The Prime Directive And The African Society
If you are a Star Trek fan like I am, then the prime directive is nothing new to you, Star Trek inspired and fired up the dreams of many science fiction writers today, and even actual scientists in the field. But what if you’re not a fan, or not familiar at all, we couldn't just leave you behind now could we?
Buckle up, because this isn’t another fan opinion piece on star trek, this is not heading in the direction you imagined…
# What is the Prime Directive?
In the beloved science fiction series Star Trek by gene Roddenberry, in which he envisioned a futuristic communist society of various advanced intelligent races/species co-existing with a common interest, which was, the search for knowledge through the exploration of the universe.
The Prime directive, otherwise known as the star fleet general order 1, was a known rule that prohibits members of the star fleet from interfering in the technological or cultural development of any species. As such, they may not reveal their presence or their ship even if their lives depended on it.
The prime directive was placed to avoid the contamination of a species values and identity by another race, especially of this particular species is relatively behind in both cultural and technological development. Violating this directive could completely derail a species development.
# What happens if the prime directive was violated?
To answer that, we will have to specify the level of violation made. For the sake of this article I’m talking about the whole thing, a complete violation on the colonization scale, what then?
For starters, lets take a moment to examine Star Trek. Star Trek is full of varieties, one could even say star trek is quite colorful, and what brings about this color, the diversity.
Take the Vulcans for an example, they have their own culture, language, attire and even architecture, so while joining the star fleet, they bring quite a lot to the table. The bring knowledge, wisdom, even experience which overall made the star fleet a little better. The same goes for every individual species in the fleet, the unification but yet separate respect for the way of life of these species, let to the colorfulness of the show. Its arguably the best thing about star trek.
How would star trek had been if all the species in the star fleet spoke English instead of using the universal translator, what if they had the same culture and dressed alike, what if there was no difference in their values, cultural or otherwise. It’ll still be a nice show surely, but definitely not as deep and political as star trek is.
Now lets imagine if the prime directive had been violated for a particular species, if they had been colonized by another species in the fleet, what would have been their role, or value?
If for instance humans colonized Vulcans in star trek, what role would they play? One thing is for certain,and that is there would be no Vulcan culture, probably the whole logic thingy will be amiss, basically Vulcans will be humans in pointy ears and weird eyelashes.
Every other thing that makes us appreciate the Vulcans especially our favorite half Vulcan half Human, Spock, wouldn’t exist, he would just have been another pointy eared human from the movie..
# What if humans had made contact with aliens in the 1800's?
If the human race have made first contact and since been inducted into the galactic union since the 1800’s, some of us will be living the lives of our dream for sure (huge alien enthusiast here), however we might not have any identity of our own.
In the 1880’s human technological advancement was yet to begin, while cultural and emotional development be far behind. We wouldn’t have had Einstein and the theory of relativity, Newtons law of Gravity will still be chief, and with no internet, we’ll know even less about the world we live in and the cultural heritage of other humans.
Humans will bring absolutely nothing to the table, we’ll have nothing to defend and nearly nothing to share. Our Identity wouldn’t mean anything to us and our values will be lost within a short while of joining the union.
Aliens will have no regards for us, and we will seek validation in races that reject us.
While the Prime Directive was only a concept for an awesome TV show, there’s a complete possibility that aliens have not made contact yet in order not to violate the prime directive, there are those who believe we are still quite primitive, and as such, we gotta wait a long while or work faster…
# Slavery and colonization was a violation of the Prime Directive.
The total violation of the prime directive occurred when the Europeans made their way into Africa and pillaged it for profit through slavery and colonization.
The current African society is akin to the scenario described above about the pointy eared human in the star fleet, there’s no particular flavour brought in to this cocktail mix and whatever advancement made during the period after slavery could be swayed and credited under the influence of Europeans.
At this juncture, many black people are seeking validation, trying hard to impress and belong.
Many black people would gladly give up their identity, MJ did it, The Prince came quite close too. The reason is quite clear to any critical thinking negro, the cultural and technological development of Africa was interrupted, and as modern technological development goes, Africans/black people have brought no real piece to the table. There’s one or two ways to go from here.
1. Stay and continue to live this sham, 2….
# Fixing damage to the Prime Directive
Violating the prime directive at some point or the other is completely unavoidable, there is no perfect system, and contrary to what you might be thinking now, this post isn’t about blame apportioning, its a call to repair.
Slavery has been a part of human history for a long time, there’s been slavery all over, within the same race or across different races. It perhaps safe to say that every race had at one time or the other been enslaved by another.
So what do we do now that the damage has been done? How do we fix the damage done due to the violation of the prime directive?
# Pan Africanism
There are several movements out there in today’s world, there’s feminism, and the like, while Pan-Africanism isn’t as new as most of them, it is of uttermost importance in today's world.
The black man needs to go back to the drawing board, there’s a great need to pull out the papers and pencils and to start sketching, there’s need to start building back home in Africa.
There’s a need to further develop the African culture, technology, traditions and philosophies. If we are to be a functional part of the current society with full dignity and respect, we need to take a step back and build our home, repair the damage that has been done and then bring good flavor to this cocktail mix. We can’t continue to be pointy eared human with wired eyebrows. There is work to be done, and as such I call you all to join in and help build.
We definitely cannot go into space like this, we need to regroup….
