The Star Trek Days
When I was a child, I used to watch Star Trek regularly with my brothers. How can I ever forget the opening lyrics to the show:
Space, the final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise
Its five-year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life
And new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before
The theme of space travel and exploration was a dominant theme in the TV series. However, there were other more important themes in the show, especially to an impressionable child who was full of hope for the future. If one were to believe that Star Trek represented what the future would be like for humanity — as I did — it would have been an amazingly wonderful and desirable place to be. It would have been a place where people of all ethnicities and backgrounds (even Vulcans and other strange, intelligent beings) could live together in peace and harmony and work together to achieve scientifically and technologically exciting feats, and all in a spirit of humanity and progress and unity. Yes, there were bad guys among the society from which the Starship Enterprise and its team came — sociopaths, narcissists, and those who were simply making some kind of trouble because they’d been overcome by greed, lust, pridefulness, or some other(s) of the seven deadly sins — but they were few and far between, and what is more important: the good guys were united in opposing them. The baddies never stood a chance. The people of the society that launched the Starship Enterprise were an evolved people.
For example, in the Star Trek series, the question “What should I do if my neighbor is suffering and in need of medical assistance?” would never have been asked, because everyone would have known the answer: “Naturally, I should do all I can to render him or her medical assistance — and the best medical assistance that I am able to give.” “Bones,” the doctor on board the Enterprise, would certainly have done his best to heal the sick, no matter who they were.
The question: “Should all children receive the same level of education and the same educational opportunities?” would never have been asked. People in the Star Trek series would never have agreed to allow the poorer children to receive a lower quality of education, as they would all have been aware of how important education is and how all children deserved to receive the best education available. In essence, in the Star Trek series, there existed a culture that was evolved and free of injustice and prejudice, and the kind of petty, dog-eat-dog mentality that permeates so many people’s thinking in today’s society. What was good for people was what was to be done. People competed with one another, not against one another; and not for their own private, selfish ends and personal profit, but to attain together what was good for the Federation and for humankind.
I believe that as the Star Trek series was being produced and aired, humanity was heading toward a kind of Star Trek future, and that we, in fact, were closing in on it during the Kennedy administration — at least closing in on the path toward it; much as when Captain Kirk, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov, on the bridge of the Enterprise, would lock the course of the spaceship toward a faraway destination.
In what amounts to a great national tragedy, the ultra-powerful of the 1960s — the top dogs of that elitist group, anyway — succeeded in having Kennedy assassinated. Of that, I am convinced from my research. Along with President John F. Kennedy, they succeeded in assassinating RFK and MLK, and our bright future, which would have been the natural and logical, and democratically chosen, outcome of our preceding decades of history and politics and our upward social and political evolution, from the FDR administrations to the JFK administration.
Shortly after the assassination of JFK, his 5-month-old Executive Order #11110, which had taken the power to print and lend money away from the Federal Reserve (which is owned by private bankers) and re-placed back where the founders (and four preceding presidents had re-placed it — all of whom were shortly thereafter targets of assassins and only one of whom survived his assassination attempt, that being Jackson) had so wisely placed it: with the U.S. Treasury Department. Americans were also shortly thereafter thrust into the Vietnam War. We were forced to give our soldiers, taxes, and allegiance to a war being fought halfway around the world which our own military and intelligence personnel knew we could never win — something JFK had, to the great irritation of the Military-Industrial Complex and the rogue CIA at the time, refused to allow.
Then others of our rights and freedoms were taken away from us. Some were snatched away from us quickly, and some gradually — sneakily, such as our right to freedom of the press (media), with the unconstitutional permissions granted the ultra-rich by our executive and legislative bodies — our ‘democratically elected’ officials — to gradually take over and consolidate our mainstream media companies, until they now all fall under 6 mega-corporations owned and controlled by billionaire oligarchs. Our executive and legislative branches also gave permissions to the ultra-rich to gradually take over our formerly much more free, fair, and democratic elections and our major electoral parties. Our own democratically elected representatives were gradually bribed into performing these unconstitutional acts by the ultra-rich — people who, many for generations, had been quite expert at hiring people who were quite expert at playing chess, only with real people.
