James R KirkHow I imagine those crying "i tHouGHT StAr Trek WAs suPPosEd tO bE a UtOPia"
VinapocalypseI don’t think the show ever claimed for it to be a utopia, but they have no homelessness, hunger, etc. at least on Earth and member worlds. That doesn’t mean there isn’t that outside the Federation or on distant colonies which tend to be left to their own devices. For instance, Tasha Yar’s homeworld was a failed colony. We don’t know at what point it failed or if/when the Federation stepped in.
By DS9, it was bluntly stated that Earth was a utopia.
DS9 also had martial law declared on Earth. Some characters may refer to Earth as a paradise, but you as a viewer are supposed to realize that’s a comfortable illusion.
DS9 also makes it clear why the populace accepts martial law so cleanly and that part of it comes from a people who live in paradise and aren’t used to threats in their security.
That this episode was made 5 years before 9/11 is astounding in what it gets right about the populace of a democratic system filled with comfortable people accept a loss of liberty due to a perceived external threat.
That’s very true, and it might be fair to call Earth a kind of paradise before the Dominion war hit. I think we might actually be hitting up against an important distinction between “paradise” and “utopia”. To me, a paradise can be a brief and fragile perfect place that can’t long endure. But a utopia is a kind of political project that would need to be designed to survive threats and maintain itself. If a society becomes so complacent that just the idea of a foe can upend it, I wouldn’t consider it utopian.