The thing I love about this, the thing I always find funny whenever this comes up, is that these midwits are just too dumb to make the obvious argument. The argument that is "in their face" and "being shoved down their throats."
There is a rational, coherent argument to make their point. It's one I disagree with. It's one that, in my opinion, can only be made in bad faith with no purpose other than to be a concern troll, but it's there.
They always bring up Adira, Gray, Jett, Stamets, Culber, and anything else that's gone up their ass but never any of the actual social commentary because they're so thick it went over their heads and they didn't even notice it. You can see it in this thread. They mention the characters and people respond with "but they're just existing, how does that bother you?" They just bring up the characters again to a response of "yeah, we heard you the first time, what are they doing that bothers you other than existing?" And it just goes in a circle.
There was never an episode of ToS where Uhura talked about how hard it was to be a black woman as a bridge officer, because it wasn't. That's the whole point. In the future Star Trek wants us to imagine, a black female officer is completely unremarkable. Whenever they wanted to engage in social commentary about race relations in the 60s they had to invent an allegorical race, time travel, or use some other device to make their point.
The same thing is happening in the newer series. All those characters are just existing. Their sexuality and gender identity is completely unremarkable in the future Star Trek shows us. If those dipshits had two brain cells to rub together they would see the new series are full of allegories about not just tolerance, or even acceptance, but appreciation for beings with non-conforming expressions of self. If any of that did manage to trickle through their thick skulls they probably just twisted it into "yeah, people shouldn't make fun of me for having a relationship with a waifu pillow."
If they weren't so stupid they could easily give a half dozen examples and say "it's too much," "I got it the first time," "focus on something else for a change," or whatever other bullshit justification they came up with to oppose these themes. It would be a bad faith argument that I would disagree with but at least they could pretend they're not bigots, instead of their current position which seems to be "I've got no problem with these people, I just don't want to see them."
And, on the flip side, there's also their total blindness to many examples of old Trek being decidedly unsubtle. They just will not address those, because to do so would completely undermine their point—and they're not interested in the truth, really. They just want their anger.
I don't know how someone can be a Star Trek fan and not get it. It's an attitude diametrically opposed to the core spirit of the franchise. How do these people enjoy a show about exploring strange new worlds, seeking out new life and new civilizations, but they can't stand the presence of different humans?
The one argument that Star Trek has gone woke I agree with is that the characters are all tripping over themselves to make make Tilly captain despite her obvious incompetence for that position. Contrast that with Barkley who everyone recognized needed self improvement to progress.
Otherwise I totally agree. Star Trek has always been progressive when it comes to race, religion, etc.
I assume they're returning to their truck to retrieve some sort of accelerant.
I remember seeing people complaining about "woke adaptation" with The Sandman, and Neil Gaiman always reply on Twitter he was ok with that, is like people can't believe there is authors or works who is being left-right stories, people acted like he was controlled, mind-washing or something.
The Sandman is such a hilarious example of something to get upset about being too woke, too. "This adaptation of a comic written that featured gender fluid characters in 1989 has been corrupted by the woke mob!"
Brain worms.
Star Trek is one of the things I still hang onto as optimistic about the future. We can make a better world for everyone and overcome racism, capitalism, transphobia, etc. We can build something better and reach for the stars. And that's always been the message. The characters have advanced technology like ships and teleporters, but what's really advanced is how they are as people. They're curious, educated, accepting people who want to explore the universe for the sake of it.
I also hang onto the X-Men. That was also important to me growing up, seeing how the characters could come together to defend themselves against hatred. I grew up in a really conservative area so I'm always gonna be grateful to Star Trek and X-Men (and later all sorts of books) for keeping me sane as a kid
Star Trek and X-Men were a huge part of my childhood and teen years as well, so I 100% get where you're coming from.
Only tangentially related, I really do wish Marvel would take a back to basics approach with the X-Men so I could get into them again. I know a lot of people love the Krokoa era, and I'm happy they have it, but for me it is too dense and too far removed from what I grew up with for me to be able to penetrate. I know they've got an upcoming sea change happening, so maybe then.
Out of curiosity, does Lemmy/AP have a way of doing tags like reddit, seems like a feature worth having.
I grabbed someone else's edit. I assume it's just a "do not disturb" sign.
