Star Trek in 2016

I wish, I really wish, that I had watched Star Trek TNG when Amanda told me to twelve years ago. I wish I had watched it at an even younger age, to be honest. When I think of television shows with a wonderful message, artfully (usually) presented, and entertaining to watch that I could show my future children, it would be this show.
I believe, I still believe (though I forget far too often) that it is in overcoming adversity that we grow. I have forgotten this far too much, lately, and I think that this is part of what is responsible for my general decline post 2007. At the time, I really believed that I would overcome my adversity. I didn’t. And in that struggle, I revealed many of my own failings and weaknesses. The resulting confidence demonstrated to me that I was, in fact, unworthy. This undermined my faith in myself and contributed to my general collapse. As I kept sinking deeper and deeper into my own navel gazing obsession with my own perceived problems, I forgot that what I need is not more peace, but, rather, fights that will make me stronger. Well, no more. Thank you Star Trek.
I love the notion in the show that what you are is irrelevant in the face of what you do. Obviously your identity is important, but it’s not something you choose. You can choose to embrace it, and it’s only in the embrace of that identity that it achieves meaning. Again, it is the action. We choose to be who we are. Life gives us certain things, but it is our decisions and our actions that define us. We all have impulses, and what defines us is how we control them. I think that the show handles that really well. The three main species featured all have different ways of dealing with impulse. Giving into them, suppressing them, or attempting to curb them. Again, this fascinates me.
In a world of identity politics and special snowflakes, it’s easy to see why there hasn’t been a Star Trek movie that actually dealt with Star Trek in ages. The reboots were CGI extravaganzas, and the last TNG movies (which I’ve only seen reviews of) seemed to be action movies rather than thought movies. We can’t have thoughts like this. We can’t have thoughts like these. We can’t think this way. It’s, frankly, not allowed.
This vacation, somehow or other, I ended up watching a bunch of YouTube stuff by Sargon of Akkad and Girl Writes What. I forgot to post that in the earlier entry. They’re both really interesting and eloquent speakers who criticize the modern SJW community. They’re both skeptic atheists, and they both really demonstrate a brilliant and interesting grasp of social dynamics. Well, less so Sargon, who has moments of brilliance but enjoys delving into petty humor a bit too often for long term viewing. My natural reaction to their initial thoughts was disbelief. It seemed a bit too neckbeard/tinfoil hat for my taste. But, the more I watched, and the more I thought, and the more analysis I went in for, the more I went for it. The more I agreed. And that’s even more depressing than I can explain.
Who are we? Are we who we are born? That’s depressing. I cannot accept that. If our identity is fixed at birth, let’s bring back the aristocracy. What we do is who we are. What we were born is irrelevant. I like when Picard quotes Hamlet, and says, “And what he might say with irony I say with conviction, and then quotes the “What a piece of work is man” monologue. It’s brilliant, if a bit forced in context.
But I digress. Though, really, all of this is digression.
This entry, like many of my recent ideas, is half formed, and lacking in clarity. I realize that perhaps it is so hard to write about my feelings because I stopped writing about them regularly eight years ago. Maybe, rather than accepting that I’m somehow a worse or less person than I was back then, I should accept that I’m out of practice. Self reflection is a skill, I believe, and one that should be exercised. I’m starting to realize more and more of what’s wrong with me, and I don’t think it’s who I am. I think it’s what I do. Well, let’s fix that. What’s stopped me before? I’d lost so many times I’d forgotten the joy of fighting. Well, let’s find it again. Somehow. There is a time for peace and love and happiness ala 2007, but that time is not now. I’ve got to struggle my way to get to that point.