A Vegan's View of Star Trek

The first passion I have in my life is Star Trek. It shows with ridiculous costumes and strange aliens that there is so much intelligence that people can go beyond 60 hairstyles and flashy uniforms to get to the message. It helps me when my parents fight, it gives me a break from being a teenager, you name it. Star Trek taught me about ethics, tolerance, and more ... Many fans can relate to it. Star Trek fans are, in fact, my first "family." They took me in and welcomed me, thus reducing my own social isolation and meeting my first Vegetarian and vegan friends. That was the early 90s.

Thirty years later, I am a passionate and relentless vegan. It is my lifestyle, my raison d're. I think veganism of the human path must be taken to grow spiritually, physically, mentally. It's the only way we can continue on this planet. So how did Star Trek get into this?

On the occasion of Star Trek's 25th anniversary: ​​The Next Generation, I felt compelled to revisit my old favorites and see how my perception had changed (or not and I realize, I'm older!). It is fair to say that the vegan vision of the world is not as covered by the constant lies of the food industry, the pharmaceutical industry, politicians buying their corporations and their cohorts and the general public in all societies as most non-vegetarians. ' Even liberals, with their progressive ideas about the environment, health care, women's rights, and so forth, fail, for the most part, to see the connection between what is on their plate and the movement they are fighting for.

I feel compelled to revisit Star Trek over the years and am surprised to find that the first season of ST: TNG contains this line from First Officer William Riker (played by Jonathan Frakes): "We no longer enslave animals for food purposes"How did I ever miss this line? Last time I saw episode (" Lonely Among Us "Season 1), I was still a conditioned eater and did not know about animal cruelty, the environment or the cost of snacks The original title of this blog was" Why we don't connect the point when we have the facts "I can still write. But I feel more inclined to go into the mythology of Star Trek and how its creator Gene Roddenberry influenced both of his creations. What I realized was how much of his philosophy I did not attack Rick Berman who produced Next Generation and Star Trek together: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise, but something along the way was lost or put next to it.

Gene Roddenberry created Mr. Spock and allowed actor Leonard Nimoy to help him develop his personality and culture. The Vulcans continue to evolve into a graceful, delicious and logical civilization that is still a favorite among fans. However, in Star Trek: Enterprise, a clear attempt was made to tarnish their work ethic, which really bothered many fans including myself and for no purpose (but that is a long story). According to the original show, Vulcans are vegan (or at least Vegetarians, they were never explicitly mentioned in the original show despite T & Pol's (Enterprise) being known as Vegetarians) and they are not driven by their emotions either. It is interesting to note that eating meat is associated with aggression and violence. Therefore, it makes sense that the Vulcans, who are lovers of peace and diplomats, would be Vegan or Vegetarians. Gene Roddenberry was a Buddhist AND a Vegetarian and that certainly reflects how the Vulcan people were created. They follow logical codes intended to embrace all forms of life but they see everything with detachment and peace. This is not the same as Buddhist ideals and commitment to animals. It was later revealed that Gene was a visionary. Fans called Gene Roddenberry "The Great Bird of the Galaxy".

She embraces women's rights too. In Star Trek's first pilot, "The Cage", (with Jeffrey Hunter, a pilot rejected by the network as too "cerebral"), women wore pants, not mini skirts. Captain Pike's first officer (Jeffrey Hunter) is a woman (Maj. Barrett). The original pilot was more visionary than the second pilot with Kirk. Mini-hairstyles and silly hairstyles appeared in Pilot # 2 (with Shatner) but Gene managed to keep a woman on the bridge (and the Africans!) But he was limited to 60 conventions and television networks. He had liberal ideas and even included a Russian (Communist) on his bridge in season two (Chekov played by Walter Koenig). This is also the first TV show that is multi-racial and inclusive, though still sexist. The only two animals mentioned as potential food in the show are when a mysterious teenager turns a fake turkey into a real one (according to the cook) to turn Captain Kirk and Tribbles (remembering the cute furry nightmare?) To attack Kirk's newly created chicken sandwich by a replica machine (and therefore no animal has ever been killed for eating). At the show, the food looked more like small pieces of starch or plastic than anything else. It doesn't look very appetizing but it is clearly cruelty!

The long-term effects of the original show are linked to progressive, visionary and inclusive ideas that actually didn't make the show successful in the first run as it might have been too early (still in some ways if you ignored the show's appearance and sexual prejudice). It was like being given a secret message, sleeping with it, only to wake up a few years later and realize what it meant.

Let's move forward a century later. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gen created more visions. Women eventually become active participants, not just second to men, more species are represented. We still see mini skirts on the crew but some guys also wear them (which, I think, is a cold flip flap). However, come out the Vulcans who are characters or secondary symbols and enter into a quieter and enlightened man .. or is it? Yes, we know from the beginning that 24th-century humans no longer enslaved animals for food. But can they resolve the complexity of their superiority over the animal kingdom? the answer is no. Gene Roddenberry became ill in the early 90s (around the 2nd or 3rd season of the show - he passed away in 1991) and it's clear that, although he maintained his status as a creator and executive producer, he was too sick to keep it going. the ideology of the season and co-producer Rick Berman is clearly more responsible as the heir apparent. Once the show enters season two, we see Riker cooking eggs (foreign but still eggs) that are not computer generated (he said so) but from real animals. Of course, I think, these are computers made of unrealistic eggs, but no, unfortunately, they are real. Worse, in another episode, Enterprise rescues colonists who return to "easier" times and raise livestock (reminding captive farmers called today). Poor pigs (attached to ropes), chickens and husks (in cages) arrive on the boat (the animal cruelty question on the set doesn't seem to be the issue) and again we see that humans are not learning to live without animal exploitation . I do not suggest, by the way, that Rick Berman allowed this change to occur as there were many people involved in the plan but he was one of the main producers and clearly did not care about ethical issues of animals.

