The Spock Principle

Recently, I blogged about my sister's trip to Tulsa and our subsequent roadtripping out to area lakes. When discussing the public lake access versus residential lakes that allow people to own lakefront property, my sister said, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

As a point of real estate law, I tend to agree. Apparently, only two lakes in OK (thank you, Anon) are residential lakes. So my sister's hunt for real estate will not include buying lakefront property in Oklahoma. Obviously, we trade off tax revenues for that pristine lakefront view that everyone enjoys.

What I find hysterical--and I mean I'm laughing out loud all by myself--is that my sister read my blog and was surprised. Then she insisted that she didn't quote Spock. That line, because it sounds so official, had to be said by someone else first. Someone historically important.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't believe Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is literary genius, but I do believe it was well written and had a theme worth repeating. So, I did what I usually do when someone challenges my facts, I hit the Internet search engines.

First, I went to www.bartleby.com, which is where Bartlett's Familiar Quotes can be found online in its entirety. A quick search of Bartlett's did not show that quote as coming from some historical figure. I checked all fiction and nonfiction references. No joy.

When you Google search "the needs of the many" or "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" all you get is Spock and Star Trek references. Interesting. It may be that the writers of that screenplay have affected even people who did not watch the movie.

Then I moved to Wikipedia. For those of you unfamiliar with this online reference, it's an encyclopedia where anyone can post a subject and add to, annotate, or footnote it. If something bogus is posted, it will eventually be kicked off. These are juried entries. That said, it's not posted strictly by academics, anyone can post. So you take Wikipedia with a grain of salt.

When I searched Wikipedia, I got a couple of hits. Several referred to the screenplay of The Wrath of Khan, but one was interesting. It was called "The Spock Principle" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spock_principle). This entry was obviously posted to define something heard in triage or trauma situations by medical personnel. So it's not just my sister who has been given insight by my favorite Vulcan.

When I called her on it, I asked if she was upset that she's been quoting Star Trek all these years? She said, "No, I'm flaggergasted." I'm still chortling.

--Sandee Wagner