Benjamin Sisko & Julian Bashir Talk About The Political Climate of the Early 2020′s in Past Tense, Part I
Original Dialogue:
SISKO: Don’t be so sure. One of the main complaints against the Sanctuary Districts was overcrowding. It got to the point where they didn’t care how many people were in here. They just wanted to keep them out of sight. BASHIR: And once they were out of sight, what then? I mean, look at this man. There’s no need for that man to live like that. With the right medication, he could lead a full and normal life. SISKO: Maybe in our time. BASHIR: Not just in our time. There are any number of effective treatments for schizophrenia, even in this day and age. They could cure that man now, today, if they gave a damn. SISKO: It’s not that they don’t give a damn, Doctor. It’s that they’ve given up. The social problems they face seem too enormous to deal with. BASHIR: That only makes things worse. Causing people to suffer because you hate them is terrible, but causing people to suffer because you have forgotten how to care? That’s really hard to understand. SISKO: They’ll remember. It’ll take some time and it won’t be easy, but eventually people in this century will remember how to care.
For further context: through another character, we saw that tech millionaires/billionaires were living wonderfully comfortable lives elsewhere in the city. Meanwhile, Sanctuary Districts had been set up to keep homeless and mentally ill individuals contained, so those millionaires (and wealthier people in other cities, as well) would never have to think about them.
The episode first aired in 1995. They’re walking through San Francisco, 2024.
