GinsengMay 10
Sheryl Weikal

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.

Mar 30 at 7:07pmopenvibe
Show threadSheryl WeikalMar 30

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.

Show threadSheryl WeikalMar 30

RWTB: Yes but look at all the fighting and war in Deep Space Nine! That's not woke!

Average DS9 episode: The Black captain is having visions from the prophets about fighting racism and his canonically trans best friend is talking with the first officer and chief engineer about their polycule.

Show threadSheryl WeikalMar 30

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.

Show threadMike RoachMar 30
@theleftistlawyer Tech bros are the Ferengi with hints of Cardassian-style nationalism
Show threadcontrasocialMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

Well at least there's not an episode of TNG where they unfreeze a capitalist from centuries ago and he's a complete blowhard who's unable to adjust to a society not based around capital and profit-seeking.

Show threadDressToKILTMar 30
@contrasocial @theleftistlawyer oh no
Show threadPseudo NymMar 30

@contrasocial @theleftistlawyer

They really should have made him ambassador to the Ferrengi.

Show threadfunbaker; Je suis AntifaMar 30
@pseudonym @contrasocial @theleftistlawyer I think they did that in one of the novels
Show threadZ80 ShellcodeMar 30
@theleftistlawyer And Borgs were communists (Borg Queen was Stalin) xD
Show threadBatsifyMar 30

@theleftistlawyer What I found amusing in the very first seasons of the Star Trek television series was Kirk's declaration that there was no concept of money in society.

This was in an episode where the USS Enterprise is transported back in time to World War II. I found that surprising.

Show threadgunstickMar 31
@theleftistlawyer also: captain is a woman.
Show threadDressToKILTMar 30
@theleftistlawyer Anyone who thinks that DS9 wasn't gloriously woke has never watched a single episode and can be mocked relentlessly for being a fake fanboy (it's always a boy).
Show threadROTOPE~1 ⭐️Mar 30
@dresstokilt @theleftistlawyer *Quark makes money, and I turn the TV off before his comeuppance arc* finally, a show that tells it like it is.
Show threadI AM BANKSY β˜• / πŸ—‘β€πŸ”₯Mar 31
@dresstokilt
"You're such a big fan boy, name three episodes."
@theleftistlawyer
Show threadderptronMar 30

@theleftistlawyer Enterprise: chief engineer gets pregnant after he plays in the squishy mind sharing gel.

Same guy to doctor in a different situation: "I think your wife is hitting on me." "OH! YOU LUCKY MAN!!! You gonna say yes? Say yes, you gotta say yes! You will NOT regret it!"

Show threadphookyMar 31

@theleftistlawyer also average TNG episode: Irish people are always drunk, and we just murdered a baby with zero discussion because they were a clone

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Up_the_Long_Ladder

Up the Long Ladder - Wikipedia

Show threadTripApr 1

@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.

Show threadJTinMIMar 30
@theleftistlawyer Not forgetting that first-ever interracial kiss on prime time TV!
Show threadRobin AdamsMar 30

@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.

Show threadAgnesBCMar 31
@robinadams @JTinMI @theleftistlawyer I saw that but sadly did not comprehend the significance.
Show threadMacCruiskeenMar 30
@theleftistlawyer You are not of the Body!
Show threadfrank87Mar 30
@theleftistlawyer Maybe they like the fact it's all organised like a military organisation...
Show threadBenderIsGreat34Mar 31
@frank87 @theleftistlawyer Bingo
Show threadfrank87Mar 31
@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"...
Show threadAlex o_OMar 30

@theleftistlawyer I heard a long time ago, don’t know if true (probably not), that Roddenberry originally wanted to make a non-scifi about social injustices and such but was rejected – so he put it in space instead.

Whether true or not, that’s how I view TOS. I mean there’s literally an episode about half-black-half-white being racist to half-white-half-black people of their own species… many if not most episodes are extremely thinly veiled social commentary.

Show threadThe GafferMar 30
@o_O @theleftistlawyer "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" - one of my favorites! I loved that it featured The Riddler (Frank Gorshin). And I always wondered if it was inspired by Dr Seuss' "The Sneetches"...
Show threadKirkMar 30
@theleftistlawyer Also, Nazis were bad.
Show threadTwotiredMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

Star Trek used to be cool but now it’s woke!
RATM used to be cool but now it’s woke!
Jesus used to be cool but now He’s woke!
πŸ™„

Show threadcognitively accessible mathMar 30
@theleftistlawyer It was several dimensions *more* like this as far as *looking for challenges.
Show threadVHG πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺMar 30
@theleftistlawyer the difference - Kirk used every possibility to pull off his shirt. Picard, Sisco, and Pike are less narcissistic
Show threadDressToKILTMar 30
@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.
Show threadVHG πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊπŸ‡©πŸ‡ͺMar 31
@dresstokilt @theleftistlawyer you are right.
Show threadCJMar 31
@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.
Show threadIn Search of a Better WorldMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

TOS even had a full episode on why it was a good thing to punch nazis and never a good thing to copy them. A full fucking episode.

