Captain Archer drives me up a frickin' wall. After show upon show of him bumbling out into space and interfering in every situation he stumbles up, the ship ran into a species with has a third gender necessary for procreation. Archer manages to make friends with these people. Trip, on the other hand, can't believe that the species treats their cogenitors unfairly, locking them away in a back room, not allowing them names and denying them all sorts of equal rights. Trip befriends the cogenitor and, horrors, teaches it to read.
Archer is horrified by Trip's actions. How dare he interfere? When the Enterprise leaves, the cogenitor commits suicide. Archer is enraged and blames Trip not only for the death, but also because some poor couple can't have their child now.
Not only does Archer fail to recognize his own hypocrisy then but he doesn't change his behavior going forward. In tonight's episode, he happens upon another planet when humans are oppressing another species. He participates in teaching the other species to read, and when the teacher is jailed, breaks her out, getting her shot. He then decides to tell the entire society how they should live, getting at least one more fellow shot for his efforts.
If the Enterprise wants to go around imposing their values on every society, fine, let's do it. If they want to start the Prime Directive and stay out of things, go for it. I find it completely unacceptable, though, to pick and choose who we're going to judge or not judge for essentially the same behavior, based upon whether the oppressors have greeted Archer politely or not.
Article comments
1 - Eric Olsen
Thanks Justene and welcome! I sense deeper political ramifications here.