• bigboig@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year 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?

      • StalinistTransition@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        woah crazy totally not because THERE IS NO STATE YOU MORON

        ITS A UNITED WORLD GOVERNMENT

        god you libs are the most ignorant animals on the planet

      • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        1 year 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.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            6
            arrow-down
            5
            ·
            1 year 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.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              4
              ·
              1 year ago

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

              • SlikPikker@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                2
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

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

  • kbal@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

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

        • hallettj@beehaw.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          12
          arrow-down
          5
          ·
          1 year 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.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          1 year 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.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    1 year 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.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year 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.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year 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.