I loved seeing it - it was like a cross between DS9 and TNG, it allowed explorations all over the Earth but yet still centered on the Earth (except when it left that behind and went to the stars:-).
It also tells a story of skepticism b/c these angelic, gender-neutral beings descend from the stars and yet… not all as is people might wish for it to be. It kinda went DEEP into exploring some of those concepts that were harder to do in the Star Trek universe - b/c the Federation was just so culturally evolved, it being in the future, while EFC was essentially the present, heck it’s likely the past even by now, if alien technology were just suddenly handed to people.
One thing that really intrigued me was the focus on more biotech than physical tech, and also the updated technology to show special effects allowing the aliens to be literally beings made of energy (these ofc existed even back in TOS but… it’s nowhere near the same), which put on a fleshy shell most of the time for convenience but often reverted to show off the cool special effects for uh… “reasons”. And since you see these beings day-in and day-out, not once in an episode and then gone, you really get to explore how such a thing would influence their thought processes, like did their ancestors hunt for food or like… what? (btw you not knowing next to anything about them is very much a part of the experience of watching the show, so I will not spoil it here:-P) DS9 did a lot of that with the shapeshifters and a little bit with their genetically-modified servants, but in EFC Gene Roddenberry did it differently, with these energy(plasma?) beings.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy at least checking it out!:-)
Jesus had even harsher words, calling the hypocrites like tombs full of rot and worms inside, and the people like a camel in heat chasing after everything stubbornly & selfishly but not giving one single damn about one another. Everyone claiming that the words mean whatever they want, instead of bowing to the will of the universe.
Anyway, Gene Rodenberry was a great man of true integrity, and we won’t see his like in Hollywood again anytime soon I expect - everyone else seems all about how to cash in without putting in the effort to make GREAT shows like his all were:-(. As just one modern example, look at Stranger Things that showed such potential, but cashed in immediately after the first season:-(.
Btw Gene Roddenberry had another sci-fi show put on by his wife after he died, using his notes for it, and while she was in charge of it (before the last few seasons when iirc her health got poor) it was pretty good too: gamerant.com/star-trek-fans-gene-roddenberry-sci-…. It is still highly worth checking out imho.
Precisely my point. Like when you kick a dog, why would it say “thank you”, or “please sir, but could you kick me again some more, and this time harder”? THAT WOULD NOT HAPPEN!
The younger generations have given up, hence they do not work as hard, but it wasn’t their choice - they simply reacted to what was offered them. From a pure game-theoretical standpoint even, it is the right call to maximize gains and minimize losses, given the rules under which they are “playing”.
But the people blaming the younger generations… it is like blaming that dog, rather than the one who kicked it - it makes no sense?
I understand that it looks that way from the outside, but that is far too simplistic - i.e., correlation is not causation, especially where the latter is already known. What is CAUSING so much pain right now is corporate greed, and what ALLOWS that is primarily voting Democrat vs. Republican, with the heaviest voting block being evangelical Christian vs. not. A complicating factor is that baby boomers are somewhat insulated from the worst effects, plus their retirement savings are often tied up into the stock market that is what rich people want to succeed, plus they don’t do themselves much credit by being remarkably unsympathetic to the plight of how the younger generations are being sold into corporate near-slavery, plus on top of it all they do trend more towards voting conservative to begin with, etc. But e.g. a young Republican does far more harm than an old Democrat, i.e. age is one of the more minor correlating effects.
An illustration may help: right now if a 10-year old girl is raped by her very own father and gets pregnant, the primary discriminator of whether she will live or is consigned to have a VERY good chance of dying (in agony) is whether she lives in an area that votes primarily Democratic or one that votes primarily Republican. This is the stuff that is literally life and death.
Beyond that, the effects of inflation, the availability of jobs, whether the government of the state that you are in is bankrupt, and/or has any/no competent/sufficient firefighters/police/teachers/medical staff/etc. all correlate with Republican vs. Democrat. Look at COVID death rates to see which area is which, especially after the vaccine existed.
In short, there are two different Americas right now, one being mostly third-world (except still has internet and TV and cars and stuff, but I still would not call it second-world when the child mortality rate is somewhere between Rwanda and Uganda, and has been about that level for decades) and the other first-world. And they are tearing at each other, one being never happy with the way things are and wanting to go still further back in time, floating such thoughts as whether women should still be allowed to vote, plus literally calling for a “national divorce” (with prejudice - i.e. a literal, murderous, bloody Civil War part 2), and the other also wanting basically not that. So similar to Brexit, we are basically ready for Amexit? Except from ourselves. Which will affect the entire fucking world b/c if Biden loses and Trump comes in again, what are the chances that this time he discovers that he can control nukes?
