• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

So long, Spock

Before we elevate Leonard Nimoy to sainthood, a couple of contrarian opinions:

1. Spock was a jerk:

Not only do Spock’s peacenik inclinations routinely land the Enterprise and the Federation into trouble, his “logic” and “level head” mask an arrogant emotional basket case. Unlike the superhuman android Data, a loyal officer whose deepest longing is to be human, Spock spends most of his life as a freelancing diplomat eager to negotiate with the worst enemies of Starfleet. He’s the opposite of a role model: a cautionary tale.

Spock cares only for himself. He returns to the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) only because he believes the superior intelligence of V’ger might help him finally purge all human elements from his soul.

2. And logic isn't everything (which pains me to acknowledge as an editorial writer):

So maybe our future will be one where we only look to science for answers (“Oh, Men of the White Coat, tell us what to believe, and it shall be believed!”). We will be beings of pure logical thought with no need for the vagaries of religion.

The only problem is that people don’t work that way. Even as a child, I saw how the idea of a purely logical being like Spock (R.I.P.) was in fact illogical, because while logic is a great tool for solving problems, it never tells you what problems to solve.

If I haven't completely offended all you Trekkie nerds, live long and prosper, or at least have a good weekend.
Quantcast