To understand where we are and where we could have been, had it not been for the machinations and manipulations of the ultra-rich and their accomplices, we have to first take a look at where we are, today, and how we got here. Am I the only one who’s been noticing how the mainstream media keeps airing an oversized — in relation to the apparent desire for it on the part of the average American — amount of news about Great Britain, and the way in which it is delivered by ‘our’ mass media: as if the U.K. were one and the same as the United States? Must the billionaire overseers of the 6 mega-corporations that control all of the mainstream media insult my sense of fairness and my intelligence? I don’t know, but perhaps there’s something in the air. It makes me wonder.
It could be the billionaire oligarchs have big plans for uniting the U.K.’s vast, under-the-radar banking industry in which $trillions are hidden (mostly in the Caribbean), on the one hand; and the U.S.’s $trillions in hidden loot (much of it by ‘our’ CIA, NSA, Pentagon, and Military) and our vast, unconquerable military, on the other. With our ‘glorious’ (inglorious), intertwined, imperial histories, perhaps the ultra-rich oligarchs see the two countries eventually — dare I say it? — ‘getting married’ in order to enable them to better cooperate in their imperialist, progress-wrecking agenda into which nightmare we in the U.S. and U.K., and much of Europe, have all been held hostage and for which we have been forced to act as mercenaries for so many decades … for what? To cause ourselves and our fellow human beings suffering, and to destroy nature and nature’s creatures in order to enrich those who are already much too wealthy?
I say much too wealthy because it is precisely the obscenely excessive wealth of the ultra-rich that corrupted them in the first place — and so it has always been throughout human history. Further, the ultra-wealthy have always used their excessive wealth — shall we say, their “massive amounts of disposable income”? — to corrupt government officials so as to rig the laws in their favor and against the rest of the us. This corruption has always resulted in a no win-no win situation, though the ultra-rich fool themselves, and many of the rest of the people, into thinking it’s a fine way to run a country. Their smothering power is wielded against foreign peoples, as well — and always has been. Greed and power hunger have never stopped at the border.
I believe that if it were not for the U.S. and Europe’s imperialist tendencies (and those of Russia and China), the world would be a much more evolved, free, humane, educated, peaceful, and environmentally healthy place; as well as a much less overpopulated place. For one, it has always been the ultra-rich throughout history who have started unjust wars: wars for profit and not for defense — though they have framed them as wars for defense in their propaganda campaigns. In the midst of the massive corruption and decadence in our history, there have been many major efforts throughout history to reform the nations of the world in an effort to prevent wars.
After World War I, which was a horribly destructive war that engulfed Europe mainly, the League of Nations was established with the prominent influence and participation of then U.S. President Wilson. However, much like an alcoholic/addict who has recovered from a terrible bout of drinking and/or drug-use and no longer feels they need to get sober anymore and no longer feels any remorse over the suffering their abusive behavior has caused, the leaders of the U.S. ‘recovered’ and felt they no longer needed The League of Nations. If this sounds like a far-fetched analogy, just consider the fact that greed and power hunger are addictions, just as gluttony is. The more one gets, the more one wants … and feels one needs. The U.S. never did take part in the operations of that promising institution.
After World War II, which engulfed so many countries of the world and all of the most powerful militaries, the United Nations was established. The U.S., Europe, Russia (the U.S.S.R.), and later, China, have all been quite active in the operations of this promising institution, which was founded with the purpose of preventing future wars and furthering international cooperation — and which envisioned a bright and just future for the human race, much like that envisioned in the peaceful Federation of the Star Trek series. Tragically, however, after WWII, Russia, having become highly militarized in response to the war with Germany and zealous about spreading communism, immediately launched upon an imperialist agenda of conquering Eastern Europe — which was economically and militarily already on its knees — and much of Central Asia, and gobbled them up into what would become the U.S.S.R. There were other expansionist wars of aggression, especially on the part of newly liberated China and the post-war U.S. and Europe. However, there was progress made at the United Nations, intermittantly, in between the imperialist wars to come. President Trump strayed from cooperating with the United Nations, but he was an aberration, in more ways than one. The other U.S., European, Russian, and Chinese leaders have consistently at least paid lip service to the goals and functions of the United Nations.
