Civil War: What’s the meaning?

---

I left Alex Garland’s new film, “Civil War,” about an hour and a half ago. I felt overwhelmed by it. Saddened. But most of all, confused as to what the point of the movie was.

I think Garland made a wise choice not to focus on what caused the civil war, how the opposing sides came to be, and why they are fighting to begin with. It focuses the movie on the characters instead. We’re in an election year, and it’s shaping up to a Biden/Trump match again. A lot of people were disappointed that the movie wasn’t Democrats vs. Republicans or red vs. blue states. With the constant fear-mongering state of the media, it always seems like we’re on the verge of another American civil war. For example, Greg Abbott, the governor of Texas, defying a Supreme Court ruling in regards to policing of the border and being at odds with Joe Biden, was a dicey moment recently. People online were calling it the start of the Second American Civil War. But it fizzled out as people moved onto the next thing to worry about. The idea of Texas and California teaming up may seem ridiculous, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Map of how the various states are divided up. Green represents the Western Forces. Red is the Florida Alliance. Yellow is the New People’s Army and Blue is the loyalist states.

This quote from Garland really hammers home the point for me, and I’m paraphrasing it here:

“States that are being oppressed by a fascist president are probably willing to set aside their own issues. If they do, what does that say about political polarization?

If two state governments, with a large economy, large populations, strong industry, and good agriculture, are dealing with the same tyrannical government, it’s extremely possible that they would team up, regardless of them being a blue or red state. Americans are not as divided as they seem, despite what the news media tells you. The main focus of this movie is about the journalists’ journey through a war-torn America, not about the politics of such an event. But this movie is still inherently political in my view. More on that later.

When I was watching the film, I was very reminded of Joseph Conrad’s novel, “Heart of Darkness,” and the infamous 1979 adaptation of the film, “Apocalypse Now.” I personally have a very strong dislike for Conrad’s novel, but its being a strong critique of Western imperialism was revolutionary for its time.

The journalists in the film, Lee, Smith, Joel, Jessie, and Sammy, very much mirror that of the journey of Captain Benjamin L. Willard in “Apocalypse Now.” The president in “Civil War” is very much like Kurtz in a sense, although far more cowardly, and he doesn’t have much screen time in the movie. The characters are seeking him out in a similar way. Not to kill him like Kurtz in HOD and AN, but he’s the main McGuffin the characters are after. They seek to interview him before he’s captured and killed by the Western Forces or to be there when they get him. The Vietnam War itself is not the main focus of the film, and this applies to “Civil War.” The ongoing civil conflict is a backdrop, and the various events, places, and people they see and interact with are part of the background, although it does play an important part in the film. This film is about journalists and the horrors they see and witness when covering foreign conflicts and the journey they go through to tell the truth. With the scene of the group arriving in a town acting like nothing has happened, very much reminded me of the scene in “AN” at the French Plantation. It’s denial and nostalgia and wanting to go back to the way things were before, despite how broken and horrible it was.

In a key scene in the film, in the beginning, we see Smith taking a photo of a man being lit on fire. This reminded me very much of the very infamous photo of the starving child (The Vulture and the Little Girl) in Sudan in 1993 that was taken by Kevin Carter. He later committed suicide over the backlash to the photo and for not doing anything to help the child. Smith faced a very similar crisis as she did not do anything to help the man and, as a result, suffers from PTSD. In various parts of the film, the frame takes on a certain colored tint, and various times throughout the movie, and the POV zooms out a bit. This indicates Smith is suffering from a PTSD episode in the moment. In the climax of the film where the WF are storming the White House, she suffers from a severe episode of it.

This, for me, is an example of the extreme stresses and horrors journalists routinely subject themselves to in war zones. In the case of the Vulture and the Little Girl and various moments throughout the film, the idea of journalists is that they are meant to be objective and not get involved in any way. The characters themselves are subjected to and in some cases, killed for trying to report the truth. In the face of so much human suffering and death, is it possible to be truly objective? When Jessie sees several bodies hanging in a car wash, she freezes up not sure what to do or to take a photo. When two of their colleagues are killed by Jessie Plemons’s character, they express extreme distress and emotion at the sight and are on the verge of being shot.

the infamous ” What kind of American are you?” scene

When I went to university to be a journalist, I was taught that the most important thing was to be objective. But I dismissed that out of hand, as logically, you can’t stand by and let someone suffer. I feel as if I have a moral obligation to help someone in distress. A scene that follows after the car wash scene, Jessie is extremely distraught at what she witnessed and for not doing something to help. Smith rightfully says she couldn’t have done anything and to not be stuck on what-ifs, as it would drive her crazy. This is hypocritical on Smith’s part because of the PTSD she suffers from and how she feels covering conflict in general. Any rational, sane human being would be extremely traumatized by covering war and violence in general. I go back to Kevin Carter with the Vulture and the Little Girl. Humans are naturally social creatures with morals, and it’s a built-in ability for us to want to help other people who are suffering. To deny that is human nature.

When Sammy, Smith, and Joel’s mentor is killed saving them from a militia, they become direct victims of suffering and violence themselves. In the face of losing a father figure like that, they finally allow themselves to experience human nature.

The true message of this movie, in my view, is about objectivity as a journalist in the horrors of facing war. How does one stay neutral and impassive to horrifying events? What is the cost for the human soul and mind? And when should one intervene to alleviate suffering? And most importantly, for fellow Americans wanting to go to war with their own countrymen, what is the reality behind that? What is the true human, social, spiritual, economic, political cost of such a thing? Be careful what you wish for.

And this is what I mean by the movie being inherently political. A Second American Civil War is not going to be like Jericho or some MAGA wet dream where Trump is proudly standing over the body of Joe Biden with an American flag and a bald eagle on his shoulder. It’s going to be a horrifying, scarring, and destructive conflict that touches everyone. It’s a romanticized idea, much as war

was viewed before World War I that it will be filled with glory and romance with a desire for exacting revenge on people for simply having a different point of view. War is not glamorous or romantic. It’s a horrifying, awful thing and one of the worst things a human could ever do to another human being. The thought of doing that to a fellow countryman is even more terrifying because you come from under the same flag.

The far right in the United States clamoring to restore the honor of the Confederate States of America or Democrats wishing for Republicans to disappear off the face of the Earth truly have no idea what the consequences of such an action would be. There’s no thought for what the aftermath and consequences of such an action would be. Jessie Plemons’s character best represents this for me. Humans would use it as an excuse to unleash their darkest impulses.

There’s so much more to unpack about this movie. I think the movie could represent the five stages of grief because of the various experiences the characters have. I highly recommend going in to watch this film without reading reviews and allowing yourself to form your own opinion on it as I did. A popular saying around this film is that there are a lot of bad takes around it and that people are completely misunderstanding it. But the film is open-ended in what it means, and it’s up to the viewer themselves to decide. I hope my writing here helps you understand.

Can A.I be our friend?

The idea of artificial intelligence in Western popular culture is mainly negative, thanks to such works as The Terminator and the character of HAL 2000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey. There are a few positive examples, such as Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Vision from Marvel comics and the MCU, and many more. But the perception, at least from my point of view, is negative.

Besides the fear that when we reach the zero singularity, the moment A.I. becomes self-aware, it could decide humanity is inferior and decide to wipe us out, there are more realistic things to consider. For one, we are already seeing A.I. become omnipresent in our lives with the rise of ChatGPT, rising automation, and computers being created to be smarter and smarter. I believe we will achieve the zero singularity in the next 15–20 years. The chance of A.I. becoming self-aware is more or less guaranteed to happen. Many experts in the field or in science have warned us about it, such as Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and many more.

But what if the experts are wrong and A.I. actually benefits humanity and makes the world a better place? What if we aren’t immediately wiped out in a nuclear holocaust and have to fight the machines, John Connor style?

For starters, A.I. has already been a massive help for humanity. We see this with Alexa, Google, computing programmes, ChatGPT, and many other things. A.I. does a lot of the heavy lifting for us in terms of work, and it’s already made our lives far more convenient. ChatGPT, for example, can write a whole essay on any given topic in less than a minute, giving university professors everywhere a heart attack.

A.I. is already proving to be a boon for humanity. But how can A.I. truly become friendly with us?

There are several ways to go about this. For example, programming it with ethical and moral guidelines is one. The most famous example of this is Isaac Asimov’s Three Rules of Robotics:

“The first law is that a robot shall not harm a human or, by inaction, allow a human to come to harm.” “The second law is that a robot shall obey any instruction given to it by a human, and the third law is that a robot shall avoid actions or situations that could cause it to harm itself.”

In popular culture, there have been many interpretations of this, such as in the movie I, Robot, which is based on Asmiov’s Three Rules and the book of the same name. Some criticism of this is that the laws are ambiguous, even for us as humans. What does it mean not to “harm”?

To quote Mindmatters on this:

“The “laws” are ambiguous, even for a human. For example, what does it mean to not “harm”? Actually, it is quite sticky to work out. The flaw with the laws is this: They assume that morality and moral decisions can be made by means of an algorithm, that discrete yes/no answers suffice to “solve” moral quandaries.

They are also completely made up and used as a plot device in many of Asmiov’s works. His work regularly deals with robots or other forms of intelligence going against their programming and causing issues. Programming a robot with such loose regulations is flimsy at best, but they start off as a good jumping-off point.

Programming a robot to follow human ethics and respect human mortality is complicated, as the robot could decide whether or not to do so. Also, if it’s too narrow, it can cause issues there. So, in order to achieve the ideal machine that follows human ethics and morality, you need to strike a balance that allows for some flexibility.

Human ethics and morality are regularly tested every day, and humans can’t even comprehend all of them themselves. So imagine if you were a machine, as ethics and mortality can change from situation to situation. This is where the flexibility I mentioned comes in, as it would allow A.I. or a robot to decide how to best handle the situation based on the pre-existing ethics and morality programmed into it.

