Ich bin ein Klingon*

The BBC headline “German radio starts Klingon service” caught my eye this morning:

The German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) is celebrating 10 years of its online service by adding a new language to the 30 it already publishes – Klingon.

I have to admit that my first reaction was: Uh-oh. How long before we start hearing about the Romulan Corridor, and the mistreated Klingon minority on Beta Eridani? How do you say Ein Folk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer! in Klingon? (Check with the Klingon Language Institute if it really matters to you.)
But as it so rarely happens, the better angles of my nature asserted themselves. The more I thought about it, the more I believe this is A Good Thing ( feel free to jump in here). A society that can “waste” technical resources and time on an intellectual conceit like the Klingon language service is a prosperous society. It speaks to a certain delight in intellectual matters for their own sake, rather than for the sake of the bottom line. Deutsche Welle’s Klingon language service is an indication of a healthy intellectual ecology in Germany and Europe, in naked contrast to the United States, where the word “intellectual” is often a slur.
To extend the ecological metaphor, intellectually speaking, our country is an environmental disaster area. The keystone species, physicists and engineers, are on the decline. PBS, a bellwether for the nation’s intellectual health, has dumbed down its lineup with the execrable History Detectives and various historical reality shows, such as Frontier House. The current president of the United States is the poster child for anti-intellectualism: his administration has suppressed or distorted the scientific analyses of federal agencies to bring these results in line with administration policy.
There will be the predictable blats of derision from media pundits over the Klingon Language Service. News anchors, some of whom should know better, will make the same tired, arch comments about Star Trek fans. Meanwhile, most Americans know more about Paris the parasitic socialite than Paris the City of Light, and care more about NASCAR than NASA. It’s enough to make me wish I, too, was a Berliner.