With the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons, the most powerful military powers, those of the U.S., Europe, Russia, and China reached a stalemate that none could break: the Balance of Terror. This balance has been much more effective in preventing WWIII than any political or diplomatic efforts. But unfortunately, it has not prevented small wars, which have been numerous and devastating.
The imperialist urges of the ultra-rich have led to many small wars, many instances of meddling in the governments of less economically developed countries that were destined to make great progress if they had been left in peace. Often these small, imperialist wars have caused the peoples of these countries to slide into extreme poverty and even greater underdevelopment with no real hope for a better future. Further, it has caused those people to seek the only comfort available to them: those of family (the more, the better) and religion. As Karl Marx stated: “Religion is the opium of the people.” In the face of despair, it soothes their pain in ways that only a spiritual remedy can. However, in fanatical forms, religion can lead to unwise decisions and actions. As Voltaire so aptly stated: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.” And it is precisely the absurdities of fanatical religion and of propaganda — the untruths — that distinguish them from factual information and sound reasoning — and the ability to progress and evolve.
The U.S. and Europe have been fighting against socialism on many fronts under the justifications of the irrational, “red scare” propaganda that the U.S.S.R. and China were going to take over the world. This was as absurd then as it is now, due to the deterrent effects of the Balance of Terror, as well as the intrinsic, economic inefficiency of communism (pure socialism with central planning). It was because of this inherent inefficiency and the resistance of people to totalitarianism that the Berlin Wall fell and the U.S.S.R. disintegrated — it was not due to the U.S. military build-up and speeches made by Ronald Reagan in which he made such seemingly omnipotent declarations as, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” For the same reasons, the Communist Party of China loosened its grip on their economy, allowing it to evolve to include many elements of free enterprise.
This historical pattern of imperialism leading to the suppression of development in less economically developed countries (and of plutocratic suppression of the development of the societies inside the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful dictators’ countries as well) has been the curse of human history, and is one piece of the puzzle that explains why we are not living in something more like the Star Trek days.
One important example: in 1953, with the help of the Iranian clergy, the U.S. and the U.K. overthrew Iran’s democratically elected, socialist leader, Mohammad Mosaddegh. Surely, with his great academic accomplishments and leadership qualities, and the great respect he commanded, Mosaddegh would have led the Iranians out of the darkness of dictatorship, oppression, and underdevelopment, and into higher levels of political, social, educational, technological, and economic advancement. There should have been a kind of Renaissance for Iran; but it was crushed because of the greed and power-hunger of the imperialist oligarchs of the U.S. and U.K. — who profited obscenely from Iran’s oil and other natural resources while the Iranians suffered.
There’s a similar situation with Afghanistan. The ruler of Afghanistan turned to the Russians in the very early 1900s for help with building the country up from extremely underdeveloped conditions. The Russians offered much aid and assistance, and Afghanistan developed economically, socially, and politically. However, in the early 1980s, the U.S. funded the Mujahedin, a fanatical, Islamic, guerilla group, with the goal of overthrowing the socialist government of Afghanistan and installing an Islamic dictatorship — much like what happened in Iran.
Looking at the big picture, we can see that it would have been a good thing if the U.S. and the U.K. had left Iran and Afghanistan in peace, and allowed them to continue to progress economically, and politically; not only for the Iranians and the Afghans, but for the rest of the world as well. We would not be worrying nearly as much about the next terrorist attack. And just think how much less oil would have been burned since 1953 if the U.S., the U.K., and other foreign corporations operating in Iran and other countries of the Middle East had not had such a great economic incentive to promote the use of oil and discourage development of other energy sources? And further, there would have been much less incentive on the part of oil companies to toil so hard to hide the truth about the link between the burning of fossil fuels and global warming, in relation to the size of their profit motive.