Even if an A.I. or a robot is programmed to have good intentions, this could change. Programming a fail-safe to prevent the A.I. from exceeding its ethics and morality programming or more general programming could be a way to counter this. In its design, A.I. will be programmed to always be self-improving and surpassing itself, unless otherwise told not to. For example, in the Star Wars universe, A.I. and self-aware robots exist, but rarely do they cause harm to humans or others unless they were created specifically for killing, like I-G-11 or other bounty hunter robots. This could be one future we face. They don’t come to dominate us but just part of our lives and useful tools.

This also brings in the idea of nature vs. nurture. While an A.I. or robot would not have a genetic code like humans, if it were raised like a human child with good ethics and morals, theoretically it would turn out to be a good person. But anyone is capable of becoming a horrible person, despite a good upbringing. This could be the same with A.I. and robots.

These types of debates about human ethics and morality, their relationship to machines, their implementation in machines, and finally what the reality of that would be, has been going on for decades.

But, would there be some realistic applications where AI could benefit us? Well, the possibilities are limitless. The first one that comes to mind for me is in the world of health and science. There are an infinite number of ways A.I. could help us in the medical field, such as through nanotechnology, performing surgeries, and more. Also, in terms of computing power, it could help solve problems that have long puzzled humanity. It could help us solve global warming, hunger, famine, war, and so much more. The potential of it is limitless, but how much of it will remain in the realm of science fiction versus reality has yet to be seen. It could solve the problem of everything, to quote Reed Richards from Marvel comics.

I personally am willing to give A.I. a try, but it’s honestly one of humanity’s greatest existential crises. Who knows what potential impact, A.I. and the achievement of hitting the zero singularity could cause and the following philosophical debate that would happen. Many experts, politicians, celebrities, and ordinary people have varying ideals about how to respond to the creation of AI and its becoming self-aware. I 100% believe it will happen within my lifetime, and it scares me. ChatGPT is a prime example of this, and I believe it will be seen as the grandfather of whatever A.I. is created.

I would hope that A.I. would have a positive application for humanity in the future, but only time will tell. I hope they end up like Data from Star Trek or the Vision. Remember, be nice to your Alexa or Siri. They could be seriously planning to kill you.

My Top Ten Star Trek Books, Part 2

Hello again, everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve read over 100 Star Trek books and there were some I really wanted to add onto the list, but they did not make a cut. This is done to achieve this.

10. The Original Series #47: the Kobayashi Maru by Julia Ecklar

Kobayashi Maru is the most infamous test in Star Trek, the ultimate no-win scenario. It is meant to test young Starfleet cadets that not all situations are winnable and that they should be prepared to lose. Kobayashi Maru is a ship trapped in the Klingon Neutral Zone, but it is a trap to draw starships into an unwinnable fight with Klingon ships. However, in the case of Kirk, he does not believe in a no-win situation, and he makes it a career to defy the odds. This is the story of revealing how Kirk, Scotty, Chekov and Sulu’s Kobayashi Maru tests went. Trapped on a shuttle that is powerless and lacks the ability to communicate with the outside world, to pass the time, the crew tells how their various Kobayashi Maru tests went. This is a great book that offers insights into the crew’s younger years and how they became the Starfleet officers they are, particularly in the case of Chekov, Kirk, Scotty and Sulu. This is a great book because we finally learn how Kirk beat the test by cheating, and it is the first true prequel we obtained in terms of exploring the crew’s backstory. I particularly enjoyed Chekov’s and Sulu’s stories, with the latter having some emotional weight. Scotty, of course, comes up with the most maddening solution for beating the test. The book is well-written and emotional and provides excellent insight into how the crew became the people they are in the Original Series and films.

8.5/10

9. Deep Space Nine: The Lives of Dax by various

I usually roll my eyes at anthology stories, but this buckles the trend. Jadzia Dax is easily one of the best characters on DS9, but for one particular reason. She bonded to a symbiote that had lived for over 300 years and had six hosts before her. She is a Trill, whose species bonds to a symbiote, which are not anything like Venom from Marvel Comics, but they look more like a gray slug/xylitol-looking creature, and the symbiotes are functionally immortal. Also, they are more nice and don’t crave human flesh. Through this, the hosts gain knowledge of the previous symbiote hosts, making them some of the smartest and wisest people in Trek. Throughout DS9, we learn about Dax’s previous hosts from Curzon to the murderous Joran, and we gain glimpses of her various hosts, but we never learn the full story of all of them. This book has corrected this.

Written by multiple Trek authors such as Judith and Garfield Reeves- Steven, Jeffery Lang, Greg Cox and more, this is a great anthology series as it answers many questions about the past of the Dax symbiote and also about the Trill as a people. It is also probably one of the best DS9 books, by default.

10/10

8. Star Trek: Voyager: The Homecoming Dulogy by Christine Golden

Finally, I will discuss some Voyager books. In the finale of Voyager, after the future Admiral Janeway brings the crew home and helps them destroy the Borg transwarp hub, effectively crippling the Borg, we never get to see the crew reunite with their loved ones. How do they adjust to life in the Alpha Quadrant? How did they deal with the aftermath of the Dominion War? How do they feel reunited with their loved ones? In particular, how do Seven of Nine, a former Borg drone, and the Doctor, a holographic medical officer, deal with a world that is hostile to them? The duology of books answers this question.

To be fair to you, I find that these books go off the rails, particularly in the case of the second book where the Borg subplot takes center stage. However, these books are great because they give us what was missing in the Voyager finale, the crew reunited with their loved ones, and how they react to being back in the Alpha Quadrant.

7/10

7. Star Trek: Voyager #19-21: the Dark Matters Trilogy by Christine Golden

By the same author as the previous entry, this is truly one of my favourite trilogies in Star Trek. This is also very underrated in my opinion. Dark Matters deals with the Voyager crew suddenly falling ill with dark matter, the substance that makes up the known universe. At the start of their journey back home to the Alpha Quadrant, the Voyager crew made contact with a Romulan scientist 20 years ago named Telek, via a wormhole. Despite the fact that this could have gotten the Voyager crew home, due to the fact that Telek existed for 20 years in the past, this could have disrupted the timeline and risk of the Voyager crew being captured by the Romulans, along with their advanced technology. In the Eye of the Needle is personally one of my favourite Voyager episodes, thanks in part to Vaughan Armstrong’s performance as Telek and the sympathy he feels for Janeway and the crew. At the end of the episode, he promises to pass on information to Starfleet and their families that they are still alive and well, but he dies before he gets the chance to do so.

This trilogy of books expands upon Telek’s backstory and how he was really able to get in touch with Janeway and the crew. It also reveals a plan by the Romulan Star Empire to steal Voyager’s advanced technology and use its advantages against the Federation. However, not all is as it seems that the Romulans and the Voyager crew are being pushed by an outside force determined to bring about the end of the universe, as we know it with dark matter! This trilogy of books is great because it is a solid Voyager story, offers answers about Telek, and is a wonderful sequel to the Eye of the Needle. Easily some of the best Voyager books out there

8/10

6. Voyager Relaunch: Full Circle- the Eternal Tide by Christine Golden

I count this book as one because it contains the first massive arc of the second Voyager relaunch. Christine Golden after Homecoming would go on to write another duology called Spirit Walk which focused on Chakotay as captain of Voyager and Janeway becoming an Admiral. However, it was not well received by fans; therefore, a second relaunch occurred. Janeway was also killed after being assimilated by the Borg in the Next Generation novel, Before Dishonor by Peter David, which was also not received very well by fans.

Thus, taking things back to the basics, Kirsten Beyer started the second relaunch of Voyager. Starting with a Full Circle, it primarily wraps up loose ends from the series and the previous relaunch in an excellent fashion. It primarily deals with the Warriors of Gre’thor ( if I am spelling that right) and the prophecy of Tom Paris and B’elanna Torre’s child, Miral, supposedly being the Klingon messiah. The second half of Full Circle deals with the aftermath of Janeway’s death before Dishonor and its effects on Voyager’s former crew, particularly Chakotay and Starfleet’s attempt to send back another expedition into the Delta Quadrant. Full Circle is an excellent book, and I highly enjoyed it, as it sets up the relaunch of Voyager in excellent fashion and gives all the characters excellent arcs. It also sends them back to the Delta Quadrant, which the next two books primarily address. But Eternal Tide also sees the return of Janeway from the dead, with help from Q Junior to deal with the Omega Continuum. It’s my second favourite after Full Circle, which I would say is the best Voyager novel I have read so far. These first four books as a whole are excellent as they bring Voyager back to basics, focus on what made it great in the first place, and make it far more compelling and interesting than the show. Voyager always suffered from weak writing compared to TNG and DS9, but this is fixed here. This makes these books great.

8/10

5. The Original Series: Spock’s World by Diane Duane

The Federation in crisis! On Vulcan, a vote to leave the Federation will occur, and Kirk, Spock, and McCoy must go to Vulcan to testify to the merits of staying in the Federation. Throughout the book, chapters of Vulcan history reveal how the Vulcan language was created, the origin of Vulcan philosophy, medieval culture, Vulcan’s first steps into outer space, Surak, and his creation of following logic over emotion. This is another excellent book written by Diane Duane, who I featured in the first part. This book is also an excellent deep dive into Vulcan culture and history and makes it feel like a lived and ancient world, more then as it was portrayed in the Original Series and movies. The writing is also excellent and flows incredibly well, and the debate on whether Vulcan should leave or stay in the Federation actually carries weight. I highly recommend this book if you like Vulcans or are interested in the character of Spock.

