The Voyager crew invent an "Irish" holodeck town replete with every stereotype Hollywood has ever invented about us. As an Irishman, I've always felt that these kind of tropes show up the people who buy into them more than they do the Irish they're insulting but there's something about this episode that rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps, it's that Star Trek was always supposed to be forward looking. Their characters were supposed to be immune to the types of stereotypical thinking that morphs too easily from patronising to outright racism. That a bunch of 24th century Federation citizens could be so clueless and pathetically limited in their own understanding of an entire nation of people just feels wrong. Of course, it was written by 20th century Americans and so one could assume its showing nothing more than what we already knew-that US writers of the 1990's were as clueless about real Irish culture as they were in the 30's and 40's. However, there are enough glowing reviews of this episode by Americans writing in the 2020's to conclude that too many of them still revel in such patronising reductions of whole nationalities. "Make him more curious about the world around him..." Janeway commands when changing the Michael Sullivan character because well...all Irish people must be parochial-and even with all her sophistication upgrades, he's still not averse to the odd bar brawl. The irony is-and I say this as an Irishman who has been to the US dozens of times-that by and large, Americans tend to be more parochial than Irish people. As a small country, looking outside is almost our default position. It's not for nothing we punch above our weight in producing writers, singers, and other artists. But alas, some people are never happier than when their ignorant stereotypes are being indulged an erroneously confirmed.
Review of Fair Haven
