After the election, I felt pretty devastated. The polls were showing Trump with a slight lead, but I was confident that the abortion issue would fuel a blue wave. I was wrong. People seemed to care more about the economy than they cared about women’s rights and even though Democrats have a better track record on the economy and Harris had better plans for the economy, Trump kept repeating lies that when he was President everyone had tons of money and no one was hording toilet paper. But I digress.
I was devastated, felt defeated, and was depressed. The con-man conned America again. Now he will control all three branches of government and has surrounded himself with yes-men loyalists. He will round up immigrants and deport them. He will retaliate against “the enemies within.” He will gut government safeguards and institutions. He’ll hand over our allies to our enemies. He’ll pull out of treaties, etc., etc. No one will be safe.
But the reality is that Trump didn’t vote himself into office. He’s a felon and felons can’t vote in Florida. Seriously though, more than half the country voted for him. So what does that say about us? And it’s not just America either. Countries around the world are voting for their own versions of Trump. What does that say about humanity?
Enter the Star Trek meme. Q in his judge outfit accusing humanity of being a cruel and savage race. For those not familiar with Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the pilot episode a god-like character known as, “Q” puts humanity on trial. Captain Picard and the newly assembled crew must defend the human race in order to continue their trek through the stars.
When I saw this meme after the election, this was exactly how I felt. Maybe Q was right. Maybe humanity is a cruel and savage race. We just elected a fascist to the White House… again, but this time with no filters and no checks & balances. Hard times are ahead, no doubt.
A week later and the initial shock has worn off. I realized that Captain Picard did change Q’s mind. Picard pointed out that humanity was once a cruel and savage race, but that we learned from those mistakes and grew into a more compassionate race. Now obviously we are not that more compassionate race yet. Captain Picard lives in the 24th century and we just elected Donald fucking Trump President again.
In the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Q return in his role of judge. He reminds us that the trial never ends. Another captain of the Enterprise, Captain Jim Kirk pointed out that, “History isn’t over just yet.”
The meme that spoke to me after the election, highlighting the cruelty of humanity got me thinking about the future, the undiscovered country. To quote Captain Picard again, this time from the episode, The Best of Both Worlds, “Is this the end of our society? Turn the page.”
I see a page to be turned. We’ll have to work for it… and it’s going to get worse before it gets better, but we can get to a Star Trek future. I believe in the indeals of the United Federation of Planets. I believe in humanity. This election was a set back to be sure, but we can push forward. I know we can.
Don’t forget to buy my book, “Disproving God and 5 Adequate Reasons To Be an Atheist” https://amzn.to/3ddH9NE – only $6.66 on Amazon. And here is the Dangerous Talk Amazon Affiliate link. If you buy from Amazon, please consider using this link: http://www.amazon.com/?&tag=dangtalk-20