8.5/10

4. The Original Series #50: Doctor’s Orders by Diane Duane

McCoy is easily one of my favourite characters in Trek, along with Garak, Kirk, Picard and Data. I love the old, crotchety country doctor, who does not belong in space. I relate to him so much, and he serves as Kirk’s emotional anchor, in contrast to Spock’s logical and scientific mind. He also serves as a voice of reason and passion among the various science-fiction mishaps that occur throughout the series. This book deals with the Enterprise being told to go to a non-aligned world with three unique species that live on the same planet and to get them all to petition to join the Federation. However, Kirk is accidentally sent foward in time a week. Before he left, he jokingly put McCoy in charge of the bridge, expecting to be gone for only two hours, but McCoy now finds himself in a deadly crisis. Now McCoy, as acting captain, must deal with Klingons and Orion pirates that seek to claim the world as their own, all without Kirk!

This book puts an excellent focus on McCoy and his character and shows how lucky Kirk is to have the people he has around him. It is also very funny to see McCoy have to deal with such a deadly crisis and be unable to give control of the ship to Spock because of regulations. McCoy proved to be a competent leader. It also provides great dialogue between him and Spock, which is always a joy to read and watch in the T.V show. Overall, this is a fun rip-roaring adventure that gives McCoy great character development and we get to see him in a situation we never thought we would see him as; captain of the Enterprise! Diane Duane’s writing is top form here and this is my favourite book by her. She captures the spirit, feels, and heart of the TOS in her writing here and which makes it such a great book.

9/10

4. Deep Space Nine: the Millennium Trilogy by Judith and Garfield Reeves Steven

This trilogy takes place between seasons 6 and 7 of DS9 and includes all the great makings of a Star Trek book: time travel, overpowered characters, alternate realities, and more. Mysterious events occur on DS9, such as the murder of an Andorian criminal, two dead Cardassians being found, and the discovery of a mysterious holodeck that no one has ever seen at the station. Quark is framed for the murder of the Andorian, and soon an infamous Cardassian scientist arrives. However, how are all of these events connected?

Sisko and crew are now forced into a tight race to prevent the long-lost orbs of the Second Celestial Temple from falling into the wrong hands! They must also prevent a second wormhole, the long-lost Second Celestial Temple of the Bajorian faith, from opening and potentially destroying the universe. This great book truly embodies the spirit of DS9 and involves two of Star Trek’s greatest plot devices: time travel and alternate universes. In the case of the alternate universe, we get to see one where the Federation and the Borg team up, a Bajor that is the most powerful planet in the galaxy, Jean Luc Picard building the largest starship to stop them, and Weyoun as the Emissary of the Prophets, oh my! Timey, wimey, and wibbly wobbly temporal antics also occur. However, this trilogy of books feels like a true encore for DS9 after the series ended and celebrates what makes it truly great, its character, its heart, and capturing some of Star Trek’s greatest plot devices and its embrace of darker themes.

8/10

3. The Next Generation #47-49: The Q Continuum Trilogy by Greg Cox

Q is one of my favourite characters in all of Trek, thanks mainly to the performance of John De Lancie. As mentioned in my previous post about my favourite Star Trek books, Q-Squared is easily one of my favourites. I would argue that this trilogy of books makes up the second-best book about Q. After the events of Generations and First Contact, Picard and Crew are sent to the Galatic Barrier to penetrate it and get to the other side. They are going to test a device designed by a Betazoid scientist, but his intentions were less than glamorous. Q soon appears to Picard to stop this from happening and to prevent the galaxy from being overrun by an evil entity! Q himself is responsible for this entity entering our universe.

We do not really learn anything about the backstory of Q in TNG or other related shows. We do get to see the Continuum in Voyager and the resulting civil war, but nothing else. This trilogy of books is the closest thing we are going to get to a backstory for Q and how he becomes the individual that he is that we see in the TNG. This trilogy of books is mostly great for bringing together and explaining the various god-like entities that exist in Star Trek, such as Sha Ka Ree from the Final Frontier and more from the Original Series, and Q is indirectly responsible for bringing them into our universe. It also has excellent tie-ins to other parts of the Trek canon, such as the fall of the T’Kon Empire, which is featured in the book, Gorgan, how the galactic barrier was created, and why and even how Q is responsible for the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs! This was my first dive into the world of trek literature, so it will always hold a special place in my heart. Cox has always done a great job of weaving together disparate parts of the Trek canon together into a concise and great story, and this continues that trend.

8/10

2. The Next Generation: The Immortal Coil by Jeffery Lang

One of the best Star Trek novels in my opinion and the best story about data out there. After the events of Generations and First Contact, Data struggled to deal with his emotion chip. This was granted to him by his creator, Noonien Singh, for him to become more human. When a prototype for an advanced android is stolen from the Daystrom Institute, Data and crew are sent across the galaxy to determine why and Data must come to terms while dealing with his newfound emotion. Soon, a galaxy-wide conspiracy was discovered that links various AI, androids, and robots from throughout Trek history, and only Data can stop it!

This book is incredibly incredible: Not only does it give data the true solo treatment he always deserved, the way it ties the various AI, androids, and robots into the story we have seen throughout Star Trek is incredible. From the androids from “What are Little Girls Made of?” to the M5 computer from ” the Ultimate Computer, ” even the freaking Exo-comps from TNG are tied in masterfully well. It also contains some of the best actions I have read in a Star Trek book, and the finale of the book is just absolutely perfect. It gives everything you want in a Star Trek book: great character development, excellent world-building, crossover with other series, action, and, overall, a wonderful and powerful beating heart. I love this book so much; I am going to give it a perfect rating.

10/10

The Original Series: Cast No Shadow by James Swallow

1. This book is fantastic and highly underrated. After the events of the Undiscovered Country and the supposed death of Kirk in the hands of the Nexus, the galaxy is in an interesting place. With the newly signed Khitomer Accords, there was fragile peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Federation is helping to rebuild the Klingon homeworld after the destruction of its moon Praxis. But when a series of attacks occur in both the Federation and the Klingon Empire that tie back to Admiral Cartwright’s conspiracy, it’s up to the least likely person to stop them; Valeris, Spock’s former protege and betrayer of the Federation.

This is an excellent novel as we get a deep dive experience of the character of Valeris and a great exploration of the Lost Era of Trek. We see the early formation of the Klingon Federation alliance and the world in the TNG. We also see characters like Spock, Sulu, and Matthew Vaughan, and how they got to be where they were in the TNG era. However, most importantly, this is an excellent spy thriller and serves as a redemption for the character of Valeris. This book perfectly embodies the darker vibe of the Lost Era and plugs you into the world of trek politics, with it a murky and morally grey world. It is also mainly a great rip-roaring adventure and is highly underrated in my view.

9/10

That was the second part of my favourite Trek books, and I can always do a third if there is demand for it. I hope you all like my list and look forward to hearing from your favourites.

My Top Ten Star Trek Books

In honour of starting my Star Trek journey that started 3 years ago around this time, I’m going to be sharing with you my ten favourite Star Trek books. During the pandemic, Star Trek was one of the few things that helped me through it and kept me sane.

I’ve watched everything, including TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, TOS, PIC, SNW, and DIS. I haven’t watched Lower Decks or Prodigy yet, but I will get around to them eventually. Like Star Wars, I got into the book side of Trek, and I have greatly enjoyed it. Unlike the Expanded Universe in Star Wars, I’ve dug deep into the Trek Litverse. I’m not quite sure how many of them I’ve read, but I’ve probably read at least over 100 of them. Most of them have been pretty good; some of them are okay, and some of them stink.

But it has wider appeal for me than the Star Wars universe just due to the vast number of TV shows and characters. If I get bored with one series, I can just switch over to another. Star Wars seems to mainly follow the Skywalker family, and despite how much I enjoy that, it can get a little stale just reading about the same characters over and over again. Anyway, here are my top ten Star Trek books!

10. Star Trek: The Lost Era: The Sundered by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels

I just finished this book about a month ago, and I still love it. Between the time when James T. Kirk supposedly perished on the Enterprise-B and the events of Star Trek: Generations, there is not much canonical in the timeline. Sure, you have Picard as Captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer, but you don’t see much in the way of stuff in the live-action of that period. So a group of authors took it upon themselves to write what happened between the first death of Kirk and the events of Star Trek: Generations, setting up events and characters as they were later seen in the TV shows like Tuvok, Riker, and more. And this is the first book in that series.

The Sundered focuses on Sulu in 2298, five years after the supposed death of Kirk, and deals with him being the captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior, as seen in the Undiscovered Country. Also along for the ride are Chekov, Janice Rand, Christine Chapel, and Tuvok from Voyager. The book primarily deals with the Tholians reaching out to the Federation to offer a peace deal, but not everything is as it seems. A mysterious race has been attacking the Tholians, and their origin going back to the early days of humanity before they developed warp drive is shocking! It is now up to Sulu and crew to stop a wider galactic war from breaking out.

Why this book is so great is because it gives Sulu a great stand-alone story, we get to see more of him as a captain, and we get to explore more and learn about the Tholians and the Neyel, the mysterious race attacking them. The writing is excellent, the Neyel are incredibly interesting bad guys with their origin tied back to Earth after the Third World War and the invention of warp drive, and it serves as a great sequel to the Tholian Web. The excellent insights in the rarely-seen Tholians are great, and the book keeps you on the edge of your seat. It mainly works because it’s a great Sulu story and finally allows him to step out of the shadow of Kirk and sets up the world we would later see in TNG.

Rating: 10/10

9. Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars, Volumes 1 and 2 by Greg Cox

Khan Noonien Singh is easily one of the best villains in all of Trek, if not one of the best in all of sci-fi. He served as the perfect foil for Kirk and his crew in Space Seed and comes back with a roaring fury in The Wrath of Khan. Ricardo Montalban plays such a great villain, charming and yet utterly terrifying, with Benedict Cumberbatch also giving an excellent turn as the villain. But who is Khan truly, and what were the Eugenics Wars? Modern history and Trek canon conflict with each other greatly, as genetic supermen didn’t kill millions of people in the 1990s. This book is the answer to solving this conflict, as it presents what the Eugenics Wars truly were, and Cox does an excellent job of fitting late 20th-century history within Trek canon.

