I think it's safe to say that this is one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek ever. Sadly, it is also a prophetic commentary on the present state of the human race. Three hundred years ago, Jonathan Swift wrote in Gulliver's Travels about the Big-endians and the Little-endians, making war over which end of an egg to break before eating it. In 1969 the Cold War was raging, the somewhat peaceful manifestation being the race to the moon, and the bloody manifestation being Vietnam. The civil rights battle was ongoing, and the feminist movement was gathering steam. In 2006, the Cold War is long over, but now the "war on terror" has taken its place. Racism is still alive and well. With the current debate over immigration and the use of English as the official language of the United States, we manage to find even more ways to distinguish ourselves from "the other". We have Red States vs. Blue States, black vs. white, Anglo vs. Hispanic, Catholic vs. Protestant, liberal vs. conservative, gay vs. straight, pro-choice vs. pro-life, evolution vs. creationism. Some of these conflicts have resulted in bloodshed, others haven't, but they continue to divide us. Worldwide, it's no longer just Christian vs. Jew or Muslim vs. Hindu. In many cases our conflicts involve Christian vs. Christian, as in Northern Ireland or Muslim vs. Muslim, as in Iraq. The worldwide Anglican Communion threatens to split in two over the appointment of a gay bishop. Someone once said there are two kinds of people in the world, those who classify everybody into two kinds, and those who don't. I suspect the latter group is thinning out. God help us.
Review of Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
