Did Star Trek predict the future again? (Another detention camp thread)

[hellothere]

Sorry about posting yet another thread about detention camps, but the others looked like they had been pretty well established. I didn't think I could get discussion on this going in them.

Anyway, I was reading about some past Deep Space Nine episodes recently and came across a summary of the two-part episode "Past Tense." In it, the DS9 crew travel back in time to early 21st Century Earth (2020s) and are trapped in a "sanctuary" zone in San Francisco. This zone (and others like it) were created supposedly to help the homeless and unemployed, but they were really created to separate and contain people the government found undesireable. Doesn't that sound like something that actually could happen soon? I know Star Trek has been cited for uncanny predictions of things to come (e.g. the original series' communicators looked a lot like what cell phones do now).

I know. I know. I'm a paranoid fanboy or something. Stranger things have happened, though.

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. I've asked my kids to invent replicators. we can only hope that part comes

true. :)

[rpgamerd00d]

7. After that, the Holo Suite. :)

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. But not warp engines, which destroy subspace

[sui generis]

21. darn it. will have to take mine back to the dealer.

why oh why don't they label these things? :shrug:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

23. Of course the future neocons will maintain that there is no such

thing as sub-space destruction due to warp engine usage.

Right up to the point where Capt Picard has to go back in time to the very beginning with Q of the Q continuum. And have all the many worlds of quantum mechanics convene then and there.

Then flick, it all reverts to being okay, at least till the next threat.

[TheDebbieDee]

22. Star Trek replicators would be great.........

Star Gate Replicators? Uhm, not so great!

[BattyDem]

2. Every time I see that episode ...

I think, "Oh shit! That's where we are headed!" :scared:

[rpgamerd00d]

3. While that is a fun exercise in futility...

... its not really something for serious consideration.

Even in Bush's vote-hacked world, close to 50% of America voted AGAINST him.
And we know that the real number is higher...

[Der Blaue Engel]

8. The fact that he's a completely illegitimate dictator

doesn't seem to be stopping him from any of the other complete slaps in the face to our Constitution and civil liberties.

Those episodes scared me then, and do seem more likely to me every day. That and the Handmaid's Tale.

And I wouldn't be surprised if they started with San Francisco. :(

[NYCGirl]

4. Fear! Fear! Let's have more paranoia here!

:eyes:

[hellothere]

14. Hey, you're a poet! Do you know it?

Seriously, though, no fear or paranoia here. I don't think it will happen. Just a thought from a guy with entirely too much time to sit and think.

[NYCGirl]

24. The hand-wringing and wailing has gotten pretty deep here in the past

few days.

[RaleighNCDUer]

28. Hey, NYCGirl

just wait till Manhatten in converted to a prison. There's no Snake Blisken to get you out.

[NYCGirl]

30. That's Snake PLISSKEN — if you're going to tell a joke, make sure you

don't screw up the punchline!

[RaleighNCDUer]

31. Whoops -

:blush:

[meisje]

5. Your 11th post is claiming Star Trek predicted the future?

[NYCGirl]

6. And predicted it wrongly, too. NT

[hellothere]

12. No, I'm asking (rhetorically, mostly) if it did.

I never claimed anything. I just happened to be reading about the episode recently and all this talk of detention camps struck a chord.

I don't really think it will happen, though.

[CrazyForKucinich]

9. DS9 is my fav. show and you...

just brought up the greatest episode(s) ever.

The year is actually 2031...not 2020 but whatever. Very powerful 2 part episode. Just after they filmed this episode, I think Los Angeles mentioned such a program happening and the whole DS9 crew and cast were like "WHOA!" It's mentioned in the extras of Season 3.

[hellothere]

13. Creepy.

Prediction-wise, they have missed a lot (Khan's reign in the 1990s, for example), but on the things they do "get right," it's eerily identical to reality.

[n2doc]

27. timing is always hard

ST, as well as quite a few others in the 60's, predicted that we would be much further in space exploration than we are. Remember the movie 2001? We were supposed to have moon bases and spaceships to Jupiter by now...And maybe we could have done it, if we had just kept up our momentum from the Apolo program and not dumped our funds and energy into weapons and futile counterinsurgency efforts....

