• bigboig@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      33·
      8 months ago

      Lol really ticked off the tankies. Don’t tell them starfleet hq is… in America!

      edit: sorry, I have been informed tankies’ localization actually has star fleet headquartered in… San Fransokyo from Disney’s Big Hero Six?

      • ThePyroPython@lemmy.worldEnglish
        93·
        8 months ago

        Well I don’t think the federation government would be idiotic enough to try and make every farmer into an industrialist by forcing them to meltdown their own tools in the hopes of creating mechanised farming equipment only to end up with piles of unusable pig-iron slag, and thus contributing to another famine.

          • ThePyroPython@lemmy.worldEnglish
            65·
            8 months ago

            Says the Stalinist who’d be the first lined up at the wall and shot by the very ideology they support.

            And for the record, fuck the Nazis, fuck the Tories, and fuck every single fascist rightwing or leftwing.

            Democracy isn’t perfect, but it gives people a voice and if they work hard to maintain proper democratic institutions, it offers the better outcomes for the majority.

            • Bartsbigbugbag@lemmy.mlEnglish
              44·
              8 months ago

              Yea, democracy is nice. That’s why China has workers councils embedded into its constitution, to ensure democracy in the workplace.

              • SlikPikker@lemmy.caEnglish
                21·
                8 months ago

                A world where China respected its constitie would have really been something.

  • kbal@fedia.io
    11·
    8 months ago

    There is a kind of political power that grows out of the barrel of a gun. That thing must be destroyed.

        • hallettj@beehaw.orgEnglish
          135·
          8 months ago

          It’s Mao Zedong. He said, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.” He also led China to mass starvation and terrible poverty, so not someone Picard would subscribe to.

        • theangryseal@lemmy.worldEnglish
          82·
          8 months ago

          Mao Zedong. Chairman Mao. The dude the Beatles sang about when they said you won’t make it with anyone if you carry pictures of him.

          OP will now be unable to make it with anyone.

  • HelixDab2@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    8 months ago

    …And yet, the Enterprise is armed. If power does not come from the ability to effectively use violence, but from some other means, then why would the Federation arm it’s flagship?

    • LoamImprovement@beehaw.orgEnglish
      6·
      8 months ago

      Devil’s advocate, but parts of the Trek universe have shown that there are non- or quasi-sentient creatures capable of endangering starships like the Enterprise, in addition to the usual spacefaring hazards like asteroid belts and debris fields, and the potential to encounter, for lack of a better term, space pirates. It makes sense to arm the ship for a number of reasons not necessarily related to the power of coercion via the threat of violence. The Enterprise’s weapons are also frequently outclassed by other ships of similar size designed for combat. It feels more akin to packing bear spray or a noisemaker to scare off wildlife, and the bear spray gets used to drive off a robber.

      That said, the threat of violence against a better-armed foe in order to prevent combat is a trope the shows rely on frequently, so you have a point.

      • HelixDab2@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        Aside from an episode of Strange New Worlds (and possible in Wrath of Khan, depending on your perspective), space pirates aren’t brought up as a risk to the Federation starships, presumably because they usually aren’t. Shields alone should be sufficient for debris and asteroids, since shields appear to stop physical objects as well as certain forms of energy (obvs. not certain bands of light though, or whatever bands their sensors use). Non- and quasi-sentient species shouldn’t pose any risk to a starship at all (aside from possibly omniscient comets, thank you Stanislaw Lem). The weapons on a starship are appropriate to direct against planetary settlements, bases, and other starships.

        Fundamentally, I believe Mao was correct on this; the ability to use violence effectively is the lowest common denominator for all power. Everything else is a veneer of civility intended to disguise the violence that is inherent to all forms of coercive rule.