This book also goes into the true origin of Khan and how Gary Seven tried to stop him from becoming the tyrant he would later become in history, but unsuccessfully. This book excellently weaves in real-world history, like the fall of the Soviet Union, and various important political events in India and around the world. It also reveals that the Eugenics War was a shadow conflict between Khan and his superhuman siblings, and they are vying for control of the world. The book also excellently weaves in various bits of Star Trek lore from the 20th century with DS9’s Little Green Men, Assignment: Earth, the immortal Flint, Guinan, and Star Trek: The Voyage Home and how that indirectly leads to Kirk meeting Khan in the future.

Overall, an excellent pair of books answers many questions about Khan and the Eugenics War and ties in 20th-century Star Trek lore excellently. It’s also a great, paranoid spy thriller.

Rating: 9/10

7. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Q-Squared by Peter David

Q is one of my favourite fictional characters, owing largely to John De Lancie’s performance.Imagine God, but he was an asshole and had a man crush on Patrick Stewart. This is probably the best book about Q out there. Q was the first villain that Piard and the crew of the Entreprise-D faced in Encounter at Farpoint and appeared throughout the series afterwards, especially with Q-Who (which introduced the Borg), Tapestry, and the finale, All Good Things… He also appeared in DS9, Voyager, and the second season of Picard. He mainly served as a foil to Picard, judging humanity and always teaching him some form of lesson.

This book serves as an excellent sequel to these episodes and ties back to the Original Series. In the TOS episode, “The Squire of Gothos, a being called Trelane menaces Kirk by being obsessed with early 19th-century warfare and challenges Kirk to a duel. Many people, ever since that episode came out, speculated that he was a Q as he displayed similar powers of being able to warp reality like Q. This book officially confirms that Trelane is a Q, and maybe also the son of Q! My gosh!

The thing I truly love about this book is how off the rails it goes, with diverging timelines merging into one, the main timeline, one where Jack Crusher is the captain of the Enterprise-D, and a timeline similar to events seen in Yesterday’s Enterprise. This book is truly bonkers, and I enjoy seeing overpowered characters. But this book mainly works for me because of Peter David’s writing and humour and his ability to catch what makes TNG great. It feels straight up like a classic episode of TNG, and for the better.

8.5/10

6. The Return by William Shatner

This is a guilty pleasure book of mine, but it was one of my first forays into the world of Star Trek literature. Generations was an okay movie, but it left a lot to be desired. Sure, we got Kirk and Picard finally teaming up, but it was short and brief, leaving me with a bad taste in my mouth and wanting more. Also, Kirk’s death in the movie was incredibly stupid. People said he was always going to die on the bridge of a starship, but instead, he died on a stupid, rickety bridge. Shatner himself was not pleased about the death of Kirk in the film, and during the filming of Generations, he conceived a way to bring Kirk back. Teaming up with famed Trek lit authors Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, the Return was born.

He wrote a prequel novel called The Ashes of Eden, which acted as Kirk’s last big adventure before the events of Generations, which I enjoyed quite a bit, despite a little too much Kirk worship and fan wank.

The Return is just such a fun book, and it satisfies the primal urge to see the Original Series crew team up with the Next Generation cast and have a proper bloody crossover between the two. After Kirk’s death on Verdian III, he is brought back to life by a team-up of two of Starfleet’s deadliest enemies: the Borg and the Romulans! Despite how silly the notion of the Borg teaming up with the Romulans is, it works well in the story. Kirk’s new mission? To kill the Borg and the Romulans’ greatest enemy, Captain Jean-Luc Picard! What ensues next is a truly engaging and fun crossover between TOS and TNG and even DS9, and we finally get to see Kirk fight Picard and get the answer to the raging fan debate: who would win, Kirk or Picard? Despite the plot holes and leaps of logic, it’s a great romp and gives the proper crossover between TOS and TNG fans have always wanted. Only if the next eight books he wrote were any good…

P.S. There is a great reveal that ties the origins of V’ger and the Borg together, and they also literally wheel McCoy out to save the day. What a book

Rating: 8/10

5. The Eugenics War: Volume III: To Reign in Hell by Greg Cox

Now, I could have included this in the same place as the first two books in the trilogy, but this is such a great standalone work that I wanted to include it here because it’s so good.

To Reign in Hell is about Khan Noonien Singh’s exile after the events of Space Seed on Alpha Ceti V and the leadup to the Wrath of Khan. We don’t get much of an answer in the movie about what Khan did in his time in exile, except for the massive disaster that destroyed the world he settled on. This book answers that. It also deals with him and his followers taming a new world with deadly turns and twists everywhere.

What follows next is a harrowing tale of survival, betrayal, intrigue, and a look into the psyche of Khan and how he became the man he was in The Wrath of Khan. Also, there’s a great framing story where Kirk and the crew travel to Alpha Ceti V to gain closure on the events of the Wrath of Khan after the Voyage Home. This book is fantastic because it answers a lot of questions fans had about Khan and what happened to him after Space Seed and is a harrowing tale of survival—not only of man against nature but of man vs. man itself. It also shows us how truly deadly and great of a leader Khan is and is the best character study of him.

Rating: 9/10

4. DS9: A Stitch in Time by Andrew Robinson

Tie-in media by actors kind of makes me roll my eyes usually, like in the case of The Return by William Shatner, but this is an exception. Elim Garak is easily my favourite character in all of Trek, mainly due to the performance by Andrew Robinson. Elim Garak is a member of the Cardassian race, a very secretive and paranoid race made of lizard-like humanoids. They serve as the main antagonists of DS9 along with the Dominion because they once occupied the world of Bajor and teamed up with the Dominion to destroy the Federation.

They were famously seen in the classic TNG episode where Picard is tortured at the hands of one of them (they are four lights!). Garak serves as a window into this culture and serves as a moral foil to Benmajin Sisko and the crew in DS9. He is morally on the right side in DS9, but the methods with which he goes about it are less than ideal and moral.

This includes torture, murder, bribery, and more. A great example of this is seen in the episode of DS9, “In the Pale Moonlight,” where Sisko is forced to stage the murder of a Romulan senator to convince them to join the Dominion War on the side of the Federation and the Klingon Empire. He does this with the help of Garak by creating fake plans of an invasion of the Romulan Empire by the Dominion and then making it look like the Dominion killed the Romulan senator.

The Cardassians are known for hiding their true intentions and emotions behind a mask with a smile and for spying, which makes them my favourite race in all of Star Trek.

This book focuses on the origin of Garak, his upbringing on Cardassia Prime, and how he became exiled to Deep Space Nine before the events of the series. Garak in DS9 lies many times about his true origins, giving many different versions of them and insisting he is nothing but a simple tailor and not a spy. This book also serves as an excellent study of Cardassian culture and how it got to be as paranoid and secretive as it is. But this book is also written with such love and respect for the characters that it truly shows. Robinson had written notes through DS9’s run on the backstory of Garak, and they show here. This is truly one of the best Star Trek books out there, if not one of the best sci-fi books I’ve ever read.

Plain, simple Garak.

3. Star Trek: Destiny by David Mack

The crossover to end all crossovers! The Borg, after being thoroughly destroyed in the events of Star Trek: First Contact and the finale of Star Trek: Voyager, Endgame, are back with a vengeance. Instead of wanting to assimilate the whole galaxy, they seek to destroy everything! The trail of absolute carnage they leave, killing 63 billion souls across all of the galaxy, requires everyone to team up, from the Federation to the Klingons to the Ferengi, and even the Gorn and Breen, to stop them! This book brings in elements from all the series, from TNG, DS9, VOY, and even Enterprise and Riker on the Titan, and if you want a true universe-spanning crossover, this is the book for you. The scale of it is unlike anything I’ve ever read in reading books my whole life just because of the sheer number of characters in it, but it works masterfully well. It also gives us the true origin of the Borg, which has never been truly revealed on screen. This trilogy is the true definitive Borg story, and it is unlikely that it will ever be surpassed.This is the ultimate crossover for Star Trek fans.

Rating: 10/10

2. Federation by Judith and Garfield Reeves Steven

This book was my favourite Trek book until recently. You’ll see why it’s changed when I tell you about Book No.1. Anyway, this is another crossover between TOS and TNG and what Generations should have been. The story spans three centuries involves Zefram Cochrane, the inventor of the human wrap drive, the Original Series with Kirk dealing with the aftermath of “Metamorphosis” (which also deals with Cochrane and his introduction to Star Trek), and finally the cast of TNG finding a mysterious Borg piece of technology. All of these things are tied together, and the story that unfolds is truly epic. A rip-roaring adventure across time and space occurs, and finally, the worlds of TOS and TNG are tied together. The book also shows the darker side of humanity, but also shows how, in the world of Star Trek, we rose above it to create a utopian society and propel ourselves into the future. It gives hope that we can still do this in real life. Despite the events that take place in this being nullified by First Contact, it is still truly a beautiful book that serves as an excellent crossover. The casts of the two shows don’t meet face-to-face, but Cochrane serves as the bridge between the two. Overall, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.

Rating: 10/10

1. Prime Directive  By Judith and Garfield Reeves Steven

This is truly the best Star Trek book I’ve ever read in my life. Prime Directive is about Kirk and his crew monitoring a planet that hasn’t achieved warp flight yet and is on the verge of a massive nuclear war, but things go wrong. The population of the planet is destroyed in a nuclear war, and the Enterprise is nearly destroyed. Kirk and his crew are framed for the destruction of the world, and it’s up to him and Spock to bring about justice and figure out what went truly wrong. The Prime Directive in Star Trek is the key cornerstone of philosophy in all of Trek. The Prime Directive is basically about the idea that Starfleet cannot interfere in the affairs of other societies or those that haven’t achieved a certain level of technological development yet (such as the invention of warp drive). Kirk and Picard and many other captains have bent this rule many times, but it’s usually for the greater good.

