Wearing Starfleet Uniform Out in Public - Help

[Delta1]

ST-TNG-FAN91 wrote:

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I once did go to a Sci Fi/Linux convention but I was so dorky and socially awkward that people like the dude in the Tux Starfleet costume were like "NERD!!!!!

Don't listen to them, I'm sure they were just BSD dorks. They're just jealous that all the good FOSS is GPL.

[SilentP]

I agree with this sentiment;

iguana_tonante wrote:

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A tv show is no substitute for a social life. Hobbies and common interests can, however, help you to create one.

...but in regards to this one;

JarodRussell wrote:

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Sports fans are wearing jerseys, too. The thing is, a football team is something real, Starfleet is fictional. Get a life.

....to me a football team is just about as tangible as Star Trek. If I choose not to involve myself in football, it has less of an effect on my life than if I was to involve myself with it. The same with Star Trek, if I was to involve myself with it (i.e. be a fan) it's more tangible to me than if I wasn't involved with it.

For example, if I was to bump into a football player that wasn't plastered all over the tabloids for the latest scandal, I wouldn't recognise the guy, since I'm not a fan of football. If I wasn't a Star Trek fan and bumped into a 'minor' actor from the show (i.e. bumped into someone who wasn't Patrick Stewart, Leonard Nimoy etc.) I probably wouldn't recognise them either. As far as I'm concerned, I'm as likely to be involved in football games that everyone sees as I am to be involved in shooting episodes of Star Trek (i.e. not very).

[Luther Sloan]

I never been a fan of sports. Not to knock it, but I mean if you really think about it, how does Team X winning against Team Y really have any effect on my life? The simple answer is that it doesn't.

Star Trek or other forms of science fiction entertainment can at least teach me moral lessons to guide me in my decision making process through out my life. It can also engage my mind in theoretical concepts and keep me out of bar fights, too.

The thing is that sports is more socially acceptable and you can gamble on it. But you don't need sports to accomplish either of those two tasks, though.

[Jonas Grumby]

T'Girl wrote:

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I wore a Zoe Saldana/Uhura style uniform mini (with and without insignia) a lot last summer, in public, to clubs and even to class, got a lot of compliment on it.

Well, even though it's kind of a meme on this board, I've never actually said it myself. But I think this calls for my very first "How YOU doin'?"

[Finn]

Luther Sloan wrote:

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I never been a fan of sports. Not to knock it, but I mean if you really think about it, how does Team X winning against Team Y really have any effect on my life? The simple answer is that it doesn't.

Star Trek or other forms of science fiction entertainment can at least teach me moral lessons to guide me in my decision making process through out my life. It can also engage my mind in theoretical concepts and keep me out of bar fights, too.

The thing is that sports is more socially acceptable and you can gamble on it. But you don't need sports to accomplish either of those two tasks, though.

Yes you can. Athletic activities have kept many youth out of trouble and found their way. There are people who learned to better themselves spiritually, psychologically and physically playing sports.

And you don't need Trek to teach you all that either.


And something tells me the OP is a troll.

[plynch]

22 Stars wrote:

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Ya, that's her. I wasn't casting aspersions, just citing an example of someone who we know has done the very same thing as featured in that documentary. You read snark where there was none.

Yes I did. My apologies. Be well.

[Luther Sloan]

Finn wrote:

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Yes you can. Athletic activities have kept many youth out of trouble and found their way. There are people who learned to better themselves spiritually, psychologically and physically playing sports.

And you don't need Trek to teach you all that either.

Finn:

Playing sports versus watching it is totally different. But I do realize that playing sports can be beneficial. I just don't think that watching sports is all that advantageous. Unless of course you are rooting for your siblings or something (which would be a completely different case).

[22 Stars]

plynch wrote:

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Yes I did. My apologies. Be well.

Thanks, I really do want to encourage the OP to do whatever his heart tells him to do. I admire the Trek Juror, and would should set a nice example for this poster.

[Warped9]

Many a fan has imagined wearing a Starfleet costume. But we recognize it is a costume and not an actual recognized uniform. To wear one in the privacy of your own home and/or among like minded friends or at a convention is one thing. But to wear it in public as a substitute for everyday wear is something else entirely.

It's all very well to want to be ourself, but let's be perfectly candid here. In the real world if you wear such a costume in public for no reason other than as a substitute for normal everyday wear then you might as well also wear a big neon sign that says, "Please, beat me."

[Delta1]

Finn wrote:

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And something tells me the OP is a troll.

It couldn't be more obvious, and I bet he's delighted he got some encouraging comments. Yes, OP, there are uniform fetishists among the Trekkies, and they will defend the legitimacy of their preferences just as strongly as the rest of the dress-up crowd. But at least our confreres don't sew strategic holes into their costumes.

