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"ah Hates Spock Cuz Of That Thar Obammuh Likes Im!"
mhirtesc
Member Posts: 581 Arc User
Insert Picard facepalm pic here.
http://freebeacon.com/columns/i-dont-love-spock/ (WARNING!: RIGHT WING NUTBAG SITE!)
Posting article here so you won't have to feed this goon any clicks:
I Dont Love Spock
Column: President Obamas favorite Star Trek character is an appeasing arrogant jerk
BY: Matthew Continetti
March 6, 2015 5:00 am
I loved Spock, said President Obama, reacting to the death of actor Leonard Nimoy. Why? Because Spock reminds him of himself. The galaxys most famous Vulcan, the president wrote, was Cool, logical, big-eared, and level headed, the center of Star Treks optimistic, inclusive vision of humanitys future. Just like you know whom.
The president is not the only writer who has drawn comparisons between himself and Spock. I am also a Star Trek fan, but I admit I was somewhat confused by my rather apathetic reaction to Nimoys death. And as I thought more about the presidents statement, I realized he identifies with the very aspects of the Spock character that most annoy me. I dont love Spock at all.
Not only do Spocks peacenik inclinations routinely land the Enterprise and the Federation into trouble, his logic and level head mask an arrogant emotional basket case. Unlike the superhuman android Data, a loyal officer whose deepest longing is to be human, Spock spends most of his life as a freelancing diplomat eager to negotiate with the worst enemies of Starfleet. Hes the opposite of a role model: a cautionary tale.
Spock cares only for himself. He returns to the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) only because he believes the superior intelligence of Vger might help him finally purge all human elements from his soul. True, he sacrifices himself for the good of the ship in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), but Spocks renunciation of self is not as total as we are led to believe. He knows he has a fallback position. He knocks out McCoy andwithout the doctors consenttransfers part of his consciousness to his old friend.
The crew then spends the following two movies breaking countless regulations to bring Spock back to life. They steal the Enterprise, illegally pilot it out of Space Dock, trespass on the Genesis planet, blow up the Enterprise, hijack a bird-of-prey and kill its entire crew, take the stolen Klingon vessel to Vulcan, and return to Earth despite a travel ban imposed by the president of the Federation at the beginning of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Illustrating the absurdly liberal future envisioned by Gene Rodenberry, where there is no money or human want or, apparently, rule of law, despite all of these crimes Kirk and Spock and company are rewarded with a brand new ship at the end of the fourth film.
Spock is the reason Sybok captures this just-off-the-assembly-line Enterprise in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and comes very close to delivering it to an insane, frightening god entity that sounds like Orson Welles. Most damning to his reputation, however, has got to be the mess Spock creates in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Unbeknownst to his best friend, Spock has taken up secret negotiations with the Federations mortal enemy, the Klingon Empire, to dismantle the neutral zone and end the military dimension of Starfleet. Then Spock decides the best person to accompany the Klingon high chancellor to a galactic peace conference is Kirk, whom the Klingons despise (in the words of the great John Schuck: There shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives!) and who hates them in return. What a brilliant idea.
Furthermore, Spock volunteers Kirk for the job without the captains permission. His decision thoughtlessly plays into the hands of the interstellar conspiracy to foment war between the Federation and the Klingons, because the plots leaders see Kirk as the perfect fall guy for the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon.
Spocks ethnocentrism, combined with illogical romantic attraction, leads him to promote one of the conspirators, Lieutenant Valeris, to a bridge position wherefrom she manipulates the investigation into Gorkons death, conceals evidence, and murders two co-conspirators. Some judge of character, that Spock.
Then, when Kirk surrenders himself to General Chang, Spock plants a ridiculously conspicuous Viridian Patch on Kirks shoulder so he can trace the captains whereabouts. But he has no need to track Kirk because the captains trial is broadcast across the quadrant and the Klingon judge says specifically where Kirk and McCoy will be imprisoned.
A routine planetary scan of Rura Penthe would have alerted the Enterprise the moment Kirk emerged from the energy shield. Was Spock hoping the Klingons would see the patch and murder him and McCoy for attempting to escape? Well never know.
Kirk eventually figures out the murder mystery and once again saves civilization. But Spocks colossal blunder does not stop him from disappearing from the Federation decades later and turning up on Romulus, where he begins unauthorized negotiations with yet another illiberal adversary of the Federation. This time he has befriended Romulan Senator Pardek, with whom he hopes to arrange for the unification of the Vulcan and Romulan peoples.
