Okay I just finished watching the Voyager episode Flesh and Blood and I have not watched this episode since it's broadcast and when you think about the full implications of the message of this episode am I the only one who thinks it is the single most stupid and racist episode of Star Trek ever made.

That may seem harsh and like an over reaction but really think about what this episode is saying by making Janeway right when she hunts down the holograms and talks about them as "those people" and how it applies to the real world.

It is in effect saying that no enslaved people no matter how abused have a right to fight for their freedom and if their fight results in even one death of the people oppressing them then it is okay to genocide them out of existence. So it if the south had won the civil war it would have been okay if they had committed genocide against all Africans since some of them took up arms against the slave holding states and killed people in it. So the only way to end the killing and be sure it was done would be to kill them all or put them back into slavery. Remember the one Hologram who we see alive in the end only redeems herself by turning against her fellow holograms and then she is placed on a ship with one of her former masters being given control over her. In other words this episode is saying that the civil war should have ended with the slaves either killed or returned to slavery.

Then there is the idea that Janeway has every right to kill all of the holograms because some of them did kill Herogan. Now again some people may see me as reading too much into this but let's apply Janeway's and since the episode showed her to be in the right by extension the show's logic to a real world situation. I know this will rub some people the wrong way and this is something we are not supposed to bring up when talking about fiction but I find it impossible to explain why this disturbs me so much with about talking about this real world event because it is the most extreme and best understood example of a certain world view in action. If talking about this subject offends you or has you rolling your eyes at me please stop reading now. I am sorry but I find no other way to explain this point, if you think I am wrong that is fine and I am sorry I am too stupid to explain this without broaching this topic. Also to be clear I am not accusing the writers and producers of Star Trek Voyager of being in favor of this, I am only saying they are guilty of not thinking through the message their show was sending because they were too focused on making big action scenes. Given that Star Trek has always prided it's self on being a message show, I don't think the message should be over looked or that viewers like me are at thought for "thinking too hard about it".

I know this will offend a lot of people so I am giving you one last chance to turn away.

Okay the example I am citing is the nazis and the final solution. This episode says that Janeway was right to wipe out the holograms because some of them were guilty of killing people, so the only way to be sure they would never hurt anyone again was to kill them all. This story frames it's self as being about race relations and it argues that when it comes to race wars you should always fight for your own people and only your own people no lengths are too extreme to ensure victory. How does this apply to the final solution you may ask and aren't I taking this a bit too far? I don't think so because remember Hitler argued that the Jews and other groups had been plotting against the German people and causing the deaths of Germans for hundreds of years so an extreme solution was needed to stop the killing of Germans. it is in fact the same argument Janeway makes in this episode about holograms and remember the episode says she was right. Now also remember that not all holograms were murderers but Janeway still was shown to be in the right for wanting to kill them all. If you follow this episodes logic then the only reason Hitler was wrong was not because his general mindset was wrong or his solution to the problem he saw was wrong. No, Hitler was only wrong because the jews didn't happen to be plotting against the German people, if they had this episode is saying Hitler had every right and in fact was duty bound to his race to enact the final solution. In fact given that it doesn't matter if they were involved in the plot or not, Janeway still kills the holograms this episode is in fact saying that if Hitler could have found one small group of jews who were plotting to kill Germans he had every right to kill every member of the race.

Now let's get to the other message that Janeway is somehow at fault for the deaths of the Horgan in this episode because she gave them holodeck tech. Let's think about it and see just how disturbing this is. It is in fact saying that if you help about people and anyone of those people does something wrong in future you were wrong to help them, so the best solution is to not help at all. Again let's apply this to the real world. My family sponsors several children in Africa through a group called compassion international. This group makes sure these children don't starve to death, gives them clean water and clothes, and sends them to school. Under the logic of this show if any one of those children grows up to join Isis or some other radical group it is my family's fault for sponsoring them and we should have just left all African children to starve to death because that was better then getting involved and we shouldn't have taken the chance in the first place.

When you put this all together in my mind it makes this episode and not any of DS9 the one that would have Roddenberry spinning in his grave. I mean from the start he saw Star Trek as a message show that took a stand against racism and war and this episode either wants you not to think about what it is saying or it is pro racism. I think he would have found both of those things as disturbing as I do.

When you break this episode down to what it is saying and apply it to the real world I think it is not only the most disturbing and wrong headed episodes of Star Trek ever made but I also thing it is one of the most disturbing and wrong headed episodes of TV ever made period.

Oh as a brief side not am I the only one who laughed out lound at Janeway's excuse for not punishing Holodoc? I mean by that logic no one can be punish for breaking the law. I mean isn't a thief just being "who he is", so how can you punish him? Isn't someone who speeds through a school crossing and runs over a kid just being "who they are"? Serial killers are just being "who they are" so I guess the police can't try and stop them. I guess this is the perfect line to end the episode on since it is just as stupid and wrong headed as the rest of the episode.

My final thoughts are that "A night in sickbay" is no longer my most hated episode of Star trek. Don't get me wrong that episode was garbage but it didn't argue in favor of the captain taking an active role in genocide. This episode is complete garbage and has no redeeming values if you ask me.

For a show like Star trek that is the worst thing you could ever say about an episode.