[teriyaki jones]

10. I've been trying to adjust the fit of my tinfoil hat

but no matter what I try, I just can't manage to keep all the paranoid conspiracy stuff neatly contained.

Don't think I'm paranoid, though, and neither are you

Fortunately/unfortunately, I'm underemployed and have the time to pay attention to what's going on. I really think that, with "productivity" off the charts, most other folks don't have TIME to pay attention, and that's why they're not as scared as we are.

Picked up a great magnetic car ribbon at the World Can't Wait rally in DC last weekend:

"Just pretend it's all OK"

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

15. Many of the ST shows: TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager have some

really interesting themes to them.

I've always preferred Star Trek to most sci fi as it deals with character development as well as interesting social and psychological concepts.

The Borg collective, 7 of 9, is very interesting.

Locutus,(Captain Picard) was once a member of the collective.

One Voyager dealt with Fear personified as a bizarre creature.

Anyhow getting off topic.

Maybe * will simply implant "memories" of having been in a detention camp for years into our minds.

That's been a theme as well.

[incapsulated]

16. The BORG. Case Closed!

:)

[nashville_brook]

17. in the episode, the internet was the people's weapon

against tyranny -- so, my vote is for prescient.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

18. IMO: Better to remain open to either possibility- it might or not happen.

And better to remain vigilant and active.

It (vigilance) IS the price of liberty, you know.

[BattyDem]

19. For those who haven't seen the episode ...

Here's the synopsis from Amazon.com:


"Dr. Julian Bashir tries to avoid 21st-century Earth history because it's "too depressing." Well, sometimes the truth hurts, and in "Past Tense," the painful reality of history—-including homelessness and the plight of the mentally ill--can’t be avoided. Thanks to a fluke transporter accident, Sisko, Bashir, and Dax are thrown back to San Francisco during 2024, the year of the Bell Riots. Being an attractive "tattooed" white woman, Dax is "rescued" by a wealthy businessman, while the two brown-skinned officers are arrested and thrown into that hell called Sanctuary District A. In a matter of days, Sanctuary District A will explode into the civil disturbance that made the Federation possible.

"Past Tense, Part 1" references ugly historical truths at every turn. Most obvious is the use of the term "Sanctuary District" to refer to what is very obviously a ghetto/prison. Americans of a certain age will cringe when the government bureaucrat tells Sisko and Bashir that detention is for their "own safety... and it's the law." The internalized racism is subtle and hard to catch upon first viewing, but that's what makes it so effective.


It's an incredibly powerful episode ... and no tinfoil hats are needed. Anyone who saw the aftermath of Katrina can certainly see the parallels.


Hey hellothere ... Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

20. And doesn't Captain Sisko bear a great resemblance to the

leader of the ghetto rebellion?

And he takes on that role in fact.

[tatertop]

26. We need a Sisko of our own!

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

33. We do for sure!! n/t

[BattyDem]

29. Yes

The leader of the rebellion, Gabriel Bell, dies and Sisko has to take his place. No rebellion = a very different future.

[Ilsa]

25. I remember that one! Didn't it originally air

right after Bushco took over the US? I remember thinking about that as well.

[brooklynite]

32. Actually that episode was the analogy for New Orleans...

Keep the poor and powerless penned up in deyaing parts of the city while promising aid that never comes.

[WildEyedLiberal]

34. Oh man I loved that episode

DS9 is my favorite show of all time. Welcome to DU fellow DS9 fan! :toast:

[Kansas Wyatt]

35. Revelation

George W. Bush & Karl Rove have modeled their domestic policy after watching the DS9 collection. This comes after Karl Rove successfully locked George W. Bush in room with only a TV hooked to a VCR and all the episodes of 'Dallas' and instructed Bush to become J.R. Ewing, before he was elected Governor of Texas.

The New Republican Party votes to invoke the Ideals of the Ferengi on mankind, and embrace their future genetic development.