'White genocide in space': Racist "fans" seething at racial diversity in Discovery...

[Borgminister]

Klingons are bloodthirsty, Vulcans are logical and Ferengi are greedy. That's a lot of diversity there.

That leaves gluttony for civilized earth.

 

[urbandefault]

People are assholes.

Posters in this thread, however, will be respectful and calm. Just you watch.

I won't be. Wait for it.

 

[JD]

Star Trek's overall message is very much consonant with the ideals of racists, identitarians, whatever we want to call them. The overall message of Star Trek is this:

1. There are biological differences between peoples who evolved in different places. In Star Trek, these heritable traits include intelligence, physical strength, and propensity for engaging in or avoiding certain behaviors, as well as various fanciful sci-fi conceits like telepathy, turning into pure energy, etc.

2. Different populations have very different ways of looking at the world, individual rights and responsibilities, etc. There is a Vulcan way, a Klingon way, a Ferengi way, a Borg way, etc. When these worldviews collide, there is a heightened probability of conflict.

3. Individuals can live among foreign populations, but will never truly assimilate. Spock will always be a Vulcan, Worf a Klingon, Nog a Ferengi, Seven a Borg, etc. These resident aliens are usually few in number, well-behaved, and contribute to the common good. The occasional foil from their species shows how well-adapted to Federation life the individual is, and how poorly-adapted the rest of the species is.

4. Cooperation is possible, but long-term political union requires a powerful civilizational center. In Star Trek, this is Earth--more precisely, it is western civilization, represented by Paris and San Diego. This is because western values are uniquely suited for interstellar exploration and coalition-building. The values of other civilizations were thoroughly repudiated by the ousting of the Indian superman after the Eugenics War and the destruction of the Eastern Coalition in WW3.

5. Entering Starfleet is very difficult. It's based not only on shared values, but also on being extremely talented. Likewise, entering the Federation requires shared values and a certain amount of technological sophistication. No one has the right to enter Starfleet. No world may enter the Federation solely to benefit from its economy. An outsider must demonstrate that they have the same values and that they are adding value before they are admitted to society.

When you look below the surface, Star Trek is very alt right.

I finally found this GIF and you gave me the perfect opporunity to use it, so even though I disagree with every sentence of this post, I still thank you for it.

 

[Mudd]

And generally not allowing as much diversity among these "races" as would be expected among space-faring societies.

There is not as much cultural diversity in all of Trek as there is within a four block radius centered on my home.

 

[fireproof78]

There is not as much cultural diversity in all of Trek as there is within a four block radius centered on my home.

Indeed, indeed.

 

[ichab]

Star Trek's overall message is very much consonant with the ideals of racists, identitarians, whatever we want to call them. The overall message of Star Trek is this:

1. There are biological differences between peoples who evolved in different places. In Star Trek, these heritable traits include intelligence, physical strength, and propensity for engaging in or avoiding certain behaviors, as well as various fanciful sci-fi conceits like telepathy, turning into pure energy, etc.

2. Different populations have very different ways of looking at the world, individual rights and responsibilities, etc. There is a Vulcan way, a Klingon way, a Ferengi way, a Borg way, etc. When these worldviews collide, there is a heightened probability of conflict.

3. Individuals can live among foreign populations, but will never truly assimilate. Spock will always be a Vulcan, Worf a Klingon, Nog a Ferengi, Seven a Borg, etc. These resident aliens are usually few in number, well-behaved, and contribute to the common good. The occasional foil from their species shows how well-adapted to Federation life the individual is, and how poorly-adapted the rest of the species is.

4. Cooperation is possible, but long-term political union requires a powerful civilizational center. In Star Trek, this is Earth--more precisely, it is western civilization, represented by Paris and San Diego. This is because western values are uniquely suited for interstellar exploration and coalition-building. The values of other civilizations were thoroughly repudiated by the ousting of the Indian superman after the Eugenics War and the destruction of the Eastern Coalition in WW3.

The Indian /alt right superman was trying to take over Earth so yeah, he was punished.

5. Entering Starfleet is very difficult. It's based not only on shared values, but also on being extremely talented. Likewise, entering the Federation requires shared values and a certain amount of technological sophistication. No one has the right to enter Starfleet. No world may enter the Federation solely to benefit from its economy. An outsider must demonstrate that they have the same values and that they are adding value before they are admitted to society.

It's not just about adding value. It's about making sure the society has evolved far enough so they are ready. Many episodes showed the harm that came when a primitive society was exposed to "aliens". If the federation was greedy, it would expose itself to every race in the quadrant and profit from doing so.Holding off until the right time was more a benefit to that society than it was to the federation.

