We, Terrans...

Image Source: Fan Art Central dot net

Topics: Commentary, Existentialism, Politics, Star Trek

Yesterday at a high school in Parkland, Florida was the 18th shooting in 2018. It's only been 45 days. There were 345 mass shootings in 2017 alone. We've been chugging along since January 1. This will be remembered as a Valentine's Day massacre.

My sister-in-law and nephew live near this neighborhood. She describes it as affluent, well-off enough for someone to purchase an AR-15 and ammunition. We'll get the obligatory "thoughts and prayers" that will amount to legislatively, nothing. Pew Research reports most gun owners happen to be white and male, many paranoid, delusional and prepping for a race war. Many work with a fellow classmate, a high-level GS engineer. They tell him this, my friend relays to me...another African American male...to his FACE. I, like him, believe them at least in as far as his safety.

The gun industry is failing under their preferred president*, who himself probably doesn't own a single firearm. Remington ironically has filed for bankruptcy, since their business model hinges on making the handful of gun enthusiasts nervous about the "gov-mint coming to take your guns" and "jackbooted thugs" (whatever that means). Just 3% of American citizens own 133 million guns. This is the business model, warped though it is. We are all cannon fodder.

"Terran strength is born out of pure necessity. Because they live in constant fear, always looking for the next knife aimed at their back. Their strength is painted rust. It's a facade."

– Michael Burnham, 2256 ("Despite Yourself")

The Terran Empire was a repressive interstellar government dominated by the Terrans from Earth in the mirror universe. The Empire ruled by terror, its Imperial Starfleet acting as its iron fist. In Starfleet, officers promoted themselves by killing superiors that did not follow the rules of the Empire. Torture was a common form of interrogation. (ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly"; TOS: "Mirror, Mirror")

The precise historical origin of the Empire is a subject of much debate and speculation among fans. If the opening credits of the two Enterprise mirror universe episodes are any indication, the time of the Empire's formation can be pushed back at least to the age of sail (roughly 1571 - 1862 in our universe).

A scene cut from ENT: "In a Mirror, Darkly" had Archer invoking the blessings of "the gods", hinting that the Empire may be a continuation of or successor to the Roman Empire. Marlena Moreau mentioning Kirk becoming a "Caesar" would add support to this notion, as may the fact that "Terra" is the Latin word for "Earth".

The salute used by officers (closing the fist over the heart and then extending the arm in front, saying, "Long live the Empire") is also reminiscent of the Roman soldiers' and gladiators' salute to Caesar.

Indirect support for the idea that the Empire had a relatively "ancient" origin may be found in a statement made by the mirror Phlox in "In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II". In that episode, he revealed that, although he had found significant differences between the great historical works of literature in the mirror universe and those of the prime universe, he had discovered an exception in Shakespeare, Phlox expressing that the works of Shakespeare were "equally grim in both universes."

Additionally, the mirror Philippa Georgiou in the Star Trek: Discovery episode "Vaulting Ambition" stated that the ideals of equality, freedom, and compassion were "delusions Terrans shed millenia ago."

Memory Alpha: Terran Empire

Insightful as ever, Trek peered through the facade of our existence with a clearly focused lens, like a magnifier in sunlight. The original Star Trek, Enterprise, Deep Space 9 and Discovery had their swings at plot lines in the mirror replicate of our supposedly civilized home. When Gene Roddenberry envisioned the mirror universe, it was through a transporter accident that Kirk, "Bones," Uhura and Scotty ended up in a universe to diametrically opposite of what they'd left. The Federation was all about inclusion and equality; the Terran Empire was all about fascism and fear. Change the Terran motto in the emblem above from "force" to "fear" and it encapsulates the zeitgeist we're being driven to by every obfuscatory statement and tweet.

Instead of thinking "that's them," we may want to look more closely in our own mirror, after a treatment of Windex...this isn't them at some mythical "over there."

This...
   is...
      US!