Yes, people! Bill Shatner has taken the bull by the horns and spoken out. It's all on his official website. He poses the question: What would Captain Kirk do in the present international crisis? And answers it as follows:

Since world peace seems to be hanging by a thread these days, I got to thinking what Captain Kirk would do in such a precarious situation. As ToolPackinMama points out on the board ( See the thread "KIRK WOULD GIVE PEACE A CHANCE"), Kirk would emphasize peace, love, and unity above all else. Given these qualities, it seems as though he would emphasize peaceful negotiations as long as possible. Captain Kirk would turn to force only if he had no other option but to defend himself, his beloved friends, or helpless victims from a vengeful enemy. Even then, Kirk's ultimate goal is to preserve friendship and emphasize forgiveness and compassion for his enemies.

As far as fictional characters go, I think Kirk is an exemplary figure, complex and interesting, holding the best humanistic qualities close to his heart at all times. Are there any other fictional heroes you can think of that do the same thing? Some other interesting fictional heroes I can think of are also trying to preserve the peace. For example, Frodo from "Lord of the Rings" tries to get rid of the Ring of Power to preserve Middle Earth from the Enemy's evil control. My favorite female character, Ripley, from "Aliens" is clear that she is "not a soldier" when the story begins, yet is driven to fight the alien at the end in order to save herself and her "daughter" from certain death.

All these characters seem to share a common thread – violence as a last option. Of course, life as a fictional hero is a lot less complicated than life as a real human on planet Earth. I guess there is no answer that we can look to as a definite example of the way we should act. Our fictional heroes give us clues, though. After all, they have come from our writers' imaginations and we as readers and viewers have elevated them to public status. Maybe we're trying to tell ourselves something.

Go ahead. Whine, complain, and revile me, but I think Bill's making good sense here. Better sense than Bush and Cheney, for instance.

- LH