Lonely Among Us (TNG)

[J!!]

chuck made jokes about obama allt he time over the past 8 years

[Admiral X]

Besides the expressions they exchange (which puts this over the top), what particularly irked me about it was the use of the word "enslave." If you want to argue animal wellfare, that is a perfectly debatable topic, but I think if you want to win hearts and minds, don't use a word that indirectly compares centuries of the most shameful, unforgivable oppression with the plight of a cow.

And yeah, this seems to be forgotten later on; even in TNG, Keiko is amazed that Miles' mother used to prepare food using real meat. And her reaction is not revulsion, but rather like Mrs. O'Brien was doing something that people might not be brave enough to try.

Kind of reminds me of something else. I seem to remember an exchange between Troi and her mother about how humans "do not own each other in that way anymore," which to me implied that marriage wasn't a thing anymore (I'm sure GR was all about the free love), and later on not only is there a marriage between two humans on the show, but nothing of that earlier discussion ever comes up again as far as I know.

[SFDebris]

If it'll clear it up: I'm not a liberal, I'm libertarian (well, that's easier than saying "I have a number of viewpoints which combined does not fit into any single political box but since a majority of them are based on the principles of individual liberty I say 'libertarian.'"). So Obama wasn't my guy; in fact originally the initial example of the mirror universe was that we call the president with the army of flying terminators "Nobel peace prize winner" but it sounded clunky when said aloud so I went with the torture example instead.

[SuccubusYuri]

A replicated steak should be a 100% perfect replica of the original piece of steak that was used to create the pattern. The reason for this is that it's based on the same matter-to-energy conversion technology that the transporters use, and if that's not 100% accurate, I'd sure never want to step into one.

Heck, even actual farm-raised meat probably went through a transporter at some point in the shipping process. So it's literally *and* figuratively the same thing.

Now that I think about it, the "fakeness" may actually be that since the same pattern is used, you literally eat the same meal every time you replicate it. The brain might pick up on that similarity and thus it would get monotonous over time to your taste buds. Which could be gotten around if there were different patterns of the same meal stored, and the replicator would randomly choose between those patterns, but that could be a LOT of memory dedicated to storing molecular patterns of basically the same dishes.

I think also a piece of it would be the biofilters weeding out a lot of the "unrelated" bacteria just inherently present in your food. It makes it safer, but maybe there's something subliminal in our bodies that just knows its unnatural if our immune system isn't trying to weed shit out that might kill us. "Steak without maggot eggs? THIS IS A TRAVESTY OF BIOLOGY!"

Though theoretically you could cook with replicated red meat. I mean if you can replicate a fully cooked steak, and transport a living cow, why is in-between very difficult? Does that make everyone in the TNG era just eating glorified package ramen when they could just replicate fresh carrots and make their own damn soup? I could fit my damn kitchen in those crew quarters xD

Then again there is a really comical scene there of slaughtering a cow on site and dragging the bloodied mess to the replicator scanner to be sure you got the freshest ingredients. I suppose it's just...what...cheaper? to not have a galley staff?

[SuccubusYuri]

Also yes you need only look at The Outrageous Okana to see how much love for Obama Chuck had. There is just no safe space in this show.

[MadAmosMalone]

If it'll clear it up: I'm not a liberal, I'm libertarian (well, that's easier than saying "I have a number of viewpoints which combined does not fit into any single political box but since a majority of them are based on the principles of individual liberty I say 'libertarian.'").

I'm also a libertarian which means the hard core conservatives of my friends and family think I'm just slightly to the left of Jane Fonda while the liberals view me as somewhere between Richard Nixon and Darth Vader. I always suspected Chuck was one of "us" but having him confirm it is nice.

[Steve]

I consider myself a Whig... As in a Henry Clay/John Q. Adams-style Whig, but with their National concepts updated for the 21st Century.

Frankly their opposition to overbearing executive power doesn't need to be updated for our century...

As for this episode... the meat thing stands out to me. That and I remember the Anticans and Selay being used in the Star Trek: Birth of the Federation turn-based 4X game. But it was mostly the meat thing.

Heh, it reminds me of when myself and a group of friends were writing a multiverse/crossover setting (original stuff and Trek and some other stuff) and we joked about the early E-D crew taking shore leave on a world from one of the alternative Earths. They'd irritate cashiers because their only usable foreign currency would be Ferengi GPL (since it's been mentioned that Federation credits don't seem to have universal acceptance) and when they realized the dishes they were eating were made of real meat and not replicated or synthesized, they'd freak out (Save O'Brien, who would mutter "Just like my Mother's..." while chewing down enthusiastically).

[ScreamingDoom]

Heh, it reminds me of when myself and a group of friends were writing a multiverse/crossover setting (original stuff and Trek and some other stuff) and we joked about the early E-D crew taking shore leave on a world from one of the alternative Earths. They'd irritate cashiers because their only usable foreign currency would be Ferengi GPL (since it's been mentioned that Federation credits don't seem to have universal acceptance) and when they realized the dishes they were eating were made of real meat and not replicated or synthesized, they'd freak out (Save O'Brien, who would mutter "Just like my Mother's..." while chewing down enthusiastically).

Given how shocked the average Starfleet officer is whenever they time travel to contemporary Earth, I'd imagine they'd be freaking out a lot sooner than dinner.

"*Le Gasp!* A culture that is not a homogenized beige slurry of smug and inoffensive?! THESE BARBARIANS!"

[Dînadan]

Heh, it reminds me of when myself and a group of friends were writing a multiverse/crossover setting (original stuff and Trek and some other stuff) and we joked about the early E-D crew taking shore leave on a world from one of the alternative Earths. They'd irritate cashiers because their only usable foreign currency would be Ferengi GPL (since it's been mentioned that Federation credits don't seem to have universal acceptance) and when they realized the dishes they were eating were made of real meat and not replicated or synthesized, they'd freak out (Save O'Brien, who would mutter "Just like my Mother's..." while chewing down enthusiastically).

Given how shocked the average Starfleet officer is whenever they time travel to contemporary Earth, I'd imagine they'd be freaking out a lot sooner than dinner.

"*Le Gasp!* A culture that is not a homogenized beige slurry of smug and inoffensive?! THESE BARBARIANS!"

Don't you know, all civilised species have only a single hat. Only barabarians have multiple or no hats in particular!

[FaxModem1]

Yeah, it's best to view a lot of season 1 of TNG as not being the same world as everything else in Trek, a story being told, but not the real version as it collides with what is presented in later seasons. Because, as this episode is going on, the border skirmishes with the Cardassians are supposedly going on, they warred with the Talarians a few years ago, and are just now allies with the Klingons, with the Romulans being a sort of boogeyman. Heck, 'their big scary threat', the Ferengi, just emerged the previous episode. Out of universe, they really didn't have a handle on how to write the show, and it took them a couple seasons to fix everything.

If you really want a rationalization? In-universe? Let's say that the crew were in a state of shock for the first season after dealing with the godlike Q and his saying that humanity hadn't changed at all. That would make anyone defensive when your entire species is on the line and make you want to double down on what good traits humanity has. And to be fair, the UFP's quality of life is much better than anything anyone on this Earth has. And all the other weird crap going on with the Federation or the UFP? There are literally creatures infesting the highest branches of office, and are doing what they can to add to their numbers and not arouse suspicion.

As for taste with replicators, it's worthy to note that DS9 replicators were always viewed as subpar by everyone but Worf. Geordi compared the taste to liquid polymer. Most of the rest of the time, it's considered okay food, and having organic, free-range, vegetables grown in a garden for months and served on Thanksgiving are a special treat.