The Toronto Sex Crimes Unit has uncovered an alarming connection between pedophiles and Star Trek. Seems that, in Toronto anyway, the vast majority of child sexual predators also claimed to be devout fans of the sci-fi series. Ellen Ladowsky describes it all quite neatly and succinctly, along with some dissenting opinions, posted yesterday at Huffington Post. It's a fascinating piece, and, honestly, I have nothing to add, except to say that it doesn't say anything about whether people who wrote Star Trek, so I think my family's* in the clear so far.
For the latecomers who were seated at the first available break of this Blog in Three Acts, my father wrote the screenplay for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Of course, my father isn't really a fan that much. He's watched the show, he likes the show, but he's far from seeing it as a blueprint for how we should live our lives. It might be because he was a struggling actor at around the same time Shatner and Nimoy were trying to break in to the biz. They used to hang around at the same delis, with all the other unemployed actors. It's hard to suspend your disbelief when you've witnessed a guy weaving an audition yarn, while simultaneously eating potato salad.
I guess we should have been a little suspicious about those Trekkies (or Trekkers, as some prefer). After all, ST2:TWoK was released over 24 years ago, yet when my father attended his last Trek convention, it was something out of that Bill Shatner sketch from Saturday Night Live -- people asking the most in-depth questions about utter minutae. You gotta wonder about people who would concern themselves with that stuff for a quarter century.
But I would rather die than bites the hand that feeds me, so I'll leave it all to you guys to sort out.
Have a good weekend.
~CA~
What in the world could explain this correlation? I bet there's what staticians call a "lurking variable" hidden within the methodology of the study. There is perhaps NO direct correlation, but in fact... we are mislead to make the connection because of some third thing, common to both groups (i.e., Trek fans and Pedophiles).
ReplyDeleteHere is an example of a lurking variable: A soft drink taste test on a college campus. The conductors of the study were very careful to do a blind study (Perhaps it was even double-blind, I don't know.), wherein the paper cups with Pepsi in them were labeled "A" on the bottom and the ones with Coke, labeled "B" (or vice versa, I forget). In any case, the soft drink that was assigned the designation of "A" is the one that won. Problem is, college students are very grades-fixated and the lurking variable of the drink designation skewed the data in favor of "A" drinks. Perhaps they should have chosen letters that come after "F" or used colors or something.
So that is my thought on this correlation. The study can't have been conducted with a pure enough methodology. The correlation is absurd.
I think Ellen's article links the "other worldliness" of Star Trek as the key factor (it's her hypothosis, but I think it makes sense). The idea of the having sex with other beings and species -- the odd and forbidden, yet highly erotic....
ReplyDeleteWhatever... it just seemed like a natural post.
~CA~
Your Dad wrote Wrath of Khan!?!?!?!?!? Only one of the finest film versions of Star Trek EVER!?!?!?!? Okay - only a minor trekkie here, but color me impressed and in even more awe of your talented family.
ReplyDelete