Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Has Star Trek taught them nothing?

I'd like to take this moment to denounce the nonsense that is Space Force's new/not at all new logo. You've probably seen it, the one that looks suspiciously like it was shamelessly copied from the Starfleet emblem from Star Trek?
Suspicious in the sense of blindingly obvious.
Or we could have universal healthcare
like the rest of the developed world...
Anyway, on behalf of Star Trek fans everywhere, I call bullshit. Bullshit. Not on Space Force as a thing but rather on-wait, why is it a thing? I mean, don't we already have the Air Force for that? Not to mention a cripplingly high military budget? So why are we adding a sixth branch to the armed forces? And before you accuse me of limp-wristed liberal hippy-ism, may I remind you that people with injuries and illnesses are turning to GoFundMe campaigns to live? Sorry, was that too dark? Well it's real, so here we are.

I know, I know, settle down there Bernie. Back to Space Force. According to my extensive research of Wikipedia, the organization's duties are 1: To protect the interests of the United States in space, 2: Deter aggression in, from and to space and 3: To conduct space operations. Which, first of all, as anyone at the chronically underfunded NASA will tell you, America is famously disinterested in space.
"We already landed and then played golf on the moon, what else is there to do?"
-America
"Worked for me..."
-basically the President
Secondly it seems like the-wait aggression from space? Like, aliens? Aliens from space? Look, I say this with the utmost support for our uh...Space Troops? But if aggressive aliens ever showed up with an invasion force we will are screwed. Screwed. They have warp drive and probably cloaking devices and phasers or whatever and there is nothing Space Force has or will have that will scratch the paint on their warships much less deter their alien aggression. In fact, they wouldn't even need phasers, they could just use our social media to turn us on each other.

Uh...most of the time...
If the administration had seen a single episode of Star Trek-and clearly someone there has-but you'd think they'd have seen how this is the least appropriate symbol they could have chosen for a space military. Not just because it's a trademark violation, but because Starfleet's all about seeking out strange new worlds and new civilizations. And while it occasionally has to protect the Federation from Borg or Romulans or whatever, it is expressly not a military organization but instead one dedicated to peaceful exploration.

I guess what I'm saying is that the President's vanity project of founding a new branch of the military is off to a great start. It's not even a year old but it's already adopted not only a highly recognizable and trademarked symbol, but one that represents a moneyless utopia that regards aggression, xenophobia and capitalism as barbarous and backwards. So the opposite of everything the administration stands for.
Incidentally, you might be tempted to draw a comparison between the
Ferengi and the President. And while it's true that both are greedy, hyper capitalist
misogynists, bear in mind that the Ferengi are actually good at business.

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