Complex intergalactic politics

Liberty-minded 52-year-old businessman Peter Thiel advises Donald Trump’s government.

When asked if he likes Star Trek or Star Wars, PayPal’s founder says the former is a communist and the latter is a capitalist: of course he likes Star Wars.

Thiel’s response raises eternal questions: Is Star Trek communist? Can Star Wars be capitalist? Since ‘Star Trek: The Original Series’ (1966-69) on television and ‘Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope’ (1977) in cinema, the answer to both has been debated.

At the end of this text, we will discuss how pop culture perception has changed.

Leave the preambles and ask…

Gene Roddenberry imagined a utopia where humanity overcomes all social problems after World War III, post-nuclear horror, and contact with extraterrestrial races in Star Trek.

Star Trek has no wars except with other belligerent alien species like the Romulans, Klingons, or Borg, and racism and sexism are gone. Personal growth drives people. The United Federation of Planets is democratically centralised. Money is absent from daily life.

How is that possible? According to Rick Webb, economist and author of the most consistent theory, the Star Trek economy is post-scarcity.

Due to limited natural resources, humans have developed various economic systems. Due to our incarceration on Earth, this is unlikely to change.

What if technology made production efficient? What if anything could be made anytime? What if Universe exploration made natural resources unlimited?

Before discussing post-scarcity economics and Federation politics, we should avoid aesthetics, which will distract us. Many texts argue that Star Trek’s Spartan lifestyle proves communism. It’s not.

Star Trek had a small budget and designed a clean, uniform future with empty and underused spaces. This cliché from B-series productions allowed something to be set in the distant future with little money and be recognised instantly.

Star Trek was also a Cold War pacifist response. In the 1960s, shame and hidden resentment diluted the anti-communist witch hunt, but communism was still unpopular. Star Trek could not appear communist.

Finally, Star Trek sends messages and represents other ideologies without subtlety. Despite having the scripts written by leading sci-fi writers like Harlan Ellison or Richard Matheson, Roddenberry always rewrote to ensure coherence and, I imagine, to highlight any double interpretations.

In other words, Star Trek used metaphors crudely. People may have had different ways of living and dealing with conflict, but the aliens in the saga were one-dimensional, which is racism when you try to make allegories of other cultures.

In the 1960s, shame and hidden resentment diluted the anti-communist witch-hunt, but communism was still unpopular.
After the first film, the Klingons changed from ugly Asians with slanted eyes and dark skin to communists and feudal lords; the Vulcans are a futuristic and meticulously organised Eastern society that suppresses feelings; and the Ferengi are a derogatory representation of the Space Jew trope.

Complex intergalactic politics

Liberty-minded 52-year-old businessman Peter Thiel advises Donald Trump’s government.

By triji

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