But of course Pardek is playing Spock for a fool. Reunification is a guise for an audacious Romulan invasion of Vulcan that draws inspiration from the Soviet taking of Iceland in Red Storm Rising (1986). It is only because the Enterprise-D has been sent to the neutral zone, and Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data have been dispatched to Romulus to locate and secure Spock, that the plot against the Federation is revealed before its too late.
I also find it noteworthy that Commander Sela and Proconsul Neral believe there is a chance that Spock will actively cooperate with their planevidence that the ambassadors loyalties arent clear even to the Romulans. Whats more, despite inadvertently starting yet another war, Spock insists he remain on the home world of the most aggressive and conniving galactic power. In a massive (but unusual) lapse in judgment, Picard agrees.
Amazingly, though, such disastrous negotiations with Klingons and Romulans arent even the worst things Spock does. If we accept Star Trek (2009) as canon then the cool and level-headed Spock is responsible for the destruction not only of his home world and the death of 6 billion Vulcans but of the entire Star Trek timeline that audiences have loved for almost 50 years. As usual, evil happens because Spock is too idealistic, too in thrall to a value-neutral conception of science, to consider the unintended consequences of his actions.
The 2009 movie has a backstory that is complicated and silly, and I am too tired to recount it in detail so you can read a synopsis here. Nevertheless, Star Trek is an enjoyable picture that is revealing of Spocks awfulness. It shows how Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) is tormented, physically and mentally, by the fact that his mother is human, how Mr. Logic is actually a boiling kettle of fury, resentment, passion, and ambition. Spock is a jerk to his girlfriend Uhura (Zoe Saldana), who is way out of his league. He almost kills Kirk (Chris Pine). He is so overcome with emotion he relieves himself from duty in the middle of a huge crisis.
Spock is rude to his father. I never knew what Spock was doing, Sarek (Mark Lenard) tells Picard in Unification 1. When he was a boy, he would disappear for days into the mountains. I would ask him where he had gone, what he had done; hed refuse to tell me. I forbade him to go; he ignored me. Spock and Sarek fight constantly throughout the Trek continuity, despite Sareks offering his son countless diplomatic opportunities that Spock invariably messes up. Then Spock ignores his father for years as Sarek suffers from Bendai Syndrome and dies.
And Obama likes this selfish jerk? The coolness the president so appreciates in Spock is a thin veneer over a remarkably arrogant and off-putting detachment from human suffering. Dr. McCoy, played by the charming DeForest Kelley, bitingly exposed this truth about Spocks nature again and again. Discussing the Genesis Project in Wrath of Khan, for example, Spock lectures McCoy, Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing. Logic suggests
But McCoy wont hear itand hes right. Logic? My God, the mans talking about logic; were taking about universal Armageddon!
All Spock can do is pretentiously raise his famous eyebrow.
Spock is ashamed of his humanity. He flees it. In Star Trek VI Kirk tells Spock, Everyones human. Spock says he finds that sentiment offensive.
My favorite scene in Unification 2: Spock and Data are alone, collaborating on a technical project. Spock muses on the Vulcan aspects of Captain Picard, which Data finds curious because Picard has been a model for his emulation of humanity. Spock cant understand why Data would want to be more human. You have an efficient intellect, superior physical skills, no emotional impediments, he says. There are Vulcans who aspire all their lives to achieve what youve been given by design.
You are half human? Data asks.
Yes, Spock says.
Yet you have chosen a Vulcan way of life?
I have, Spock says.
In effect, says Data, you have abandoned what I have sought all my life.
The two look at each other in silence.
Its in this scene where Datas superiority to Spock is most apparent. Data not only has the mental and physical edge over practically everyone, he is curious and earnest and humane, while Spock is moody, flip, detached, and self-consciously superior. Data wants to fit in, while Spock displaces his anxieties over his bicultural heritage onto his family and work relationships. Datas words and actions are the result of blind unerring computation, while Spock is a creature of inner conflict and envies his famous and high achieving father. Id pick Data over Spock for my first officer any day.
What Leonard Nimoys death revealed is that there is a sizable portion of Trek fans, and of nerds in general, that identifies with Spocks neuroses, his hang-ups, his self-loathing, that are attracted to the cold soulless abstractions through which he views life, who believe in the naïve and ineffective diplomacy in which he so thoughtlessly and recklessly and harmfully engages. I cant help but find this revelation disturbing. One of those fans happens to be the president of the United States who, like Spock, has derided the notion of helping to end the slaughter of the Syrian Civil War as illogical while giving up leverage in his negotiations with Iran. It will take America some time to recover from the legacy of our Spock-loving presidentthough probably not as long as it will take my friends to stop laughing at me for writing this column.
http://freebeacon.com/columns/i-dont-love-spock/ (WARNING!: RIGHT WING NUTBAG SITE!)
