75 - Repetition

I do apologise if sometimes there is an element of repetition in this blog; pretty much every post is written on the hoof every day, and there may be some points I make one day that I need to elaborate on the next day, or maybe even days later.

Just bear with me about this. 

Much of what's on here is me spitballing about things. Sharing my opinions, which can shift. After all, if a person's opinion could never shift, we could never learn, and we could never grow... and if we didn't do those things, what's the point?

74 - Debate

I think one of the most important things in any civilised society is the freedom to express your opinions. This will certainly mean there are people out there who have opinions that are diametrically opposite to your own. Some of these opinions may even cause you offence. 

Tough. 

If a person has such an opinion, debate with them, engage with them, expose the fallacies in their arguments. prove your own point. 

The one thing that should not be done is to censor their opinions.

Once you have to resort to such censorship, you have lost the argument. It shows that you have no coherent points to prove them wrong. Censorship is the last resort of someone who cannot win an argument. 

And we do seem to be becoming more censorious as time passes. A person can post a message on Twitter, and if it's not what is deemed to be the "correct" opinion of the day, there is a massive scope for abuse, threats, and demands that their account is banned. People have been arrested, and taken to court, for saying something deemed incorrect. 

This cannot happen.

It is a slide towards a state where we are afraid to even open our mouth lest what comes out be not the right opinion. Yes, if someone says something you deem to be wrong, challenge it. Debate it. Etc. 

But the right to express that opinion? That must be held as a cornerstone of a civilised society...

73 - Ethel

No matter what else she does, the thing I will always remember Sandi Toksvig for most will be as Ethel, from TV's Number 73; which was one of those Saturday morning kids' shows they used to do. 

My memories of it are that it was quite brilliant, a little anarchic, and something about sandwiches. 

I sometimes wonder if the show would hold up if I were to watch an episode today (I'm sure there must be some on YouTube), but then I come to think that if it doesn't it would taint the memory. Sometimes the memory cheats. 

Hmm...

72 - State

I don't intend this blog to end up just being a Star Trek blog, despite what a notable number of recent posts may be suggesting, but I feel like writing about elements of ST at the moment, and as it's my blog that's what I'll do...

In any case, if I weren't yakking about ST today I'd probably end up writing a mopey post about Valentines' Day, and really... no-one wants that. 

It's just one thing today, a question; the Prime and Kelvin timelines are talked about as if they are separate things. But surely, it is impossible for one to occur without the other. So, from a certain point of view, are they not both the same time line? 

71 - Borg

I still don't buy the notion that the unseen enemy in The Neutral Zone episode of TNG was The Borg - at least, the Borg as we they emerged in the Season 2 episode Q-Who.

There was a notion that a species of aliens, with a hive mind, but insectoid in nature were to be those behind it; they were due to be introduced in the first couple of episodes of season 2. But a combination of the writers' strike (why there a fewer episodes in that season), and an inability to come up with a design for the creatures that they could make on budget meant these aliens were scrapped. 

But the notion of aliens with a hive mind stayed in the producers' minds and this is what eventually became The Borg.

So... why could these Neutral Zone aliens not be The Borg?

Well... cast your mind back to exactly how the Enterprise first encounter the Borg... Q flings the Enterprise across the galaxy, to an area no humans have ever gone. Q makes it quite clear that this encounter with the Borg has drawn humanity to their attention and they are on their way - perhaps a year/year and a half away from the Federation, and humanity. 

This is the key point. 

The Neutral Zone is not a place where humanity has  not gone before. It is the border between Federation and Romulan space. On the edges on each side are outposts - Romulan and Human - that are destroyed by the unknown attackers. 

So... if the Borg were a year/year and a half away from humanity mid-season 2, they could not be encountering humanity at the end of season 1.

Simple as that...

(Though all of the first contact with humanity was later contradicted by ST: First Contact, Voyager, and Enterprise... ho-hum...)

70 - Joker

I've just seen Joker.

I think it's a film that's going to take a while to fully sink in.

It's quite, quite, brilliant. 

Give me a few days and I'll write more. If I don't, prod me...