You had a great paragraph there, Peter:

"In fact, if Star Trek is an artefact of anything, it is an artefact of American imperialism at its most egregious: the world will be one under one benign empire, the leaders will all be American, with some amusing subordinates; and the enemies will be horrible monsters all of whom slather and deserve to die because they are underhanded, unlike our noble side that can do no wrong."

I agree enthusiastically with that analysis, Peter. You have hit on the crux of the dark side of the cultural assumptions that underlay Star Trek, specially in its first edition in the 60's. It's basically a view of an Anglo-American dominated Universe, in which other cultures are appended on as amusing or exotic decorations to the Pax Anglo-Americana. That same bizarre set of assumptions lies, not too well hidden, behind George Bush's ridiculous "War on Terrorism".

However, I stand by what I said about the positive social philosophies put forward on the show, regardless of that. The positive aspects were there.

Any show produced in America always views Life as essentially American in nature. Any show produced in Great Britain views Life as essentially British. Their views of the Universe will necessarily carry on under the same bland assumptions as long as they retain national identities, I expect. I imagine the Romans saw the Universe as basically Roman, didn't they? Other cultures were, to them, merely exotic curiosities to be taken over and exploited...or ruthlessly eliminated.

"Resistance is Futile. You will be assimilated." That could easily be the official credo of American civilization at this point in history. That makes them the spiritual counterparts of 2 alien species on the Next Generation show...the Ferengi (the ultimate greedy capitalists) and the Borg (the ultimate military conquerors).

Within its constricting bubble of Anglo-American assumptions, Star Trek did very well at creating a far freer and more equitable view of society than our present competitive, money-driven order.

The only rewards of great accomplishment in their society were: the gaining of greater responsibility, more interesting work, and greater prestige among your peers. They did not have financial or material inducements toward getting ahead in life. They had built a society free from material want and deprivation. That alone is a tremendously more enlightened approach to building a healthy society than what we see around us now. That is social responsibility and social justice. That takes the ideal "All men (humans) are created equal" and actualizes it in a real way that makes sense.