Posting article here so you won't have to feed this goon any clicks:
I Dont Love Spock
Column: President Obamas favorite Star Trek character is an appeasing arrogant jerk
BY: Matthew Continetti
March 6, 2015 5:00 am
I loved Spock, said President Obama, reacting to the death of actor Leonard Nimoy. Why? Because Spock reminds him of himself. The galaxys most famous Vulcan, the president wrote, was Cool, logical, big-eared, and level headed, the center of Star Treks optimistic, inclusive vision of humanitys future. Just like you know whom.
The president is not the only writer who has drawn comparisons between himself and Spock. I am also a Star Trek fan, but I admit I was somewhat confused by my rather apathetic reaction to Nimoys death. And as I thought more about the presidents statement, I realized he identifies with the very aspects of the Spock character that most annoy me. I dont love Spock at all.
Not only do Spocks peacenik inclinations routinely land the Enterprise and the Federation into trouble, his logic and level head mask an arrogant emotional basket case. Unlike the superhuman android Data, a loyal officer whose deepest longing is to be human, Spock spends most of his life as a freelancing diplomat eager to negotiate with the worst enemies of Starfleet. Hes the opposite of a role model: a cautionary tale.
Spock cares only for himself. He returns to the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) only because he believes the superior intelligence of Vger might help him finally purge all human elements from his soul. True, he sacrifices himself for the good of the ship in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan (1982), but Spocks renunciation of self is not as total as we are led to believe. He knows he has a fallback position. He knocks out McCoy andwithout the doctors consenttransfers part of his consciousness to his old friend.
The crew then spends the following two movies breaking countless regulations to bring Spock back to life. They steal the Enterprise, illegally pilot it out of Space Dock, trespass on the Genesis planet, blow up the Enterprise, hijack a bird-of-prey and kill its entire crew, take the stolen Klingon vessel to Vulcan, and return to Earth despite a travel ban imposed by the president of the Federation at the beginning of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986). Illustrating the absurdly liberal future envisioned by Gene Rodenberry, where there is no money or human want or, apparently, rule of law, despite all of these crimes Kirk and Spock and company are rewarded with a brand new ship at the end of the fourth film.
Spock is the reason Sybok captures this just-off-the-assembly-line Enterprise in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and comes very close to delivering it to an insane, frightening god entity that sounds like Orson Welles. Most damning to his reputation, however, has got to be the mess Spock creates in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991). Unbeknownst to his best friend, Spock has taken up secret negotiations with the Federations mortal enemy, the Klingon Empire, to dismantle the neutral zone and end the military dimension of Starfleet. Then Spock decides the best person to accompany the Klingon high chancellor to a galactic peace conference is Kirk, whom the Klingons despise (in the words of the great John Schuck: There shall be no peace as long as Kirk lives!) and who hates them in return. What a brilliant idea.
Furthermore, Spock volunteers Kirk for the job without the captains permission. His decision thoughtlessly plays into the hands of the interstellar conspiracy to foment war between the Federation and the Klingons, because the plots leaders see Kirk as the perfect fall guy for the assassination of Chancellor Gorkon.
Spocks ethnocentrism, combined with illogical romantic attraction, leads him to promote one of the conspirators, Lieutenant Valeris, to a bridge position wherefrom she manipulates the investigation into Gorkons death, conceals evidence, and murders two co-conspirators. Some judge of character, that Spock.
Then, when Kirk surrenders himself to General Chang, Spock plants a ridiculously conspicuous Viridian Patch on Kirks shoulder so he can trace the captains whereabouts. But he has no need to track Kirk because the captains trial is broadcast across the quadrant and the Klingon judge says specifically where Kirk and McCoy will be imprisoned.
A routine planetary scan of Rura Penthe would have alerted the Enterprise the moment Kirk emerged from the energy shield. Was Spock hoping the Klingons would see the patch and murder him and McCoy for attempting to escape? Well never know.
Kirk eventually figures out the murder mystery and once again saves civilization. But Spocks colossal blunder does not stop him from disappearing from the Federation decades later and turning up on Romulus, where he begins unauthorized negotiations with yet another illiberal adversary of the Federation. This time he has befriended Romulan Senator Pardek, with whom he hopes to arrange for the unification of the Vulcan and Romulan peoples.
