Here's a few examples:
The Popcast (recently made a video warning of the "dangers" of the Barbie movie because it's feminist. Now Im going to go see it lol), Midnights Edge (general right wing conspiracy theories regarding media, occasional delving into new age crank too), Nerdrotic (thinks Hollywood is engineering a communist Red Guards plot to kill conservatives), The Critical Drinker (typical edgelord anti feminist), Dave Cullen (extreme anti feminist who believes in all the QAnon, Agenda 21 conspiracy theories).
And it goes on and on. I know there's popular left wing and liberal reviewers too, but for whatever reason so many of the ones I run into are far right. Is there some sort of draw for conservatives to geekdom or is something else going on?
There are probably a few things going on.
First the algorithm rewards videos that drive interaction. That can be angry comments, up or down votes, subscriptions, whatever.
The algorithm will drive you towards more content of the kind that you interact with. If you interact with conservative leaning videos that will drive what it shows you in the future.
A lot of scifi (although forward looking) is driven by nostalgia. People remember reading heinlein, azimov, etc in their childhoods. Nostalgia often comes along with a strong dose of traditionalism. People want to hold on to the old versions of things. Old stories, old ways of doing things.
The role of reviewer can be somewhat inherently regressive. Reviewers can respond badly to change, differences from what came before. They can hold back innovation when they don't understand how to conceptualize something new. They can be incentivized to adopt the consensus opinion of other reviewers.
If you love something you're less like to have a successful channel. People love to watch cinema sins, nostalgia critic, etc. People giving bad faith angry yelling into a mic reviews that become a series of low effort jokes. If you love something there's often less to say, fewer jokes to make, and less to engage with. Star trek is progressive, so if you're someone who loves it, you may be less likely to make a forceful critque of the kind that's been in vogue on youtube.
"geekdom" in general had often had an exclusionary bent. See the sad puppies, or gamergate. At one point geek culture was a safe haven for outsiders who felt that the world didn't or couldn't understand their interest. It was a place to meet other smart people, and talk about the stuff you care about that not everyone will get. Unfortunately that also comes with a lot of broken people who see a place with a lot of smart people as a place to be "superior," see discussion forums as a place to flex their might knowledge of canon and browbeat newcomers to franchises, or see geekdom as a place that they dominate from which other must be kept out-- hence the "you're not a real nerd" stereotype. That seems to tie in with a conservative mindset about social issues.
Thanks a lot for this breakdown! These are all very good points
I've encountered this a lot. When I tell people I like SNW and didnt like Picard Season 3 so much, I get a lot of visceral responses on how Im not a true fan...
Yeah I find it strange how people want to decide who can and can't be a fan.
I mostly liked Picard s3, but only because it was better than 1 and 2. Not going to be bothered by someone not liking something I liked.
I actually like PIcard Season 3 more now on rewatches, but I kinda hate the fanbase surrounding the season because it's very toxic (and not because they dislike the New Trek shows, I mean the whole "its not woke" nonsense)
I liked seeing the old gang back together, but it seemed like they prioritized that over other considerations. They were the Next Generation, but their own children need their help to do engineering tasks or solve other problems.
Also TNG has had like 3 endings now. Enterprise didn't even get one.
If the franchise is going to move forward it needs new casts like SNW or lower Decks to carry that way.
I agree. I loved seeing the TNG cast back together, but I want all new characters. That's actually a problem with SNW as well, yes its a new cast but theyre playing 57 or whatever year old characters. That being said, since you brought up Enterprise, I'd love to see an Archer miniseries that gives some actual closure to Enterprise, if possible.