This book truly serves as a reminder of what makes Star Trek great and its leading philosophy. But it also looks at it in a critical light and asks if it is morally right to stand by when horrible events like nuclear war are happening. It also contains lots of fan-pleasing moments and truly embodies the spirit of Star Trek. Also in the book, Star Trek’s version of Galactus from Marvel Comics is introduced.

So, there you have it my top ten favourite Star Trek novels. I plan on sharing more of my favourite Trek novels as there were some I wanted to include but didn’t decide to. That will be coming out soon.

Liminal Space: Nostaglic Fear

Liminal space. What does the term mean? Well for starters, according to Wikipedia, it’s the following:

“Liminal spaces are the subject of an internet aesthetic portraying empty or abandoned places that appear eerie, forlorn, and often surreal. Liminal spaces are often places of transition (about the concept of liminality) or nostalgic appeal.

Research from the Journal of Environmental Psychology has indicated that liminal spaces may appear eerie or strange because they fall into an uncanny valley of architecture and physical places. An article from Pulse: the Journal of Science and Culture has attributed this eeriness to familiar places lacking their usually observed context.”

Think about dead malls in small towns you’ve been to, that are empty and don’t have any stores left. Think about your house after you’ve moved out and there’s no furniture left. Think about how empty it feels and how it feels like it’s a stage of transition. This is a liminal space.

Liminal space as a concept has existed for a long time, but only really came to the attention of the Internet in 2019. This is thanks to a creepypasta known as the Backrooms.

The Backrooms as a concept I find interesting, because of what it represents. For those who don’t know what the Backrooms are, they are the following.

If you’ve ever played a video game where you glitched into a wall and went into an area where you weren’t meant to go, this is called no-clipping. You either fall into an endless void or die or discover a secret area that the developers left behind.

The Poolrooms, another level of the Backrooms

This is the basic premise of the Backrooms. Instead of falling into an endless void, you fall into a liminal space, devoid of any life or furniture. It’s an endless repeating and infinite space composed of yellow wallpaper, moist carpets, and fluorescent lights that always buzz. It’s also meant to look like an office space from the 1980s. There is nothing around for infinity and you spend the rest of eternity, wandering the endless halls until you go insane or die of hunger. It’s a terrifying concept and it’s different from your average creepypasta where a physical threat is present. This one is psychological.

The orignal photo that insriped the creation of the Backrooms. Date and location of photo unknown and it may be Ai generated.

The original 4chan post that lead to the creation of the Backrooms

There is an extensive Backrooms lore, with many deviations in what is canon and what is not. There are various other levels, showing the concept of liminal space. The most well-known depiction of the Backrooms is done in the form of YouTube videos by the creator Kane Pixels where he depicts the company, A-Sync exploring the realm of the Backrooms and documenting it. I highly suggest you watch it as it’s an excellent horror presentation and the special effects are incredible for being so low-budget. He was also 16 when he made his first video about it, which is another impressive accomplishment. Also, it’s great for found footage, which I roll my eyes at usually.

Kane Pixel’s first video

It’s been highly lauded and has even landed him a movie deal, to make a movie based on the Backrooms. It will be made by A24 and produced by James Wan, of the Conjuring and M3gan fame, and Shawn Levy, director of Free Guy. Kane Pixels, real name Kane Parsons, will be directing the film at the young age of 17, which is even more incredible. The release date and cast have not been revealed, but it will shoot later in Summer 2023 when Kane is on summer vacation from school.

This is the Backrooms as a concept more or less in a nutshell. But back to the concept of liminal spaces. Why are liminal spaces so unnerving to us?

Well, it represents a transition that is either physical or psychological, such as the transition to adolescence. These are great periods of disruption and change in people’s lives and everyone goes through them. Liminal spaces capture the “in-between” of a place, capturing where you are usually moving such as stairs, roads, hotels, and corridors. It can also be anywhere, that’s just devoid of people and their usual activities and furniture associated with it. But it’s devoid of people, and it creates this sense of unease and conjures the uncanny valley. This is an unsettling feeling for most people. Think also how most of the major cities in the world looked during the various COVID lockdowns. Never in our modern world have we seen something like that. Bustling cities, full of people going out their day today, and it’s suddenly gone.

Liminal spaces can also apply to nostalgic places from our childhood such as playgrounds, museums, our houses, and more. For a lot of people that are interested in this aesthetic, designs ranging from the 1980s to the early 2000s that are in any of these spaces seem to be the most popular. After Generation Z is the one that helped spread the idea of the Backrooms and liminal space as we know it, so it makes sense. Imagine what an empty house designed in the 1980s look like or a playground or play place from the early 2000s looks like empty.

Early 2000s aesthic I mentioned

Places that are bustling, and full of people are empty. This creates feelings of anxiety, unease, eerieness, surrealism, sadness, comfort, and nostalgia. This taps into a concept known as the uncanny valley.

The definition of the uncanny valley according to Wikipedia is the following:

“In aesthetics, the uncanny valley is a hypothesized relationship between an object’s degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. The concept suggests that humanoid objects that imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of uneasiness and revulsion in observers. “Valley” denotes a dip in the human observer’s affinity for the replica, a relation that otherwise increases with the replica’s human likeness.”

Think of bad CGI in a movie, you’ve seen and how it feels… off.

Examples of the uncanny valley in film

If something doesn’t have humanoid characteristics or represents it in an off way, this is the uncanny valley. This applies to the liminal space with physical spaces that appear familiar, but deviate from known reality to create the feeling of liminal space.

Liminal space is an interesting aesthetical trend and I don’t know how long it will last, but it’s personally one of my favourites. I think the idea of what it represents, along with the early 2000s look it strives for appeals to me. It’s nostalgic, as I grew up in that time, but it also preys upon my childhood fears of mine. I was scared of the dark when I was younger, and the thought of being in a dark place with nothing around me, no furniture or people is scary to me.

A great example of this in film, is the recent Canadian horror indie film smash, Skinamarink. Skinamarink is about two children that wake up in their house in the middle of the night, but their father has disappeared along with all the doors and windows in their house. It effectively shows the concept of how truly terrifying liminal space can be. Another great example is Apple TV’s show, Severance, which is also inspired by the aesthetics of the Backrooms.

Liminal space is truly fear in a nostalgic form.

.

Why the Cordyceps in the Last of Us is so terrifying

The Last of Us, made by Naughty Dog Studios, is one of the most critically acclaimed games of the past decade, if not the past century. It finished off the sixth generation of consoles, the PS3 and Xbox 360, along with GTA 5 and Minecraft, and is now widely regarded as one of the best games of all time, as well as a fitting send-off for the sixth generation.

It easily surpasses Uncharted as Naughty Dog’s best franchise and one of the best out there. I personally prefer Uncharted due to its lighter tone and more adventure-oriented gameplay, but The Last of Us is better in terms of story. I haven’t played the second one, as I can’t bring myself to do it emotionally due to the subject matter and violence in it.

With the release of The Last of Us Part II in 2020 and now the acclaimed 2023 HBO series starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the hype and talk around it are larger than ever.

While The Last of Us follows similar tropes to other zombie-based or end-of-the-world media, the monsters within its world and their origins set it apart. It’s cordyceps, and it is very much a real thing. So what is cordyceps, and what makes it so scary in the game?

Cordyceps is a type of fungus found mainly in humid and warm climates all over the world, but particularly in Asia, in places like Bhutan, China, Nepal, etc. It’s made up of 600 different subspecies. While most fungus is relatively harmless, cordyceps is particularly nasty as it acts like a parasite. It thankfully only attacks insects, but it does a horrifying job of wiping them out. The particular branch of Cordyceps we wish to look at is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. This is the one responsible for the near extinction of humanity and the monsters in the game.

Cordyceps in the wild. Fun fact they are also edible and safe for human consumption.

For example, if you had a colony of ants and one of them came into contact with a cordyceps fungus, this is what would happen. It attaches itself to the host’s body and eventually replaces the tissue. It also directly attacks the brain, taking it over. It then changes its behavior, causing convulsions and usually killing the victim. Then, sprouting from its head, is a three-inch fungal cell collection, meant to spread to other potential hosts and victims for the fungi. It can also release spores to infect more ants. Whole ant colonies can be wiped out in weeks.

An infected ant

In layman’s terms, it basically turns any insect that comes into contact with it into a zombie. Transmission to humans is nonexistent, has never (thankfully) occurred, and is unlikely too.

In the world of The Last of Us, the cordyceps pandemic is believed to have started in South America from crops, but the true origin is never said. I will be discussing spoilers for the first two episodes of The Last of Us and the game, so skip ahead if you don’t wish for spoilers. In the TV show, it’s the same thing, but in the opening of the second episode, it suggests it started in Indonesia in a factory of some sort, with a woman being a potential patient Zero, but it’s unknown if that is really true. It also later went on to be referred to as the “cordyceps brain infection,” as it mainly attacks the brain.

In the opening of the first episode, a talk show from the 1970s is playing, and an expert talks about how if cordyceps was to spread to humans, we would have no chance against it. No vaccines or medicines would be effective, as it’s a fungus and not a virus or infection like other traditional illnesses. A now-infamous scene from the second episode is where they bring in a specialist in the field of studying fungi in Indonesia and ask if she can make a cure or a vaccine for it. She says no and suggests that they begin bombing cities to stop the spread, effectively condemning human civilization to extinction.

