
“Star Wars” despots vs. “Star Trek” populists (1999) - zeotroph
http://www.salon.com/1999/06/15/brin_main/
======
zeotroph
The general point about Science Fiction deviating from the usual Fate-Destiny-
Prophecy-ChosenOne narratives described in Campbell's "The Hero With a
Thousand Faces" finally nailed down my personal vague aversion for most
stories of this kind, and thereby most fantasy stories.

This is doubly annoying for Star Wars because a space faring, millennia old,
galaxy spanning civilization should have a proper grasp of science and apply
that to find out more about the Force and its seemingly eternal yet pointless
light/dark struggle.

And if some age old conspiracy wants to keep it that way, a story line about
challenging the status quo would be more interesting than one about the hero-
pawns who, in the long run, change nothing. Though maybe there is something
like that in the expanded universe?

I prefer instead: "An upstart belief in progress, egalitarianism, positive-sum
games — and the slim but real possibility of decent human institutions."

------
brudgers
Author David Brin:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Brin)

