History Main / KlingonScientistsGetNoRespect

* Referenced in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', underlined by a case of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: the Mandalorian warriors used to look down on their non-warriors and treat them as inferiors. Eventually, the non-warriors got so sick of this that they used their control over the food supplies, arsenals, production lines, etc., to ''exterminate the warriors'', driving the survivors into exile on their homeworld's moon, where they went extinct. By the end of the first episode featuring them this turns out to be a naive delusion; the warriors were still in charge everywhere but the homeworld, including an army massing on the moon right under their nose.

* ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'': The merchant class is looked down upon by most other classes. This is because the other castes are fairly insular and don't generally use money within those castes. However, the merchants provide an important function, as they facilitate trade between different castes.

* ''Manga/YuGiOhGX'': Hayato Maeda/Chumley Huffington is going to Duel Academia to learn how to be a card designer, which is an important role since they're the ones maintaining the development of the game. Nevertheless, he's in Osiris/Slifer Red (making him a social pariah by default), and even was held back a year, all because he himself isn't a very good duelist. Granted, part of it seems to be more his attitude than anything else and one does need to have an understanding of the rules to design cards.

** This even extends to the Jedi, strangely enough. As noted in ''The Jedi Path'', those raised in the Order but not suited to lightsaber fighting are relegated to the Service Corps. The Corps do incredibly valuable work - terraforming worlds for new colonies, growing crops to feed the Order and share with famine-blighted worlds, running schools and orphanages, doing administrative tasks and scholarly research, exploring new hyperspace routes...Even the healers patching the Jedi up after conflict are in the Corps. On paper, they are said to be valuable contributors to the Order. However, Corps members are lower ranked than Padawans, have no representation on the Council, and they are openly called "washouts" and "failures" by the warrior class Jedi. Assignment to the Corps is seen as a lifelong mark of shame.

* In ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'', the human empire's obsession with "proving their strength" means that they put down the alchemists, the only people that can keep the technology and infrastructure from falling to pieces. The main character is one such alchemist, who has had to deal for years with his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] (who very much drinks from the local Kool Aid), was actually fixing the crown princess' sword - which is so powerful no one else can do it - when his father has him kidnapped and essentially sold out to the demon empire to act as a HumanSacrifice. Fortunately, demons and demihumans are far more respectful of alchemists - because they remember that, when humans ''did'' respect their R&D guys, they lost the war, and they have learned from the past.

* The ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' has a Klingon doctor who manages to avoid this by virtue of being big and scary even by Klingon standards. And it helps his husband is the Fleet Admiral.\\

* In ''[[Literature/TheWardedMan The Demon Cycle]]'' , [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the Krasians]] are a militant theocracy with a highly stratified society that works like this. ''Dama'' (priests), ''Dama'ting'' (priestesses) and ''Sharum'' (warriors) hold positions of high honor in their culture; ''Khaffit'' (civilian men) and ''Dal'ting'' (commoner women), who actually handle most of the physical and economic infrastructure, are held in contempt. As the series goes on, however, the Krasians start (very slowly) loosening up through contact with other cultures.

** Starfleet itself is shown to have a bitter rivalry with unafiliated or "Outpost" scientists as Starfleet calls them. The reason for this is that outpost scientists have a tendency to get killed by whatever they're researching, leading to Starfleet being called in to investigate, which Starfleet considers a thankless chore. The outpost scientists for their part consider Starfleet to be self-righteous hypocrites because their members [[RedShirt die in droves a lot more often]] and because [[MildlyMilitary Starfleet picks fights with alien species despite claiming to be only interested in science and exploration]]. Several examples include:

* The ''Literature/StarTrekEnterpriseRelaunch'' has a Klingon doctor who manages to avoid this by virtue of being big and scary even by Klingon standards. And it helps his husband is the Fleet Admiral.

