Susan Sackett, center, who was personal executive assistant to Trek franchise creator Gene Roddenberry, recently spoke to the Greater Worcester Humanists group.
I didn’t bother reading the whole thing. What’s the name of the book she’s flogging? /s
I remember the original Star Trek also dealt with Fascism. There was an episode where a friend of Kirk went down to a planet and tried to use the so called “good aspects of the Third Reich” to a primitive planet only to find that it went the same ways as Hitler’s Germany.
Ms. Sackett said Roddenberry was so resolute about religion that he refused suggestions to add a chaplain to the crew of the starship Enterprise.She said Star Trek was imbued with what she called the “IDIC Philosophy,” namely, infinite diversity in infinite combination.
Ms. Sackett, with the aid of film clips, said that “The Return of the Archons,” from the original series, was a good example of how Mr. Roddenberry employed elements of humanism in his works.
In that episode, a planet's population follows, in a zombie-like manner, a mysterious cult-like leader, who allows no divergent viewpoints.
Hypocrite.
So it was an indictment of international Communists and the Weather Underground, Jane Fonda, et al imposing Communism on the South Vietnamese?!!!
Apparently she didn't watch the show. OR she thinks that a guy with a super-mind who can mind-control other people, and a race of people who can put people into dream-states where they live their lives, are not "supernatural".
And she apparently missed Kahn.
It's pretty funny because there weren't really "religious" themes, but it was clear from watching the show that without religion, it really was science FICTION.
My favorite being that for some strange reason, they had pretty much infinite power, and yet everybody was still working hard, but supposedly for "personal fulfilment". So they had restaurants even though nobody needed money -- so did people just come and eat for free, and how did that work?
Once in a while they'd bring somebody from that past to remind them that they weren't really as advanced as they thought.
If Vietnamese aren't humans, can she say what race they ARE?
"Get a Life!"
Pretty sad how athesists have hijacked the term “humanist”. The humanism that rose during the Renaissance had a strong Christian flavor to it. Someone like St. Thoman More and Erasmus, both characterized as humanists, would be dismayed the terms is now synonymous with atheism. Roddenberry was not very “rational” when he described the future Federation as having no monetary system and people did not work for a wage. The question I always had is how was Kirk allocated the nice hi-rise apartment overlooking SF Bay or how did Bones buy him those antique glasses and first edition of Tale of Two Cities from Wrath of Khan.
So can we now ban “secular humanism” in schools now as it too is a religion? One that posits all men as “gods” in charge of their own destiny? She certainly presents it as incompatible with any other religious viewpoint.
Welllll, let's see:
Did the New Testament preach Forgiveness?
Did the New Testament preach Charity?
Did the New Testament preach Tolerance and Diversity (Good Samaritan)?
Did the New Testament preach Truth?
Did the New Testament preach Faith?
Seems to us the New Testament where this Word came down to Earth in human form (as in "humanitarian"), not the Old Testament of Fear, Superstition, Revenge, Wealth, and Authoritarianism, is quite the paragon of Reason.
Apparently Ms Sackett, along with about 80 per cent of the rest of humanity including many clergy, don't have a clue. Gene Roddenberry himself? Who knows?
Johnny Suntrade
The less involved Roddenbury was with a series, the better it performed.
The original trek prospered under gene koon.
the next generation only avoided cancellation after the second season ouster of roddenbury.
The only sort of diversity leftists allow is the kind where everyone is exactly the same in every way.
...In that episode, a planet's population follows, in a zombie-like manner, a mysterious cult-like leader, who allows no divergent viewpoints. The society absorbs individuals into its collective body and the world is free of hate, conflict and crime but creativity, freedom and individualism are stifled. Ms. Sackett said that “Archons,” like other Star Trek storylines, warns how people can be controlled by religion government. There I fixed it.
I think she's blowing smoke. There are no religious connotations to "Landru" in that episode. Watch it. It reminds one almost precisely of the cult of personality you see with a Hugo Chavez or Castro, or more disturbingly--of Obama. It reads as a warning against mindless totalitarianism.
I remember an episode from the Original Series in which a people worshiped “The Sun”; but it was revealed at episode’s end to be “The Son” (of God). Also, the characters constantly make references to God “My God, Man!”, “Oh, my God”, etc.
Interestingly, George Lucas explained to Bill Moyers in a 1999 interview, that he consciously set about to re-create myths and the classic mythological motifs.He wanted to tell an old myth in a new way. But the old myth he referred to was Eastern religion, not Western Christianity. The Force was the God-force of pantheism and New Age Humanism. And the the instruction scenes between Yoda and Obi-wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker provides a comprehensive instruction and initiation into Cosmic Humanism theology.
I'd never heard about Gene Roddenberry's beliefs, but I was clear about those of Joseph Campbell, from whom George Lucas borrowed philosophical ideas when he was writing his Star Wars movies. Just because I thought the shows were entertaining doesn't mean I subscribe to the beliefs of their creators.
