Right wing tech bros: we love Star Trek but it's too woke nowadays.
-
Right wing tech bros: we love Star Trek but it's too woke nowadays. Too preachy. Kirk's show wasn't like this.
Average TOS episode: AI is bad and should never be allowed to run a society. Also, make peace because nationalism kills and every life form must be respected equally.
@theleftistlawyer It just morning and you post something so woke I don't even need my coevefe anymore
-
@vgoller @theleftistlawyer I think this is a very distant reading of Kirk. He is far less the "punch first, ask questions later, bang everything that moves" caricature that he is made out to be.
@dresstokilt @theleftistlawyer you are right.
-
RWTB: BUT BUT VOYAGER WASN'T WOKE!!
Average Voyager Episode: The Doctor travels to a capitalist society where he teaches the people about the need for universal health care as the Captain is holding a hearing on whether Q has a right to bodily autonomy.
@theleftistlawyer also: captain is a woman.
-
@theleftistlawyer That is confusing as Star Trek has always been a very progressive show. As in decades ahead of its time culturally. Probably more than the average SciFi show.
If conservatives want a relatively conservative show, I think Babylon 5 might be in their orbit.
I was going to recommend Firefly / Serenity, but it’s too libertarian & diverse for their taste!

One might want to show it to them, but not for the reasons that you might think.
Babylon 5 is the one that had a fascist regime take over Earth, institute a system of enforcers and informants named NightWatch, and bomb civilian targets on Mars; which is eventually defeated by a coalition of diverse species co-lead by a mixed-species person.
G'Kar had elements of Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi. Garibaldi didn't like corrupt corporations. Ivanova was in a same-sex relationship. Sinclair had PTSD. Neroon became a peacenik.
The show addressed slavery, social inequity, torture, mind control, racism/speciesism, collaborators, genocide, self-destruction, suppression of opposition, and sending people to die in wars.
One of its episodes, 'The Illusion of Truth' which showed how the Earth regime distorted the news for propaganda purposes, was even considered for use in university courses in the U.S.A..
-
@JdeBP @theleftistlawyer Yep! Oh! I forgot the main character married outside of his species, so maybe Babylon 5 is not a great show to recommend.
Maybe Starship Troopers then‽ 🤪
-
@theleftistlawyer It's been a great while since I watched TOS. All I can remember is Kirk repeatedly slapping hysterical women. Oh and Abraham Lincoln manifesting on the ship and calling Uhura the N-word.
@Alliat @theleftistlawyer Lincoln was apologetic, and said that "negris" was the term they used in his time.
-
@theleftistlawyer the difference - Kirk used every possibility to pull off his shirt. Picard, Sisco, and Pike are less narcissistic
@vgoller @theleftistlawyer I suspect those who don't think Star Trek, The Original Series was woke are those who are to shallow to ge past the miniskirts and go go boots.
-
@andymoose @theleftistlawyer If you look at Star Trek that way, it becomes pretty depressing: the military in service of a few high ranking officers playing around.
"Work harder, the captain needs to get layed"... -
@JTinMI @theleftistlawyer Binge watched TOS recently.
There's a quick moment in an early episode. The turbolift doors open to reveal Uhura. She shoots a look to the two white male lower-ranking crewmembers who were waiting for the lift, and they step out of her way.
This at a time when black people had to step out of white people's way on the sidewalk.
Subtle but powerful.
@robinadams @JTinMI @theleftistlawyer I saw that but sadly did not comprehend the significance.
-
@JdeBP @theleftistlawyer Yep! Oh! I forgot the main character married outside of his species, so maybe Babylon 5 is not a great show to recommend.
Maybe Starship Troopers then‽ 🤪
@darnell @JdeBP @theleftistlawyer starship troopers, at least if you read the the book and get the references in the movie, is basically one huge criticism of authoritarian regimes managing the population through jingoism, propaganda, and endless wars. Again, not ideal if you’re at all able to get past the surface.
+1 for Babylon 5 too. I loved that. Overdue for a reboot
-
Right wing tech bros: we love Star Trek but it's too woke nowadays. Too preachy. Kirk's show wasn't like this.
Average TOS episode: AI is bad and should never be allowed to run a society. Also, make peace because nationalism kills and every life form must be respected equally.
