Trekkie Tuesday

"Loud as a Whisper"- Season 2, Episode 5
This is one of the more intellectually intriguing episodes. The Enterprise is acting as transport for a mediator for a civil war between two tribes. They are not to be engaged or involved in the social transactions in any way. Of course, this is exactly what happens, to an extent. The mediator, Riva, is def and uses a psychic link with 3 other individuals to communicate with the world.

 I find the idea of communication through others and psychic links really intriguing. I wonder how different our world would be if this was our main form of communication.
Each individual represents an emotional aspect of the mediator: there is intellect, passion and harmony. They are referred to as his Chorus. The 3 do not always accompany Riva wherever he goes. When Troi takes him to his quarters, the translator of passion is the only one who follows them. Sometimes, I think it would be nice to be able to segregate un-needed or unwanted parts of my emotions in a similar way. But I suppose that it's better that we humans are meant to deal with our emotions rather than run away from them.

 Riva's chorus end up getting killed during negotiations and he is forced to think of a different way to talk with the warring peoples.  Their deaths affect Riva more than he expected and he feels hopeless and no longer wants to mediate. Troi is able to convince him to use this disadvantage as an advantage.

Without his interpreters, both of the tribes are on level ground. Riva decides he will teach them sign language. While they are learning to communicate with Riva they will also be learning to communicate with each other. This will be the basis for peace to be made.
I found Riva's character to be especially interesting in this episode. His way of communication is as Troi put it, "elegant and beautiful." Such skill would take years to accomplish and would require great patience and perseverance. If we learned to communicate in this way would we have greater understanding of each other? Would there be less fighting and warring in the world? What do you think?
Thanks for hanging. Live long and prosper.