Anyway, yes old people helped bring this about, but mostly by inaction and while I am not saying that mistakes were not made, I am saying that much of the media rhetoric about the generations being at each others’ throats is… if not entirely false, then at least mostly so. i.e., it is not old people attacking the younger ones, it is corporations attacking us all (but who would like it very much if we would simply pretend that they were not involved? thus they bought up all the media, and now good luck hearing a story that ever says that they are complicit in anything).
That’s a good point but… I honestly do not know. We used to have access to “reporting” that would tell us “facts”, but now everything is commercialized to sell us whatever story seems most appealing to us (positively or negatively, whatever you will click on really: sex sells, fear even better, anger best of all) - so I’m sure you can find reports on all possible sides telling different stories, all with short-changed selections of facts and virtually no analysis to speak of. Unless a highly-trusted source chooses to take on a precise topic and you happen to have consumed it already (and remember it), you are basically SOL. Like, how do people even buy things anymore, either online or in physical stores, except by just gambling and hoping for the best from a purchase? Clothes just flat disintegrate, … okay, I better keep focus here:-).
I tend to think that Gen-Z likely do work less hard - as a trend if not individually ofc - b/c of the reasons behind it, after all why would they work equally as hard, when they are being offered a fraction of the compensation? BTW I never said that they were lazy, and I tried to go to some trouble to explain why it is understandable how they are reacting - e.g. in the kick the dog example, it’s not the dog’s fault for not liking the master that kicked it so very, very often?
As one example, something that enticed previous generations to work hard was to own a home. But now, if that is off the table… (or maybe, if they think it is? I’m not certain of this aspect) then they don’t need to work as hard, to own something that they can never own anyway?
Another thing that enticed previous generations to work hard for was to get a college degree. But now, with that costing >5x as much, and it being worth sth like 1/10th of what it was to previous generations (where are these magical “jobs” that offer things like “benefits” - and “stability” and “pensions” are pretty much flat gone, as too are the social security along with medicare/medicaid safety nets, etc.), plus colleges themselves are fairly predatory, many just don’t bother. But there’s a whole spectrum here: if they do go, they often don’t work hard in them - not that colleges demand that anymore, b/c again, they are predatory, and their purpose is to pump either the kids or their parents (or loans, whoever signed them) for as much money as they can get out of them, which doesn’t happen if they flunk out too awfully early…
Still another thing used to be to get married, have kids, and independent of whether owning a home or not, to raise a family. This we can directly measure: isn’t Gen-Z doing much less of any of this?
Boomers worked hard b/c they saw value ahead in doing so. Gen-Z is getting their quality of life now, while the getting is good, b/c that is all that is left for them to be able to do.:-( No matter our age, we will all die sooner, and in much greater levels of pain and misery (if only second-hand by hearing stories of the exploitation going on around us) than our parents’ generation - the Republicans have already seen to that and will most definitely continue to push much harder on that front still. :-(
When you ask why kids don’t want to work these days…
It’s simple - just don’t ever ask:-). \s :-( 🥲
And yeah, the rate of suicide (including overdosing) is quite shocking. Or depending on who you ask I would guess, “excellent” (evil laughter while wringing hands). Factors like race or even class doesn’t seem to matter to them (edit: okay so they do matter, but it still happens across all of them) - globalization and mechanization means fewer workers are necessary, hence what is not necessary is irrelevant, to The (Illuminati’s) Machine, that cares only for survival of the fittest. :-|
Oh, and no - “keeping removed about shit” implies things like not actively voting to take away further rights & privileges. Roe v. Wade was just the start! Next are elections and democracy itself… I only wish I could add a /s here, but from the chatter… it’s no longer just a joking matter anymore? :-( That generation isn’t done yet it seems, implementing the will of whatever their chosen TV Man tells them to do:-(.
Like “You Must Bow Before the Will of God” - oh so you mean like care about people, taking care of widows & orphans, pay workers the wages they are due, always show kindness and compassion even to the undeserving, stuff like that? “No, I meant lower taxes on the top 0.0000001% - and also wipe my butt for me”. Ooookkkkkkaaaaayyyyyy then…
On the bright side, Gen-Z has stuff figured out - they know how to be happier, simply by not giving a shit:-D. Yes they will suffer - as will we all - but less so, having broken free from that horrible mindset that blinded their predecessors? :-)
