SPACE EXPLORATION: TWO VISIONS
(a paradox for Gene Roddenberry)

	Capitalist Vision 

“This is Captain Kirk of the starship Mass Enterprise. We are on a mission 
 to identify potential customers on your planet. Our purpose is peaceful and 
 primarily economic. Our policy is to use weapons only if the competition 
 gets tough. A copy of our holographic sales catalog will be beamed to your 
 coordinates and I'm sure many items will be of interest. After receiving 
 this message, please transmit your credit data. We have a lot to offer you 
 and look forward to stellar profits. Transmission out.” 

	Communist Vision 

“This is Comrade Kirkov of spasu wessel Freedom Fighter. We  are trying to 
 wiberate capitalist planets from unfair domination. Our wrong range scanners 
 have detected imperialist dog and pig around this system. To assure success, 
 we'll establish a military base near you. It is our duty to protect all 
 beings from wile ideological contamination. Sanitation protocols begin 
 shortly and a copy of our mission manifesto will be beamed to you. Your 
 cooperation is expected. End transmission.”

 
Terri: (laughing) This Star Trek stuff – isn't it cowboys in space?

Tim:   Sure. All fiction is rife with ideology.

Sam:   Isn't space exploration is a noble goal?

Kris:  I dunno. If we can't solve our problems on Earth, what makes you think we will in space?

Terri: Sometimes new perspectives are needed to solve old problems. Space might provide that.

Tim:   (sipping some coffee slowly) . . . Ah, I'm not so sure.


=================================================================================
from _AmeriSong: Poetry, Art, & Dialogs about Amerika_ by T Newfields
SUMMARY:  Two contrasting paradigms in the form of a Star Trek spoof.
KEYWORDS: space colonialism, Star Trek spoof, science fiction satire, expansionist ideologies

Author: T Newfields [Nitta Hirou / Huáng Yuèwǔ] (b. 1955)
Begun: 1997 in Shizuoka, Japan / Finished: 2019 in Yokohama, Japan
Creative Commons License: Attribution. {{CC-BY-4.0}} Granted

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