Insurrection and Forced Migration.

In Star Trek: Insurrection, the United Federation of Planets and the Son’a plan to forcibly remove the Ba’ku from their homeworld. But an accident causes Data, who is taking part in covert operations, to revert to his basic programming—including a strict sense of morals—and expose the plan to the locals.

In this episode of The Briar Patch, hosts Patrick Devlin and Guinevere Liberty Nell discuss the Ba’ku planet, the Federation–Son’a plan for forced migration. Was the Federation decision to move the Ba’ku correct? Was Captain Picard right to intervene once Vice Admiral Dougherty put the Federation between two sides of a what was essentially a civil war? We explore the ethics of this attempted action through the lens of the Libertarian non-aggression principle, Marxist ideals of shared resources, and other political science approaches.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Definitions of Migration (00:02:25) Why Relocate the Ba’ku? (00:03:03) The Non-Aggression Principle vs. Marxism (00:06:16) Factors Behind Forced Migration (00:13:33) The Prime Directive (00:17:46) Flexibility in Law (00:26:04) Benefiting from a Past Wrongs (00:30:08) Changing Culture (00:40:32) When to Intervene (00:41:46) Final Thoughts (00:53:54) Closing (00:57:04)

Hosts Patrick Devlin and Guinevere Liberty Nell

Production Patrick Devlin (Editor) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager)