this post was submitted on 25 Nov 2024
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TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name
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I see your point, but counterpoint: based on the fact that he was a Starfleet officer, which only people are allowed to be, and just interacting with him, it's pretty clear on an instinctive level that he has personality quirks, preferences, self awareness etc.
What's more, I could understand her initial doubts due to what you described, but even after getting to know him, she'd keep gainsaying his personhood for no apparent reason other than seemingly trying to convince HIM that he was nothing but a robot.
It's that stubbornness and lack of rationale that makes it feel like bigotry rather than just confusion and inquisitiveness to me.
As for bigotry being rife in Star Trek, this sounds like a cop-out but it's true: I haven't seen much yet since I started with TNG and am only a few episodes into season 3 so far lol
Even with what you have seen so far, think about how the bigotry is baked in when humans are super diverse but every alien in the show is part of a monoculture that has a bunch of very well-defined stereotypes. Worf is a Klingon so he acts like how any Klingon would act and it doesn't matter if he was raised by humans because Klingons are Klingons and will always be Klingons.
Worf is a weeb, and his time on Deep Space Nine makes it super obvious. He is way more concerned with appearing Klingon than being Klingon. Among other Klingons, he sticks out like a sore thumb.
The Lower Decks character Mesk (who appears at Deep Space Nine) is a caricature of Worf.
In the case of Worf, though, he's extra Klingon. Which isn't all that unusual; second-generation immigrants sometimes lean extra hard into their perceived home culture despite the fact that they only know how their parents act and miss out on a lot of subtleties. I can imagine that even other Klingons think he's weird for listening to nothing but Klingon opera.
But yeah, in general Star Trek does simplify; species have one culture and planets have one biome. Then again, the narrative usually wouldn't be helped by lines like "it's a beautiful, verdant planet except for where you'll beam down, which is an asbestos desert that looks like a bowl of used cat litter" or "we're going to rendezvous with a Klingon ship but the crew are part of this subculture that doesn't consider physical combat valid and exclusively dresses in yellow".
We do see more detail with cultures the story spend a lot of time around; e.g. the Bajorans are shown to be multi-faceted because those facets are relevant to the narrative.
My very favorite instance of that happening was actually on SG-1. Where O'Neill and Carter accidentally end up in an ice crevasse, and she tunnels up to the surface, takes a look around and says "It's an ice planet."
spoiler
They're on Earth in AntarcticaBajorans are a lone exception. Virtually every Klingon is the same. Romulans, Andorians, Cardassians, all pretty much the same.
Then again, humans are also pretty samey from an outside perspective. There aren't many humans who openly reject the Federation's ideals. A small number of exceptions does exist but other species get those as well. Even the Maquis still behave like Federation people; while they fight their own little war they generally do that while adhering to Federation standards.
ENT has an entire moon-sized prison full of those.
True.. Tbf though, most of the races seem to be more or less allegorical representatives of different aspects of human nature, so having too many pacifist Klingons or brave and selfless Ferengi or whatever would just muddle the narrative IMO..