He has a sense of humor, and a lot of what he does is tongue in cheek.

Thanks for the description of Kung Fu. I adore TOS, so being a show of its time isn’t necessarily a drawback for me. :-)

Basic tenants of most spiritual pursuits are free will and ‘do no harm’. One might think they wouldn’t be contradictory, but they are. Even the logical Vulcans, during mating season, would kill.

Hard to imagine how you got through the early ‘70s without seeing David Carradine spout Buddhist pacifism whilst kicking ass at least once. Like TOS it’s very much a show of its time, the now laughable fight choreography being the equivalent of plywood sets and primitive VFX. Gene Coon wrote for it, though I don’t know if they share much DNA beyond that. Also like TOS, the third and final year mostly sucked.

I’m an old fan, so I still have those Seventies thoughts and feelings. :-)

I’ve never seen Kung Fu; maybe I should check it out…

If Trek is indeed a religion then the faithful of late have taken a depressingly familiar path, as few in fandom these days can even manage to agree on what it’s all supposed to mean. That was not the case during the Seventies when Roddenberry gave lectures before college audiences who cheered him and the show for what were widely seen as its progressive values, but that was long, long ago.

That said, I was also always struck by the parallels between TOS and “Kung Fu,” with its heartfelt (if naive) weekly appeals for enlightenment and simple human decency. For all the artistic strides it’s made over the decades, television could do worse than to once again suggest to audiences that such values may yet prevail.

And no, I’m not joking.

That said, I heard about this book a while ago and was intrigued to learn a new perspective. This review was a good reminder to expand my reading list.

It may force a conversation about the societal construct of the Federation. TNG Trek suggests humanity has jettisoned faith/spiritual pursuits, but seems tolerant of them in other races. Picard has lectured on a few occasions that humanity working to “better itself” seems to have been the cure to solve the societal ails. People do look to understand meaning, that their efforts matter, making a difference. It’s hard to imagine that just “getting busy” answers that spiritual question…

The “TM” is Wilson’s own usage, and appears to be a tongue-in-cheek thing in the text, rather than a legal thing.

A boring Holiday weekend at the Dune household? ;-)

PS: I did do a Trademark search, and Wilson has trademarked, “Soul Boom.” (so it’s a pretty boring weekend at my household as well…lol). But I understand your correct point about journalists not needing to use it.

A trademark symbol has no legal meaning unless wielded by the actual trademark holder, and thus should not be included here. There is never a reason for journalists to use it in an article, and it’s proper practice for them not to do so. They mean nothing if a journalist uses them since the journalist doesn’t own the term or item being trademarked. The only time the symbol has any legal weight at all is when it’s used by the trademark owner, either on their own website or in their own marketing materials. In article? Never.