* The fourth squad of soul-reapers in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' are in some ways the most essential, since they heal the wounds the other soul-reapers incur through constant fighting. They are even the ones in charge of washing uniforms, resource logistics and maintenance of infrastructures. However, because they are usually not very skilled at combat, other squads tend to pick on them. This trend is averted with their Captain, who can make even [[BloodKnight squad 11]] settle down just by giving them a ''harsh glare''. [[spoiler:Turns out that she was the original Kenpachi, meaning she was universally recognized as the most dangerous Shinigami in existence, and the founder of the squad 11.]]

* It's mentioned in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' that the prevalence of superheroes has led to ordinary cops getting a bum rap. While this is more justified than most examples -- legally, cops can't use their powers even if they have them and are consequently useless in most villain takedowns -- it's easy to forget that the cops are still the ones responsible for actually enforcing the law and deciding which cases do or do not require superhero intervention. For the record, All Might, the world's greatest hero, doesn't share this sentiment. In the first episode he tells Midoriya that becoming a police officer is an admirable path to take, and that no matter what the public thinks they're just as noble and trustworthy as anyone in the hero community.
* In ''Literature/KinosJourney'', one country Kino visits is focused on increasing their crop yields to the exclusion of all else, and judge their citizens by how well they contribute to that goal. One old man who studied in another country and learned about many things unrelated to farming ends up being ostracized, as does his protege when she works on making an airplane. Luckily, the town comes around after seeing the airplane fly.
* In ''Literature/TheCreationAlchemistEnjoysFreedom'', the human empire's obsession with "proving their strength" means that they put down the alchemists, the only people that can keep the technology and infrastructure from falling to pieces. The main character is one such alchemist, who has had to deal for years with his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] (who very much drinks from the local Kool Aid), was actually fixing the crown princess' sword - which is so powerful no one else can do it - when his father has him kidnapped and essentially sold out to the demon empire to act as a HumanSacrifice. Fortunately, demons and demihumans are far more respectful of alchemists - because they remember that, when humans ''did'' respect their R&D guys, they lost the war, and they have learned from the past.

*** in [[Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys Envoys]]" Boimler has a breakdown and goes on a tangent about becoming an outpost scientist. Mariner reacts as though Boimler is talking about committing suicide and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan tries to get him to come to his senses]].

* ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' examines this in certain aspects of Southern US culture. In an episode dealing with rodeos, we see that rodeo clowns (a legitimate part of the act, and often the most dangerous) are mocked and scorned by the cowboys and ranch hands for being utterly useless. In another, Bobby gets a job as towel manager for a football team, to find the athletes and coach (who are revered at school and in the community) are perfectly free to treat him like crap. When Bobby quits, the team's lack of clean towels cost them a win, yet they still blame him for it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'', Hermey the elf doesn't like to make toys. He wants to be... a dentist!

* In ''WesternAnimation/CourageTheCowardlyDog'', a small red robot by the name of Randy wants to carve wooden reindeer, despite being seen as a failure to his robot brethren for not having a desire to destory things.
* Referenced in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', underlined by a case of SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: the Mandalorian warriors used to look down on their non-warriors and treat them as inferiors. Eventually, the non-warriors got so sick of this that they used their control over the food supplies, arsenals, production lines, etc., to ''exterminate the warriors'', driving the survivors into exile on their homeworld's moon, where they went extinct. By the end of the first episode featuring them this turns out to be a naive delusion; the warriors were still in charge everywhere but the homeworld, including an army massing on the moon right under their nose.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{The Smurfs|1981}}'' episode "Poet and Painter" has the two artistic Smurfs mistreated at the beginning of the episode as they were considered useless by Smurf's standards (in comparison to other, more practical, professions) motivating them to run away. Eventually the other Smurfs realize that they do need the art that Painter and Poet produce to improve their lives and go in search for them.

