healthmyths
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- Sep 19, 2011
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Watching a re-run of "Symbiosis" of Star Trek: The Next Generation that aired April 18, 1988 it was a very good explanation of today's societal malaise.
Let the characters explain:
DATA: Or look at the twentieth century. The dangers of drug abuse were well known, yet their use
was commonplace.
WESLEY Why?
DATA That is what I do not understand.
TASHA No one wants to become dependent. That happens later.
WESLEY But it does happen. So why do people even start?
TASHA Oh, lots of reasons... My home planet was a place of great poverty and violence.
For some, the only escape was through drugs.
DATA I fail to comprehend how a chemical substance can provide an escape.
TASHA It doesn't. But it makes you think it does. You have to understand -- drugs can make you feel good.
They put you on top of the world. You're happy... Sure of yourself. In control. A lot of people never
feel that otherwise.
DATA But it is artificial.
TASHA It doesn't feel artificial. It feels natural, good, and mind expanding. Until the drug wears off. Then
you pay the price. Once you come down, you're lower than when you started. So you take the drug
again -- and it kicks you back up. But not as high this time.
WESLEY So you take more.
TASHA But each peak gets lower and the valleys get deeper. Before you know it -- you're taking the
drug not to feel good but to keep from feeling bad.
WESLEY And that's the trap.
TASHA You think the drug expands your universe -- but it actually shrinks it. Shrinks it to where you and
the drug are all that's left. Pretty soon, all you care about is getting your next dosage.
You'll lie, cheat, steal --anything to get that fix.
DATA Certainly by then you would realize the danger.
TASHA That's the worst of it. You don't care. The drug is your salvation-- your survival.
Nothing else is important.
WESLEY I guess I just don't understand.
TASHA Wesley, I hope you never do.
http://tng.trekcore.com/episodes/scripts/123.txt
To me a person that has NEVER been dependent on any drug, I finally see how our entire society today is like the drug addiction described above.
Our current leaders want us to become addicted. Dependent. They want to us all to become less
independent on more dependent...i.e. addicted to the W2T (Womb-2-Tomb) lifestyle.
Most of our current leaders are doing so just to get re-elected. A few think they are compassionate.
But ALL of our current leaders don't seem to be concerned our nation is becoming more and more
dependent i.e. W2Ts!
At 72 years old I've seen more then many of you on this board have...not all I'm sure.
The continual mentality of the federal government to become our total source of existence is destructive.
Just as the above drug addict cycle, the more Americans become W2Ters, the less productive, the less innovative, the less constructive America becomes. We become like the drug addict totally dependent on the government check, the food stamps, the free cell phone, the Section 8 rent,,etc. and the less capable we are of feeding ourselves.
And just as the below explanation of the above dialogue our country is going the way of this pair
of societies described in the above episode.
The two pairs come from different planets within the same system. It is explained that the barrel contains Felicium, a medicine for a plague which is ravaging the planet Ornara. Felicium is produced on the planet Brekka, but the Ornarans are the only race in the system with the means of space travel; however, the Ornaran ships were all built long ago and are beginning to fail due to overuse and lack of maintenance - and the Ornarans no longer know how to repair them. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) offers to return them each to their homeworlds and provide replacement parts for their freighters. The Brekkans, Sobi and Langor, argue that they retain ownership, as the items the Ornarans offered in payment were lost on board the freighter. T'Jon and Romas, of Ornara, are suffering from the effects of the plague, and are sent to sickbay where Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) can find no reason for their symptoms. The Brekkans offer two doses of Felicium for T'Jon and Romas' immediate needs. Langor explains that the entire Brekkan economy and industry is devoted to producing the medicine for Ornara, whose inhabitants provide Brekka with the necessities of daily life in return. After T'Jon and Romas take their doses, Dr. Crusher realises that Felicium is actually a highly addictive narcotic, and the plague itself was cured long ago. Because of the addictive nature of Felicium - and the clear implication that Brekka's economy would collapse if the Ornarans no longer needed Felicium - Brekka continued to supply it to Ornara but did not warn them that the plague was cured. Picard warns that the Federation cannot intervene due to the Prime Directive. He and Dr. Crusher later question the Brekkans alone, and suspect that they know the truth regarding the addictive nature of the medicine.
