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From: rjnoe@riccb.UUCP (Roger J. Noe)
Newsgroups: net.startrek,net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: "His was the most human"
Message-ID: <621@riccb.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Feb-86 18:07:10 EST
Article-I.D.: riccb.621
Posted: Tue Feb  4 18:07:10 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 6-Feb-86 05:29:06 EST
References: <1623@mtgzz.UUCP>
Organization: Rockwell International - Downers Grove, IL
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Xref: watmath net.startrek:4694 net.sf-lovers:12217

In article <1623@mtgzz.UUCP> m.r.leeper writes of Kirk's eulogy of Spock:
> It is a particularly insensitive thing to say about his
> friend who is only half human and has always been (will
> always be?) sensitive about his piebald origins.  There is
> the implication that what the speaker is something that it
> is good to be.

I can't quite parse the last sentence, but I think I understand
the meaning.  What surprises me most is that Leeper is usually
a very good judge of movie character.  Not this time.  Since the
first Star Trek motion picture, Spock has wholeheartedly accepted
his human half and is proud of his unique origins.  He is in no
way "sensitive" to it.  What Kirk is saying is that Spock, even
though he was only half human, understood much more what it meant
to BE human and that Kirk has learned something from Spock about
that.

> . . . There has been the prejudice through the whole STAR
> TREK series that being a human was the ideal and being a
> Vulcan was less than the ideal.

I don't necessarily agree with that point, but it really doesn't matter.
It's just entertainment, created by humans for the enjoyment of humans.
I've never heard any non-humans complain about defamatory or even the
most slightly misrepresentative treatment in "Star Trek".

More seriously, consider the following two statements:

> . . . Spock was always 3/4 of the brains on the ship . . .

> The script writers always sharpened their bigotry on the concept
> of human superiority to Vulcans.

The two are contradictory!  If Spock is made to appear so smart,
it is due to the efforts of the writers.

No, Kirk is not saying, "That's mighty white of you, green man!"
He's saying that he (and we) could learn a lot about being human
from Spock.  Spock's actions were not wholly logical; they were
also motivated by compassion.  One can easily argue that altruism,
especially when it means suicide, is not logical.  "The needs of
the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one?"  Demonstrate
that logically.  I subscribe to the thought but only because I am
human.  My cat certainly doesn't believe it and cats seem to have
adapted quite well to this world. :-)

On a scale of -5 to +5, I'd have to rate m.r.'s article a -4: hit
the 'n' key if you possibly can. :-)
--
"It's only by NOT taking the human race seriously that I retain what
 fragments of my once considerable mental powers I still possess!"
	Roger Noe			ihnp4!riccb!rjnoe