I've been good for so long!
i. It's been a long time since I've written an unbelievably offensive rant on my LJ, so I think it's high time for one.
[OFFENSIVE RANT] Okay, so, in 'Bread And Circuses' our favorite threesome beams down to a planet that's like a 20th century Rome, and this group of escaped slaves worship a "Sun God." Or is it THE SON OF GOD? Yeah, it's actually Jayzus. I figured this out about 40 minutes before our intrepid geniuses did, too.
A couple things irked me about this. First of all, it presumes (as the show actually does quite a lot) that once we reach the point in our civilization where we have achieve space travel and communicated with other alien species, anyone will actually give a fuck about religion anymore. Which I doubt. I'm thinkin that once you fly out into space and stare into the face of a Vulcan or what have you, God becomes kind of irrelevant.
Secondly, Uhura made the lolarious statement that the people in the pseudo-Roman civilization were "trying to ridicule [Christianity] but couldn't!" Seriously? I have no problem with it! I know that this was the 1960's and they were fighting the godless commies so they had to be all patriotic and religious and shit, but the statement that Christianity is beyond rebuke is pretty fucking hilarious to me.
It was just all very ironic to me because it represents the kind of blind-sidedness about religion that amuses me, which is basically the mindset of "my religion totally makes more sense than everyone else's even though it isn't really fundamentally different from anyone else's and isn't supported any better in reality than anyone else's, and there are lots of other civilizations based on other religions or no religion that are trucking right along. But still, mine is totes the best." And it just makes me laugh because as much as they try to name-drop the Bible in Star Trek and talk about how great Christianity is, it's hilariously obvious how little religion actually matters to them. God has absolutely no role in their lives-- or ours, in my opinion. They might draw parallels between whatever is going on in the episode and some Biblical story, but they never actually need God or religion at all. And neither do I, in my life. And neither do I think the world needs it.
And it just occurred to me the other day, that you know what religion reminds me of? Sports. Which I also don't care for. Mostly because for me it's boring, but I'm also kind of afraid of how intense people can get about sports. Obviously there are people who like it to normal and reational levels, but once you get to the point of vehemently hating another team, that's where I draw the line. Because loyalty towards teams does often lead to violence and I think it's completely ridiculous when people throw rocks at cars displaying support for a rival team-- as a friend of mine saw happen-- or when people get trampled at games, which is even worse. It bothers me whenever people growl at fans of rival teams-- like in Michigan you're not allowed to like Ohio State, or something-- but is it really worth creating such fierce loyalties and rivalries like that? Why on earth do you even hate a rival team that much? It's a rival team. Teeth-gnashing is so beyond anything that I can even imagine being a reasonable response to sports rivalry, and of course it's fine when it's just fun and games, but people get hurt once the line between fantasy and reality gets blurred. And even if nobody gets hurt, it still strikes me as childish and insulting to insult people who like a different team than you.[/OFFENSIVE RANT]
Anyway, this episode made up for that lapse by having the scene in the jail, between Spock and Bones, which nearly blew my fucking socks off with how simultaneously gay, heart-breaking, GAY, meaningful, and GAAAAY it was. Godammit, I don't even like Spock/Bones, but damn were there vibes going on. And then Bones psycho-analyzing Spock's insecurities about being human made me d'awww and then the look on Spock's face was just INSANE, and then Spock and Bones both shared some mutual gaying over Kirk. It was fantastic.
ii. I really don't know what to do with my summer. I don't have a job, or want one, and I can't bring myself to call about any internship/volunteering opportunities, and basically I'm a lazy fucking lump. I just wish I could write something or, you know, actually contribute to the world's creative sphere in any meaningful way. THIS IS GOING TO BE MY ENTIRE LIFE. FUTILITY. Chris Pine would be so disappointed in me.
[OFFENSIVE RANT] Okay, so, in 'Bread And Circuses' our favorite threesome beams down to a planet that's like a 20th century Rome, and this group of escaped slaves worship a "Sun God." Or is it THE SON OF GOD? Yeah, it's actually Jayzus. I figured this out about 40 minutes before our intrepid geniuses did, too.
A couple things irked me about this. First of all, it presumes (as the show actually does quite a lot) that once we reach the point in our civilization where we have achieve space travel and communicated with other alien species, anyone will actually give a fuck about religion anymore. Which I doubt. I'm thinkin that once you fly out into space and stare into the face of a Vulcan or what have you, God becomes kind of irrelevant.
Secondly, Uhura made the lolarious statement that the people in the pseudo-Roman civilization were "trying to ridicule [Christianity] but couldn't!" Seriously? I have no problem with it! I know that this was the 1960's and they were fighting the godless commies so they had to be all patriotic and religious and shit, but the statement that Christianity is beyond rebuke is pretty fucking hilarious to me.
It was just all very ironic to me because it represents the kind of blind-sidedness about religion that amuses me, which is basically the mindset of "my religion totally makes more sense than everyone else's even though it isn't really fundamentally different from anyone else's and isn't supported any better in reality than anyone else's, and there are lots of other civilizations based on other religions or no religion that are trucking right along. But still, mine is totes the best." And it just makes me laugh because as much as they try to name-drop the Bible in Star Trek and talk about how great Christianity is, it's hilariously obvious how little religion actually matters to them. God has absolutely no role in their lives-- or ours, in my opinion. They might draw parallels between whatever is going on in the episode and some Biblical story, but they never actually need God or religion at all. And neither do I, in my life. And neither do I think the world needs it.
And it just occurred to me the other day, that you know what religion reminds me of? Sports. Which I also don't care for. Mostly because for me it's boring, but I'm also kind of afraid of how intense people can get about sports. Obviously there are people who like it to normal and reational levels, but once you get to the point of vehemently hating another team, that's where I draw the line. Because loyalty towards teams does often lead to violence and I think it's completely ridiculous when people throw rocks at cars displaying support for a rival team-- as a friend of mine saw happen-- or when people get trampled at games, which is even worse. It bothers me whenever people growl at fans of rival teams-- like in Michigan you're not allowed to like Ohio State, or something-- but is it really worth creating such fierce loyalties and rivalries like that? Why on earth do you even hate a rival team that much? It's a rival team. Teeth-gnashing is so beyond anything that I can even imagine being a reasonable response to sports rivalry, and of course it's fine when it's just fun and games, but people get hurt once the line between fantasy and reality gets blurred. And even if nobody gets hurt, it still strikes me as childish and insulting to insult people who like a different team than you.[/OFFENSIVE RANT]
Anyway, this episode made up for that lapse by having the scene in the jail, between Spock and Bones, which nearly blew my fucking socks off with how simultaneously gay, heart-breaking, GAY, meaningful, and GAAAAY it was. Godammit, I don't even like Spock/Bones, but damn were there vibes going on. And then Bones psycho-analyzing Spock's insecurities about being human made me d'awww and then the look on Spock's face was just INSANE, and then Spock and Bones both shared some mutual gaying over Kirk. It was fantastic.
ii. I really don't know what to do with my summer. I don't have a job, or want one, and I can't bring myself to call about any internship/volunteering opportunities, and basically I'm a lazy fucking lump. I just wish I could write something or, you know, actually contribute to the world's creative sphere in any meaningful way. THIS IS GOING TO BE MY ENTIRE LIFE. FUTILITY. Chris Pine would be so disappointed in me.