Believe it or not, this blog post is not about Orion or anything like that. I just thought the metaphor was dually applicable to the idea of language barriers.
Someone mentioned earlier today about the idea of how difficult it would be to be in a place where no one understood you. I decided to comment on this by providing a frustrating story. As most know, I'm Sign fluent and that I have some friends that are Deaf, as well as having some students that I work with as a tutor at SAC that are Deaf. The single most frustrating experience for me is when my bosses (well meaning, I am sure) and other peripheral individuals (those people that just seem to always be around, but don't necessarily work with me) ask me why students who are Deaf do not make more use of the interpreter services available to them. I can think of no more isolating interaction than the interpreter interaction. I know most Deaf people try very hard to meet a hearing person--writing on a notepad, gesturing, etc. This is not an attempt to be a part of the hearing community, but rather an attempt to make a connection with the hearing community. I can also assuredly say that most Deaf people would like to see the same kinds of investments from the Hearing community.
And that leads me to the questions of today. Is Captain Dathon's sacrifice worth it? I wish I could say yes. I mean, in the end, The two societies are able to find a peaceable agreement and live with each other. But it is Picard's first interaction with Dathon's people that reveals the smugness of the primary society and it's view of the secondary, and hints at the tragic conclusion. I wonder if this is very much different from the way the Europeans came upon the Natives--an awkward language, weird rituals, and bold threatening stances. Ceremony. I wonder if these people didn't spend so much time posturing, if Picard had not assumed about Dathon's intentions, but had sought to understand them, if things would have ended sooner, and more positively. You could write a book on 'ifs.'
Dathon died. It reveals some tragic truth about our social structure: bodies bridge gaps more readily than minds build bridges. Pragmatics says, yes, it was worth it, because the end he desired from the experience was reached.
As for Picard, one hopes he came away with a better understanding not of language and people, but of himself, and his assumptions about other, alien, people. It's destructive to interpret any other culture through the lens we interpret ours--to the culture, its people, and to ourselves.
If only if only...
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I didnt think i was making sense when i said that i didnt think that the sacrafice wasn't worth it. Like you said if they would of taken the time to try to understand then they could of reached the same conclusion but with Captain Dathon alive. Not taking time to try to understand is a huge mistake that we make as humans. For example the whole thing about Islam, people dont take the time to learn about it and understand, they see it from our ideals our point of view. Its hard to detach yourself from what you know but learning to be more open would benefit us all. We as humans need to learn to "step into thier shoes" meaning try to understand...no necessarily accept. So i think i went off on a tangent ....the point is agree it wasn't worth it!
ReplyDeleteI liked your round about way of answering the assignment. It does seem that those with the advantage of being able to hear or the ability to communicate with many alien beings make hasting assumptions about those they do not understand. Unfortunately, like in the movies there sometimes has to be some kind of sacrifice for the misunderstood to be heard. I liked your blog.
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