* The ''Creator/PiersAnthony'' trilogy Battle Circle is set in a post-apocalypse where brave nomads roam the wastes armed with simple melee weapons (of advanced manufacture), dueling each other for resources and women. Meanwhile, a pacifist group, known only as "Crazies" don't wield weapons and periodically restock shelters and storehouses (including with the standard weapons) - except if the locals have been violating the code of behaviour (for example, by fighting outside of a formal battle circle). The nomads regard the Crazies as beneath notice, despite the nomad lifestyle depending entirely upon the support of the Crazies (and whoever supplies them).

*** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys Boimler has a breakdown and goes on a tangent about becoming an outpost scientist. Mariner reacts as though Boimler is talking about committing suicide and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan tries to get him to come to his senses]].
---->'''Ensign Brad Boimler:''' "I should just study bugs on a far-off planet, and then eventually get eaten, and no one will even know until they stumble upon my distress call, but it'll be way too late, and then they'll have to spend a bunch of time deciphering how things went wrong based on my final shaky video logs."
*** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E03MiningTheMindsMines commander Ransom voices his hatred for outpost scientists and the one that appears in the episode turns out to be trying to scam Starfleet into taking a listening device so he can sell Starfleet secrets and get funding for more research.
---->'''Commander Jack Ransom:''' "Once again we're cleaning up a mess for a bunch of outpost scientists. You know why these guys are always getting eaten, dissapearing or getting eggs layed in their chests? Cause they're weirdos! You wanna explore space? Join Starfleet, go to the academy, but no, that's too much effort. They just gotta get their degrees in studying spores or whatever, then head out to the Quadrant and get devoured by a plant!
** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E05Reflections Boimler and Mariner are harassed by two outpost scientists (as well as an AdventurerArchaeologist in the next booth over) while they're manning a Starfleet recruitment booth, leading to Boimler reaching his RageBreakingPoint and wreaking havok. Notably Commander Ransom upon seeing this tells Boimler that while he's legally obligated to punish Boimler for his outburst but is also proud of him personally.
--->'''Ensign Brad Boimler:''' "Without Starfleet, none of you would exist! We don't ''want'' to protect you from the Klingons and the Borg; we just want to explore and study fucking quasars! But you know what? It's the right thing to do!"

* In the ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekStrangeNewWorldsS2E07ThoseOldScientists Those Old Scientists]]", the Enterprise encounters an Orion ship and the crew automatically assume that they might be pirates. The Orion captain mutters that the pirates give his species a bad name, and although he does then appropriate an important discovery, he eventually proves to be a genuine scientific researcher who just wants academic credit for the find, and to be willing to negotiate fairly. Ensign Brad Boimler, visiting from the future of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', tells the Enterprise crew that [[UnacceptableTargets stereotyping Orions as pirates is considered rude in his time]], and indeed one of his best friends is a rather geeky Orion science specialist. (Though in truth, she has previously been shown as suffering a degree of prejudice from a fellow Orion, who considers the old piratical ways to be the right ways.)
* Humans can also suffer this sort of discrimination from other humans thanks to cultural shift. The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 1 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]" has a group of humans who were frozen get thawed out, one of them being a financier. He has an especially hard time adjusting to his new life compared to the others, reason being that with Earth moving from a capitalistic to [[PostScarcityEconomy post-scarcity society]] means that his profession is of little interest to people outside of historians. One of [[FixFic the novels]] has him find a niche as an ambassador to the Ferengi: as a businessman, he's able to relate to and earn the respect of the Ferengi in a way that humans native to the post-scarcity Federation aren't able to, and his ability to open diplomatic channels with a difficult race in turn earns him the respect of the Federation.

