Why I love Star Trek

In the made up world of Star Trek the human race has evolved beyond prejudice. Money is abolished, it's normal to have women in high positions and everyone works in their preferred work of expertise. An artist can fully devote his or her time to art, an engineer can be an engineer, writers write and all basic needs are met. Those who want more than just their basic needs are free to work to acquire more. Basically it's an utopia, a 'perfect' world. All major problems in the series basically only occur on other planets. 

As a teenager I failed to notice the problems that face(d) the crews of the different ships with the names 'Enterprise', 'Voyager', 'Discovery' and on the space station 'Deep Space Nine' are of course direct hints at problems we have been facing the last couple of decades: Aids ('Pa'nar Syndrom'), racism ('They are black on the right side of their face and we are black on the left side. That makes them inferior!'), inequality and so on.

'Should holograms that can think have the same rights as humans?' may sound as a strange question. But just think that a few decades ago women in 'our' world were considered beings who couldn't think for themselves and were therefore withheld the right to vote. Or to buy a house without written permission from her husband.

Star Trek is a philosophical exercise in what it would be like to live on a planet Earth where it doesn't matter what race or sex you are or identify as and handicapped people are simply considered people. For example: one of the most famous engineers (Geordie la Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation) was born blind and an entire episode revolves around a women in a wheelchair. 

In the Star Trek:Discovery series there are several lhgbti+-characters, mostly being portrayed by lhgbti+ actors. Who simply play crew members. Remember the first woman on tv in a high command position? That was in Star Trek. Remember the first televised kiss between a caucasian male and a woman of colour? That was in Star Trek.

Watching Star Trek is one of my favourite ways of escapism: a trip out of this current world of ours in which equal opportunities for everyone are not as common as we sometimes like to believe. 

Does everyone have the right to vote? In Belgium for instance voting right for women only exists since 1948. Can everyone marry the person they want? Homosexual people in The Netherlands only since 2001. Can everyone study what they want and where? The average yearly income of parents who have a son or daughter at Harvard is $450,000.

Can every child grow up without the fear of dying from starvation or being bombed or receive basic education and medical care? Absolutely not.

We have a long way to go. Until the day arrives we are a truly enlightned people, I simply live my life. And watch Star Trek.

Only thing is: there are so many Star Trek series (and more on their way!) that it's really hard to watch them all. If only we would live in a world in which all basic needs are met and I could spend all my time on my favourite passtimes: my family and friends, writing and watching Star Trek. 

Want to read (more of) my short stories? My author page: Terrence Weijnschenk at Amazon