What happens not to exploit animals for food? Oh, sorry, it's just confinement which means they get rid of CAFOs but not the idea of ​​exploiting animals to a certain extent (human or not). In another two-season episode, we see Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) riding a horse (reminiscent of his horse trip with Captain Kirk in Generation) and both he and Councilor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) referring to the horse (hologram) as just one thing (not once did they discuss the animal as a living being, even though it is holographic) quite a lot during the whole conversation. Picard acknowledged that he needed friendship and that the horse he was riding. Troi even said: "I never thought of you as an animal". Is the 24th century still unclear whether animals are more than animals or food? If the show doesn't have so many great stories, I don't think I can tell it and keep watching it as I did in my lost days. Star Trek Beauty: The next generation is the character driver to grow, grow and learn. And they do it well (by 21st century standards) but they can do more. Did the ship's doctor forget to tell Riker how bad Eggs are for his cholesterol? What about the white bread sandwich that Picard ate to Wesley Crusher (Will Weaton)? Don't they learn about diets? (ok, that's a TV show, I keep forgetting, the 24th century with the 20th century mind, blah blah blah).

As this technology advances the 24th century society, I think they find pills to cure cholesterol that are too high, which, as now, do not attract people to improve their diet. But it must be better though. If, as they say at the exhibition, humans no longer starve, consumption of HAD meat will be reduced and the Animal Husbandry be abolished. There is no road around it. But it was never mentioned, so I'm just guessing based on the facts we know today. The fact of the matter is that I have never seen a fat person or a stranger (except a criminal, who brings stereotypical ideas in a bad way). One of Star Trek's tendencies is secular (and I'm not against it). There is no God in honor except God of science. As Dr. Will Tuttle argues that in the World Safety Diet, science and religion are two conflicting siblings that are also fundamentally behind animal exploitation. Fortunately, the show's writers often raise questions that the tech-obsessed community is not aware of. However, they emphasize respect for eternal forms of life and forget about life forms from our own planet. Species in our own backyard: planet Earth, but tolerant of others: aliens. This way, I'm not attacking ST: TNG especially, I'm just watching the show right now, so this scene is fresh in my mind. I really think that Deep Space Nine is more in the wrong direction with their Ferengi capitalism, Klingon violence and, worse, the fact that the Federation is corrupt! But it's a long story.

Sometimes, though, there is an outline and it reminds us that the ghost of Gene Roddenberry is still wandering around the show. On Star Trek: Enterprise Pilots, T & # 39; Pol (eventually Vulcan female and played well by Jolene Blalock) tells Captain Archer (Scott Bakula): "Humans claim to be an enlightened species, yet they still eat meat." I go "mess!" so he gets a verbal response on Vegan's face by the human response from Trip Tucker (Connor Trineer): "Never judge a species for what it eats". (facepalms). It's like the creator of a show that wants to make sure that the Vulcans are Vegetarians, but that doesn't matter in the end. However, in the previous episode, new efforts were made in that direction. The company is facing Vulcans who are emotionally abusive and eat meat in front of a very disappointed T & Pol. However, the writers of the episode understood Vulcan ethics and at the end of the episode it was revealed that these emotional Vulcans (however liked by them in the Enterprise) were also vicious. Captain Archer had to admit that Pol & Vulcans of other logic "had a point" and admitted to him that he had never understood it before, but now he finally did. We clearly see that strong emotions can lead to violence and aggressive people love animal meat. There is a glimmer of insights that led to what Gene Roddenberry did in the 60's. Too bad they didn't chase after him. I think the crew was less developed because the show was supposed to be in the 22nd century and therefore before Kirk and Spock. But come on! We hope to evolve just as much history shows, we have the Third World War and the post-apocalyptic Earth.

Sometimes, I wonder if terrorism is the only thing humans really understand. The latest massacre (Aurora) is a reminder that hatred, child trafficking, promoting gun violence (constitutionally or otherwise - Americans need to grow out of it), forcing children to die, and thus teach them that life are cheap born with the desire to kill and eat other animals or they will kill cats and dogs, they are born vegan but are taught to be addicted to meat and dairy) with the help of violent media and competition will take us everywhere as civilization. However, fostering compassion, care, respect, inclusion (including and especially participation of other beings), life education (including diet, proper sexual education versus abstinence and life skills) and cooperation to turn it into a smart adult is that Gene Roddenberry's vision is only a dream and not a reality for our future. Then I was reminded that there is a potential for us all to grow and learn to become better people like Picard and Co. That's the legacy of Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek: growth and learning potential. Now I wonder if vegan will one day come up with a great fictional science show with a real vegan perspective. Imagine what could have happened: The Earth was not overpowered, there was no exploitation of animals and animals living as nature intended, humans did not die from preventable diseases or starvation, cities filled with trees, plants, gardens, farmers markets as the norm, pollution-free cars and other modes of transportation, people walking, taking life, looking healthy and content, REAL art everywhere, no advertising ... Oh, I'm sorry, it's called Utopia.

If the world were to be created, we, as vegan, would have to be examples to others. We cannot preach to others, we can only educate them. A recent study revealed that when opinion reached 10% of the population, a shift occurred that made it more acceptable to the entire population. We have 7.5 million vegan in the US alone. It is about 2% of the population I believe. Let's continue this amount until the transition takes place. If the number can multiply in just 3 years, there is no reason not to be four, etc ... By the way, we don't need a replicator to replace animal meat, we have Torfurkey! For the vegan future!

------------------