Would you live in the Federation?

[FaxModem1]

I'm going to say yes because overall it's going to be better but I have some very mixed feelings about how well I'd fit in given that I have depression and social anxiety, considering how the Enterprise crew treated Barclay at first. Even in the twenty-fourth century, no one has heard of anxiety disorders, apparently. Like ... I always liked Barclay, even as a kid, but the first time I rewatched Hollow Pursuits as an adult, it was almost physically painful.

I think we can just blame that on Troi being awful. Ezri Dax has a better success rate, from what we've seen.

But shouldn't the non-fail members of the crew been less ablist and more understanding of his needs?

Well, there's a bit of a difference between those who have a civilian job, and those who are working the ship's engines on a ship near the border, or heaven forbid, near the frontlines. You'd need someone who could do it at the drop of a hat in combat conditions and everything. As Picard noted, Barclay chose this way of life, so he's expected to meet a certain standard.

[Durandal_1707]

In a New York minute.

[SuccubusYuri]

I suppose the big question is, which Federation? Is it the one with a collective good in mind where artists, engineers and teachers stand shoulder to shoulder and respect each other, or is it the one where I will get put on drugs in an institution because I elected to dye my hair purple?

[FaxModem1]

I suppose the big question is, which Federation? Is it the one with a collective good in mind where artists, engineers and teachers stand shoulder to shoulder and respect each other, or is it the one where I will get put on drugs in an institution because I elected to dye my hair purple?

Please cite the episode in which they commit people for dying their hair.

[Rocketboy1313]

I suppose the big question is, which Federation? Is it the one with a collective good in mind where artists, engineers and teachers stand shoulder to shoulder and respect each other, or is it the one where I will get put on drugs in an institution because I elected to dye my hair purple?

Please cite the episode in which they commit people for dying their hair.

I would also like this reference explained?
Is this from a different show that has a Federation?

[SuccubusYuri]

It's more in general all the observations people have made about how the Trek crews seem disturbed or generally nonplussed when they encounter even the most basic deviations in human behavior. Namely the time travel episodes like Future's End where they seem literally confused by the idea someone chooses to style and dye their hair. Which, the representation used, even by the standards of the 90s, was tame as all hell xD

[FakeGeekGirl]

I'm going to say yes because overall it's going to be better but I have some very mixed feelings about how well I'd fit in given that I have depression and social anxiety, considering how the Enterprise crew treated Barclay at first. Even in the twenty-fourth century, no one has heard of anxiety disorders, apparently. Like ... I always liked Barclay, even as a kid, but the first time I rewatched Hollow Pursuits as an adult, it was almost physically painful.

I think we can just blame that on Troi being awful. Ezri Dax has a better success rate, from what we've seen.

But shouldn't the non-fail members of the crew been less ablist and more understanding of his needs?

Well, there's a bit of a difference between those who have a civilian job, and those who are working the ship's engines on a ship near the border, or heaven forbid, near the frontlines. You'd need someone who could do it at the drop of a hat in combat conditions and everything. As Picard noted, Barclay chose this way of life, so he's expected to meet a certain standard.

I guess we can file this under "Why it's hard to take Starfleet seriously as a military organization" file - because yes Barclay would be Section 8 in any real military. But ... there are not just civilians but literal children running around the ship, for God's sake, and there's so much emphasis in the early seasons on "we're explorers not soldiers" and such.

It almost seems like it's related to the thing SuccubusYuri mentioned where people seem completely shocked when someone doesn't act exactly like them. Someone who isn't extremely extroverted and confident bordering on arrogant? What?!

Oh poor Barclay. I just realized he was one of the science officers puking in a trashcan before every battle like in the jokes Chuck makes during First Contact.

[Rocketboy1313]

It is always kind of imperfect when depicting a strange future utopia and comparing it to modern conventions and trends.

It is almost like their culture is far removed from ours, without money, hunger, and a military so powerful that their ships seem to have the equivalent of a quaint village's residents running around inside. The show is not about the punk rock counterculture of the Federation. We are not watching "Misfits 2400" or "Friends on Betazed" so all the people with odd hair or music tastes are busy living in Space Seattle, it doesn't mean they have been purged, it just means they aren't working for Starfleet.

And Starfleet doesn't discharge people with mental issues as often as they should because they seem to be a loose coalition of mad scientists under supervision by Navy-esc personnel. Madness is part of the trade I am thinking.

[excalibur]

On Earth probably and during a time period where there's no equal parts threat of destruction and war. Most likely I'd never join Starfleet, not in the sense of no adventure, but at how the lore of the show portrays red shirts and random people to die for the sake of drama.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

The Roddenberry utopian vision is a fairy tale, and it isn't really explained all that well how it would work, but if you simply assume that it does work as advertised- then yeah, it would be pretty nice to live in the Federation with its lack of disease, war, and so on. Not that it doesn't still have its problems, some big ones, but you can say that about any civilization in any era.

One fairly large caveat, I would be comfortable living in the Federation now. If you're talking about being inundated and conditioned by the Federation's propaganda from birth, making it likely that I would accept their viewpoints and philosophies wholesale- I would hesitate to take that deal.