The Drumhead and American Politics

In the photo (left), Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard famously expresses exasperation through a facepalm. He made a similar gesture in "The Drumhead," an episode in which "a retired admiral boards the Enterprise in an effort to determine the actions aboard the ship surrounding an act of sabotage and possible treason." As events spiral out of control, Picard discusses the issue (pronounced "IS-su" like a good Britisher) with his security chief, Lieutenant Worf (the Klingon).

Picard: This is not unlike a ... a drumhead trial. Lieutenant Worf: I do not understand. Picard: 500 years ago, military officers would upend a drum on the battlefield. They'd sit at it and dispense summary justice. Decisions were quick, punishments severe; appeals denied. Those who came to a drumhead were doomed.

Later, under hostile questioning during the trial, Picard facepalms, then interrupts his interrogator in mid-speech: "You know, there are some words I've known since I was a schoolboy: 'With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered ... as wisdom and warning. The first time any man's freedom is trodden on, we're all damaged."

Captain Picard, of course, exists in a make-believe world. His words do not. They are worth keeping in mind when debating thorny issues such as same-sex marriage (New York just voted to allow it), Arizona's "Your Papers Please" law (the one targeting Latinos), the DREAM Act (still in congressional limbo), immigration reform (still unresolved) and rising Islamophobia (the Rep. King hearings). And as the presidential election season approaches, we would do well to remember another Picardism: "Villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well camouflaged [...] waiting for the right climate in which to flourish, spreading fear in the name of righteousness." Remind you of anyone?

I give the last word to the sentient android Data who told Picard in one episode, "I aspire, sir, to be better than I am." That's good advice for us all.