Listen to your inner Spock

There's a Kirk and a Spock in all of us. And when Kirk gets really passionate, we have to hope the Vulcan wins.

Whenever I find myself getting angry on the internet - and these past few days have given me a lot of things to be angry about - I try to think back to this scene from the classic late-Cold War espionage thriller, Star Trek VI: The Unexpected Country:

In case you didn’t pick up the subtext of this film released just weeks before the Soviet Union was dissolved, the Russians Klingons have suffered a nuclear disaster an environmental catastrophe¹ which exposed the crumbling foundation on which their empire was built. Starfleet sees an opportunity to end a decades-long conflict, and wants Captain Kirk to lead a diplomatic mission.

Kirk’s son was killed by the Klingons in battle, and he has never forgiven them.² Appalled at the prospect of speaking to them - and that his friend Mr. Spock suggested it to Starfleet - Kirk is enraged, resulting in an iconic exchange:

“Jim there is an historic opportunity here…”

“Don't believe them! Don't trust them!”

“They are dying.”

“Let them die!”

Even Spock, part of species which prides itself on suppressing whatever emotions they have, looks like he’s preparing to apply the nerve pinch to his colleague:

“Ancient Vulcan proverb: ‘Cool it now, you’ve got to cool it now, ooh watch out, you’re gonna lose control.’”

Kirk immediately pulls back from the brink, and we’re relieved he didn’t post his comments to whatever the Star Trek equivalent of YouTube might be. (I bet it’s mostly people reacting to other people’s holodeck visits and stuff.)

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Now that I’ve rewatched this scene in light of recent events in Israel, I can see people using it as an analogy for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict itself.

But I’m thinking more about how I respond to what I read on social media, and how I see others responding.