To the Trek Lit Community

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Deranged Nasat, Jul 12, 2013.

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  1. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    My apologies for what is pretty much an off-topic post, but since the people who frequent the Trek lit forum were my closest contacts here, they should be the ones to see this. They're the ones who are most owed an explanation, after all. After a few months, I've come back briefly to offer an explanation and a farewell, which I hope will allow an amiable parting. This place is still, in a sense, an unclosed wound, for myself and - I suspect - for at least some of the rest of you who were upset or confused by my behaviour and my worldview (which many of you seem to have misunderstood, by the way).

    Have you heard of a woman named Erin Pizzey? She's quite important, in that she was the galvanizing force behind the establishment of what is widely considered the world's first Battered Woman's shelter. She was a tireless pioneer in combating domestic violence, author of the book "Scream Quietly Or The Neighbours Will Hear", which pulled no punches in making people aware of the plight of battered wives. She wrote other books on the subject too.

    Erin Pizzey is a bit of a hero of mine. The reason being, she worked with compassion and with an eye to resolving the cycles of violence and abuse that so many families and communities suffer through. Over the course of her involvement in combating domestic violence, she was always stressing the destructive cycles, the tendency for children in abusive environments to be warped by the experience. She knew too that violence wasn't gendered, and that women were often as violent as men were (she also tried to establish a battered men's shelter - funnily enough the same rich businessmen who agreed to fund her battered woman's shelters refused that request). She was the sort of person who Star Trek fans should love - someone who with compassion and unwavering commitment tried to make a better world - at the expense of no-one.

    Unfortunately, the Refuge movement she began was hijacked by a certain reactionary ideology. This ideology was called feminism. As the name demonstrates, this ideology was based in a divisive model of gender which insisted that women as a class were disadvantaged compared to men as a class, as a matter of oppressive behaviours on the part of the latter. They claimed to represent "sexual and gender equality", which in their worldview was the case, given that if you're starting with the assumption that females have oppression and males privilige, obviously a concerted effort to promote womens' interests is furthering that goal.

    Erin Pizzey's books were essentially blacklisted by the feminists, and she was hounded out of the country (she returned in the end, not a little bitter but still committed to her original vision).

    Star Trek fans claim that they promote the vision of a better world, a world of compassion, of perseverence towards a realization of universal dignity. Truth is the first virtue, as the TNG episode goes. But when it comes to the history of violence, abuse and efforts to combat it, the benevolent, truthful voices are suppressed, and the industries generated by divisive and hateful ideologies are embraced. Star Trek fandom proves itself hypocritical.

    Speaking personally, as a childhood victim of various forms of abuse, it angers me that the people who tried to help those like me, who sought to understand the problems and resolve them through compassion, had their noble work hijacked by ideologies that still enjoy support among many of you, despite their continued ongoing assaults on due process laws, on rights and freedoms, on historical truths and on family stability.

    Rather than receiving the help I needed, I was forced not only to go it alone but to fight against an educational system that tried to shove the feminist lies down my throat, which spread the nonsense of Duluth and The Patriarchy, etc, etc. And then the ignorance of others who insisted that these were fringe movements rather than at the very core of, representaive of, the ideology.

    I greatly enjoyed my four years here. I know many of you appreciated me and my posts, particularly in this forum. I considered a great many of you friends. However, if Star Trek fandom is going to continue to embrace hypocrisy, then I feel I must move on. The first virtue is to the truth - which means dismantling the lies and distortions and rededicating yourselves to the visionaries who were in keeping with the spirit of the franchise.

    I wish you all well; I myself will find a community where the works of people like Erin Pizzey are respected, and the lies and the betrayals are denounced rather than supported.
     
  2. ryan123450

    ryan123450 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Nasat I don't know the exact events that brought this on. I have had run ins with people here about things that are particularly important to me, specifically my Catholic faith and issues related to, particularly in other forums, not here in TrekLit. But what I've grown to realize is that I don't come here to talk about religion, social issues, politics, or science, but Star Trek books. So I mostly stick to the Lit board and enjoy talking about that with people whom I may be on opposing sides with about all the more important things in life. I can talk about those things somewhere else.

