Misaimed Fandom Award
And we thought they were stupid when they forgot about Lando...
The new series Star Trek Discovery stars Asian actress Michelle Yeoh as the ship’s captain and black actress Sonequa Martin-Green as her first officer — and this has caused some Trekkies to fret about the lack of white men in charge.
While the overall reaction to the new Star Trek trailer has been positive — although there are the usual complaints from Star Trek fans about continuity errors — one group of fans is particularly upset about the show’s diverse cast of characters.
As both Heat Street and Daily Kos point out, the series’ YouTube page has been bombarded by comments labeling the show a “SJW” plot aimed at shoving “political correctness,” “forced diversity,” and even “cultural Marxism” down viewers’ throats.
Additionally, some angry Twitter users have even proclaimed that the show’s diverse cast is evidence of a “white genocide” conspiracy aimed at eliminating the white race from the face of the Earth.
(followed by a series of tweets from total idiots, I'm sorry I don't know how to add tweets)
11 comments
So it's fine if there are fucking aliens on the ship, but not if it's not the whiteman in charge?
Also, take a look at the series' history: the original series already featured a pretty diverse cast (Sulu, Uhura, anyone?) and tackled issues like racism, the effects of war, and such. If you think this is a break from the show's tradition, you're likely a fake geek boy.
Plus, the Borg. "You will be assimilated" and all. Methinks the series insisted that "forced diversity" is a good thing from the start.
Susan Ivanova: Earthforce officer, Starfury pilot, ultimately leader of the Anla'Shok.
Delenn: Religious Caste, Minbari Ambassador, and member of the Grey Council.
Talia Winters: P5-rated Telepath for Psi Corps.
Stephen Franklin: Chief Medical Officer.
Have you been living under a stone on Z'ha'dum?!
It was only due to executive meddling that the first series didn't have a female first officer. Apparently that would have been totally unrealistic and nobody would have watched it. [/sarcasm]
Most of the original series and nextgen's single-episode attempts at handling social diversity issues were ham-handed yet with a muddled message, and occasionally wrong-headed, but at least they tried. There was less need for it in the later series.
Anyway I could see a lot of dudebro types being fans of Kirk's "cowboy diplomacy" and implied bed-hopping. Plus the subtle sexism which was still an improvement over what largely existed at the time. If they had watched it back when it first aired in the 60s it probably would have been too liberal/feminist/SJW for them. If they never watched the later shows, then Discovery probably will "ruin" things for them.
I suspect that a lot, possibly most, of them never even saw that much and mostly know it from pop culture references. In that case it's merely ruining their nostalgia for things which they never experienced... which probably needs a special term now that I think about it, since it's not really nostalgia.
It's like these idiots have never heard of Sisko or Janeway before. Never mind any number of lower ranking officers that belonged to minority groups. And don't even get me started on the aliens!
I hope this new Trek hearkens back to the old style stuff. I want more exploration and discovery, less Abrams-style explosions.
You do realize that Star Trek has had diversity baked in from the beginning, right? Look at the usual bridge crew.
Kirk: White male.
Spock: Not even human.
Scotty: White male.
Sulu: Asian.
Chekov: Yes, a white male, but a Russian during the Cold War.
Uhura: A black woman, and she didn't even have the decency to play a servant!
Geordi LaForge, best ship's engineer (though I've only seen TOS and TNG, I've seen the entirety of both, and LaForge is 1,000X cooler and he doesn't manipulate his superiors to look like a miracle worker). Frankly, the whole Next Generation cast is more competent and professional. Pickard didn't sleep around, they actually had a counselor, and away teams weren't formed with both the captain and the first officer on them. My only complaint is that TOS had the science officer + the second officer be the same person, but apparently having an android for second officer was too unbelievable?
And did I mention that Data was portrayed as a discriminated-against minority?
Oh, right, I should probably say something about the racist OP. Any informed racist would recognize that ST/TOS was an intermediate stage between snowy-white westerns and the show they're complaining about now. Star Trek Discovery's getting complaints for not being racist enough? Get in line; that series has been getting those complaints since the 60's.
@pyro
Would these retards be happy with a TV adaptation of the "Titan" novel-based scenario? The Luna -class eponymous starship, with the Kirk-esque Capt. Riker, the half-Betazoid Cdr. Troi, Cdr. Tuvok, Lt. Ogawa, Dr. Ree, Cdr. Ra-Havreii...?!
I've heard that in some fanfics/art, there are also Andorian, ex-Obsidian Order Cardassian, and post-Shinzon Romulan crew on board the Titan.
How's that for Diversity, o Idiots? Gene Roddenberry would approve.
I'll bet these guys could care less about Star Trek, Star Wars, Mad Max, etc. and just like to make noise and troll people. They probably have some weird "Pop-Culture-Osmosis" caricature of what these things are that looks like....
* "Star Wars is all about White Male Luke & Han rescuing a White Princess (I have no idea she's a badass) and fighting a bunch of White military guys....and there's this spooky armored black thing with a cape and bad asthma".
* "Star Trek is Captain Kirk who's very male and White and an White male alien (I don't know he's Jewish) and another White guy who's a crabby doctor and a White Scottish guy and a White Russian guy....and that's all I know".
* "Mad Max is a big action hero badass who's male & White and kills baddies (rather than the broken, reluctant, not-intentionally-heroic soul who just gets sucked into things and just wants to be left alone to mourn his family and the world that was and is not really your typical action hero)."
....It's like the person who goes to watch Fargo for the first time while assuming the whole movie is just a cute quirky PG-Rated tale about a cute quirky pregnant cop going around town being cute and quirky with that quirky accent and getting into quirky situations (and not an R-Rated, violent, mayhem filled mess involving stuff like beatings, sex-scenes-with-hookers, murder, a body in a wood-chipper, etc.).
This is like that Right-Leaning supposed Pink Floyd fan who wrote an editorial somewhere who was complaining about the politics of Roger Waters/The Wall.
Likewise; Paul Ryan liking Rage Against The Machine, or NeoFascist/Misogynist Bronies.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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