I JUST GOT AN EMAIL FROM ROD RODDENBERRY, who is afraid that my earlier post in which I said that “he hopes to interview some Klingons in Iraq (no, really) once things settle down,” might be misinterpreted as some sort of anti-Iraqi slur.

In the mythology of Star Trek, Klingons have been portrayed as animalistic and barbaric in behavior. Although placed a societal status equal to that of humans, the difference in ethnicity between Humanity and Klingons is often perceived as less evolved and thus inferior to Humans. The implication inaccurately suggests that I consider people from Iraq to be equivalent to Klingons.

I guess I was unclear. I just assumed that everyone would read that as referring to the Klingonophile variety of Trek fans, who dress as Klingons, speak Klingon, etc., but to be clear, that’s what he meant, not some slur on Iraqis.