Monday, August 11, 2014

Shock

The humidity is 87% this morning--not really shocking in August, but so annoying, like wading through wet feathers.
At least it's cool: only 67ºF, whereas last year we were waking up to temps already in the 80s. 

A while ago this Star Wars sign (below, right) appeared on the outdoor kiosk where Mz works, so she ran home and made a Star Trek version and went back and put it up. 
By the next morning almost all the Spocks had been taken.

I watched the original Star Wars the other day and I was shocked at how overtly religious it is. I'd forgotten––since I hadn't seen the movie since it came out in 1977––that the Force is outrightly called a religion. 

This religion is mumbo-jumbo that appears to be reserved for the elite, like wizardry in Harry Potter. It's repellent (the elitism) to me now, but when I was a teenager I thought it was all very romantic.
And the "science" is just as vague and magical. I don't think it even should be called sci-fi, it's King Arthur and his knights in space ships.With terrible dialogue.

Watching Star Wars made me realize, in contrast, how the original Star Trek never offends my sensibilities about religion, not even when I was into spirituality: after all, they fully acknowledge that there are things beyond our ken––that's what they're looking for--they're out to explore, and Spock practices some kind of Vulcan/Jewish mysticism. 
But the Enterprise crew is always exposing gods as fascist agents of social control.

Kirk makes a speech defining his views to Lt. Palamas when she's lured by the offer of one of these gods. I like it.
Give me your hand…we’re the same. We share the same history, the same heritage, the same lives. We’re tied together beyond any untying. Man or woman, it makes no difference, we’re human. We couldn’t escape from each other even if we wanted to. That’s how you do it, lieutenant, by remembering who and what you are: a bit of flesh and blood afloat in a universe without end. And the only thing that’s truly yours is the rest of humanity. That’s where our duty lies!
Duty again...

Speaking of flesh and blood, now I'm off to meet a friend who has finished her chemo treatments for ovarian cancer. Leaving this blogpost kind of hanging in the humidity... 

Have a great day, humans!

3 comments:

The Crow said...

Live long, and prosper, friend!

bink said...

Love Marz's poster. Wish I had stumbled across it.

Fresca said...

CROW: LLAP to you too.
Alas, my friend's cancer will come back, she says. A matter of "when" not "if". Very sad...