But of course Pardek is playing Spock for a fool. Reunification is a guise for an audacious Romulan invasion of Vulcan that draws inspiration from the Soviet taking of Iceland in Red Storm Rising (1986). It is only because the Enterprise-D has been sent to the neutral zone, and Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data have been dispatched to Romulus to locate and secure Spock, that the plot against the Federation is revealed before its too late.
I also find it noteworthy that Commander Sela and Proconsul Neral believe there is a chance that Spock will actively cooperate with their planevidence that the ambassadors loyalties arent clear even to the Romulans. Whats more, despite inadvertently starting yet another war, Spock insists he remain on the home world of the most aggressive and conniving galactic power. In a massive (but unusual) lapse in judgment, Picard agrees.
Amazingly, though, such disastrous negotiations with Klingons and Romulans arent even the worst things Spock does. If we accept Star Trek (2009) as canon then the cool and level-headed Spock is responsible for the destruction not only of his home world and the death of 6 billion Vulcans but of the entire Star Trek timeline that audiences have loved for almost 50 years. As usual, evil happens because Spock is too idealistic, too in thrall to a value-neutral conception of science, to consider the unintended consequences of his actions.
The 2009 movie has a backstory that is complicated and silly, and I am too tired to recount it in detail so you can read a synopsis here. Nevertheless, Star Trek is an enjoyable picture that is revealing of Spocks awfulness. It shows how Spock (played by Zachary Quinto) is tormented, physically and mentally, by the fact that his mother is human, how Mr. Logic is actually a boiling kettle of fury, resentment, passion, and ambition. Spock is a jerk to his girlfriend Uhura (Zoe Saldana), who is way out of his league. He almost kills Kirk (Chris Pine). He is so overcome with emotion he relieves himself from duty in the middle of a huge crisis.
Spock is rude to his father. I never knew what Spock was doing, Sarek (Mark Lenard) tells Picard in Unification 1. When he was a boy, he would disappear for days into the mountains. I would ask him where he had gone, what he had done; hed refuse to tell me. I forbade him to go; he ignored me. Spock and Sarek fight constantly throughout the Trek continuity, despite Sareks offering his son countless diplomatic opportunities that Spock invariably messes up. Then Spock ignores his father for years as Sarek suffers from Bendai Syndrome and dies.
And Obama likes this selfish jerk? The coolness the president so appreciates in Spock is a thin veneer over a remarkably arrogant and off-putting detachment from human suffering. Dr. McCoy, played by the charming DeForest Kelley, bitingly exposed this truth about Spocks nature again and again. Discussing the Genesis Project in Wrath of Khan, for example, Spock lectures McCoy, Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions. They will be your undoing. Logic suggests
But McCoy wont hear itand hes right. Logic? My God, the mans talking about logic; were taking about universal Armageddon!
All Spock can do is pretentiously raise his famous eyebrow.
Spock is ashamed of his humanity. He flees it. In Star Trek VI Kirk tells Spock, Everyones human. Spock says he finds that sentiment offensive.
My favorite scene in Unification 2: Spock and Data are alone, collaborating on a technical project. Spock muses on the Vulcan aspects of Captain Picard, which Data finds curious because Picard has been a model for his emulation of humanity. Spock cant understand why Data would want to be more human. You have an efficient intellect, superior physical skills, no emotional impediments, he says. There are Vulcans who aspire all their lives to achieve what youve been given by design.
You are half human? Data asks.
Yes, Spock says.
Yet you have chosen a Vulcan way of life?
I have, Spock says.
In effect, says Data, you have abandoned what I have sought all my life.
The two look at each other in silence.
Its in this scene where Datas superiority to Spock is most apparent. Data not only has the mental and physical edge over practically everyone, he is curious and earnest and humane, while Spock is moody, flip, detached, and self-consciously superior. Data wants to fit in, while Spock displaces his anxieties over his bicultural heritage onto his family and work relationships. Datas words and actions are the result of blind unerring computation, while Spock is a creature of inner conflict and envies his famous and high achieving father. Id pick Data over Spock for my first officer any day.
