#Vulcans aren't an oppressed minority!!

[youngpettyqueen]

every day im forced to see posts where people say that Bones is racist towards Spock and they clearly think its a hot take. when will we as a society move on from this. its been years. im tired.

[thebreakfastgenie]

just wanted to say I appreciated your reply to that pulaski v bones post. I reblogged in haste (having not really registered the text part of the post tbh) bc I get so annoyed with people who jump on that excuse to hate Pulaski while not acknowledging her growth, and turning a blind eye to similar (albeit, yeah, *significantly* less harmful) behavior from a popular male character. I'm also not a fan of using "racism" to describe either situation so I just shouldn't have reblogged in the first place. your comment seemed aimed at the op but it was a valid call-in for me too, thanks

Oh!! Thanks!! It was aimed at the OP, yeah. And I almost reblogged before I read the caption, because the thing is Pulaski is very clearly written as a Bones analogue and yeah, she gets hate he doesn't because of misogyny. I like her btw! She has a good arc learning to see Data differently.

I will say to be entirely fair the reason she doesn't work as a Bones analogue is that Data isn't a Spock analogue in the ways that matter. Vulcans are not an oppressed minority in-universe. For some reason people will argue about this with me??? But it's literally just textually true. Vulcans are incredibly powerful within the Federation, arguably even more than humans even though Earth is the seat of government when you consider the canon added later with First Contact etc. But regardless, Vulcans are treated as superior. I think some of the writers (probably Gene) actually did think of them as better than humans; consider Amanda saying the Vulcan way of life is "a better way" in Journey to Babel.

I think it's easy to forget that Vulcans aren't a minority because Spock is a minority on the ship. And Spock does face racism because Romulans resemble Vulcans. But in Federation society in general, Vulcans are not a minority, and if you look at TAS, it's pretty clear the Enterprise is a mostly human ship because showing a lot of diverse aliens every week was beyond 1960s special effects capabilities and not because starships are mostly crewed by humans. The Enterprise happens to be (at least that we see, again TAS suggest more diversity) and it's definitely interesting to explore Starfleet deliberately assigning crews that are mostly from the same culture. But anyway.

People have tried to tell me that although Vulcans are not an oppressed minority in-universe, they are still used as an allegory for oppression, but 1) I don't think that's true 2) I still don't think that means we can call one character's in-universe behavior towards another racist. The aspect of Spock that's usually used as an allegory for minority experiences is that he is mixed race. Which in-universe often takes the form of other Vulcans looking down on him for his human side and Spock himself not accepting his human side.

Bones genuinely believes that emotions are important, morally and philosophically. He is serious about this! He values empathy and considers it an important part of his work which is saving lives, alleviating suffering, etc. He considers suppressing emotions--which is what Vulcans do, btw--almost a form of self-harm. Spock is dismissive of this. Spock also insults humanity all the time. This is not Spock "being bitchy" to Bones. This is Spock insulting an entire species. And it's not a minority insulting the oppressor class. Spock was raised on Vulcan, with a Vulcan way of life, by Vulcans who consider themselves superior to humans. With Spock it is complicated because, again, a lot of it is rooted internalized disdain for his own humanity. Spock's arc confirms this, by the way. He basically considers himself entirely Vulcan, to the point of pursuing a ritual to purge all emotions, but ultimately realizes that's not what he wants. This simple feeling is important to him and the later movies show him treating logic as a beginning rather than an end and truly embracing the best parts of both sides of his heritage.

Humans are actually better at handling emotions than Vulcans are. I think the episode that establishes this is The Savage Curtain when they meet Surak (and also Abraham Lincoln). Vulcans are a highly emotional species who turned to violence (as did humans) and nearly destroyed each other, before Surak suggested logic. Basically, they trust in logic and suppress their emotions because if they give in to them, they will destroy themselves, or at least they believe they will. This is also evidenced with pon farr where they must have sex at a particular time or they will literally die; their urges are very powerful. But humanity, in the Star Trek universe, had nuclear wars and horrible atrocities but survived, and did it without repressing their emotions! By Federation time, humans too are peaceful and enlightened, and they're emotional.

If anything I think Bones and Spock's relationship is very Jewish because it's a passionate philosophical debate. Both of them have cultural as well as personal belief behind their positions. And as bitchy as they can get, there is an underlying respect there.

Frankly saying Vulcans equal minorities and therefore Bones is racist is just a really superficial way of engaging with Star Trek.

@aunt-pol I just realized I got so wrapped up in that I forgot to explain how this is different from Data!!!

Data, unlike Spock, actually is an oppressed minority. He is a unique lifeform and has his humanity legally called into question. He faces discrimination for being an android. He also does not consider himself superior to humans and in fact really wants to be human, which just makes telling him he's not nastier and more mean-spirited.

Data and Spock fill similar roles on the show but while Spock just happens to be the only Vulcan on the Enterprise and is the only half-human Vulcan, Data is actually the only Soong-type Android anyone knows about and the others who turn up in TNG are literally in the single digits (one doesn't know she's an Android, one is evil, one dies...). So Pulaski can't have the same dynamic with Data that Bones has with Spock, because Data's position in Federation society is very different. Additionally, Bones and Spock have an established relationship when we meet them and we never find out exactly how far back it goes. Pulaski is introduced in season 2 and meets Data for the first time.

There is a lot of sexism in how the fandom reacts and refuses to see the complexities of Pulaski or her character development but it's also a show fuck up.