Star Trek has always been useful, in a Jonathan Swift kind of way, in using its stories to create parables of our society. The original series was famous for this.

Of course, most of the time they've been about as subtle as Swift, too ("Let That Be Your Last Battlefield")

Last night was particularly relevant to many questions that are being discussed today in America and elsewhere.

I only saw the last half, but I got the gist that this "cogenitor" was considered an inferior member of their species, and treated much as blacks were during slavery, or women under fundamentalist Islamic societies. The plot point of Trip teaching the cogenitor to read was particularly symbolic, and no doubt deliberate, considering that education of "inferiors" has often been illegal under oppressive regimes.

What do you do when a society is obviously oppressing some or all of its citizens? Many opponents of the war, and not just leftists, have argued against it from a sort of "Prime Directive" perspective. And even if you disregard the issue of military action, what about other issues? Do you trade with an oppressive society? We don't trade with Cuba, and economic sanctions were placed on South Africa. Some people approved of one but not the other. Why?

We do an enormous amount of trade with China. Should we? Would a boycott harm their citizens more than their system of government does? What about our economy? Believe me, boycotting items made in China would be no picnic.

What kind of "Prime Directive" do we have? Do we not interfere with slave societies? What if slavery, or the inferiority of women, is part of their "culture?" Is it really valid to propose abiding by the results of an Iraqi election if they vote themselves into a certain tyranny? ("One man, one vote, one time") Can a black person sell himself into slavery if he needs the cash? Why, or why not, if it's his choice?

Not easy questions, but in our own political situation in Iraq, the need for answers is coming up fast.