@theleftistlawyer Every naZionalism and fascism relies on an entirely made up myth to anchor its substance-less armature of idiocy.
Given that fascism IS all about the economic top exploiters supporting the one guy (arbitrary) rule, is it any surprise that techbros are the quintessential, inherent fascist pieces of shit du jour?
-
@jadebees @theleftistlawyer They can’t mess with it too much for fear of losing their entire built in audience. We will see a dark age of Star Trek shows that don’t get too political and downplay anything about diversity and “empathy” but hopefully once the orange one is dead or in prison things will go back to normal.
@andymoose @theleftistlawyer Or they'll try to appease their new masters with a prequel series about the young Phillippa Georgiou. The one in the mirror universe.
-
Right wing tech bros: we love Star Trek but it's too woke nowadays. Too preachy. Kirk's show wasn't like this.
Average TOS episode: AI is bad and should never be allowed to run a society. Also, make peace because nationalism kills and every life form must be respected equally.
@theleftistlawyer not ro mention the complete diversity everywhere, especially in the crew

-
Seriously. Everyone at NASA I worked with loved Star Trek and was working towards that kind of future. They recognized the problems and challenges, but they really believed that future.
Although people in the commercial tech industry love to trot out sci fi references as if it's some kind of credential, they consistently get it wrong, making the dystopian stuff come true instead.
You just cannot get to The Federation by building SkyNet. It's not possible.
@cyberlyra @theleftistlawyer
> You just cannot get to The Federation by building SkyNetDefeating the SkyNet now being built is IMO the neccessary and unevitable stage to the future free Federation of the known Universe. So often humanity must be stripped of convenience and pushed to the extreme austerity for the survivors to see the new path now unimaginable.
Ah, BTW, the Warp Drive is now something achievable:
https://thedebrief.org/meet-the-man-behind-nasa-and-darpas-warp-drive-programs/ -
@robinadams @JTinMI @theleftistlawyer I saw that but sadly did not comprehend the significance.
@AgnesBC @robinadams @JTinMI @theleftistlawyer
I suppose you know Dr. MLK begged her to stay on as Uhura
-
Seriously. Everyone at NASA I worked with loved Star Trek and was working towards that kind of future. They recognized the problems and challenges, but they really believed that future.
Although people in the commercial tech industry love to trot out sci fi references as if it's some kind of credential, they consistently get it wrong, making the dystopian stuff come true instead.
You just cannot get to The Federation by building SkyNet. It's not possible.
"You just cannot get to The Federation by building SkyNet. "
This needs to be on a sticker. And I need lots of them!
-
Seriously. Everyone at NASA I worked with loved Star Trek and was working towards that kind of future. They recognized the problems and challenges, but they really believed that future.
Although people in the commercial tech industry love to trot out sci fi references as if it's some kind of credential, they consistently get it wrong, making the dystopian stuff come true instead.
You just cannot get to The Federation by building SkyNet. It's not possible.
@cyberlyra There's a nuclear world war in the backstory to Star Trek. @theleftistlawyer
-
RWTB: Oh but surely Picard's Enterprise wasn't like this.
Average TNG Episode: Will Riker is falling for a trans person from an agender society. Meanwhile, the genius Black disabled chief engineer and his autism-coded android best friend just saved another planet through science education.
@theleftistlawyer also average TNG episode: Irish people are always drunk, and we just murdered a baby with zero discussion because they were a clone
-
@andymoose @theleftistlawyer Or they'll try to appease their new masters with a prequel series about the young Phillippa Georgiou. The one in the mirror universe.
@jadebees @theleftistlawyer Yeah, that is very likely. It will be trek of a sorts but it will be playing it very safe and boring.
-
@theleftistlawyer also average TNG episode: Irish people are always drunk, and we just murdered a baby with zero discussion because they were a clone
@phooky @theleftistlawyer Hey, this is a terrible episode in many ways, but while they -were- a bunch of cringey stereotypes, it was just the one drunk Irish person, and he only -wanted- to get drunk (IIRC, he'd run out).
And it was not a baby. It was a half-grown, adult-sized clone that wasn't yet properly alive. At ethically worst it was an abortion. It certainly raised similar bodily autonomy concerns.
It's a bad episode, but call it out for what it is.