Babel

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Date: June 7, 2010.

This morning, I woke to babel. Coming from the apartment next door. Convenient for me, Episode #1 is all about this. Thanks for the segue loud, obnoxious neighbors. Note to self: move.

This week’s episode comes from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine—a show that aired in the 90s for seven years and the first Trek to deal with large-scale war. You see, Star Trek is all about peace and unity. Working together (yes, with aliens) towards a common goal. Obliteration isn’t normally one of those goals. Check out the brief episode synopsis here: http://www.trektoday.com/episodes/ds9/season1/babel.shtml

“Babel” references the Tower of Babel, a story from the Bible where mankind, united under one language, builds an enormous tower to commemorate our awesomeness and supreme coolness. God gets pissed. Have we no humility? Thunder, lightning and different languages for all. The point? Well, I’m no religious scholar, but I think the point is: communication is everything.

Each day I go out into the world and attempt (emphasis) to communicate. This is how awkward it is:

K. goes to a “business” seminar and runs into a classmate. K. is dressed like a writer with jeans, running shoes, and a grey jacket. Everyone else is dressed in business attire. She goes to sign in.

Classmate: Hey! Long time no see! How have you been?

Mind you, I went to school with this person for six years and we never spoke. Not once.

K: Oh, hey. Good. How are you? (forcing the fake smile)

Classmate: Oh, you look, er, good. It’s nice to see you. Blah, blah. Blah. Blah and blah.

I’m not being smart, I really can’t remember what she said in our ten minute conversation. So, anyhow, we wrap up this oh-so-interesting conversation. She flips through the registration list to sign me in. Then:

Classmate: What was your name again?

Son of a—. Case and point. We babel a lot. We speak words to each other that don’t mean anything. We have entire conversations with people we don’t know (and probably never will).

I took this class as an undergrad about love and eros. We had to read a book by Anne Carson. She wrote about how words on a page create tension. I see her idea like this: words float on the surface of this deep lake (or ocean, whatever). We can only see the words, but beneath them there are mysteries, meanings, subtext, and depth. Some people can sense the tension. Sense that the words don’t truly represent what a person means.

See, in the episode, one by one, the crew looses the ability to communicate. They are stricken with aphasia. They would see a tricorder, but say “window”. In essence, this person would be cut of from the world. Lots of talkie, talkie. No meaning. Remind you of anything?

I thought this blog would be “easy” to research and write. Turns out: not so much. I spent the week communicating, but all I got back were mixed transmissions. (SamJam walks in at this point and says: I thought you were going to write less than that? Lol. I like to babel.) I’m always looking for the point. The final end-all-be-all message. For Star Trek, it’s easy-peasy. Space is dangerous. Avoid viruses that imitate aphasia. Should you be stricken, don’t worry. Someone will help. In real life, we create tension between us. We dabble in the niceties—the how-are-you’s, the I’m-good’s. (The angry neighbors are at it again. She says: Don’t you love me? He says: It’s complicated.) We send out transmission after transmission in the hopes that we will find someone who truly understands the signal.

And when no one does? We babel on.

Episode #2: Through the Looking Glass (Deep Space Nine). Here's the trailer (pls. ignore the dramatic voice over guy):

End Transmission.