Star Trek. Captain Kirk's on a diplomatic mission to a newly discovered society that's alarmingly militaristic. Big lizard-bugs rule; humanoids are a recent addition to their empire. The physical and social structure really isn't designed for them, but they've been forced to adapt.

The settlement Kirk visits is a cave-complex of a hard but porous, sandpapery rock--harsh on human skin and clothes, though it gives good traction. But if you get stuck in a passage--I do, at a low, wide lip--it's hard and bloody work to get loose. I was trying to stay at the edge so as not to block the middle of the lip where the big buglizards go. So as not to get trampled. That backfired.

They enforce strict discipline. They make sure to make Kirk see a 'traitor' executed by laser fire. The 'treason' appears to have been a simple question or error, not intentional disloyalty. Conformity is brutally enforced.

Notably, the prisoner's a lizard-bug, and the executioners humanoid. They're definitely second-class citizens, but not slaves; they're trusted with weapons.

This Star Trek show's point is partly that the Federation representatives find it all so oppressive that they can't see that the local humanoid populace supports this discipline, has totally internalized these values...

... of an ant-colony.

NOTES IN THE MORNING

• Militarism: is the dream warning I've internalized the dog-eat-dog "morals", if you can call them that, of our world's strongmen? China's Xi, Russia's Putin, India's Modi, Brazil's Bolsonaro, America's Trump?
• Or are these caverns my own body from inside? Is this a Covid-scale view of life, as my immune system sees it, down in the blood vessels? Down there, it's bug-eat-bug. And you'd better trust your immuno-troops with weapons and accept some collateral damage! On the micro scale, militarism and enforced discipline make sense. Because... cancer and Covid won't join the Federation. Cancer and Covid won't play nice.

World Dream Bank homepage - Art gallery - New stuff - Introductory sampler, best dreams, best art - On dreamwork - Books
Indexes: Subject - Author - Date - Names - Places - Art media/styles
Titles: A - B - C - D - E - F - G - H - IJ - KL - M - NO - PQ - R - Sa-Sh - Si-Sz - T - UV - WXYZ
Email: wdreamb@yahoo.com - Catalog of art, books, CDs - Behind the Curtain: FAQs, bio, site map - Kindred sites