Show threadKlingon SpongeMar 30
@CrypticMirror @theleftistlawyer What episode? I've never really watched TOS and I would love to watch this episode.
Show threadCaptain ButtonMar 30

@retrosponge @CrypticMirror @theleftistlawyer

"Patterns Of Force"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patterns_of_Force

Patterns of Force - Wikipedia

Show threadKlingon SpongeMar 30
@cptbutton @CrypticMirror @theleftistlawyer Thank you!
Show threadOfficeplantMar 30
@theleftistlawyer starting to really doubt any of them ever really consumed their declared favorite shows and music "before they were woke". More likely they merely observed sounds and colors somehow forming strange opinions independent of reality.
Show threadRRBMar 30
@theleftistlawyer I think the only books they read were "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Iron Dream." They saw the movie version of LOTR and rooted for the wrong side.
Show threadThe DoctorMay 10
@rrb @theleftistlawyer Don't forget _The Fountainhead_.
Show threadMatthew MerkovichMar 30

@theleftistlawyer Point #2 on this list is fun! https://mix979fm.com/ten-things-you-didnt-know-star-trek-creator-gene-roddenberry/

I worked on Star Trek, and right-wingers are not very smart. πŸ˜‚

Ten Things You Didn't Know About 'Star Trek' Creator, Gene Roddenberry

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of arguably the most famous sci-fi franchise, might not be the man you thought he was. For example, did you know that Gene was

Mix 97.9 FM
Show threadKadinMar 30
@theleftistlawyer They could just admit they're really into Lycra, but no, they have to get all *weird* about it.
Show threadAlliatMar 30
@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.
Show threadDressToKILTMar 30
@Alliat @theleftistlawyer There are some parts that have not aged well, but on the whole, the message holds up.
Show threadAlliatMar 30
@dresstokilt @theleftistlawyer Very true. It’s just those shocking things that really stuck. I also liked the fan made continuation but that was of course much more tame in those matters.
Show threadCJMar 31
@Alliat @theleftistlawyer Lincoln was apologetic, and said that "negris" was the term they used in his time.
Show threadKanaMaunaMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

Kirk’s anti-AI slop speeches were so elegant, AI would realize the error of their ways and immediately freeze up or commit suicide.

Show threadCommander Realo Mar 30
@theleftistlawyer Kirk literally told us to not be bigots.
Show threadJeff GriggMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

The *pilot* episode had a female first officer.

Original Series:

Black female communications *officer*.

Navigator and helmsman, clearly from "cold war enemy" countries, working right there in front of the captain.

Show threadGemma β­οΈπŸ”°πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ πŸ‡΅πŸ‡­ 🎐Mar 30
@JeffGrigg @theleftistlawyer Hikaru Sulu was not from a Cold War enemy country.
Show threadJeff GriggMar 30

@gcvsa @theleftistlawyer

Yes. You are correct.

Sulu was from a WWII enemy country. (The actor had been a child in a US concentration camp.)

Pevel Chekov, Russian, the only cold war adversary.

But I think it does "send a message" that "current and former enemies" were now front-and-center in our future drive to explore the universe.

Without a word, it said that our petty local national conflicts had been settled.

Show threadAaron Sawdey, Ph.D.Mar 30
@theleftistlawyer Also you know TOS has always been woke because MLK told Nichelle Nichols that she was a "vital role model" and should stay on the show.
Show threadStumpy The MuttMar 30
@theleftistlawyer To tech bros it's only about Kirk and the green ladies.
Show threadDave NathansonMar 30
@theleftistlawyer Also we don't eat animals and we don't do capitalism.
Show threadGailenMar 30

@theleftistlawyer

Not to mention American TV's first interracial kiss.

Show threadtony πŸ³οΈβ€βš§οΈ 🏴 πŸš΄πŸ§—πŸ»Mar 30
@theleftistlawyer Kirk always puts himself and his crew at risk in order to achieve peaceful outcomes. He'd rather die than start a war!
Show threadGemma β­οΈπŸ”°πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ πŸ‡΅πŸ‡­ 🎐Mar 30
@theleftistlawyer Wait, is this about Star Trek, or Dungeons and Dragons?
Show threadSassinake! ᑐ βˆͺ ∩ βŠ‚Mar 30

@theleftistlawyer

all they remember is that 'White Man lead, and others follow', and that's pretty much all that counts.
Same with Star Wars: take away the White Male Leadℒ️ , and now it's Armageddon.

Those WASP panicked and cried while they cut the heads of figurines and burned them:

'What about MY fee-fees?'

(They didn't like Kylo Ren showing them for what they are, either)

Show threadDarnell Clayton Mar 31

@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! πŸ˜‚

Show threadJdeBPMar 31

@darnell

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..

http://midwinter.com/lurk/guide/074.html

@theleftistlawyer

#Babylon5

Guide Page: "The Illusion of Truth"