As for Trek v. sports, it must be remembered that sports are much more decentralized and democratized. There are local sports teams with a direct effect on the local economy. Watching them, and participating in rivalries, socially binds one to one's neighbors. There is an assumption that one "roots for the home team," and as such, those living within the home team's bailiwick are assumed to be members of the sports fan community. Professional sports are also an amped-up version of the same games that many people played as children or students; watching them at the pro level allows one to appreciate virtuosity in a familiar activity.

Trek is centralized. It all comes from one place. There is no local Trek, it has no effect on the local economy (unless you live in LA or happen to write for/draw royalties from Trek), and there aren't really any competitions to encourage rivalry. There's no public sense of community. Watching Trek doesn't allow one to appreciate a familiar activity performed well, unless one happens to be an actor or a subspace field engineer.

So, I can see why one might wear an outward sign of allegiance to a sports team in public. It's a sign of a community that many people think already exists, and most are willing to accept. There isn't an analogous Star Trek community. Perhaps if Star Trek were democratized--if people could participate in Star Trek as children, grow up to do it professionally, and if every major city had their own Star Trek theater where their own Star Trek team performed--then wearing Star Trek costumes in public might be widely considered normal.

[Orcus]

I bet the OP is even more delighted that they got three pages worth of 'serious' comment from all this...

[Luther Sloan]

Delta1 wrote:

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It couldn't be more obvious, and I bet he's delighted he got some encouraging comments. Yes, OP, there are uniform fetishists among the Trekkies, and they will defend the legitimacy of their preferences just as strongly as the rest of the dress-up crowd. But at least our confreres don't sew strategic holes into their costumes.

Delta 1:

Yes, but they are rebelling against the community by wearing such said costume. No one can identify with their actions except others who do the same thing in other cities across the globe.

As for Trek v. sports, it must be remembered that sports are much more decentralized and democratized. There are local sports teams with a direct effect on the local economy. Watching them, and participating in rivalries, socially binds one to one's neighbors. There is an assumption that one "roots for the home team," and as such, those living within the home team's bailiwick are assumed to be members of the sports fan community. Professional sports are also an amped-up version of the same games that many people played as children or students; watching them at the pro level allows one to appreciate virtuosity in a familiar activity.

Trek is centralized. It all comes from one place. There is no local Trek, it has no effect on the local economy (unless you live in LA or happen to write for/draw royalties from Trek), and there aren't really any competitions to encourage rivalry. There's no public sense of community. Watching Trek doesn't allow one to appreciate a familiar activity performed well, unless one happens to be an actor or a subspace field engineer.

So, I can see why one might wear an outward sign of allegiance to a sports team in public. It's a sign of a community that many people think already exists, and most are willing to accept. There isn't an analogous Star Trek community. Perhaps if Star Trek were democratized--if people could participate in Star Trek as children, grow up to do it professionally, and if every major city had their own Star Trek theater where their own Star Trek team performed--then wearing Star Trek costumes in public might be widely considered normal.

Now lets just say hypothetically speaking that sports was an activity where everyone watched an out of shape man slowly painting the side of a house. What is to be gained from it? Besides hanging out with other people who like to do the same boring thing? If I see that my fellow neighbors love to get into watching that, well, hey, that is cool for them. I find it to be a waste of my time as a group effort. As for the economical benefits. Well, just because something makes money and goes into helping the city doesn't always mean it is a good thing. Guns and drugs can help the economy, too. But we don't push those at neighborly group events. Now, I am not implying that sports is evil or anything. Far from it. It can be a tool used for good. I get that. But in my opinion I think it is a very insignificant activity to watch other people run around throwing a ball when it has no real impact on my life directly (besides some small possible sense of connection with fellow neighbors who like to do the same boring things).

Now, if my community were to walk or climb a mountain for cancer together. That would be different. It is an activity or a cause that is going to keep you in shape and do some good. But drinking and yelling at a TV screen or in a stadium while others do the running around is silly to me.

[JarodRussell]

Orcus wrote:

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I bet the OP is even more delighted that they got three pages worth of 'serious' comment from all this...

THIS.

[Therin of Andor]

Luther Sloan wrote:

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Playing sports versus watching it is totally different. But I do realize that playing sports can be beneficial. I just don't think that watching sports is all that advantageous.

I hate playing - and even watching - sport, but many, many people find role models amongst their sporting heroes.

[Luther Sloan]

Then they should look at how they live. And not at how they throw a ball as the defining thing for them to cheer over.

In other words: most of the time, fans of famous sports players seem to care more about how well they play versus how they live their life.

Sure, Star Trek is fictional and should be put in perspective as a piece of fiction, but it at least teaches us about positive morals and lessons in life. It also makes us think about how things could be if we were to imagine greater. It even engages our minds in the scientific possibilities of life, too.