Further, if the U.S., U.K. and other imperialist countries had ceased meddling in the affairs of other countries, such as India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mexico, and Central and South America, to name a few, that very unsettling march of humanity toward a burgeoning population of 8 billion would have certainly been averted — but here we are. And what is the solution? Certainly, I hope it will not be anything resembling the depopulation agenda of the New World Order, or other such genocidal schemes. Wouldn’t that be the injustice of injustices, seeing that it was the unfettered greed and power-hunger of the ultra-rich in the most developed countries that created the overpopulated conditions we now live in.
Getting back to the example of Iran, immediately after the overthrow of the Shah in 1980, Iraq, which the U.S. was now supplying with military hardware, started a devastating war with the now economically and militarily weaker Iran, which lasted almost eight years and resulted in the devastating loss of millions upon millions of Iranian lives and economic ruin in Iran. Prior to the overthrow of the Shah, the U.S. had viewed Iraq as its enemy, as it was allied with the U.S.S.R. In fact, the U.S. and its allies, the U.S.S.R. (now Russia), and China have all been playing chess with the smaller countries in their political orbits, to the great detriment of humanity. Since the end of the war with Iraq, the Iranians have suffered under endless economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and Europe, which have caused extreme economic instability and poverty.
Looking at the big picture, it becomes apparent that the people of the United States and of the rest of the world have also been thrown off our course toward that evolved and noble destination we were heading toward: something similar to the Star Trek days. We have gradually descended — or more accurately, been beaten down — from the evolved and just days of “Camelot,” as the Kennedy administration was called, to the corrupt, unjust, and decadent days of the following administrations.
There are scores of Irans in the world whose governments have been meddled with, and overthrown, and whose people have been kept down and kept behind. Venezuela is currently on the rack, along with Iran, Cuba, Palestine-Israel, and … the list is long, but the main imperialist powers remain the same: the U.S. and Europe, Russia, and China. Is it any wonder the world human population is heading toward 8 billion? It was only 3 billion in 1960. Is it any wonder that we are still relying on fossil fuels in the face of environmental catastrophe? That we are living through the sixth mass extinction? That we are actually going backwards in terms of life expectancy (in the U.S.), height (in the U.S.), and the elimination of poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and disease? That we are in a moral and spiritual crisis of humanity’s inhumanity to itself? That levels of sociopathy and narcissism have risen dramatically as inequality has risen? That divorce, domestic violence, bullying in schools, hate-crimes, police brutality, homelessness, alcoholism and drug addiction, and other such social evils are at epidemic highs?
With all the advances in science and technology, productivity, and overall wealth that have come to us in the past few centuries, and especially in the past few decades, how can this be? What went wrong? How did those bright, noble days of the Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy administrations go so dark? The answer is: ever so gradually and cleverly, so much so that the vast majority of the people did not even notice the takeover by the greedy and power-mongering few. Didn’t the U.S. presidents from FDR to JFK vehemently warn us about them — and didn’t the founders of this country rail against them in so many documents handed down to us? Isn’t it our legacy and our duty to stand firm for justice, equality, and liberty? To me, that is what the Star Trek series was about.
On the positive side, recently there have been experiments carried out in which human ageing has been reversed. There was one experiment carried out in Israel that was amazing in that it resulted in the telomeres of people’s DNA being increased in length and the percentage of senescent cells being reduced. Translation: it reversed ageing in the subjects. With recent advances in science, technology, and medicine, which augur the reversal of ageing in humans; and other advances which augur the conquering of diseases, there could very well be a revolution in the conditions of human life on earth for the better. But, unfortunately, it doesn’t seem likely that the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful would desire to share these breakthroughs with anyone other than their families, friends, and cronies — judging from history. Along with sociopathy and narcissism, which are inherent in the ultra-rich’s mentality, misanthropy is rampant.
