Star Trek Day 2024 | Take the Chair. Make an Impact. | StarTrek.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEXcocPMv0Y
On September 8, 1966, Gene Roddenberry introduced audiences to a world that championed diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and hope. This Star Trek Day, fans joined us around the world in support of our global mission to "take the chair and make an impact" in our communities.
The difference is that the diverse assemblage of nationalities and races represented in Star Trek were there by virtue of merit, not DEI quotas.
Nobody said "diversity, inclusion, acceptance" back then. It's modern wokology.
shareNot really, Roddenberry deliberately wanted an ethnically diverse cast to represent a united Earth of the future. This is just a bizarre criticism to make of Star Trek.
share
Yeah, but that wasn't my point. Every person on the ST bridge, regardless of their nationalities, color, or even race (Spock) were there on merit as opposed to today where people are put into positions they don't merit but are there based on some DEI quotas.
Roddenberry wanted that because he wanted to depict a future in which society had developed to a point where overt racism and discrimination of the sort that Roddenberry would have seen all the time in the 1960s, simply was not tolerated any longer, and been eliminated so long ago by the 23rd century that the very idea would have seemed, to the people of Kirk's society, to be barbaric. Of course, it's still not completely gone, as Mr. Stiles displays some of it in "Balance of Terror," but Stiles is very much an outlier in that respect.
In such a milieu as this, the best and brightest would be free to rise as far as their talents would take them, in any field of endeavor, regardless of their ethnic origins or any other immutable characteristics. For example, in the episode "The Ultimate Computer," Dr. Richard Daystrom, the designer of the Enterprise's central computer, and the experimental M5 artificial intelligence that was meant to replace both the standard computer and most of the crew, was a black man. No apparent notice was ever taken that he was a black man. No character mentions it. It's not significant. Daystrom was just a brilliant scientist, preeminent in his field, and whatever his personal background and ancestry was, no one even took note of it; it wasn't commented on, noticed, or important in any way. That kind of detail was essentially meaningless in Roddenberry's imagined 21st century -- you were what your talent and your personality made you, regardless of origin. In short, Roddenberry brought to the screen MLK Jr's ideal of a society where people are judged entirely on personal qualities -- character, intelligence, talent, skill, aptitude, ability, etc, -- not race.
All the above is very different from 21st century DEI, "antiracism," critical race theory, wokeism -- call it what you want. In DEI ideology, someone in a position of power picks winners and losers, based on how many diversity boxes they check, and uses this criterion to elevate the "right" people past those who don't check enough of those boxes. Talent, intelligence, skill, merit, all become less important than having the "right" bloodline. It's absolutely as racist an ideology as Nazi, white-supremacist, Aryan master race ideology, it just elevates a different identity group to preeminence, that's all.
Racism still exists today which is the reason for the attack on diversity by implying non-whites are unqualified. Majority of hires are white women, not people of color.
Star Trek had 3 white men in the lead roles.
Star Trek: The Wrath of Farrakhan
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=slqtjqDHQqY
Sulu and Uhura were Starfleet officers because they were intelligent, and successful in the rigorous Academy qualification process. Because of merit, not because they were non-white.
shareSulu and Uhura were denied lead roles because they weren't white men like Kelly, Shatner and Nimoy.
shareAre you sure it wasnt because they were shitty acotrs? Have you ever seen George Takei act?? He's a ham.
shareIt's common knowledge that Shatner was a horrible actor - overacting and ham. But, he's a white male = white-skin & male privileges
shareWhat Shatner has is a ridiculous amount of screen presence and raw charm. He has no range but his personality shines through. George Takei has neither screen presence or charm. Or Nichelle.
share"Are you sure it wasnt because they were shitty acotrs?"
Don't move the goalpost! Shatner was a shitty actor.
But, he's a white male = white-skin male privilege
The rest has to do with writing and character development for white male leads focus. Again due to white-skin male privilege
Not only were they there by virtue of merit, they all had the same goal. They weren't trying to remain separate. They worked within the Federation rules. It was always the enemies that had different, hostile rules and cultures, not the Enterprise crew. On their own time, they might eat different foods or decorate their apartments differently. But at work, the only difference was the personalities. They'd integrated into the Federation and the Enterprise. They weren't going around as walking grievances because of their differences. Like the MLK ideal, it was a colorblind society.
shareMajority of straight white males accept diversity and equality in the Trek universe, therefore there is no "grievance". Not so in reality where diversity and equality were and are quashed. Trek was unique in its diversity during the 60s TV era.
I'll remind you that MLK was stabbed by a white male and assassinated by another.
I respect diversity, not forced diversity. My first step into the Star Trek universe was Voyager, which was very diverse. I never viewed it as forced, although it probably was in one way or another. Now we seemed to have taken quite a few steps back on race relations because we didn't just let things naturally settle but started victimizing minorities. In my opinion, we're now at the point where it's so obvious that things are being forced that it's become annoying. Just make good movies, TV shows and commercials. Stop trying to pander.
Nice job for Gene Roddenberry to try to look to the future and not dwell on the past!
Roddenberry had to fight for a diverse cast. Ending racism doesn't happen on its own. One must fight against racism and discrimination.
share