Long Day's Journey into Night or Why I quit Star Trek

 Star Trek: Discovery launched on September 24, 2017  marking the first time Trek was on the small screen in over ten years. I went in with hope and optimism as I was encouraged by the show's decision to have a black woman be the show's lead for the first time in the franchise's history. Those feeling of hope and optimism are very hard to remember now as over the last three years, which have felt like 30 years, my interest in discussing Discovery, and the other CBS Trek shows, have been slowly crushed. 

Soon after Discovery aired, there began to be a wave of bad faith critics who ranted about how Trek had been taken over by "wokeness" or "SJWs" which was obviously nonsense. Nevertheless despite my disagreements with these bad faith critics I did think there were major problems with the story and sometimes acting in Discovery. I hoped to be able to air my critiques and offer good faith criticism that would represent a counterbalance to the overwhelming waves of toxicity. I proceeded to offer critiques of Discovery and later Picard, but despite my best efforts I attracted people of bad faith. One of whom was recently blasted by Armin Shimmermen and Jeffrey Combs for her or his, likely his, fringe views. I also noted that despite my best efforts, I was attracting people who attacked anyone who liked the new shows as "Shills," "bots" or "drekkies." 

At the same time I saw a coalition of fans who loved the CBS Trek showsl. I might not find enjoyment in these shows but that they do is beautiful. However, I also noticed that there was never any willingness to discuss problems with the shows. Everything was great all the time. Furthermore, there were some who openly said that there had never been any substantive critiques of the CBS trek shows which is patently false. Jammersreviews, a very long and respected site of Trek reviews, has been critical of CBS trek. What is more Jammersreviews is done by a black man so that his voice is being ignored by fans, many of whom call themselves progressives, is troubling to me. Additionally, well respected media outlets like the AV club have offered their own critiques. Obviously I would prefer for people to obsessively love something than obsessively hate it, but the same basic problem exists in this camp as the other: the seeming craving for monolithic thought.

And so this is why I quit Star Trek. I could not put myself in either of these camps. I refuse to engage in vitriol or attack anyone who likes the show, but I also cannot unconditionally love something and pretend all critiques are evil. It is unfortunate and I would also suggest highly antithetical to the ideals of Star Trek. The basic idea of Star Trek is how when we collect people with different perspectives we are enriched by the experience. This is patently obvious in TOS where the central trio are essentially Dorothy's companions in the Wizard of OZ: Spock is the brain, McCoy is the heart, and Kirk is the courage. Yet instead of that celebration of different perspectives, social media has seemingly turned Trek fandom into the borg. Any difference of opinion is to be stamped out as that is the work of a "shill" or a critique that is not actually "important." By no means am I saying it is wrong to love or hate these shows, please do not let that be the takeaway, but what I am saying is if you don't like the show, try opening your ears to those who love it. If you are someone who dislikes the show, open your ears to those who have problems with it provided those critiques are in good faith. The Star Trek Franchise, warts and all, is a wonderful creation and has ignited my imagination for so many years. Yet right now I feel unable to talk about it or to even muster interest in talking about it due to the lack of interest by so many for having a critical discussion about the shows and preferring to stay in their bubbles. And if the events with the protestors storming the capital building taught us anything, it is that staying in bubbles can be very harmful. 

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