The infection is spread in “The Last of Us” through bites from infected people or by breathing in spores from infected people. The fungus infection also goes through four stages, according to the game. To quote directly from the Last of Us Wiki, this is how it occurs:

“The fungus grows while the host is still alive, with hosts undergoing four stages of infection.” Stage one begins within two days of infection, wherein the host loses their higher brain function (and, with it, their humanity), rendering them hyper-aggressive and incapable of reason or rational thought. Within two weeks, the host enters stage two of the infection, wherein the fungus begins altering their sight as a result of progressing fungal growth over the head and corruption of their visual cortex. After a year of infection, the infection enters stage three, scarring their faces and blinding them, resulting in their developing a primitive form of echolocation to compensate. In very rare cases, if the host survives for over a decade, they reach stage four. They develop hardened fungal plates over most of their bodies. When the fungus kills the host, the host’s body grows stalk-like fungal projections that release infectious spores. “Hosts can only be infected while alive because the fungus, due to its parasitic nature, is unable to infect dead bodies, though dead infected can release spores regardless of stage.”

Stages of infection as seen within the game

How the infected look is very different from your traditional zombie or monster in this type of media. Here are some images showing what happens to the human body over the course of an infection.

Stage one, known as runners

Stage Two, stalkers

Stage three, Clickers

Stage four, Bloaters

It’s said in the world of the game that 60% of the world’s population was killed or infected by the virus. The only immune shown in the game is Ellie, one of the main characters of the game. It’s unknown how many are immune, but it’s probably a very small number. If you look at a similar but different type of disease in another piece of media, the flare in The Maze Runner, it’s said that 0.5% of the population have a natural immunity to it. On that basis, immunity to a cordyceps brain infection can be assumed to be within the same margin or less.

The United States government and many other world governments have collapsed with the CDC and FEDRA being the only two departments to survive the fall of the U.S government. Uninfected live in tightly controlled quarantine zones where military rule occurs. Ration cards for goods and food are common and rights are non existent. There are also smugglers, such as Joel that seek people and goods in and out of these zones. The Fireflies also exist and are a paramilitary group dedicated to finding a vaccine and fighting the tyrannical rule of FEDRA. They have largely failed though.

But what makes the cordyceps brain infection so unique and different from other viruses or diseases portrayed in apocalyptic media is how inhuman those who are infected become. With The Walking Dead and other popular zombie media such as Shaun of the Dead or Night of the Living Dead, the zombies in them still look somewhat human. Sure, they may be decomposing, have lost limbs, or lack characteristics that would define humanity, but they still look recognizably human. However, in The Last of Us, they essentially turn into fungi and lose any physical characteristics of being human over time. They look so different from what we perceive human-like monsters to look like in the media that it really taps into the primal fear of the unknown.

Fungi, particularly cordyceps, is particularly gross and creepy-looking, especially with how the clickers and the bloaters look in the game. The way the fungi spread into their surroundings and infected others is unlike any traditional way we perceive viruses or diseases spreading. The other terrifying thing about the infected in The Last of Us is that they can run, unlike the Walking Dead zombies. This makes them even more deadly.

The fact that these monsters are also based on real-life science doesn’t mean they’re entirely out of the realm of possibility. The CDC in the United States has released guidelines in case a zombie apocalypse were to occur, but that would be thrown out the window with this. As stated in the game and the TV show, there is no cure or vaccine for this. If something like this were to happen, we would all be royally screwed. This is what, in my opinion, makes the cordyceps brain infection truly terrifying. But thankfully, something like this is truly unlikely to ever happen and could be very different from how it is portrayed in The Last of Us. Fungal infections can happen in humans, for example, warts, yeast infections, valley fever, etc.; they are common and can be treated. We just better pray to whatever gods we believe in and hope we don’t end up in a similar situation as Joel and Ellie.

Why Elon Musk buying Twitter is the greatest threat to democracy

$44 billion. Well, more than what Twitter is worth. This is what Elon Musk bought Twitter for. $54.20 per share, also as a joke referencing popular slang about cannabis. Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter is the greatest threat to our democracies around the world right now.

Starting, earlier this year, in January 2022, Elon Musk bought 9.5% of shares of twitter.com. For those who don’t know what Twitter is, Twitter is a microblogging platform where you can tweet up to 280 characters about anything. Twitter is also well known for being where a lot of breaking news first pops up and sort of acts like the front page of the internet (Reddit disputes this fact).

While, many celebrities and normal people are on Twitter, it’s much more well known for its political contributions, and pretty much any political figure, high or low, uses it to communicate with people. The most infamous Twitter user, former U.S President Donald Trump, used the platform to spread misinformation and enflame his supporters. He used to spread false information, encouraged violence against political opponents, disputed the 2020 election results, and spread racist and anti-LGBTQ memes and propaganda. All of which, led to the attempted insurrection by his supporters on January 6th, 2021. This happened when they stormed the U.S Capitol during the certification of Joe Biden winning the 2020 election.

He also regularly shamed people such as Rosie O’Donnell, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, and much more. Donald Trump was also primarily responsible for spreading misinformation on the platform. When he was banned, along with other far-right figures, misinformation dropped massively.

This brings us to Elon Musk. Elon Musk has championed himself as a “free speech purist” and even supports those who criticize him and their right to speak. He has regularly criticized Twitter as a platform and believes it should wholly represent everyone’s views and allow for everyone to be able to speak. Basically, he wishes to create a digital version of Athenian democracy where everyone’s voice has equal weight and noise and everyone can speak.

After buying 9.5% of shares in Twitter, Musk was invited to sit on the Twitter Board of Directors. He accepted it at first, but later declined. It was widely believed this was seen as a larger ploy to buy all of Twitter down the line.

On April 14, 2022, Musk made a public deal of buying Twitter for $43 billion, at $54.20 per share. This offer was unsolicited, which allowed Twitter to adopt a “poison bill” strategy as Musk’s offer was seen as a hostile takeover. What a “poison bill” would do, would tank the company’s value to $0 if Musk did a hostile takeover.

But in the end, Twitter’s board of directors, unanimously accepted Musk’s offer with the promise of taking the company private.

In July 2022, Musk tried to abort the deal after concerns about the number of spam bot accounts on Twitter, which was believed to make it less valuable. This started a lawsuit by Twitter themselves because of breach of contract. Musk’s attempt to buy Twitter seemed dead in the water.

But in October 2022, Musk announced that he was going to go through with the original offer of $44 billion, if Twitter dropped their lawsuit. They did, and on October 27, 2022, Elon Musk officially became the owner and CEO of twitter.com.

Musk’s first order of business was to fire several top executives, such as the previous CEO, Parag Agrwal, and many more. He then laid off half of the workforce. Musk was also forced to sell off shares of Telsa to fund the deal, along with financing from the Saudis, hedge funds and other fellow billionaires.

Musk has promised to fight spam bots, allow for people to pay for a monthly service to be “verified” on the platform, and more. He also seeks to create a content moderation council to handle free speech and bring back banned people such as Donald Trump and other far-right figures. He would also seek to make it open source .

Immediately, with paid verified services, it backfired as many people started making parody accounts, making fun of Musk. My personal favorite is when someone tweeted as him: “My wife left me”. This caused Musk, in frustration, to tweet that accounts that didn’t mark themselves as parody would be banned, making him hypocritical. Musk even banned his ex, Canadian musician, Grimes from the platform shortly after the takeover.

The reaction to the buyout of Twitter has been mixed, with many on the left expressing concern about misinformation, harassment, disinformation and hate speech will be able to rise again because of lax enforcement. Many on the right were happy, such as Republicans and other far-right figures that had been banned, felt like they would be allowed back onto the platform, and that their freedom of speech wouldn’t be “unfairly targeted” again.

Major political figures such as Alexandria Oscaio Cortez, President Joe Biden, with Biden expressing, “Musk’s plans will allow lies to be spewed all around the world”. Other figures such as Stephen King and Mark Ruffalo have expressed concern over it. Many former employees have also expressed their concern and frustration about it, flooding an anonymous forum known as Blind with negative comments.

Twitter, despite being a cesspool, at least had some limited controls preventing the spread of misinformation, harassment, and hate speech. It banned far-right figures that were spreading this type of thing, and Twitter had improved as a platform since Trump was banned.

But with Musk, much of that is at risk. Facebook and Twitter essentially destroyed liberal democracy as we know it, allowing for extremist views to become part of the mainstream. Because you drive more clicks with outrage, both companies intentionally used this practice to make more profit and pushed far-right extremist views to the front of everyone’s page. This led to many becoming radicalized and such events as the turmoil of the Trump presidency and January 6th to occur. In the case of Myanmar, it even led to the genocide of the Rohyiga people, a Muslim minority within the country. Social media made everyone more angry with each other, unwilling to compromise on their differences and adopt a “us vs them.” Mentality with the world. Nobody is allowed to agree on anything together.

Despite the limited attempts at moderation, Twitter did, and it still led to deadly and gigantic consequences for everyone.. Imagine with Musk, no restraints and everything even turned up to 11. Despite the promise of Musk to protect everyone’s freedom of speech, given how these companies make money and drive more clicks from outrage, far-right voices will make the most of the platform. Musk’s outdated and technocratic outlook is a poison to our democracy. It will only lead to more culture wars, which take up important oxygen on critical issues we all really need to be focusing on. Protecting freedom of speech should not come at the expense of others, such as minorities.

I hope I end up being alarmist and that Musk can maybe improve the platform and that all my concerns will be washed away. But I highly doubt it. Musk wants us to have a future like Star Trek, but by the way we’re going, we are going to end up like the Ferengi.

Iranian Revolution 2.0: Is it about to happen?

