Much more than sci-fi, Star Trek is a multigenerational social engineering tool.
Rather than focus on just one particular movie or TV series, I decided to do a general outline of themes of psychological influence that pervade the entire franchise.
Psychological Themes In Star Trek Series (Movies and TV shows)
1. One world government as the only way to the stars.
2. Collectivism (Spock’s famous line – The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few)
3. Order-following as necessary and virtuous
4. Atheism
5. Non-conformists purveyed as evil.
In Star Trek, all “advanced civilizations” (ones capable of interstellar travel) are shown to have a centralized world government. This is done intentionally to propagandize the viewer not only by reinforcing the harmful belief that “external government is good”, but also it plants the seed that overt world government is inevitable, and desirable.
This, of course, in practice, would be incredibly harmful and destructive to the human condition.
Why?
If we look at the history of the 20th century, we can learn that large, central governments were (and still are) responsible for the highest numbers of unnatural deaths. This was proven in a detailed study by Professor R.J. Rummel at the University of Hawaii.
https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/MURDER.HTM
Based on this pattern, how could it be conceivable that by centralizing more, over the entire planet, that suddenly this enormous, murderous cult would become benevolent and lead humanity into the stars, for the benefit of all? Utter nonsense.
Number Two. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. This is collectivism.
This begs the question: What about the natural rights of everyone?
A striking example of collectivism at its darkest is in China. For decades, people with more than one child were literally chastised for “taking food from others mouths”. Having a second child was perceived as selfish and “harmful to the collective”. Neighbors would rat each other out to “government”. Then some psychopaths from “government” would show up and murder the baby.
Spock’s famous line sounds good in theory, but in practice, is an utter horror show.
Number 3, order following as a virtue. Military terminology is clearly used in Star Trek, despite the claim that they’re on a peaceful journey of exploration.
News flash: Order-following is NOT a virtue. Order-following is one of the root causes of all misery in human history. Soldiers and police blindly following orders (and then having the audacity to try and justify it by saying they were “just following orders”) and suppressing the rights of others. Not only that, but murdering countless lives down through history.
Number Four. Atheist symbolism stares the viewer right in the face during every Star Trek story. The communicator on each crew member’s chest has a design eerily similar to Atheist symbolism. The two symbols are far too similar to be mere coincidence.
Star Trek Badge
Atheist Symbol
Finally, non-conformists are shown to be evil in Star Trek. The most common one throughout the various series is the Klingons. They are viewed as outsiders because they do not wish to join the “United Federation of Planets” (collective). And, of course, they’re shown to be crude and overtly violent, which presents the viewer with the simple connotation that “outsiders are bad”.
Bitter clingers, anyone? They’re called Kling-On for a reason, because they cling onto their lifestyle and traditions and don’t want to join the collective. Therefore, they’re the number one enemy of the collective.
One last thing I’d like to note. In all Star Trek series, the symbol of the collective (United Federation of Planets) is basically a UN symbol. I’m sure that’s just a coincidence, though, for all the coincidence theorists out there. There isn’t any psychological purpose behind it. (dripping sarcasm)
United Nations Symbol
United Federation of Planets Symbol from Star Trek
Thanks for your time and attention!
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All above images are from wikipedia and wikimedia.