What Leonard Nimoys death revealed is that there is a sizable portion of Trek fans, and of nerds in general, that identifies with Spocks neuroses, his hang-ups, his self-loathing, that are attracted to the cold soulless abstractions through which he views life, who believe in the naïve and ineffective diplomacy in which he so thoughtlessly and recklessly and harmfully engages. I cant help but find this revelation disturbing. One of those fans happens to be the president of the United States who, like Spock, has derided the notion of helping to end the slaughter of the Syrian Civil War as illogical while giving up leverage in his negotiations with Iran. It will take America some time to recover from the legacy of our Spock-loving presidentthough probably not as long as it will take my friends to stop laughing at me for writing this column.
Post edited by mhirtesc on
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This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Plus, he did "cross the streams" once by mixing Star Wars and Star Trek references in a presser, once... something like Darth Vader does the nerve pinch, LOL.
He said nice words about an actor who passed away. Yay. Again, I don't care to hear our president talk about such things, when there's plenty of other things he could focus on. All in all, not a big deal to me.
/politics
Spock was not "big-eared".
His ears were within the normal size range. What he had were pointed ears. "pointed" != "big", Mr. President.
The problem is people often don't see that his character is terribly flawed and the cause of so much trouble.
"You don't have to do something again and again and again repetitive that doesn't have much challange, that's just a general good gameplay thing."
Agreed, and I am a conservative. I am going to like what I want to like.
Now Picard sometimes...yeesh. (No insult meant to Patrick Stewart, only referring to the character.)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQnwMXWgksQ
Nor does it start there:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4XPTmmvVow
Neither does anything positive for the conditions of my country, my planet, or the Universe in general. Would one of Y'all please wake me when we get to the part where I am supposed to care?
Like yours, which continues to insist that others can't possibly be expressing their desire to do the same, but without you and yours camping them with disco balls?
Inferring that across all who disagree with Obama would be a huge mistake though. This jerk doesn't speak for me in the slightest.
And disagreeing with the choice of how a character is written (such as Picard, in my case) does not and should not have ANYTHING to do with the *actor,* who is not his character. I can dislike Picard all day and consider him to often be a cowardly ideologue yet hold Patrick Stewart in great respect for his acting ability and how he portrayed the character. An actor is doing his job if he can be convincing and evoke a strong response from the viewer.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Don't associate the extremists of the right with all conservatives or republicans.
EDIT: This also seems like a post just intended to start a political debate and attack members of one party.
Considering it's on a trek forum, it's not a surprise either.
You must have missed out on his predecessor.
You just never noticed it before. At least from the UK, we've seen every US President being mocked and ridiculed about... Just about everything.
Eh, nothing to do with this..It's way deeper than that.
Probably got Spock confused with a Ferengi. :P You know, like idiots who can't tell Star Trek apart from Star Wars. Way to flaunt your ignorance, Mr. President! Shoo! Back to your Oral Office!
Yea... Bush was no saint, but the way these very vocal "opponents" of Obama are... they almost make Bush sound like a saint. Heck... Mrs. Obama wanted people to drink more WATER because she's a proponent of healty living, and people went bananas saying it was a conspiracy to control people or some other BS like that. One even going so far as to swear off drinking water ever again! I mean seriously! WTF! Water! H2O!
Or, it could just be a post about how some certain person has to read a political slant into everything. It seems he's not the only one who does so.
It was nothing compared to what the GOP does and say to President Obama. Due to their jackassery, they have made the current Congress, one of the most useless in US History.
This pretty much sums it up. The political discourse has gone completely off the rails. I think we have the 24-hour news cycle at least partially to blame for stoking the flames beyond all reason. Kinda like Doc Brown's supercharged logs from Back to the Future III...
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^This.
Also heard about some guy in Alaska who said the solution to homelessness is having a wolf population, and there was someone else who was saying that wind is a finite resource and using it for power would slow down the Earth's rotation. Bill Nye had the WTF look on that one when he heard that.
I think some of these people are getting progressively dumber and dumber. I mean... come on! They must think we're morons if they think we'll believe that.
I think Caboose from Red vs Blue gained an IQ point over them now.
But we never talk about that; only those "evil" Republicans who want nothing more than to reduce spending to break even levels if not actually start paying down the national debt, and refocus the federal government on the (all of) 3 things it was actually intended to do.
Wonder if Ray will splat this thread.
Dems...always good at finding (or bribing) the random nutjobs out there.
Unfortunately, that's about where their "power to the people" mantra ends.
On the bright side, the regulatory state owns the internet now, and like good little bureaucrats they'll no doubt preoccupy themselves with targeting right wing politicians, donors and community organizers.
Well Nimoy was into the role for the money, he did after all turn down roles in Phase 2 & Generations, as the part (And therefore paycheck) weren't big enough.