Credential waving

People have occasionally asked me, “Hey! What makes you, an occasional Star Trek author, qualified to have an opinion on the upcoming war in Iraq?” While it’s true that you usually have to be a cell-phone engineer
to understand the subtle nuances of Middle East politics and why the
French don’t matter except when they do, I would like to point you to
this article:
Can The World of Star Trek Help Americans Understand Muslims and their Culture of Terror?

Most fans of the popular television series, Star Trek, are already
aware that the show’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, gathered ideas for his
fictional Klingon species during a trip to the Holy Land in the late
1960’s. After only a cursory viewing of an early episode of Star Trek,
Landover Baptist Pastors were shocked at how closely Roddenberry’s
Klingon characters resembled Arabs, in both their features and
mannerisms. “I’m not a big fan of Mr. Roddenberry,” says Landover
Baptist Pastor, Deacon Fred. “But our opinions are very similar when it
comes to Muslims. Being a Jew, Mr. Roddenberry knew first hand what it
was like to be persecuted by such a filthy, backward race of
warmongers. My guess is that he couldn’t come right out and say what he
felt in public, so he used the television series, Star Trek, to get his
views across. Only an unsaved idiot would have a hard time seeing how
obvious it is that Star Trek’s, Klingons, are actually Arabs in
disguise. I understand it’s harder to tell with the new series, because
they started to get politically correct and had to change the makeup so
it wasn’t so obvious. Well, you don’t need a degree in Theology to see
how clear it still is. In fact, I think the new makeup does an even
better job of bringing out the demonic nature and character of the Arab
people.”