Captain Kirk and the Starship Imperialism

Last week, J1 participated in his first high school debate. Well, his first official debate I should say, because that child came out of the womb debating with me.

The question at hand was "Is it wrong for one country to force change upon another?", or more directly "Is Imperialism Evil?".

When he told me the topic, my liberal-leaning-knee-jerk reaction was "Hell YEAH it's wrong", and then J1 informed me that he had been assigned the "Hell YEAH it's right" stance. Well, shit, that made me have to think.

So I had to stage a full debate on the topic, in my head, representing both sides, which is the kind of thing I do for a hobby. Here's what I came up with: Star Trek.

Yes, that's right, it can all be summed up through your choice of any Star Trek episode. Once again, everything I know, I learned on TV.

The number one rule "The Federation" always had, that all Starship explorers must abide, is that "YOU CAN NOT CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY of ANY CIVILIZATION YOU VISIT!!".

Well, like anybody on Star Trek could ever follow that rule. In the end, Captain Kirk could never help himself. All the time beaming in and out, laser stunning any threatening inhabitants, saving planets from exploding, and hitting on women. Some intervention for good, some intervention for not so good. It's a fine line.

So I call my BFF RWC, who is always willing to join the current debate inside my head. He knows enough about Star Trek to have an opinion, but not enough to have the "Space, a final frontier" speech memorized in full, thus avoiding the official Trekkie input. Those Trekkie's get too emotional to discuss imperialism.

The first point RWC makes is "Well, it wouldn't be very good television if all they did was sit around observing."

True that.

Then RWC says "It's impossible to go anywhere and not somehow force change, even when you don't mean to. If I wear a pair of pants with pockets, and the indigenous people have never seen pockets, then I could very well force change."

And, of course, he's right. The change of adding pockets to clothing isn't just a fashion statement. The real impact is on how they think ergonomically and it spreads to other applications.

Here's my conclusion: If you don't want to force change, you better not ever leave home. If you go to the rain forest, that plane you arrive on will force the culture to have an airport. If you save dying children, you force change in the cultures destiny. The Allies certainly forced change on Nazi Germany, a point that J1 so brilliantly made.

Still, forcing religious change is a horrible thing. That's a whole different level. Once again, so many shades of grey.

So there you have it, I'm even closer to the middle of the road than ever. Imperialism is such an ugly word, can't we just say "humanitarianism".