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CHEKOV: We do believe all planets have a sovereign claim to inalienable human rights. AZETBUR: Inalien... If only you could hear yourselves? 'Human rights.' Why
by BuildTheRobots 12y ago
CHEKOV: We do believe all planets have a sovereign claim to inalienable human rights.
AZETBUR: Inalien... If only you could hear yourselves? 'Human rights.' Why the very name is racist. The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club.
-Star Trek, Undiscovered Country.
- mhurron 12y agoYou know, her anger was bullshit. First off, the word inalienable means: "unable to be taken away from or given away by the possessor." Secondly, no shit, Earth came up with the idea of rights for humans well before space travel. So did other planets in the Federation. Checkov basically said, 'these rights we believe we all have, we believe we all have regardless of species.' Had we been talking to a Orion, he would have talked about Orion Rights. But, no, she just wanted to be angry. And thirdly, "The Federation is no more than a 'homo sapiens' only club" is demonstrably false as the Federation was made up of many member races and earth was only one of several founding races.
- sp332 12y agoThe leadership of the federation at that time was almost entirely human. And I don't agree about the term "human rights". What if everyone used the term "European rights" even when talking about people on every other continent? It would be very awkward.
- BuildTheRobots 12y agoThe obvious comparison that jumps to mind would be the word "mankind" in our (theoretically) post-sexist society.