"The First Time Any Man's Freedom is Trodden Upon, We're All Damaged"

After watching the clip we were shown in class (Spock's famous needs for the many speech) We were asked whether we side with the needs of the many or the needs of the few.
The clip and the question made me think of another Star Trek quote.

While usually we need to think of the needs of the many we have to remember that "the many" is nothing but individuals. To ask whether we support the needs of the many or the needs of the few puts them at odds against each other. And I don't feel like this is a necessity.

The Bill of Rights in America and similar laws elsewhere guarantee individual rights. But they do so for the betterment of society as a whole. Failing to protect individuals and (especially) minorities fails society as a whole. We recognize that sometimes that the majority can be wrong and we have to have certain rules. But these rules are always what we considered to be rights. Things that can not and should not be taken away without good reason, even under pressure from the majority. By respecting individuals we protect society as a whole.

While many utopia novels, (including some that will come up in the following months, 1984 for example) Focus on the betterment of the society at the cost of the individual. This misses the point that societies are individuals though. If the entire society is "surviving" but the people are not then the society is missing the point. This is the equivalent of putting a nearly dead human on life support.
In one way yes the society is still "alive" but it is not truly alive or responding. It does not have life as we know it. And as humans we recognize that survival is not the only important thing. The idea of living, however you define it, is more important that merely surviving.

Star Trek can shows use quite a lot. It forces to think about what is right and how both the many, and the few, must be accounted for in a society.