Gene Roddenberry also wrote "The Omega Glory" in which the communists were depicted as the bad guys and the USA as the good guys which was a very conservative viewpoint in the 1960's. It also showed reverence for the constitution. I could bring up multiple instances in TOS which I believe are conservative, just as you can sight instances were it brought up liberal ideas. Edward White
If you can ignore the fact that Star Trek is a program about a multicultural, mixed-gender crew traveling among the stars while representing the Space UN, then fine, use one of the show’s most embarrassing episodes to say that it’s all about how great conservative ideals are.
But if you can bring up “The Omega Glory,” then I can cite “A Private Little War,” which showed how futile the Vietnam conflict was for both sides and how it ruined lives in the process, or “Let This Be Your Last Battlefield” and its ham-fisted messaging about racism. I could also bring up the way that “The Cloud Minders” discussed worker’s rights and the class divide. I might even sit you down to watch “The Mark Of Gideon” and ask you how its plot that revolves around the horrors of overpopulation and its environmental cost jibes with your conservative viewpoint.
Or I can talk better episodes and what they say about Star Trek and its philosophy. Sure. Let’s do that.
I’ll mention that “Arena” and “Devil In The Dark” show how important it is to try to understand the other and how vital mercy and outreach are.
I’ll discuss how “City On The Edge Of Forever” is one of the earliest examples of the franchise’s recurring theme of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few.
I’ll talk about how easy it is to draw a parallel between “A Taste of Armageddon” and the current use of surveillance and drone warfare.
I’ll show you that good guys that Kirk and Spock team up with in “The Savage Curtain” are the father of Vulcan pacifism and the guy that ended slavery in America.
I’ll point out that the show’s two most prominent proponents of capitalism, Cyrano Jones and Harry Mudd are the freaking bad guys in the episodes in which they appear.
If you want to go much more modern, Star Trek Into Darkness, as flawed as it was, revolved around military overreach and its tragic effects. It even ends with James T. Kirk saying: “There will always be those who mean to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil within ourselves. Our first instinct is to seek revenge when those we love are taken from us. But that’s not who we are.”
Sure, Roddenberry knew where his bread was buttered in the television landscape of the late 1960s. There are episodes in which phasers and derring-do save the day, but they are outweighed greatly by how often Star Trek used the power of metaphor to show how important kindness and understanding really are.
TL;DR version: Get that weak neocon shit off my track.
