That is not TOS. That is a person like Elon’s idea of TOS. I grew up on TOS before any other Star Trek existed. It helped shape my values- made me cherish ideas like inclusion and diversity and equality. It also helped teach me to talk things out rather than just come in guns blazing.
Yes, there was a cowboy element to TOS considering Gene sold it to executives as “Wagon Train to the stars,” but it doesn’t have the typical morality of a Western. At all.
In fact, if you want to talk specifically about indigenous Americans, the episode The Paradise Syndrome had a far more positive view of them than pretty much anything else on TV at the time.
People (Elon) see what they want to see.
Cowboy in this sense is not a good thing. It’s the do whatever the fuck I want to thing.
cowboy /kou′boi″/
A reckless person, such as a driver, pilot, or manager, who ignores potential risks.
Kirk was absolutely not about “I’ll do whatever I want to.” If anything, he was less like that than Picard. He was much more by-the-book even though he had a reputation as a maverick. But he was overall pretty strict about adhering to Starfleet regulations.
Obligatory comparison:
of course THEN, we get to the next layer, which is that Spock is the dude who told the Vulcan Science Academy to fuck itself, while Riker plays the trombone.
Hahaha, the Federation is indeed a confusing place.
Janeway on it https://youtu.be/MexLAmWe9NQ
