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“When one looks back on the character of James T. Kirk, often the phrases
that come to mind are ‘doesn’t follow orders,’ ‘goes his own way,’
‘maverick,’ ‘plays by his own rules.’”
Though perhaps not the sort of mainstream fare of which divorce mediation
blogs are made, the fictional Captain Kirk who originated with the 1960s TV
series on the starship Enterprise is sufficiently well-known to serve as
immediate example here.
You
know him, right?
Maybe not.
After inferring buy-in to his premise, quoted above, Mr. DeCandido goes on
to argue that “if you actually look at the episodes of the television show
that aired from 1966-1969, you see almost none of that.”
Isolated quotes and actions taken out of context are the exceptions on which
the image of Kirk àla “cowboy diplomacy and bending the rules.” But
when you take the time to actually look mission-by-mission (ie,
episode-by-episode of the series), you find a commander who follows proper
procedure, orders, and chain of command, by and large, throughout.
The
value for our purposes here is to underscore the need to avoid clichés and
snap judgments, to see how easily one can fall for labels in lieu of looking
at what the substance actually tells us.
There’s a lot less danger in doing this by way of the Star Trek
universe, of course: Unlike in divorce court, where real lives are truly on
the line.
—posted by Dell Deaton @12:09 AM EST
11/11/2008
OS 2531.80
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