When you look below the surface, Star Trek is very alt right.

The only thing that comes close to the alt right in Star Trek is the Mirror Universe. The Federation, Starfleet and Earth in the regular universe? Not even close.

 

[Campe]

I finally found this GIF and you gave me the perfect opporunity to use it, so even though I disagree with every sentence of this post, I still thank you for it.

The full video is even better...

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[cgervasi]

There are biological differences between peoples who evolved in different places. In Star Trek, these heritable traits include intelligence, physical strength, and propensity for engaging in or avoiding certain behaviors, as well as various fanciful sci-fi conceits like telepathy, turning into pure energy, etc.

The interesting part is what if there were groups of people on earth who had significant biological differences. What if you could make a reasonable prediction about people's abilities and personalities based on how they look? How would we respond to that? In Star Trek, they go with the stereotypes based on group identity. A few times it comes up, like in TNG Suspicions. They don't really go into what it's like for the infrequent cool-headed Klingon constantly being expected to have certain traits but having different traits.

None of this is an allegory for Earth because we do not have groups with significant biological differences.

Entering Starfleet is very difficult. It's based not only on shared values, but also on being extremely talented.

This runs contrary to the claim that Trek being racist. If it were racist, they would just hire the species/races that supposedly have the abilities they need instead of giving tests.

 

[dswynne1]

People should just dismiss this story as "trolling"...or brilliant marketing. Besides, this "story" won't prevent me from enjoy DSC.

 

[Bryce B.]

Main Star Trek captains, so far:

• Kirk = American
• Picard = French
• Sisko = American
• Janeway = American
  
• Archer = American
• "Kelvin" Kirk = American

The first and last names of Michael Burnham are typical for an English-speaking country, like USA. The character in the trailer spoke with what sounded like an American accent. And while Burnham is not a captain, the information for Discovery states that, unlike previously, this will be the show's main character.

 

[Mudd]

American show.

That's what Trek has always really been: an American product pitched squarely at an American audience. Other folks are just invited along for the ride.

BTW, Picard was not played by a Frenchman.

 

[NOVE9]

You have to be able to appeal to your primary audience. That's why Doctor who is a British alien.

 

[Mudd]

Exactly. Having Michelle Yeoh as a major cast member is rather an innovation, as she's neither American nor from the UK.

 

[Spider]

As Da Shat would say, "It's just a TV show."

This whole diversity thing is wearing thin now. It was fun to argue about for a while, now it's old. Will someone please find something new to fight over? Just don't pick canon, I'm tired of that as well. And for god's sake not Klingon ridges either.

 

[Mudd]

Did it start to get tired when it stopped being so much about racists posting on the Internet and more about how oversold Trek's diversity has been and how far out of step it is now?

 

[cultcross]

To namedrop this for the second time, I met Nichelle Nichols at the weekend, and it got me thinking about what a big deal the diversity, such as it was, in TOS was at the time, and how completely safe Trek casts have been ever since. Sure, there are more women and minorities in the casts since, but they've never been ahead of the curve like that again. Instead, they lag behind. Twenty years after the first openly gay character on primetime TV, Trek came up with a convoluted sci-fi reason to have two women kiss briefly making sure everyone knew they were actually deep down just remembering a proper, heterosexual relationship.

 

[Mudd]

Yep


Trek was ahead of its time in casting a black woman as supporting cast, I guess, but NBC had a diverse casting policy in place and was ready having great success with I Spy, an hour long drama featuring a black man as co-star with a white guy.

 

[cultcross]

I think Trek deserves a 'diverse' label for a black woman, Japanese man and a Russian on the Bridge, and Spock probably scores a quarter point for Jewish representation although much less of a cultural big deal.
TNG onwards, Trek was generally less diverse than its contemporaries, or achieved milestones later.

 

[ichab]

From what I understand Roddenberry had to fight to keep Nichols on as the studio wouldn't allow her to be anything more than a "Day Player." And many of her lines got cut because Shatner exercised his creative control to the detriment of the rest of the cast. It's a shame becaus she was very talented and beautiful and in todays era would have been a lead character.

 

[BillJ]

I think Trek deserves a 'diverse' label for a black woman, Japanese man and a Russian on the Bridge, and Spock probably scores a quarter point for Jewish representation although much less of a cultural big deal.
TNG onwards, Trek was generally less diverse than its contemporaries, or achieved milestones later.

Trek's diversity was always overblown. Yeah, they had minorities but when the shit hit the fan, it was the white guys who saved the day.

As Trek progressed in the 80's and 90's, I always felt it became more conservative.