On September 16, 2022, the death of a single woman served as a major push for major protests in Iran, the largest since 2019. On September 13, 2022, Mahsa Amini was with her brother travelling into Tehran, the capital of Iran. She was from the Kurdish Province of Iran and was 22. On that fateful day, she was arrested by Iran’s morality police, the Guidance Patrol, a paramilitary force in charge of enforcing Sharia law and customs. It was believed she was not wearing or not properly wearing her hijab, which led to her arrest. A hijab is a form of head scarf worn by women in Islamic countries or by followers of Islam. This is different from a niqab, which covers a woman’s body completely.

The location of Amini’s hometown, Saqqez.

Mahsa Amini, date of photograph unknown

In Iran, it is compulsory for women to wear a hijab, along with an approved dress code. This was started right after the Islamic Revolution. Women are not allowed to enter a public place, workspace, or school without wearing one, deeming those that don’t “naked.”. Punishment for not wearing one would be 74 lashes or long jail time, as in the case of several women who rejected the laws and protested.

This led to cases of violence against women by the state and some men in Iranian society, with the Guidance Patrol itself launching several campaigns against women to enforce the law. This also led to many “re-education” campaigns, which forced women who didn’t wear the hijab to undergo mandatory state-sponsored classes, often marred by violence. They were frequently forced to sit for hours, listening to lessons and signing a pledge before being released back to their families. Ironically, a dress code for men was also introduced, which of course was much more liberal and not as strict as the women’s.

Agents of the Guidance Patrol

To show the state’s support for this policy, here’s a quote from Wikipedia:

“In 2020, Iran’s government leader Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying that “improperly veiled women should be made to feel unsafe,”  a statement that was supported by other officials and clerics and paved the way to more violence against women. Among the general population, however, an independent survey conducted in the same year showed that 58% of Iranians did not believe in hijab altogether, and 72% were against compulsory hijab rules. Only 15% insisted on the legal obligation to wear it in public.”

In the past two decades, the Iranian youth, especially women, supported more liberal policies, such as not having to wear a hijab by law. This no doubt had an influence on Amini herself.

On September 16, 2022, Amini was officially declared dead after experiencing a heart attack and seizure, according to the state, after being released by the Guidance Patrol. Her brother was told she was going to have to take classes for an hour and that she would be released. He waited two hours and nothing happened. He didn’t find out where she was until he was told to go to the hospital. What really happened to Amini was the following: After being detained, she was put into a van with other people who had violated the law of the Guidance Patrol and was beaten and tortured. When released to the hospital, her brother noticed many bruises and cuts on her in the hospital. She was in a coma for two days and died shortly afterwards.

The state’s official cause of death was untrue, and it was most likely she died from blunt trauma when she was tortured by the Guidance Patrol. According to brain scans, internal bleeding and bleeding of the ears, bruising under the eyes, and trauma to her brain were the clear signs of this. She was most likely beaten for resisting arrest and the curses and taunts the Guidance Patrol threw at her. The information about her injuries was leaked to the public by hacktivists when the protests started.

Also, her father claimed she was perfectly healthy and did not suffer from pre-existing medical conditions before her arrest. The Iranian government was also caught trying to create fake medical records, saying she had a heart condition. A medical doctor also said on state TV that he operated on her as a child, removing a tumour from her brain at the age of 8. This is false, however, along with heart problems. Shortly afterward, on the 17th, people gathered outside the hospital where she died to protest. In her hometown of Saqqez, protests also broke out. At this protest in Saqqez, some chanted “Death to the dictator,” which would become an important chant across protests across the nation. This refers to the current Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. The current state of the Supreme Leader’s health also spurred more protests, as he’s reported to be in grave condition.

As the news of her death and the circumstances surrounding it became more known to the wider public in Iran, protests soon spread to all of Iran’s 31 provinces. On social media, in the first few days after her death, #mahsaamini was trending widely on Iranian social media and worldwide, with over 5 million unique tweets about it. Evolving beyond a general protest calling for the abolishment of the Guidance Patrol and the ending of the mandatory hijab law, it soon turned into a larger anti-government protest. Protesters were now calling for an end to the Islamic Republican system that Iran runs on and for democracy and civil liberties to be restored to the people. In the ten days since her death, 75 people have died, 800 have been injured, and 1200 have been arrested. Thousands of people across the nation have joined in protesting. It’s highly likely that all of these numbers are much higher. Most of the deaths and injuries have come from protestors’ clashes with police and government paramilitaries. Reports of live ammunition being fired on crowds were made, along with the deaths of some security force officers.

Women in Iran and worldwide have cut their hair and burned their hijabs in protest, in a brave sign of defiance against the Iranian government.

Protests in support of the protestors occurred outside of Iran, in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and other Western countries. Clashes were even reported at the London protest outside the Iranian Embassy there.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has faced many protests since its inception in 1979, calling for the return of democracy. Protests in 2009, 2019, 2020, and even last year with protests related to food shortages calling for the restoration of democracy are the most noteworthy, but all of these protests were put down violently and quashed. But the state was never able to officially crush the democratic movement.

Social media within the country is heavily restricted, with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Tik Tok being previously banned. Instagram and WhatsApp were blocked nationwide at the start of the protests in order to keep the protestors at bay. Across the nation, the Iranian government has blocked internet access in a curfew-like style, with it only being available at certain times and being gone for 12 hours at a time. Text messages are also being filtered, with mentions of Mahsa Amini in messages being blocked from being sent to the recipient. Despite all of this, some videos and photos are still coming out thanks to social media accounts run from outside Iran and the app Singal. Elon Musk, the owner of Starlink, has also provided free internet usage via his satellite, although the impact of this is likely to be minimal as you need a Starlink terminal to access the services. Because of current US sanctions and the income level of Iranians, they are unlikely to get their hands on a terminal to access it. The US government, in response to the protests, has lifted some internet sanctions in order to allow communication with the outside world to occur.

Production of Starlink

What makes this protest different from the others is the length of it and the response of protesters to the use of violence by the state to crack down on it. Unlike previous protests, this has only emboldened protestors to continue their demonstrations and revolt against the Iranian security forces and government.One city fell briefly under the control of protesters early last week. When other dictatorships use violence to crush protests, it only emboldens protestors to protest more and more people to join their cause.This was also the case in 1979, when the first Iranian Revolution occurred. As seen with the 2019 protests, the government would have regained control of the situation by now, but they haven’t, as seen with the still-ongoing protests nationally ten days later.

International Woman’s Day Protest in 1979

Given the length of the current protests and how they don’t seem to be dying down, will this lead to another Iranian Revolution, aka “Revolution 2.0”? It ranges from unlikely to unknown. Given how little information, videos, and pictures are coming out of the country right now, it’s hard to tell what the current situation is on the ground right now. All we’re getting are snippets and pieces. But, given the length of the protests and the fact that they haven’t been put down, I’m inclined to believe that some sort of revolt or revolution will occur. Given my Western bias, though, this could also be wishful thinking on my part. In the coming days and weeks, we may be looking at a new crisis in the Middle East. Given how in Tunisia, the actions of one fruit stand led to the toppling of many regimes across the Middle East, this could lead to a similar situation. Never underestimate the actions of one person.

Should we abolish the monarchy?

Today, September 19th, 2022, was a historic day that was witnessed by billions of people around the globe. The funeral of the United Kingdom’s longest reigning and second-longest reigning monarch ever, Queen Elizabeth II. The legacy of Queen Elizabeth and her life could fill up whole biographies, movies, and TV shows, as seen with the five-season TV show, The Crown. But we’re focusing on a more narrow issue here today. Should Canada abolish the monarchy?

Ever since becoming a dominion in 1867,  has had the reigning British monarch as its head of state. While the reigning monarch has no real power and can’t physically come to Canada or always be here, they are represented by the Governor General. Then in the provinces and territories, they are represented by Lieutenant Governors and so on. Canada follows a system similar to that of the British parliamentary system, with a prime minister as the official head of the government and a parliament.

Portrait of the founding fathers of Canada

But we do not have a House of Lords; we instead have an unelected Senate, modelled on that of the United States senate system. Members of Parliament are elected by the general public in Canada in their ridings, and there are 338 of them in Canada. In the Canadian Senate, the prime minister chooses someone to become a senator to represent a particular part of the country, and the Queen swears them in. Canada’s electoral system is also first past the post, where whoever gets the most percentage of votes in a riding becomes the MP for that particular riding. Usually, whoever gets the most seats creates the government. If you get below 180 seats, it’s a minority government, and over 180 is a majority government.

Canadian paraliment

The current Prime Minister of Canada is Justin Trudeau, the son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the current leader of the Liberal Party.

The current Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau (2015-present)

The reason why I gave you such a detailed overview of the Canadian political system is to give you an idea of how we function as a country. Canada is a constitutional monarchy and we have always been one. But with the recent passing of the Queen, recent revelations about residential schools, the legacy of the British Empire and colonialism, and if it’s still important and relevant in this day and age, have had people questioning it. Does Canada still need a monarch?

Canada is part of a larger system of nations, mostly made up of former British colonies, known as the Commonwealth of Nations. Other nations, such as New Zealand and Australia, have similar systems to that of Canada when it comes to government. However, countries such as South Africa and India, which are republics, are part of it and don’t have monarchs in their government in any way.

Current members of the Commonwealth

Flag of the Commonwealth of Nations

Countries such as Barbados recently cut ties with the monarchy and have turned into republics after 2020, with the George Floyd protests acting as a catalyst. Wishing to distance themselves from their colonial past and reckon with it, they transitioned into a republic. While Barbados is a minor island country, this pushed further along a conversation that had been happening for a long time in Canada. New Zealand, a staunch constitutional monarchy within the Commonwealth itself, may transition to a republic in the next 20-30 years, according to its PM, Jacinda Adern.

Let’s talk about the arguments for it first, for abolishing the monarchy in Canada. The King and the royal family and the institution that is the monarch are outdated and racist and represent a dark past in the form of colonialism. So, therefore, because of this, we should ditch the monarch.

