Star Trek Way to Learning Literature

I love Star Trek. I liked the TV series far more than any of the movies based on the same though. I found it quite amusing when Spock was quoted in a Texas Supreme Court ruling recently! Check out the relevant part of that ruling:

“Appropriately weighty principles guide our course. First, we recognize that police power draws from the credo that "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Second, while this maxim rings utilitarian and Dickensian (not to mention Vulcan21)…”

And Footnote 21 says:

“See STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN (Paramount Pictures 1982). The film references several works of classic literature, none more prominently than A Tale of Two Cities. Spock gives Admiral Kirk an antique copy as a birthday present, and the film itself is bookended with the book's opening and closing passages. Most memorable, of course, is Spock's famous line from his moment of sacrifice: "Don't grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many outweigh . . ." to which Kirk replies, "the needs of the few."”

I like the Americans: they quote people that most of us are likely to have seen on TV or read on the Net. They don’t go around quoting in Latin or quoting authors that are only read by people studying English literature.

I mean, how many of us can understand Latin or medieval English? (Unless Google Translate does translations from those languages too). Note to self: start watching the Star Trek movies and learn some English literature the fun way.

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