    I hope you're even reading this and haven't already left forever. The board will be a lesser place without you.
     
  3. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

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    Likewise I wasn't party to the events that resulted in your leaving. That looks like a full and frank explanation to me, and I for one would be happy to have you posting again (if you didn't wish to engage elsewhere) in the Treklit forums - you are missed.

    Please reconsider...
     
  4. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

    Joined:
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    I had a quick skim of the thread that I assume set you off.

    Frankly you did a terrible job of explaining your viewpoint - whenever anyone asked you about any point of what you were saying, you directed them to a website or a video. When you're having a debate like that, people expect to hear your reasoning from you, not from someone else. I don't know whether you had any good points to make because you never made any by your hand! You can't really call the people you were debating with hypocritical because you never really offered debate.

    It's quite surprising given your excellent posts here in treklit, but I gather from your OP you're too close to the topic at hand which can often cloud objectivity. If you're still reading this thread I'd suggest you chill out and take a second look at the thread and see if it would be possible for anyone to understand your thoughts without following your links.
     
  5. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    New Therin Park, Andor (via Australia)
    I did the same. I'm puzzled why Deranged Nasat continued to hang out in that thread that was upsetting him so deeply. Nasat, you always seemed to have more fun over here in TrekLit. We never argue about such topics over here. :devil:

    I hope you come back some day. :techman:
     
  6. BrentMc

    BrentMc Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
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    Why do you feel Star Trek fans are hypocrites? It's not nice to call everyone names because a few people said things that upset you.
     
  7. JoeZhang

    JoeZhang Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Get a blog, I've also read the original thread, you were destroyed there and this thread is going to end up the same if a kindly mod doesn't lock it (and they should as it has nothing at all to do with Trek lit).
     
  8. Brefugee

    Brefugee No longer living the Irish dream. Premium Member

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    Good riddance, don't let the door hit you on the way out.
     
  9. DorkBoy [TM]

    DorkBoy [TM] Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2001
    I agree with some of the other posters: in that other thread you were just posting links, as far as I could tell, and not really expressing yourself well. I admit I didn't follow any of these links, I just skimmed the thread trying to figure out what the heck happened.

    If you had explained yourself in that thread like you did in this post, it probably still wouldn't have changed anyone's minds, but maybe it would have come across better? Your post here made more sense to me than anything I saw from you in that thread, but then I'm not really versed on the subject.

    (I'm pretty conservative and don't have much use for feminists, but I certainly wouldn't pick a fight with them on the Internet, either. :lol:)

    Personally I avoid non-Trek discussion on the boards here. (This thread being the rare exception.) I come here to discuss Star Trek and have fun. :) I don't even go into any of the other boards anymore, the Trek Lit board is my favorite. It just seems like the people here are more respectful of other posters, and the level of discussion is higher than the rest of the boards or internet as a whole.

    Topics like religion or politics are better discussed in person, in my opinion, with people that you have a personal relationship with rather than random strangers on the internet. Its too easy to dehumanize the people on the other side of the keyboard, and blow things all out of proportion.

    Even just discussing Star Trek books, sometimes I get frustrated with the board and have to take a long break. So, I do understand.

    Hopefully you'll come back some day when you've gotten some perspective. You could do what I do and just stick to the Trek Lit board.
     
  10. Infern0

    Infern0 Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2008
    Life is far too short to take this sort of thing this seriously. In my humble opinion.
     
  11. Thrawn

    Thrawn Rear Admiral Premium Member

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    Location:
    Washington, DC
    People. He hasn't logged in since he posted this message, and he's probably not going to. It's a parting shot. Let it go.
     
  12. trampledamage

    trampledamage Clone Admiral

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    And now that I'm online, I'm closing the thread.

    Deranged Nasat - you're always welcome to come back and discuss Trek Lit, it's a very relaxing pastime
     
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