When I was young, I remember my mom watching the sci-fi spectacle of its time, Star Trek. Obviously, this is the original Star Trek, which, back then, didn’t require any such distinction because it was the only Star Trek show of its time. For the time period, its storyline and special effects were beyond impressive and I can remember wishing there truly was something as awesomely cool as the transporter the characters used to beam themselves back and forth between their ship and the planet surface below.
I must confess, however, that as cool as some of their gizmos and gadgets were and as fascinating as many of the characters were, some of the story lines were, in the now-famous words of Spock, highly illogical, at least to me. Perhaps because I was not necessarily as interested or intrigued by the show’s premise to go where no man had gone before. In other words, perhaps space travel held far less interest for me as a tween or teenager than it does now, or, more likely, I was being a bit contrary because Star Trek was something my family liked so I did not.
As I’ve gotten older, I appreciate some of the more subtle aspects of the show, especially the words and perspective of Spock in contrast to the other two central characters, Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy. Where Bones was the character who was guided more strongly by his empathetic nature, Spock was driven by his rational logic, calculations, and assessments. As the main character, Captain Kirk respected both opinions and often was the mediating factor.
I was reminded of these things the other day when my teenagers were talking about the ways of the Internet. My 17 year old told her sister she tends to take anything she reads on the Internet with a grain of salt. She then turned toward me and thanked me for introducing her and her sister to logical fallacies, critical thinking, and empathy. As I considered her words later that night, it occurred to me that in many ways our girls are developing a strong combination of these three areas—they have a bit of Spock and Bones blended together with a Captain Kirk perspective.
Given all the divisiveness and lack of civil discourse around what I believe is directly linked to the lack of ability to debate logically around a topic, I love this developing perspective I see in each of my teenagers. I love that they have the remarkable ability to detect logical fallacies pretty handily, even when they sometimes employ them in their own arguments or conversations. Quite often, they are quick to point out distinguishable key words that point to incorrect thinking, words like everyone or no one or never or always.
Even more, I appreciate their deeply rooted empathy and that often they are able to temper their perspective with critical thinking, taking ideas and examining them from several angles rather than a single one. Again, this is something I don’t see a whole lot of in the world right now, especially online where many folks choose to post memes as a part of the discourse around a complicated subject or idea. I get the need for humor and the ways humor can help diffuse a heated situation. However, too often I think many create or share posts on social media platforms without much critical thought and more to stir the proverbial pot so to speak.
Several years ago, I heard a popular radio talk show host who focused on personal finance use the phrase, those convinced against their will are of the same opinion still. Those words have stuck with me through the development and ongoing evolution of social media platforms and their algorithms. And I appreciate that my girls have learned already that arguments in the comment sections of heated or even parody posts about politics, music, musicians, or opinions about just about anything, are not worth their time or energy.
Only a few years ago, my oldest often took up the mantle of offense on behalf of her favorite rock stars. While she still finds some opinions offensive, she also has come to a point at her young age to employ greater maturity than most on the Internet these days and simply scroll past the ridiculousness. Granted, she will share some of her chagrin with us, but that isn’t quite the same as engaging with nameless, faceless Internet trolls who tend to seek to stir up controversy without genuine conversation.
These days, I see that original Star Trek mission statement a little different, to go where no man has gone before, when I consider the places these two remarkable young women are going. Indeed they tend to inhabit a place in their teenage years many who are older have yet to discover. I am fairly certain my youngest would join Spock in his categorization of the world’s ways of interacting online or in person as highly illogical with her own well-known-around-here word phrase: incorrect. Not that she necessarily thinks others are wrong per se, but she definitely believes their illogical approach to conversations is indeed incorrect. And I wholeheartedly agree.
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