Anyone know any conservative Star Trek fans?

[Aristus]

I saw a guy recently wearing a "Don't Tread On Me" ball cap and a Star Trek United Federation Of Planets tee-shirt.

D.T.O.M. is a pretty popular right-wing symbol, and Star Trek is famous for its liberal outlook for the future of the people of Earth.

People are more complex than we usually give them credit for. I was just wondering if anyone else had seen this particular discrepancy.

[Phoenix61]

1. I don't. All the one I know are science nerds.

Not exactly the poster children for RWNJs.

[Diamond_Dog]

2. Science nerds....

That’s a good description. Like Sheldon Cooper.

[Phoenix61]

3. If Sheldon drank beer and smoked weed. nt

[AllaN01Bear]

4. no.

[WHITT]

5. Nope

If there were, the only civilization they would like is the Ferengi.

[EYESORE 9001]

8. What about the borg?

I wonder sometimes whether they’ve already been assimilated.

[Dial H For Hero]

6. I know one, but he's strictly a fan of TOS, to the point of despising TNG.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. The Trekkies I know are NOT conservatives nor Republicans.

I have yet to come across non Geek people at the various Sci-fi/Fantasy conventions I attend. If some do attend, they are a rare breed indeed. Too liberal minded and inclusive for their tastes.

[Jirel]

9. They are legion.

There are entire conservatwat Star Trek groups on Facebook and elsewhere that twist everything they see on the show to somehow uphold their moronic views.

[Harker]

10. That has to take a lot of bending and twisting. n/t

[Jirel]

11. That's an understatement.

It’s like watching QAnon.

[Harker]

18. I'm pretty good at understatement.

I'd say I'm a master, but...

[Shermann]

12. Star Trek crosses the aisle

Klingons in the original series looked like Afghans, and Captain Kirk had an affinity for punching them in the face.

Also the women in Kirk's crew were mostly relegated to bringing him his drink and clipboard to sign.

[Aristus]

13. Yeah.

And the Ferengi are a rather nasty Jewish stereotype. Several of the actors who played Ferengi were Jewish. I wonder how they felt about it.

[Shermann]

14. Can't say I ever picked up on that one

They were introduced in TNG which was a lot more politically correct.

[Aristus]

16. Every series includes the advances in real-life society since the prior series.

In TNG, women have more agency and Klingons are viewed like samurai, honorable warriors instead of bloodthirsty killers. But it was still the 80's, and we had a long way to go.

Star Trek: Discovery includes gay couples, but their worldview is less utopian than previous series.

[WHITT]

17. Me Neither

They were so-called 'free-market', 'no-regulations', money-grubbing profiteers. Much in common with the RightWing.

[Akoto]

26. The Ferengi did make steps forward at the end of DS9, though!

The new thinker was made leader of their culture rather than the traditionalist (who was, in truth, far more liberal by Ferengi standards than he admits). Ferengi women are given equal rights and the right to profit, the rules of business by which they live are no longer central to their society, etc.

Quark, a Ferengi, also makes a pretty good case for their society to the human captain. The Ferengi never had internal warfare, no slavery, no concentration camps, no nuclear weapons. Compared to them, he says, it's the humans who look barbaric.

[Still Sensible]

15. Unfortunately my 52yo nephew is both a Trekkie and a Trumper

and its fucking aggravating!

[area51]

19. I knew a co-worker who was conservative who likes Star Trek.

He is a fan of the original series.

[Leith]

20. They are out there

I'm a member of TrekBBS, though I rarely go there these days.

Most Star Trek fans are liberal and intelligent. The con "fans" are more interested in combat scenes and they ignore the metaphorical reflection of current US culture. They also have different (and wrong) takes on various ideas & characters and what they mean.

[mopinko]

25. i was gonna say- i bet a lot of them love it for the weapons.

i have an old school con neighbor that is a trekkie. we never had a deep convo about it, tho.

[ms liberty]

21. Star Trek and conservatives intersect in the world of Rush (the band) fans

Unfortunately Neil Peart read an Ayn Rand novel right before he wrote the lyrics to their breakthrough album 2112. He read it as a novel, not out of interest in her political worldview. It was a book that the "smart kids" in school all had read, and he was in a bookstore looking for something to read while the band was on the road - Neil was a voracious reader his whole life. But he made the mistake of praising her in the liner notes of 2112, so now there's a bunch fans who think they have to be right wing nut jobs because Neil praised Ayn Rand once when he was young and impressionable before he grew up, learned about her and realised the woman was a fraud, admired serial killers and hated rock music. Neil moved on; it was one of the first books he found inspiration in, not the only or the last, but you can't tell some of them that. Hell, they can't handle it when you remind them that the Priests of the Temple of Syrinx are the bad guys in the story, and the band are the good guys.

[Aristus]

22. This is all very interesting.

I didn't know any of this. Thanks!

[ms liberty]

23. You are very welcome. I love Rush, and I'm one of the

Eight or ten women who's been a huge fan of theirs since the mid 70's. That's a Rush fan inside joke; their shows and fans were about 90% guys in the early days, usually nerdy or geeky ones, because of the science fiction themes in their lyrics - Neil read a lot of SF. Those themes paired well with Prog Rock and all its time and chord changes. All three of them were fans of Yes and Genesis, who also used less traditional subjects lyrically.

[patricia92243]

24. Hubby hard core Trek fan and hard core Trump worshiper.