Boy, if life was only like this -- sometimes it is.
February 20, 2015 10:58 AM Subscribe
I was there. I know what Gene Roddenberry envisioned. He went on at length about it in almost every meeting. He wasn't about technology, he was about envisioning a world that works for everyone, with no one and nothing left out. Gene Roddenberry was one of the great Social Justice Warriors. You don't get to claim him or his show as a shield of virtue for a cause he would have disdained.William Lehman tried to claim Star Trek for the anti-social justice movement. David Gerrold, one of the original script writers on the series and somebody who actually knew Gene Roddenberry, was quick to slap him down, in a moment not unlike that Marshall McLuhan scene in Annie Hall.
This post was deleted for the following reason: I kinda feel like a post about someone calling out an "SJWs suck!" screed, featuring that screed, on the basis that it's a bad screed, is sort of giving the thing attention in a way that we don't need to. -- cortex
Good on him. I'd probably get as far as "WTF, have you even seen it?".
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Artw at 11:03 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
SJW's are mythical straw-creatures created by the right wing to caricature progressive movements and proclaim that they have gone too far.
posted by humanfont at 11:05 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by humanfont at 11:05 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Lehman's essay is so incomprehensible it almost doesn't deserve a response. Who is he and why does he deserve anyone's attention?
posted by muddgirl at 11:05 AM on February 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 11:05 AM on February 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
David Gerrold can be a jerk but he is spot on here.
posted by Splunge at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015
posted by Splunge at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015
I've always loved David Gerrold, writer of "The Trouble with Tribbles." Now, he's a hero of mine.
posted by No Robots at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by No Robots at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I knew Gene Roddenberry's son a little bit. At a school that was famous as pretty counter-cultural, he looked, and kind of acted like, a typical bro. (This was 20 years ago.) I found it an interesting self-presentation for Gene Roddenberry's son. I liked him.
posted by OmieWise at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015
posted by OmieWise at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2015
Amazed Gerrold thought this was worth the effort to respond to.
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:11 AM on February 20, 2015
posted by Steely-eyed Missile Man at 11:11 AM on February 20, 2015
Occam's Razor suggests a more parsimonious explanation for William Lehman's work not being widely read than that "social justice warriors" have seized control of the publishing industry.
posted by oliverburkeman at 11:11 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by oliverburkeman at 11:11 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Good stuff that should be obvious, but idiot right-wingers are not foreign to totally misinterpreting things to make it fit their worldview, of course.
Now, for more important stuff, when's the next Chtorr book coming out?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:13 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Now, for more important stuff, when's the next Chtorr book coming out?
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 11:13 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
the SJW Glittery hoo ha crowd
I'm unduly amused at the mental image.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 11:15 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Joakim Ziegler: "Good stuff that should be obvious, but idiot right-wingers are not foreign to totally misinterpreting things to make it fit their worldview, of course.
Now, for more important stuff, when's the next Chtorr book coming out?"
Thank you!
posted by Splunge at 11:17 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Now, for more important stuff, when's the next Chtorr book coming out?"
Thank you!
posted by Splunge at 11:17 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
The whole blog is apparently devoted to taking down "SJWs", the scourge of modern sci-fi/fantasy.
posted by muddgirl at 11:18 AM on February 20, 2015
posted by muddgirl at 11:18 AM on February 20, 2015
Possibly this guy.
posted by brennen at 11:20 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
John Fisher, retired Seal and were-cougar, was having just another day at the office. He is a Park Police officer. His office is a Dodge Durango.I really, really hope it is that guy.
posted by brennen at 11:20 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
And the award for "Best SDB Impersonation" goes to ...
So let me get this straight—there's a dude on the internet blogging about Star Trek and how its "myths" vindicate his tribe and incriminate somebody else's tribe. And if all's right with the world he's doing it in his pajamas.
Next up: How my toys will defeat your toys and the geopolitical implications of this struggle.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:21 AM on February 20, 2015
So let me get this straight—there's a dude on the internet blogging about Star Trek and how its "myths" vindicate his tribe and incriminate somebody else's tribe. And if all's right with the world he's doing it in his pajamas.
Next up: How my toys will defeat your toys and the geopolitical implications of this struggle.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:21 AM on February 20, 2015
Search inside the book for "liberal." Do it.
posted by muddgirl at 11:22 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 11:22 AM on February 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Star Trek was about social justice from day one -- the stories were about the human pursuit for a better world, a better way of being, the next step up the ladder of sentience. The stories weren't about who we were going to fight, but who we were going to make friends with. It wasn't about defining an enemy -- it was about creating a new partnership. That's why when Next Gen came along, we had a Klingon on the bridge.
When you think Social Justice Warrior, think Worf.
And tremble.
posted by emjaybee at 11:23 AM on February 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
When you think Social Justice Warrior, think Worf.
And tremble.
posted by emjaybee at 11:23 AM on February 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
The whole blog is apparently devoted to taking down "SJWs", the scourge of modern sci-fi/fantasy.
Kurt Vonnegut, in his Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons collection, wrote, "I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ... and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
In this case, it appears that someone has mistaken their stinky urinal for the USS Enterprise, and it took Gerrold to disabuse him of his wee notions.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:26 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Kurt Vonnegut, in his Wampeters, Foma and Granfalloons collection, wrote, "I have been a soreheaded occupant of a file drawer labeled 'science fiction' ... and I would like out, particularly since so many serious critics regularly mistake the drawer for a urinal."
In this case, it appears that someone has mistaken their stinky urinal for the USS Enterprise, and it took Gerrold to disabuse him of his wee notions.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:26 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was always partial to Data as a symbol of burgeoning SJW everywhere. That's why I grew up to be an engineer. im in ur profession overthrowing ur kyriarchy.
posted by muddgirl at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by muddgirl at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Ah, here's the scene I was looking for - a woman from an asexual species defending her choice of gender, from TNG's "The Outcast".
So much of that speech could be framed to virtually any aspect of social justice.
posted by Ryvar at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015
So much of that speech could be framed to virtually any aspect of social justice.
posted by Ryvar at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015
I'm psychically itchy.the SJW Glittery hoo ha crowdI'm unduly amused at the mental image.
Tried to read the screed but gave up at the third or fourth rhetorical question. As for mid-air seXXy wrestling bare-midriff blue female-shaped aliens image that adorns the text ... I think it all might have sounded better inside his head.
posted by Buttons Bellbottom at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015
Celsius1414: "wee notions"
I see what you did there...
posted by notsnot at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I see what you did there...
posted by notsnot at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
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posted by Ryvar at 11:01 AM on February 20, 2015 [2 favorites]