federation over voter irregulaties in 135 out of 136 Planitary precints. The vote is decided to be fair by 35 of the Conservative judges on the galactic SCOTUS, causing several of the Liberal furingi. Decendents of Howard Dean, Al Gore, and Nancy pelosi, to declare the election “stolen” for the next thousand years, While Jim ‘Captin sKerry, losing Uber-Liberal candidate, scours the galaxy for a rich Dilithium mine owner, in her late 50′s and loaded, to marry. Al “Proctonious” Gore proves to everyones astonishment, that light is the reason mankind can see things.
- In Star Wars – Episode 12,314, Hons Bush, 65th great grandson of the great GW, would pull out a very close win for Inter-Galactic president, over Skerri wonKerry, 64th great grand daughter of JF, by a scant 1 billion votes, out of the 12 trillion voters on 136 planets, in spite of early MegaPEW exit polls showing Skerri the clear winner. Howie Gobi-DonDean tries to take over the podium at the innaugration, and gets Light Sabered by an irate Ann KanobiCoulter. Al BetaGore, one of the losing candidates because he declared himself inventor of fire, regains prominence when he discovers the famous “collapsing universe” impending disaster. He calms down when Ann explains to him that his idea is true, but he’ll have to wait 5 billion years to see it happen. Hons Bush later finds out he’s the illigitimate love child of Sean ConservHannity and Cindy AntiSpaceSheehan, and quits politics for good, seetling down on the huge Planet Texas, where he spends his final 433 years arguing with AlphaClinton Bill, over the true meaning of “is”, and how to pronounce the word “nuclear”.
- Bang
I can understand the hair thing, but how about that outfit Carrie Fisher wore when in Jabba’s custody? The thought of it spins my head.
Actually both the Star Wars and Star Trek are entertaining at the most but I would have to say that there are digs on Conservative values in them both, I would have to say that both programs and movies are pretty much a Liberal concoction portraying the imoral values of the Liberal party and making the Conservative values out as something of a neanderthalistic by they’re very mention.
So I would have to say that both are proporting Liberal Biases.
Mwalimu, I take it you’re a big Uhura fan?
Incidentally, for the conTrekkies who are interested, the first “teaser poster” for Star Trek XI (helmed by JJ Abrams, creator of “Lost” and “Alias”) was released today.
LINK