The Good Freak Corollary

 A few months ago, I read this entry on Tony Laplume's Star Trek blog about "augments" or genetically manipulated people in Trek.  The history of this began with Khan in 1967.  Then he returned in Star Trek II, where he had some wrath.  In Deep Space Nine, it turned out Dr. Bashir had been genetically modified when he was young, which should have gotten him thrown out of Starfleet, but didn't.  There were examples in Enterprise and Picard that I don't really know about.  In Strange New Worlds, at the end Number One is arrested for being an "Augment."  In Prodigy, it turns out that Dal is a lab experiment with a slew of genetic modifications.

You read the entry for Laplume's take.  What I got thinking of is what I call the "Good Freak Corollary."  The idea is that in books, comics, movies, and TV, we have this prevailing attitude that it's OK for someone to be a freak so long as they're useful.  If they do something bad, like try to take over the world, then they're locked up, killed, or shot into space.

You could probably start analyzing this all the way back to myths about gods and goddesses.  There are some gods and goddesses who use their power to help people and there are others who use their power to do bad things or sow mayhem.

For more contemporary examples, think of the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."  Rudolph is at first seen as a freak.  Then, after his deformity is found to be useful to Santa, everyone loves him.  This was kicked up a notch in the classic TV special where there's also Hermey the Elf who's mocked for his interest in dentistry until his dental skills help them to defeat the Abominable Snowman. 

Or think of Steve Rogers, who was viewed as too useless for the Army, until he's picked to be given a "super-soldier serum."  Then he becomes Captain America, one of Earth's Mightiest Heroes.  In a History Channel documentary back in 2003, I think it was future Picard showrunner Michael Chabon who mentioned how ironic it is that Steve Rogers is pretty much the Nazi ideal:  blond, blue-eyed, and physically "perfect."  He's essentially created with the Nazi science that we found abhorrent, but because he fights for America's side, he's a hero.

The X-Men is an even better comic book example.  You have the "good" mutants led by Professor X who use their powers to help people.  Then you have the "evil" mutants usually led by Magneto who use their powers to try to dominate people.  Though unlike other examples, people never fully embrace the "good" mutants.

A lot of comics are also similar.  Superman or Spider-Man use their powers to help people, so they're good and accepted by most people, Lex Luthor and J Jonah Jameson excepted.  Then you have "villains" like Solomon Grundy or the Lizard or Clayface or Killer Croc.  Sometimes the comics throw a curveball and have a character like Venom, Bizarro, or Clayface be a good guy for a while.

Anyway, getting back to Trek, Khan uses his augmentations for evil, so he's marooned in space and then on a planet.  Bashir is a good Federation officer and doctor, so he's allowed to stay in Starfleet.  Dal isn't allowed to join Starfleet, but he is allowed to go with Janeway, sort of like how in Episode I, Anakin wasn't allowed to be trained but could accompany Qui-Gon back to Naboo.  And I'm sure Number One will be allowed to rejoin Starfleet because she's a good officer.

So basically our view of physically "gifted" people--whether it's natural or not--is pretty pragmatic.  If those people are useful to society then it's great.  If they're a detriment, then we shouldn't meddle in God's domain.  

As genetic modification--or augmentation--becomes more relevant, society will probably split along political lines like stem cell research.  The Right will invoke God and the Bible and say we shouldn't do anything, while of course they also don't want to provide any support for autism, Down's Syndrome, or other conditions that might be fixed with genetic manipulation.  The Left will say people should be able to do what they want--my body, my choice.  In my opinion, as someone with a condition that could probably have been fixed in the womb if the technology were available, I think people should have the right to make their babies as healthy as possible.  But there need to be safeguards against trying to give people superpowers or change their skin, hair, or eye color for less-than-good reasons.

Since fiction is still taking mostly the pragmatic approach, maybe I should write a story that no one will read.  That'll fix things!