That one black crew member on the bridge listening to this conversation …
It’s like in the Rick and Morty show. Civil war because of different nipples. And it’s not far from reality (e.g. pigmentation or small cultural differences).
Once upon a time they had mirrors. But with the rise of political extremism and divisiveness, they replaced all mirrors with camera-based digital displays so they could flip the image and see their true selves represented, not some distorted atrocity.
Maybe the discomfort of looking at the person on the other side of the mirror, with their hate, sadness, and confusion, is part of what fuels their hatred.
Have they tried looking at the man in the mirror and asking him to change his ways?
Message not clear; some man in the mirror is now telling me to change my ways, and now they’re angry and crying and it’s making me uncomfortable and feel alone. The man in the mirror said the world would be a better place if I changed, but why can’t they change? After all, they sure don’t seem like a good person, you can see it in their face. Disgusting.
The thing is you’ve got to get it right while you’ve got the time. That’s why it’s so hard.
Mirrors outside the mirror universe? It wouldn’t be a mirror universe if mirrors existed elsewhere too
It’s almost as if racism is inherently illogical.
I mean not really. If you think about it from an evolutionary standpoint it’s perfectly logical.
Outside groups are dangerous. That’s true even within racial groups. Now add that not only are they outsiders they don’t look anything like your group. That’s another layer of outsiders being dangerous. Not only are they outsiders but they don’t look like you.
It’s a leftover piece of evolution that helped humans survive. Protect your own and everyone else can get fucked. Especially if they’re different.
If you think about it from an evolutionary standpoint it’s perfectly logical.
This hasn’t actually been borne out in science. As a general rule, less complex human societies tended to be more willing to cooperate with outsiders. They shared hunting grounds, traded clan members, came together for more complex endeavors, and so on. It isn’t until the advent of agriculture, when people became attached to plots of land and felt the need to defend them from others, that we see these default attitudes start to shift - and racism as we understand it today is a thoroughly modern phenomenon, with no antecedent prior to the 17th century.
Agreed. Some level of xenophobia is expected though. That’s especially true if you were to think that the other tribes phenotypes are reminiscent of disease or sickness. I’m pretty sure that what you’re pointing out about wars starting with land isn’t so much because humans want to protect their land but because settling in one spot makes one more xenophobic by nature. Your breeding group is now smaller so phenotypes become distinct. Which means that encountering outsiders or wanderers would increase that xenophobic response. Prior to that you’d have a more or less homogenous group within anywhere you could reach which means that xenophobia makes far less sense as you cannot always identify “tribe”.
To sum up what I’m saying: over time as complexity began, cooperation between phenotypes lessened and competition between distinct phenotypes emerged. This could be what drives a lot of human xenophobic behavior, especially in the modern day. As we developed language this got even worse as xenophobia now includes a language barrier. Meaning that outsiders marked themselves as such even if they held the same phenotypes. This led to a lot of tribalism and history has not evolved from there.
(Just a layman but I did some reading and thinking)
You’re giving “race” as an arbitrary social construct special status above other characteristics. Height, hair color, etc.
You’re presupposing that race is more significant than these.
Furthermore, the flexibility of racial terms like “white” to include or exclude people like Italians and Irish over the decades also goes to show that it’s arbitrary and malleable.
Like religion, it’s just been a tool for political control. Conservatives love in groups and out groups, this is just the common one of the day.
Hate is learned, not inherent.
Fear of the unknown is almost universal in our species.
Fear is inherent, but not hate. Racism is hate.
Fear is one bad incident away from hate.
I’m not disagreeing that racism is wrong. It’s abhorrent and a gleaming example of the fact our species hasn’t evolved outside of technology.
But it’s ridiculously easy to be racist. It’s so fuckin easy it’s crazy. It’s like getting addicted to drugs. One instance is all it could take. One bad experience.
This is coming from someone who used to be racist. Because my first experience with a black person as a child was horrible. A grown ass man screaming at a child due to a misunderstanding but I was white so I had to be a racist.
It took a long time to get over that and realize why it happened but in between all I could think was black people are mean bastards because they think all white people are racist.
Fear is one bad incident away from hate.
Sure. But that doesn’t mean it is a logical from an evolutionary standpoint.
It took a long time to get over that and realize why it happened but in between all I could think was black people are mean bastards because they think all white people are racist.
I am glad you got past that.
Sure. But that doesn’t mean it is a logical from an evolutionary standpoint.
That’s exactly what it means.
If you’re already terrified of something and then something bad happens because of that something it’s going to create resentment and therefore hatred.
Fear and hate follow the same vein. It’s easy to hate what you fear simply because it makes you afraid.
Dude, just say you’re afraid of black people and leave the rest of us humans out of it.
It’s almost as if people from the 60’s needed an absolutely ridiculous metaphor to drive home how illogical racism is. Reminds me of the Hutu vs Tutsi scene from Hotel Rwanda.
Exactly
Kirk is applying common sense to an allegory made to illustrate a point. Bad writer. No cookie.
IDK, it’s been a long time since I watched the episode but isn’t that literally the point? That any amount of critical thinking makes their views make no sense?
Maybe I’m explaining myself badly. I agree with you, it’s literally the point. But the characters aren’t supposed to lampshade it. The viewer is meant to get it on their own.
The thing is, they had to beat everyone over the head with it because that was the only way it was going to get past the executives. They didn’t want controversial things on TV in the 60s.
Kirk does whatever the fuck he wants to do. It is up to the writers to justify his actions, not Kirk
The mirror is also an allegory.
Whether righteous or unwarranted, hate is hate. And acting in hate is just that, acting in hate, no matter your reason.
The mirror is also an allegory.
You can’t mix allegories. It’s like crossing proton pack streams.
Whether righteous or unwarranted, hate is hate. And acting in hate is just that, acting in hate, no matter your reason.
I know. I WATCHED THE EPISODE.
You had me with absurdist comparative logic, you should have stopped there.
I don’t know… racists also hate what they see in the mirror
Not anymore they dont, Jim.
Upon further reflection, the Cheronians became the only species known to the federation to commit self-genocide by mass suicide as a result of irreconcilable cognitive dissonance.
♬ I’m starting with the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his face ♬
Quite ironic - what about a black man changing to a white one made you think of MJ? :-P
After my kung fu fighting post, I just had music on my mind.
And now you bring up Stevie Wonder, you are just on a roll today!:-D
They’re from the mirror universe.
Imagine a whole universe of mirrors…
Wasn’t that a Dr. Strange movie?
Imagine a universe where mirrors didn’t exist in its’ multiverse…
Have you never been to a county fair?
Maybe they hate mirrors too.
Maybe they do but wouldn’t they still see that they had their right side black unlike those disgusting white side right side?
I don’t look in the mirror and think I’m left handed
So Roddy Piper was just TOS cosplaying
TOSplaying
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