I haven't seen Picard, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
The issue with Star Trek that I noticed is that it's entire social and philosophical system only works in a military framework. Note that there's no Star Trek series about just living in the Star Trek universe. It only takes place aboard naval vessels.
To be honest, this is because Star Trek is founded under, not a Boomer truth regime, but a Greatest Generation truth regime. The military are the vanguard of liberal philosophy, the height of meritocracy, the collectivist defenders of individualism, they are absolutely compliant to law & civilian political order, and they maintain a morally strict social order.
These things are not inherently true of any military, but they are the perceived truth of the generation of Americans who decided that they had to go to war to save the world from collectivism, and preserve the individual rights of everyone on Earth. Meaning that (even though they weren't in real life) they wanted to be that perfect vangaurd of Liberal thought. Star Trek is that aspiration.
Now this means that Starfleet is of the "anointed" class, but are inherently constrained. Yes, they are moral prefects, but they are moral prefects operating in a fallen world attempting to re-moralize it through inspiration. Even more than that, they know that they themselves are not perfect and must desperately seek to live up to that anointment.
Take this example: one of the most famous Wesley-Picard interactions of all time: "A Lie of Omission". Think about what made Picard so furious: a lie of omission, and one to a legal inquiry, to investigate the death of one of Wesley's fellows. Here's the big quote in particular:
The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth! Whether it's scientific truth, historical truth, or personal truth! It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based. If you can't find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened; you don't deserve to wear that uniform.
Not the Federation. No, hell no, civilians can lie all the fucking time. Wesley betrayed that Uniform. Starfleet's uniform. The anointed, not elected, pinnacle of morality and vanguard of the Federation's Liberal philosophy. And because it's liberal, they are still voluntary. You can choose to leave Starfleet. You can refuse to be part of the Federation. You don't have to listen. They are a vanguard and not conquerors. What Start Trek has since become is likely what has happened to many on the Left: they are tired of being a vanguard and now want to be rulers.
I also havent seen any of the new Star Trek (Discovery or Picard) directly, just the reviews and video essays on them.
Definitely not disagreeing on anything you said in yours since it is also true. I will say this though about what I have seen of new Trek:
What Start Trek has since become is likely what has happened to many on the Left: they are tired of being a vanguard and now want to be rulers.
Not only does it seem like they have made that change, they have become bitter nihilistic rulers on top of it all. Since it is the one that is fresh in my mind, Patrick Stewart deliberately helped to make the Federation as depicted in Picard into a xenophobic, totalitarians hellscape that oppresses and brutalizes the Romulans despite the fact that they are "refugees" since they lost their planet. And Stewart has made it abundantly clear he did this because he is still salty over Trump and Brexit being things that happened.
But he went further and decided to make Picard himself into a frail old man who can no longer diplomacy his way out of situations because "You are past your prime old man!" and "Why should we listen to a washed up has-been of a Starfleet commander?" and is frequently disrespected by the newer Starfleet officers.
And this is before we get into the fact that New Trek is generally full of much more fighting and killing than Old Trek, as well as frequent depictions of gore, brutal torture, and other displays of violence that would have never flown in Old Trek outside except for the occasional instance to make a point.
EDIT: And oh yeah. The typical Starfleet crew now acts less like professional military and scientific personal and more like emotionally stunted teenagers who backtalk their commanding officers in just about every interaction. I am sure says nothing about the quality of the writers.
because "You are past your prime old man!" and "Why should we listen to a washed up has-been of a Starfleet commander?" and is frequently disrespected by the newer Starfleet officers.
I haven't seen Picard, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
The issue with Star Trek that I noticed is that it's entire social and philosophical system only works in a military framework. Note that there's no Star Trek series about just living in the Star Trek universe. It only takes place aboard naval vessels.
To be honest, this is because Star Trek is founded under, not a Boomer truth regime, but a Greatest Generation truth regime. The military are the vanguard of liberal philosophy, the height of meritocracy, the collectivist defenders of individualism, they are absolutely compliant to law & civilian political order, and they maintain a morally strict social order.
These things are not inherently true of any military, but they are the perceived truth of the generation of Americans who decided that they had to go to war to save the world from collectivism, and preserve the individual rights of everyone on Earth. Meaning that (even though they weren't in real life) they wanted to be that perfect vangaurd of Liberal thought. Star Trek is that aspiration.
Now this means that Starfleet is of the "anointed" class, but are inherently constrained. Yes, they are moral prefects, but they are moral prefects operating in a fallen world attempting to re-moralize it through inspiration. Even more than that, they know that they themselves are not perfect and must desperately seek to live up to that anointment.
Take this example: one of the most famous Wesley-Picard interactions of all time: "A Lie of Omission". Think about what made Picard so furious: a lie of omission, and one to a legal inquiry, to investigate the death of one of Wesley's fellows. Here's the big quote in particular:
Not the Federation. No, hell no, civilians can lie all the fucking time. Wesley betrayed that Uniform. Starfleet's uniform. The anointed, not elected, pinnacle of morality and vanguard of the Federation's Liberal philosophy. And because it's liberal, they are still voluntary. You can choose to leave Starfleet. You can refuse to be part of the Federation. You don't have to listen. They are a vanguard and not conquerors. What Start Trek has since become is likely what has happened to many on the Left: they are tired of being a vanguard and now want to be rulers.
I also havent seen any of the new Star Trek (Discovery or Picard) directly, just the reviews and video essays on them.
Definitely not disagreeing on anything you said in yours since it is also true. I will say this though about what I have seen of new Trek:
Not only does it seem like they have made that change, they have become bitter nihilistic rulers on top of it all. Since it is the one that is fresh in my mind, Patrick Stewart deliberately helped to make the Federation as depicted in Picard into a xenophobic, totalitarians hellscape that oppresses and brutalizes the Romulans despite the fact that they are "refugees" since they lost their planet. And Stewart has made it abundantly clear he did this because he is still salty over Trump and Brexit being things that happened.
But he went further and decided to make Picard himself into a frail old man who can no longer diplomacy his way out of situations because "You are past your prime old man!" and "Why should we listen to a washed up has-been of a Starfleet commander?" and is frequently disrespected by the newer Starfleet officers.
And this is before we get into the fact that New Trek is generally full of much more fighting and killing than Old Trek, as well as frequent depictions of gore, brutal torture, and other displays of violence that would have never flown in Old Trek outside except for the occasional instance to make a point.
EDIT: And oh yeah. The typical Starfleet crew now acts less like professional military and scientific personal and more like emotionally stunted teenagers who backtalk their commanding officers in just about every interaction. I am sure says nothing about the quality of the writers.
The problem is, this is how the Left always treats old people that aren't politicians. The central feature of Progressivism in how it treats old people is exactly that: former Progressives who didn't change with the times and are now Conservatives. Those former-progressives are now enemies of the current regime, and their accomplishments deserve to be discredited by the moral failings they never knew they had.
So, like always, Stewart is talking to himself as a Leftist, rather than others.