I find this to be a pretty sound and valid argument for abolishing the monarchy. Over the past year and a half, Canada has had a national reckoning with our former residential schools, and the monarchy played a huge role in it. Besides the Catholic and Anglican churches, they also mainly help set up the system of schools. Horrible physical, mental, and sexual abuse occurred at these schools. To quote the government itself, they sought to “kill the Indian in the child”. The Canadian government forcibly took away First Nations children from their parents to try “and make them more civilized and Christian,” which more or less was a form of cultural genocide. While the various churches have said sorry, the British monarchy never has itself.

When Canada was first settled, the British government, with the consent of the monarchy, signed various treaties that stole land from the First Nations. This forced them onto reserves where there was no chance of economic growth. The land was poor for farming and drinking water was hard to come by. After 155 years, there are still many reserves without proper access to drinking water.

A residential school with it’s staff and students.

This ties in with a wider problem with the legacy of British colonialism. Britain, throughout its history as a colonial empire, waged many wars and forced the assimilation of cultures they conquered. Millions died as a result of wars, diseases, and other causes. This more or less was a form of genocide. While this may be a problem for some, it’s the truth that Britain would send missionaries and people to colonize their conquered land, with resources and troops to acclimate the local culture to be more white, Christian, and British.

The legacy of British colonialism is still being reckoned with today, and within the Commonwealth nations, critical discussions about its legacy are occurring for the first time in the last 50 years or so. Given how Britain was the largest colonial empire and the victor in both world wars, and the horrible side effects of their empire, they wrote the history books. This allowed them to control the narrative and how people remembered them, as well as to hide their mistakes. While the world would be a very different place without the British Empire in World War II, they should not have done all the horrible things they did during colonialism.

The last argument really for getting rid of the monarchy is that it’s not relevant in today’s day and age. Ever since the English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution, the British monarch has been constitutional. With the Industrial Revolution, the expansion of the vote to women and minorities, and the rise of the labour movement, the British monarchy lost more and more power. Today, more or less, it functions as a figurehead, not having any real power. They can appoint the Prime Minister based on the vote, dissolve parliament on the request of the Prime Minister, give advice and give royal assent to bills. The Queen can’t block any bills or do anything that goes against the will of the people, such as dissolving parliament, appointing ministers without the advice of the PM, or blocking bills. The monarch also no longer retains absolute sovereignty, having distanced itself from being ordained and chosen by God.

As the current British monarchy is over 1000 years old, and most countries today have transitioned to some form of republican government, it’s time for it to catch up. With Meghan and Harry’s departure from the royal family because of claims of racism, there have been more calls for the monarchy to reform or be done away with.

I see this argument as less valid than the other, as it wouldn’t make much difference, as the monarchy holds no real power.

The main reasons for keeping the monarch are that it’s an excellent source of tourism revenue, it acts as a stable figure in international and domestic politics, and it’s important to honour its traditions.

I find these to be good arguments to support keeping the monarchy, but it needs major reform. Despite the Queen not actively playing a role in colonialism, as the United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy, she is the figurehead. She oversaw the last 70 years of British history, including decolonization and the horrible aftermath of that. She represents the old, colonial imperial class of Britain and represents Britain’s colonial history, and therefore the monarchy should be held accountable for that.

So, if Canada wants to replace the monarchy, what would have to be done? Well, the house, the senate, and the ten provinces would all have to agree unanimously to abolish the monarchy. Good luck with this, as it’s likely that conservative provinces such as Alberta would block such a thing. This includes every Conservative, Liberal, NDP, Green, and Bloc Quebecois MP in parliament having to agree to do such a thing, which is impossible. The monarchy would have to do such a terrible thing, or the Canadian people would willingly elect politicians that wish to abolish the monarchy. This makes the challenge of getting rid of the monarchy next to impossible.

According to polls and an article from the Guardian, 50–60% of the Canadian population wishes to abolish or hold a referendum on Canada’s ties to the monarchy.

If Canada somehow managed to abolish the monarchy, we would most likely transition to a republic. Instead of a Governor General, we would have an elected president that would fulfil the role of the GG. They would hold no real power, remaining largely in a ceremonial role and fulfilling many of the duties of the GG and representing Canada aboard. Canada would still have a prime minister and you could see a republic similar to that of France or Germany. In France and Germany, though, the president and prime minister each have different levels of power. The levels of responsibility that the president and prime minister would have are a discussion for another day.

My thoughts on abolishing the monarchy? I don’t think it would make any meaningful difference in my life. It has no real effect on my life. Sure, it would change how Canada is governed, but it wouldn’t really change the day-to-day lives of most people.

I’m personally more in favour of keeping it as it’s a stabilizing influence and can act as a rallying point for Canadians. But the monarchy needs major reform and needs to say sorry for its colonial past, especially in relation to First Nations peoples in Canada.

Hopefully, under King Charles ( can’t believe I’m saying that), he seeks to change the image of the monarchy, and hopefully, this is for the better. I hope he is able to acknowledge the role the monarchy played in colonialism and the horrible consequences of that. Only time will tell.

Partisanism in the United Supreme Court: How to stop it

Despite Donald Trump losing the 2020 election, the United States is more divided than ever. Extremely polarizing social issues such as abortion, gun rights, race relations are still very much at the forefront of people’s minds. However, the one that is the most important ones right now is abortion and same sex marriage. A woman’s right to an abortion being protected by the constitution and the federal right is no longer a thing, and the issue has been tossed to the states themselves. The majority of red or Republican states have banned or limited abortion to extreme cases such as in the threat to the mother’s health, rape, incest or within six weeks. Some have outright banned it, as in the case with Oklahoma, Missouri and many more red states. Even some blue states as Michigan have experienced some backsliding in regards to abortion rights. Same sex marriage could have also possibly faced the same fate as abortion, but thanks to the backlash against the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Democrat’s attempts to codify it in the constitution, this seems have been to stopped for now. But how did we come to face this current situation with the U.S Supreme Court and what can be done to fix it?

In 2016, the world was forever changed with the election of Donald Trump. Riding on a far right populist wave of support, Donald Trump took the Republican party by storm and then the country. Wanting to repeal all of Obama’s accomplishments and get rid of what was seen as socially progressive, Donald Trump nearly succeeded in doing so. But Obamacare was saved by one vote by John Mccain and a supreme court ruling, DACA (otherwise known as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) survived and being part of the Paris Climate Accord. Despite the US technically leaving, they soon quickly rejoined under Joe Biden when he was sworn into office.

Trump’s biggest and most lasting legacy in is the Supreme Court. With the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the balance of the Supreme Court forever tilted into that of the Republicans with the nomination of Amy Comey Barrett. Any hope for socially progressive rulings in the near future to be passed were tossed out the window.

Earlier this year in 2022, a memo ruling that the Supreme Court had ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade, causing widespread outrage and protests among the US public, and even globally. Despite, the fact this wasn’t the technical final ruling, the writing was on the wall; Roe v. Wade would no longer exist soon.

On June 24, 2022, Roe v. Wade was fully overruled and the abortion rights women had across the United States, disappeared overnight.

Because of Donald Trump’s actions, the extreme polarization of US politics and Democrat’s inaction to do anything to codify abortion, we are here.

I’ve talked many times on here about the polarization of US politics and the extremely destructive impact that it’s had on US society and the world at large. But one side, that’s extremely far right and doesn’t reflect the public’s view on large on political issues is incredibly dangerous to democracy. Consistently, in public polls, an overwhelming amount of Americans support important social issues such as abortion, same sex marriage, protection of LGBTQ+ rights, affirmative action and climate change action. A small minority that holds views that are going against than those of the majority should not have that much power.

An idea, I’ve rummaging around in my head is the idea to make the Supreme Court, a non-partisan body much like that of the Canadian Supreme Court and Senate. I’m no legal scholar, but it’s prevented Canada from being wrapped in these polarizing cultural wars and not having to rely upon the Supreme Court it’s self to constantly having to pass important rulings. The ruling government should be able to pass important bills without having to go to the courts all the time. It’s an ineffective form of governance and time is lost. While, American democracy as a whole needs immediate major reform such as abolishing the Electoral College, getting rid of Gerrymandering, ensuring the protection of voter rights, ensuring fair and equal access to ballot, and getting rid of the two party system, getting rid of the partisan element of the Supreme Court would hopefully help.

In Canada, we don’t elect judges and they are expected to be impartial and give fair rulings, not allowing personal or partisan bias to affect their rulings. While trial by jury is still incredibly important in the states, the idea you elect a judge is incredibly stupid to me. By nominating people that don’t belong to a particular political party, you remove that hyper partisan element. This would allow for more socially progressive issues to be addressed properly and would free up the Supreme Court.

While, I’m presenting an incredibly simplistic understanding of the idea, I hope I’m getting my idea across. It would simply be one cog in the greater machine that needs to be fixed. American democracy is a shining example for the rest of the world, but it threatens to destroy it’s self if it doesn’t get it’s shit together. Wider conservations about reforming the U.S political system to make it more democratic is best suited for another day and for someone much more qualified for me.

While, making the Supreme Court, a more neutral body might not solve everything, it’s a step hopefully in the right direction. This can be achieved simply in the future by nominating judges that don’t have a partisan leaning or beliefs. Potentially passing a statue or bill calling for judges to not affiliate with one party, although I do not know the legality of this. Also, it’s impossible to remove personal bias and beliefs from the situation, if you at least have the veneer of impartiality and neutrality, it’s better than nothing.

Democracies are always a work in progress and the US is a prime example of that. Democracies need to grow and reflect the wider wishes and beliefs of the public, and not just a minority. Majority rule tempered by minority rights is one motto I’ve heard for US democracy. I hope we can see a more reflective version of that soon.