Starfleet Jedi

Dear Crom:

Crom wrote:I'm not trying to say that all Trek fans are hard core right wingers, I read a post in the Star Trek forum (and I'm still having trouble tracking it down) where someone commented about how the diehard Star Trek fans that clash with Darth Wong often share traits with the most diehard right wingers. That's what got me thinking, that if there are people out there drawn to this idea of authoritarian/militant governments promoting their religion and killing the outsiders, WH40k should have been a the top of their list.

I remember hearing that before. Much like his persistent claims about no educated individuals disagreeing with him, and his claims that everybody who disagrees with him is just like a creationist, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

You might consider reading our "other" discussion forum here on SFJ; most of the regulars here are among those disagreeing with Darth Wong, but you might notice they don't agree with each other all that much in the political discussion forum.

As far as why I chose to take Thanatos down a notch over a WH40k vs BattleTech matchup, it has nothing to do with a like or dislike for either game. It had much more to do with the weak and fallacious arguments that had become ingrained in the VS community through a combination of laziness, loudness, obscurity, and incompetence. His challenge was a convenient impetus to actually get up, look through the material, and expose the hollow core of many claims frequently laid out about WH40k with next to no supporting evidence or critical examination.

Indeed, far from hating WH40k, after going through all the WH40k material, I wondered if I shouldn't start playing to recoup the investment of time I spent in learning all about it. Although I don't think I would like to play Imperium. Tau or Necron, perhaps. They seem more fun.

I find the whole idea that Star Trek appeals to right wingers absolutely ludicrous, especially given how Star Trek is practically tailor-made for left-wingers!

I agree, I'm more a leftist then a right-winger, and I like ST.

Then again, I also like SW a lot, so does that make me a leftist right-winger, or a right-handed left-winger?

;)

I'm always amused by people who try to generalize stuff in the most inane ways. Alright, so the TV shows you watch is somehow closely tied to what political stances you might have? What about sports? Is a soccer player more likely to be left-wing extremist then a hockey player?

Sometimes people look for patterns where then are none, and in the case of SDN the motivation behind doing so is something we all came to know back when we were kids. In fact it’s something that’s quite popular in kindergarten. If a kid hates Skeletor then usually he’ll try to associate Skeletor with everything else he hates. Say he doen't like drinking milk, well then that obviously means Skeletor drinks milk. The SDN crowd don’t like Trekkies, so naturally they try to associate trekkies with everything they hate the most - Religious people with the opposite view of politics.

There’s not much positive to be said about naiveté like that.