I remember the conversations when we joked around that the Klingons were really just the Russians, and the Federation's relationship with them mirrored the US's relationship with the real-world counterpart.
There was something to move onto though.

Thanks for bringing it up though that a lot of present shows, while maybe less idealistic about their fictional futures, all definitely very bravely make statements about the state of things that are wrong in our societies today. Again with Battlestar Galactica, the corruption within the system, even amongst the small handful of survivors speak of what we endure outside. Just to add onto TNG being closely linked to the Cold War, as DS9's major theme was religion, I recall it was aired during a time when it seemed that religion sparked all the major conflicts: Israel/Palestine, India/Pakistan/Kashmir, Northern/Southern Ireland, and many others too numerous to mention. Sad how we haven't really escaped from that. However, when I see the Cylons fighting for their right as given to them by God against the humans who worship the Lords of Kobol, I think we know that religion as an excuse for war never left us.

But I wonder how many people watch these shows and really relate them to the things happening outside? How much is our entertainment working to spread awareness and how much is it helping people to ignore the problems that we face everyday? What now? A comedic television series about the fall of Wall Street? Would we actually watch that? Maybe a Star Trek episode about the fall of Ferenginar. (Sad as that would be just because Rom is so cute).

Argh, trying times, trying world and no solutions. Do you think people are looking up from their ipods?