In the real world, this is fairly common, especially in premodern times. Universities, for example, were started largely with the aim of studying theology, with the natural sciences being a vaguely complementary supplement. Craftsmen were seen as inferior to farmers, as unlike farmers they merely "reworked" what farmers produced. Merchants were largely considered inferior to everyone since they were seen as producing nothing and making profit. This stigma was, in fact, one barrier to industrialization in many places, since the classes with the most potential to improve productivity gains were socially discouraged. While this has subsided, to a large extent, it is still enough to say that ''every'' society has had at least one job that is looked down upon by the culture at large while still being entirely necessary for that society to function. [[noreallife]]

In the real world, this is fairly common, especially in premodern times. Universities, for example, were started largely with the aim of studying theology, with the natural sciences being a vaguely complementary supplement. Craftsmen were seen as inferior to farmers, as unlike farmers they merely "reworked" what farmers produced. Merchants were largely considered inferior to everyone since they were seen as producing nothing and making profit. This stigma was, in fact, one barrier to industrialization in many places, since the classes with the most potential to produce productivity gains were socially discouraged. While this has subsided, to a large extent, it is still enough to say that ''every'' society has had at least one job that is looked down upon by the culture at large while still being entirely necessary for that society to function. [[noreallife]]

** Starfleet itself is shown to have a bitter rivalry with unafiliated or "Outpost" scientists as Starfleet calls them. The reason for this is that outpost scientists have a tendency to get killed by whatever they're researching, leading to Starfleet being called in to investigate, which Starfleet considers a thankless chore, the outpost scientists for their part consider Starfleet to be self righteous hypocrites because their members [[RedShirt die in droves a lot more often]] and because [[MildlyMilitary Starfleet picks fights with alien species despite claiming to be only interested in science and exploration]]. Several examples include:

*** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys Boimler has a breakdown and goes on a tangent about becoming an outpost scientist and Mariner reacts as though Boimler is talking about commiting suicide and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan tries to get him to come to his senses]]

* Humans can suffer this sort of discrimination from other humans too, via cultural shift. The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 1 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]" has a group of humans who were frozen get thawed out, one of them being a financier. He has an especially hard time adjusting to his new life compared to the others, reason being that with Earth moving from a capitalistic to [[PostScarcityEconomy post-scarcity society]] means that his profession is of little interest to people outside of historians. One of [[FixFic the novels]] has him find a niche as an ambassador to the Ferengi: as a businessman, he's able to relate to and earn the respect of the Ferengi in a way that humans native to the post-scarcity Federation aren't able to, and his ability to open diplomatic channels with a difficult race in turn earns him the respect of the Federation.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' has the [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame Hirogen]]. In their culture, if you're not a hunter, you're nobody. In this case it's partially deconstructed by showing that it's directly detrimental to their society. The Hirogen used to be far more technologically advanced than they are now and are steadily devolving as a result of their nomadic, hunter-focused lifestyle.
** This zig-zags into partial reconstruction/justification when a later episode introduces a Hirogen holodeck technician, denounced by the others as "cowardly", who says he would've been a warrior had Voyager not given them holodeck technology three years ago, and strongly implies there was no such thing as a Hirogen technician before that.
* The Talarians in the ''Literature/StarTrekTyphonPact'' series.
** Talarian genders have very different social roles, and are liable to underplay the importance of the other gender's work. Given that politics and leadership is a male role, this is most notable and extreme when the male government neglects their people's feminine sphere, leading to unrest in one novella. The Gorn seem to have shades of the same problem; emphasizing the warrior component of their culture and disregarding the equally important non-military aspects. In their case, rather than a gender division it's a matter of caste; the Technologist caste appears to be looked down on by the warriors. As an interesting extension of the idea, the Political caste seems to have such fear of the warriors' tendency to promote themselves above other Gorn that they've deliberately undercut their power by giving them only a single breeding world.

---->Ensign Brad Boimler: "I should just study bugs on a far-off planet, and then eventually get eaten, and no one will even know until they stumble upon my distress call, but it'll be way too late, and then they'll have to spend a bunch of time deciphering how things went wrong based on my final shaky video logs."