Symbiosis Star Trek The Next Generation - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
Let the characters explain:
DATA: Or look at the twentieth century. The dangers of drug abuse were well known, yet their use
was commonplace.
WESLEY Why?
DATA That is what I do not understand.
TASHA No one wants to become dependent. That happens later.
WESLEY But it does happen. So why do people even start?
TASHA Oh, lots of reasons... My home planet was a place of great poverty and violence.
For some, the only escape was through drugs.
DATA I fail to comprehend how a chemical substance can provide an escape.
TASHA It doesn't. But it makes you think it does. You have to understand -- drugs can make you feel good.
They put you on top of the world. You're happy... Sure of yourself. In control. A lot of people never
feel that otherwise.
DATA But it is artificial.
TASHA It doesn't feel artificial. It feels natural, good, and mind expanding. Until the drug wears off. Then
you pay the price. Once you come down, you're lower than when you started. So you take the drug
again -- and it kicks you back up. But not as high this time.
WESLEY So you take more.
TASHA But each peak gets lower and the valleys get deeper. Before you know it -- you're taking the
drug not to feel good but to keep from feeling bad.
WESLEY And that's the trap.
TASHA You think the drug expands your universe -- but it actually shrinks it. Shrinks it to where you and
the drug are all that's left. Pretty soon, all you care about is getting your next dosage.
You'll lie, cheat, steal --anything to get that fix.
DATA Certainly by then you would realize the danger.
TASHA That's the worst of it. You don't care. The drug is your salvation-- your survival.
Nothing else is important.
WESLEY I guess I just don't understand.
TASHA Wesley, I hope you never do.
http://tng.trekcore.com/episodes/scripts/123.txt
To me a person that has NEVER been dependent on any drug, I finally see how our entire society today is like the drug addiction described above.
Our current leaders want us to become addicted. Dependent. They want to us all to become less
independent on more dependent...i.e. addicted to the W2T (Womb-2-Tomb) lifestyle.
Most of our current leaders are doing so just to get re-elected. A few think they are compassionate.
But ALL of our current leaders don't seem to be concerned our nation is becoming more and more
dependent i.e. W2Ts!
At 72 years old I've seen more then many of you on this board have...not all I'm sure.
The continual mentality of the federal government to become our total source of existence is destructive.
Just as the above drug addict cycle, the more Americans become W2Ters, the less productive, the less innovative, the less constructive America becomes. We become like the drug addict totally dependent on the government check, the food stamps, the free cell phone, the Section 8 rent,,etc. and the less capable we are of feeding ourselves.
And just as the below explanation of the above dialogue our country is going the way of this pair
of societies described in the above episode.
The two pairs come from different planets within the same system. It is explained that the barrel contains Felicium, a medicine for a plague which is ravaging the planet Ornara. Felicium is produced on the planet Brekka, but the Ornarans are the only race in the system with the means of space travel; however, the Ornaran ships were all built long ago and are beginning to fail due to overuse and lack of maintenance - and the Ornarans no longer know how to repair them. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) offers to return them each to their homeworlds and provide replacement parts for their freighters. The Brekkans, Sobi and Langor, argue that they retain ownership, as the items the Ornarans offered in payment were lost on board the freighter. T'Jon and Romas, of Ornara, are suffering from the effects of the plague, and are sent to sickbay where Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) can find no reason for their symptoms. The Brekkans offer two doses of Felicium for T'Jon and Romas' immediate needs. Langor explains that the entire Brekkan economy and industry is devoted to producing the medicine for Ornara, whose inhabitants provide Brekka with the necessities of daily life in return. After T'Jon and Romas take their doses, Dr. Crusher realises that Felicium is actually a highly addictive narcotic, and the plague itself was cured long ago. Because of the addictive nature of Felicium - and the clear implication that Brekka's economy would collapse if the Ornarans no longer needed Felicium - Brekka continued to supply it to Ornara but did not warn them that the plague was cured. Picard warns that the Federation cannot intervene due to the Prime Directive. He and Dr. Crusher later question the Brekkans alone, and suspect that they know the truth regarding the addictive nature of the medicine.
Symbiosis Star Trek The Next Generation - Wikipedia the free encyclopedia