In the area of our media, most Americans are literally at the mercy of billionaire sociopaths (90% get 100% of their news, information, and entertainment from the mainstream media)— people who are so arrogant and self-centered that they don’t even understand empathy, let alone possess it — and who have ulterior motives that taint whatever news, information, and entertainment they produce.
We the people for decades have been kept by the mainstream media and our rigged elections like the frog in the pot of water that is slowly being heated. The increase in temperature has been so gradual that most of us are not even aware that we are getting close to being boiled to death. Put another way, it is like we are stuck in a house of mirrors with no clear way out while the billionaire oligarchs who are now in control despise us and mock us as we go bumbling about, frantically crashing into one mirror after another. Most of us are struggling as hard as we can most of the time, but not getting anywhere — and it’s only getting worse.
In the big picture, we have been so indoctrinated by the powers that be that most of us do not believe that a just, peaceful, and evolved society, such as those of Scandinavia, could possibly exist — or if it could, that it could really be that good — let alone believe that an even more just, peaceful, and evolved society such as that depicted in the Star Wars series, is possible. They are stuck believing untruths that make such an advanced, evolved society seem not only impossible, but completely inconceivable, unrealistic, and even undesirable.
The same mass media also feeds its consumers a diet rich in racism, sexism, ageism, religious bigotry, and ‘sexual orientationism’ — depending on which media outlet the people choose to tune into. This is an extremely successful propaganda trick in that it keeps people turned against one another and distracts them from the injustices of the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful oligarchs.
The real-news-and-information-deprived people say such things as: “We must not spend too much on public education and higher education because we need to spend it on the military. Besides, the rich should not have to pay for the education of the poor, at least not for the equal education of the poor. That would make us communists.” This in spite of scientific evidence proving that higher spending on education for all students would yield much greater returns for our society as a whole than the costs involved, and despite the fact that the U.S. spends more on its military than the next ten countries combined. Just think how many budding Einsteins or Shakespeares have been passed up and left behind because they were stuck in one of our scandalously poorly funded school districts. On a similar note, they say, “We must not fund the education of prisoners because that would be coddling them. Why, people would be fighting to get into prison.” This, in view of the proven facts that the more education prisoners receive, the less likely they are ever to go back to prison and that educating prisoners is inexpensive in comparison with the cost of housing them. And, the fake news talking points go on.
“We must keep taxes on the rich low, or it will be bad for the economy. Trickle down works!” This in view of the fact that in the U.S., the years of the greatest strides forward in education, medicine, overall health and longevity, and social justice, and the greatest gains in overall prosperity for the 99% took place after the Great Depression and World War II, during decades in which taxation was at an all-time high for the wealthy. If you take into account that the top 1% could not have made the economic and technological strides they made in those decades without the greater society taking its greater strides, then it is clear that even the top 1% richest Americans were better off, in the big picture, due to the fact that they paid higher taxes. To assert otherwise, is to fail to take into account the big picture, which is far more significant than the income or wealth of any one or few people. And of course, it doesn’t end here.
“We must not raise the minimum wage because it will cause unemployment.” This despite the fact that economists have proven that raising the minimum wage will increase employment, as the lower 90% of the people, income-wise, spend more of what they earn on consumer goods; and this does trickle down (or across, to be more accurate) and creates a multiplier effect in the economy, creating jobs. The ultra-rich, on the contrary, save more of what they earn and use their savings to acquire such things as stock, real estate, and already established companies — more stuff that increases their wealth but does not create jobs.
The irrational and erroneous talking points of the real-news-and-information-deprived go on and on over the entire gamut of politics, economics, and society. It is amazing what a few ultra-rich people and their hired help can accomplish behind closed doors.
I pray for the day when we will all get out of of the pot of hot water, out of the house of mirrors; and life will be good and just and right, and people will treat one another in humane and even noble ways, as in the futuristic Star Trek series of the 1960s. I pray that we will get back on track — or perhaps more appropriately, back on Trek (pun intended) — and that the Star Trek days will come, as they should have come a long time ago; and that they will come before it is impossible for us to ever reach them.