James Kirk To Helm Ship
1 min readThe man tapped to be the Captain of the Navy’s newest, most futuristic ship is none other than James Kirk.
Captain Kirk will be the captain of the USS Zumwalt.
This James Kirk, actually James A. Kirk, is a native of Bethesda, Maryland, and was commissioned at the US Naval Academy in 1990.
Instead of exploring the galaxy, Kirk’s ship will be used for “combat and area denial.”
The USS Zumwalt is the Navy’s largest destroyer. The warship is the first of the DDG-1000 class of destroyers, which will include three ships to be deployed to the Pacific in the next three years.
Stealth is the name of the game when it comes to the Zumwalt. It has technology that enables it to “mitigate minefields, target submarines, and assault shores with a barrage of low altitude radar-evading missiles, artillery guns, and one day maybe even a magnetic railgun.”
You know, for a moment when I read this I thought it was April 1. So the real question is, is he qualified, or did he get the job because of his name? You know, the way Avi Arad gave Amazing Spider-Man to director Mark Webb. (Still liked it, but it had some mega flaws.)
Really. Wish this had come out closer to April 1st.
I doubt Navy brass are Trek fans.
“Kirk’s ship will be used for “combat and area denial”.”
The humanity is still in a very primitive stage.
Most military members I know are fans of Star Trek. When I was in the military in the 90s and 2000s, I can tell you that whenever Star Trek came on TV in the officer’s mess (aka: bar), everyone would head over with their beers to watch the show.
So long as people have conflicting interests, yes, it will remain “primitive.” In fact, I’m not sure that the word “primitive” is the correct word. It’s a universal truth of humanity and nature.
And in the case of defense, I’m not sure it is primitive in any capacity. If I am the aggressor that cannot be reasoned with (the eternal example is Hitler), and I seek nothing but your annihilation), you have no choice but to protect yourself through aggression.
Is that primitive? I don’t think so. It is requisite counter-aggression.
Pacifism would not be enlightened or advanced. It would be suicide.
Is pacifism a reasonable counterpoint to primitive behavior? In the end, it can’t be, if it necessarily ends with your extinction.
In this sense, the only answer is so-called primitive behavior. Let’s not demean the survival instinct by calling it primitive. Let’s not be so elitist and foolish as to seek to unwrite this very important aspect of ourselves from our collective nature.
Then again, perhaps it’s just too god-damned late and I should be sleeping.
You clearly don’t know the truth, then. Starfleet and the military have many things in common. Stop just thinking in terms of “Starfleet is for exploration,” and “the Military is for destruction.”
Star Trek’s Starfleet has always had more in common with the military than with NASA. Or let’s put it this way. Starfleet is like a bunch of NASA scientists and diplomats moving through the galaxy with really big guns.
It’s instinctive. But the instinct, can, be fought… We, can admit, that we’re killers… but we’re not, going to kill, today!
Potentital ancestor of James T.?
Truly, the best of both worlds.