I have now watched Lower Decks
Nov. 3rd, 2023 08:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyAnd one episode calls back to that TNG episode with the planet of people addicted to drugs and the planet that sells them the drugs, and... I mean, no. Just fucking no.
First of all, I no longer believe for one minute that the entire planet signed up to take these drugs to cure or prevent their virus in the first place. Even putting aside Trek's usual problem with understanding that diverse cultures can exist among one species or on one planet (and that extends to Earth itself, don't think I haven't noticed), nope, nuh-uh, no way. Maybe in the 80s this was plausible, but we just lived through covid.
Secondly, people die from withdrawal, Picard. People can die. And yeah, yeah, Prime Directive, blah blah blah - but no, that entire episode on TNG was written to promote the sort of tough love methods that are so popular in the USA. But are those methods actually effective*? Is cold turkey the best way to kick an addiction? Where, exactly, is the evidence? I'll wait.
So, no. No, no, no. That episode was bad from the start, and revisiting it didn't make it good... although it was a good point that you can't just pop in, handwave a fix, and then leave again, not that the Lower Decks episode actually did anything with that premise at all.
* Doing what's necessary to protect yourself from a loved one who is suffering from an addiction is not the same thing as just going "tough love" because you have this idea that it helps them. Even if the actual actions are the same, the motivations are different.
First of all, I no longer believe for one minute that the entire planet signed up to take these drugs to cure or prevent their virus in the first place. Even putting aside Trek's usual problem with understanding that diverse cultures can exist among one species or on one planet (and that extends to Earth itself, don't think I haven't noticed), nope, nuh-uh, no way. Maybe in the 80s this was plausible, but we just lived through covid.
Secondly, people die from withdrawal, Picard. People can die. And yeah, yeah, Prime Directive, blah blah blah - but no, that entire episode on TNG was written to promote the sort of tough love methods that are so popular in the USA. But are those methods actually effective*? Is cold turkey the best way to kick an addiction? Where, exactly, is the evidence? I'll wait.
So, no. No, no, no. That episode was bad from the start, and revisiting it didn't make it good... although it was a good point that you can't just pop in, handwave a fix, and then leave again, not that the Lower Decks episode actually did anything with that premise at all.
* Doing what's necessary to protect yourself from a loved one who is suffering from an addiction is not the same thing as just going "tough love" because you have this idea that it helps them. Even if the actual actions are the same, the motivations are different.
