Of ICE and Spacemen

Yeah, we're talking about Star Trek and Ted Cruz again, but in my defense, there's like, twelve Star Trek shows running right now and Ted Cruz can't go fifteen minutes without disgracing himself (usually in an airport) so here we are. 

Pictured: Senator Cruz's most recent airport-based embarrassment wherein
his abusive treatment of the staff prompted them to call the cops on him.

Above: subtle social commentary.

So a common criticism of Star Trek over the decades has been that it can be a little preachy or heavy handed. And maybe that's fair. Painting Frank Gorshin half-black and half-white on the original series was inarguably dumb, but then so's racism and that's kind of the point, right? In the 1960's couching progressive messages about how war and racism are, you know, bad things was mostly about getting things past the network and not scaring off advertisers. But things are different now.

The sad fact is yes, babies are super-racist.
I'm surprised Ted Cruz was unaware.

I'm kidding. In many ways things are much worse because we should know better. Just last week Ted Cruz lost his shit on twitter because Stacey Abrams had a cameo as the President of future Earth on Star Trek: Discovery. Then, this week, he asked an eminently qualified Supreme Court Justice nominee if she thinks babies are racist. I'm beginning to think that maybe Ted Cruz just can't handle the idea of a Black women in a position of authority, fictional or not. Hey, remember that time he voted to appoint sexual assault enthusiast--sorry, alleged sexual assault enthusiast--Brett Kavanaugh to the court?

Above: Also subtle social commentary.
Perhaps a bit too subtle...

Anyway, I was talking about Star Trek and how it uses science fiction tropes to tell stories and question the real world in which we live. Like, the Klingons were stand-ins for the Soviet Union, the Ferengi represented capitalism run amok, and one time Dr. Crusher had sex with a candle ghost. Well, the new season of Star Trek: Picard has the crew transported back in time to the present day (well, 2024, but close enough), where one of the characters, Captain Rios, is immediately scooped up in an ICE raid on suspicion of being not white, and quickly put on a bus for the border.

I mean, if the body armor fits...

Yup, ICE are the bad guys. Not a draconian, ICE-like species of aliens, but the actual Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency. While at first this might seem a little--say it with me--heavy handed, and they are portrayed as a bunch of violent thugs abusing their authority and violating civil rights, I have to ask, where's the lie? This is a governmental agency whose mandate amounts to "round up brown people" we're talking about. 

So can something be dismissed as preachy and heavy-handed if it's accurate? I don't know. What I do know is that if one finds oneself allegorically cast as the villain on an episode of Star Trek without the writers even a bothering make up some sci-fi nonsense, then one should probably reevaluate some life choices.

Looking at you, Senate Republicans...