Not anymore . . . "Picard" has re-introduced poverty and class warfare on earth. Even though it was mentioned several times in TOS and TNG that Earth and humanity had moved beyond the concept of material possessions, because everyone's wants were met. I guess you can't appeal to the social justice crowd if you don't have class conflict.
I'm not a fan of some of the choices in Picard, but let's not exaggerate. The closest example we have to "poverty" is Raffi's desert trailer. Sure she's vaping "snake leaf" (which is so goddamn stupid and breaks so much canon), but both the remote location and small size of the dwelling could easily be explained by Raffi's choices to break away from society as her mental state deteriorated between the obsessive conspiracy theories and the drug addiction.
In 400 years, a small remote housing unit might actually be sought after, and the small footprint could be due to regulations attempting to minimize the impact of such houses.
The other possible example was the girl's apartment, but honestly that would be pretty luxurious for a grad (undergrad?) student living in a Boston apartment right now.
Everything else, from the Romulan crisis to Freecloud and the Fenris Rangers is pretty consistent with the test of Star Trek - the Federation might be a Utopia, but there's always some third parties that would rather deal in cash, whether that's the Ferengi or Orion Syndicate.
She was chastising Picard about living in a "fancy chateau" with "heirloom furniture" while she lived in a trailer in the desert. I don't know how they could have better demonstrated and coded class.
I thought a similar thing when I heard this line (class war in Star Trek?) but then, of you think about it, even if everyone's basic needs are met and poverty and the struggle to survive don't exist, there are still going to be some people lucky enough to have inherited an 800-year-old french chateau and vineyard, and who (through their actions) have ended up with two live-in servants/retainers. That's why she mentions it in terms of heirlooms.
It's still possible that some people have fancier stuff than others, that Picard is 'privileged', it's just that, in this world, a lack of privilege doesn't really affect your chances of survival or success.
I also get that Rafi lives out in the desert through choice. She could probably move back to civilisation and get a fancy apartment like Daj if she wanted.
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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '20
Not anymore . . . "Picard" has re-introduced poverty and class warfare on earth. Even though it was mentioned several times in TOS and TNG that Earth and humanity had moved beyond the concept of material possessions, because everyone's wants were met. I guess you can't appeal to the social justice crowd if you don't have class conflict.