---->Commander Jack Ransom: "Once again we're cleaning up a mess for a bunch of outpost scientists. You know why these guys are always getting eaten, dissapearing or getting eggs layed in their chests? Cause they're weirdos! You wanna explore space? Join Starfleet, go to the academy, but no, that's too much effort. They just gotta get their degrees in studying spores or whatever, then head out to the Quadrant and get devoured by a plant!

--->Ensign Brad Boimler: "Without Starfleet, none of you would exist! We don't '''want''' to protect you from the Klingons and the Borg; we just want to explore and study fucking quasars! But you know what? It's the right thing to do!"
* In the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E13ElaanOfTroyius Elaan of Troyius]]", Elaan (a member of an alien race not muh seen elsewhere) contemptuously dismisses engineering as a "menial" occupation, much to Scotty's irritation.

* In one ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' episode, the Enterprise encounters an Orion ship and the crew automatically assume that they might be pirates. The Orion captain mutters that the pirates give his species a bad name, and although he does then appropriate an important discovery, he eventually proves to be a genuine scientific researcher who just wanted academic credit for the find, and to be willing to negotiate fairly. Ensign Brad Boimler, visiting from the future of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', tells the Enterprise crew that [[UnacceptableTargets stereotyping Orions as pirates is considered rude in his time]], and indeed one of his best friends is a rather geeky Orion science specialist. (Though in fact, she has previously been shown as suffering a degree of prejudice from a fellow Orion, who considers the old piratical ways to be the right ways.)
* This sort of discrimination can happen to humans too, via cultural shift. The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 1 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]" has a group of humans who were frozen get thawed out, one of them being a financier. He has an especially hard time adjusting to his new life compared to the others, reason being that with Earth moving from a capitalistic to [[PostScarcityEconomy post-scarcity society]] means that his profession is of little interest to people outside of historians. One of [[FixFic the novels]] has him find a niche as an ambassador to the Ferengi: as a businessman, he's able to relate to and earn the respect of the Ferengi in a way that humans native to the post-scarcity Federation aren't able to, and his ability to open diplomatic channels with a difficult race in turn earns him the respect of the Federation.

* [[IdenticalGrandfather Worf's grandfather (also named Worf)]], seen in ''Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry'', was a lawyer. Given the Common Law system of trials is known as the adversarial system, this parallels combat quite well. According to the ExpandedUniverse he gained numerous ranks and honors through his legal acumen. (He's a colonel in the film; novels mention he attained the rank of General through his legal kickassery.)
** The ''[=DS9=]'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E18RulesOfEngagement Rules of Engagement]]" features another Klingon lawyer, Ch'Pok, who explicitly compares the court to a battlefield.

In fact, it's common for humans in Star Trek to ''expect'' Klingons to act this way - often getting disabused of the notion:

Non-Klingon alien species in Star Trek, however, tend to play this trope straight much more often:

** Zig-zags into partially reconstructed/justified when a later episode introduces a Hirogen holodeck technician, denounced by the others as "cowardly", who says he would've been a warrior had Voyager not given them holodeck technology three years ago, and strongly implies there was no such thing as a Hirogen technician before that.

* In one ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'' episode, the Enterprise encounters an Orion ship and the crew automatically assume that they might be pirates. The Orion captain mutters that the pirates give his species a bad name, and although he does then appropriate an important discovery, he eventually proves to be a genuine scientific researcher who just wanted academic credit for the find, and to be willing to negotiate fairly. Ensigh Brad Boimler, visiting from the future of ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'', tells the Enetrprise crew that [[UnacceptableTargets stereotyping Orions as pirates is considered rude in his time]], and indeed one of his best friends is a rather geeky Orion science specialist.

