Star Trek: Exploring The Conditional Love Of The Federation
When Gene Roddenberry first dreamed up the idea for Star Trek, his main mission was to create a show that used a utopian vision of the future, to tackle problems of the present, using the universe as a vision for a better future. Despite the show being released in the late 60s, it was revolutionary in its portrayal of an ethnically diverse cast and problematic subject matter, and its situations that were tackled from an all-inclusive and morally conscious organization: the Federation. At the start, Starfleet and the Federation were portrayed as the pinnacle of good, a utopia whose sole mission is peace and discovery. However, as more and more stories were added to the franchise, things got muddier and more complex, and the Federation lost its way.
This, in part, was inevitable. There are only so many stories one can tell about good guys versus oddly humanoid bad guys, each representing two distinct sides, before things get boring. Adding depth and betrayal, treason and spies in Starfleet, resulted in the much-needed diversity in storytelling the show needed. However, one such dark side of the Federation was much more subtle. From the very start, the Federation was supposed to embody peace and harmony throughout the galaxy, uniting cultures and species together as one. This was reflected in their «military» being a force for scientific research and defense, rather than war. Everything about Starfleet focused on defense rather than offense. They were also heavily invested in providing support to planets in need, striving to protect those weaker than they were.
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The problem, however, is that this love and support only applies if the ones
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