fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2126 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2126 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 05 pages, 106 secrets from Secret Submission Post #304.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

04. http://i49.tinypic.com/2jdi9hh.jpg

Aliens = life-forms from elsewhere. It's not "earthist" or whatever, it's a technical term. Humans come from Earth, aliens come from not-Earth.

Add specifics and peculiarities to fit the sci-fi verse of your choice.

No, I think the argument is that there's no good reason to boil things down to humans and non-humans when there are so many other species.

Although in the Trek case, it does seem like the majority of Starfleet personnel are human, so it might make sense, but I suspect there would be policies about not making the non-human Starfleet personnel more uncomfortable by highlighting their differences.

Also, it arguably makes very little sense to refer to "humans and aliens" when you're somewhere other than Earth and the humans also qualify as aliens.

It just doesn't make sense as the series does not take place on Earth. The humans are just as or less alien than the aliens in question. Starfleet is not wholly made up of humans, either, so it could be seen as separating humans from aliens when the "aliens" would group humans as aliens, too.

NO ITS A SPACE RACISM. SPACISM.

IT'S A SERIOUS PROBLEM OKAY

*right-click+save* THANK YOU FOR THAT SO MUCH.

(no subject)

szarburus - 2012-10-28 21:56 (UTC) - Expand

That isn't what "alien" actually means though

LOL I always notice this too! It doesn't make me angry, but it always pings my radar. I just pretend the show is being translated in Earth-centric ways for us regular human viewers so that we can understand what's going on ;)

Well, yeah, okay, but if the show is specifically made from Earth/human POV, this is a given. I mean, compare it to the English culture. Think about an English speaking character that watched an Indian flick and calls it a foreign film. To an Indian, it's not foreign. From your logic, it shouldn't be called foreign because there are far more indians in the world than American/Canadians/Australians/whatever. But it's their POV, ergo, it's foreign to them.

While this is a good point, the OP made it.

Pretty much this. If the movie is from the POV of the non-humans I would expect the humans to be called aliens...but as most shows are human-pov - the not-humans are referred to as aliens.

Apparently this even works for time travel. In the words of two great theoreticians:

"The future is quite different to the present. Though one thing we have
in common with the present is we still call it the present even though
it's the future. What you call the present we call the past, so you
guys are way behind."

It really depends on the context. An English character taking a holiday in India and talking about how there's so many foreigners everywhere would just be incorrect unless he were in fact talking about the number of non-Indians.

And not only incorrect, but annoying and offensive to many of the people around him, and likely to not make him a lot of local friends ... which is why it bothers me, too, when shows like Star Trek fall back to it. A Human character in outer space who calls all non-humans aliens should be doing it as a characterization point, not as a writer being lazy.

Except all the Star Trek shows have made mention of the fact that--to other species--humans are aliens. It's usually done in a way meant to make the audience go OMG MIND = BLOWN, but it still happens.

There's a TNG episode where Riker is the alien who's almost autopsied. Star Trek is an Earth centred show, but they definitely point out that humans are just as alien. There's just many humans, and they're an outgoing culture (also budget)

Farscape is great for having the one human character be absolutely alien to the galaxy he's in.

I remember that one. :) That was the one were there was a nurse/doctor who wanted to bang him because HOT ALIEN LOVIN', but there was also a fair bit of exploration of cultures and the pre-warp civilization. I liked it a lot.

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-28 20:51 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-28 20:57 (UTC) - Expand

oparu - 2012-10-28 21:06 (UTC) - Expand

intrigueing - 2012-10-28 21:33 (UTC) - Expand

(Anonymous) - 2012-10-29 00:00 (UTC) - Expand

I fucking loved that episode so much. Although, seriously Federation? The Vulcans had this great big majestic srs bsns awe-inspiring meeting with Zephram Cochrane back in 2063 when they made first contact with humans, but for that species, Picard and Troi just randomly show up in a research center and go "hi lol we're aliens. Congrads on discovering the warp drive, btw!"

oparu - 2012-10-28 20:58 (UTC) - Expand

Bugs me too, anon. Bugs me too.

I think saying, "Humans and Aliens" would be okay in first contact scenarios or in instances where humanity is still getting used to aliens. I think it also works where humans heavily dominate, such as earth, or human military.

Star Trek, for me, I swing back and forth on. The ideas behind the Federation are that every Federation race is a part of the whole, everyone is equal. This would make me think they should say, "All Races". The fact that the shows had low budget or were lazy and had mostly humans walking about made me think they weren't as integrated as they seemed. So saying "Humans and Aliens" would make sense. It's a failing in show vs. tell. The two don't add up.

THE BOUNDARIES ARE EXPANDING AND THERE IS A PORTAL OPENING AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE SUCKED INTO IT AND YOU'RE ALL GOING TO DIE AND THERE'S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT.

STUPID EARTHLINGS.

DIE.

I'm pretty sure Spock at least has referred to humans as 'aliens', and he's half human!

"Inalienable... human rights. The very name is racist..."

It's a failing in the language. I had to go to a thesaurus to find a synonym for "humanitarian" without "human" in it.