** In the [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries original series]] episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E13ElaanOfTroyius Elaan of Troyius]]", Elaan contemptuously dismisses engineering as a "menial" occupation, much to Scotty's irritation.
** Happens to humans too, via cultural shift. The ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' season 1 episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E25TheNeutralZone The Neutral Zone]]" has a group of humans who were frozen get thawed out, one of them being a financier. He has an especially hard time adjusting to his new life compared to the others, reason being that with Earth moving from a capitalistic to [[PostScarcityEconomy post-scarcity society]] means that his profession is of little interest to people outside of historians. One of [[FixFic the novels]] has him find a niche as an ambassador to the Ferengi: as a businessman, he's able to relate to and earn the respect of the Ferengi in a way that humans native to the post-scarcity Federation aren't able to, and his ability to open diplomatic channels with a difficult race in turn earns him the respect of the Federation.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarTrekLowerDecks'' reveals that Starfleet itself has a bitter rivalry with unafiliated or "Outpost" scientists as Starfleet calls them. The reason for this is that outpost scientists have a tendency to get killed by whatever they're researching, leading to Starfleet being called in to investigate, which Starfleet considers a thankless chore, the outpost scientists for their part consider Starfleet to be self righteous hypocrites because their members [[RedShirt die in droves a lot more often]] and because [[MildlyMilitary Starfleet picks fights with alien species despite claiming to be only interested in science and exploration]]. Several examples include:
** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS1E02Envoys Boimler has a breakdown and goes on a tangent about becoming an outpost scientist and Mariner reacts as though Boimler is talking about commiting suicide and [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan tries to get him to come to his senses]]
-->Ensign Brad Boimler: "I should just study bugs on a far-off planet, and then eventually get eaten, and no one will even know until they stumble upon my distress call, but it'll be way too late, and then they'll have to spend a bunch of time deciphering how things went wrong based on my final shaky video logs."
** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E03MiningTheMindsMines commander Ransom voices his hatred for outpost scientists and the one that appears in the episode turns out to be trying to scam Starfleet into taking a listening device so he can sell Starfleet secrets and get funding for more research.
-->Commander Jack Ransom: "Once again we're cleaning up a mess for a bunch of outpost scientists. You know why these guys are always getting eaten, dissapearing or getting eggs layed in their chests? Cause they're weirdos! You wanna explore space? Join Starfleet, go to the academy, but no, that's too much effort. They just gotta get their degrees in studying spores or whatever, then head out to the Quadrant and get devoured by a plant!
** in Recap/StarTrekLowerDecksS3E05Reflections Boimler and Mariner are harassed by two outpost scientists (as well as an AdventurerArchaeologist in the next booth over) while they're manning a Starfleet recruitment booth, leading to boimler reaching his RageBreakingPoint and wreaking havok. Notably Commander Ransom upon seeing this tells Boimler that while he's legally obligated to punish Boimler for his outburst but is also proud of him personally.
-->Ensign Brad Boimler: "Without Starfleet, none of you would exist! We don't '''want''' to protect you from the Klingons and the Borg; we just want to explore and study fucking quasars! But you know what? It's the right thing to do!"

* The Minbari in ''Series/BabylonFive'' have the Religious and Warrior castes, which feature prominently in the story, and the [[HufflepuffHouse barely-seen and almost never-mentioned Worker caste]] that makes the work of the other two castes possible. [[spoiler:The Worker caste does become critical when Delenn breaks the ruling Grey Council, delivering TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to ''both'' her own Religious caste and the Warriors...then reforming the Council with the Workers in a 5:2:2 majority to keep the other two castes in check (and ending a civil war in the process). Canon states that prior to Valen, the Grey Council didn't exist and the Workers weren't even a proper caste with any form of representation ''at all'', merely slaves of the Religious and Warriors. As a result, giving the workers an equal share of power with the priests and warriors was FairForItsDay.]]

** Turians, who are a proud soldier race rather than warriors, avert this entirely. While their scientists and engineers are often paramilitary roles, they are respected within the meritocracy. [[DeconstructedTrope Which is why they won the Krogan Rebellions.]]