I know not everybody contemplates the messages found in their preferred media, but it’s hard to imagine someone who thinks like that finding anything to like about Star Trek.
It does seem that more than a few of this kind of people are quite tonedef. One example is a lot of them liking Rage Against the Machine but objecting when Tom Morello makes a political statement, as if their entire song catalog wasn’t political and literally raging against everything those conservatives and/or fascists hold dear.
I grew up in (and eventually left) a conservative Christian church, so I don’t have a good idea of how aware normal people are when it comes to the fears and obsessions of that community. From stories like these I think that there’s hardly any awareness at all – which is totally fine! Those beliefs are erroneous and damaging! But two things worth understanding if you want to know why these complaints of theirs are so common (and wrong of course):
Evangelicals believe that if the existence of same-sex attraction is kept secret then no one would ever be gay, and
Evangelicals believe that sexy media leads to horniness, which leads to jerking-off, which is a sin – whereas horrifying bloody violence does not.
I tend to agree, but there are two issues working agaonst Star Trek.
Successful media appeals to broad audiences by having something to appeal to every demographic. (E.g. Don’t like politics? Stay for the lasers.)
Good sci-fi (arguably stories in general) gives the best representation of both sides of a conflict, and lets them compete on their merits. So it’s possible to resonate with one side, then miss the critique (e.g. due to modest writing or selective hearing).
So while Star Trek tends to show progressive values winning in the end, many people can enjoy other aspects (e.g. military stories, relationships, and action) while ignoring the upshot.
I know not everybody contemplates the messages found in their preferred media, but it’s hard to imagine someone who thinks like that finding anything to like about Star Trek.
It does seem that more than a few of this kind of people are quite tonedef. One example is a lot of them liking Rage Against the Machine but objecting when Tom Morello makes a political statement, as if their entire song catalog wasn’t political and literally raging against everything those conservatives and/or fascists hold dear.
And also objecting to Tom Morello making a political statement as if he wasn’t an honors graduate in Political Science from Harvard University.
I loved it when Paul Ryan said he was a fan of RATM and Tom Morello said that Paul Ryan is the machine they’re raging against.
I grew up in (and eventually left) a conservative Christian church, so I don’t have a good idea of how aware normal people are when it comes to the fears and obsessions of that community. From stories like these I think that there’s hardly any awareness at all – which is totally fine! Those beliefs are erroneous and damaging! But two things worth understanding if you want to know why these complaints of theirs are so common (and wrong of course):
Evangelicals believe that if the existence of same-sex attraction is kept secret then no one would ever be gay, and
Evangelicals believe that sexy media leads to horniness, which leads to jerking-off, which is a sin – whereas horrifying bloody violence does not.
There are a surprising number of conservatives for who the entire message of the show has just gone over their heads.
I tend to agree, but there are two issues working agaonst Star Trek.
So while Star Trek tends to show progressive values winning in the end, many people can enjoy other aspects (e.g. military stories, relationships, and action) while ignoring the upshot.