by Frank Jones
-----
According to Bush administration neocons, especially top-dogs like Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, the United States was attacked on 9/11 for no reason at all, and the United States was then forced into an unfortunate war of necessity.
We had to invade the middle-east hunting down the terrorists and killing them. We had to hunt down the weapons of mass destruction, before these superweapons could be used to kill millions of innocent Americans. We had to fight them there, so that we didn't have to fight them on the homefront.
Everyone else was either for us or against us.
Apparently, Jonathan Archer and his crew did what the United States could not do. They won the War on Terror. After Earth survived an unprovoked attack by the mysterious Xindi, the NX-01 entered the expanse, hunting down the WMD and bringing justice to the victims' families. Along the way, it was OK for the noble captain to torture suspected terrorists, so long as he got vital information about the secret locations of the WMD. It was also OK to strand a helpless crew in space, because the Enterprise needed their warp coil.
Every questionable decision and immoral deed could be justified simply by stating, "Earth is in immediate danger. Terrorists are out to kill our people." If Starfleet had signed a Geneva Conventions with the Vulcans and Andorians, it probably wouldn't have applied. An attack on the homeland justified anything.
Archer never had to answer for his crimes. But then again, neither did Cheney or Rumsfeld. It's a shame, but make no mistake about who the real victim of Archer was: Star Trek, which can no longer claim to represent a progressive or enlightened view of humanity's future. Instead, we'll see more of the same. While their movie night showed bad B-movies from the 1960s, our Star Trek will be catered to the lowest common denominator.
Pass the popcorn.
(The views expressed in this article are solely those of its writer. Trekdom invites readers to submit critiques or counter-arguments)
-----------
Comments
----------
