On just about every social media platform, conservatives have been whining about “woke” Star Trek after the new series ‘Star Trek: Starfleet Academy’ debuted on Paramount+ this week, including Pee Wee German himself, Stephen Miller.
The new series features a diverse cast with Holly Hunter in the lead as Starfleet Academy Chancellor and USS Athena Captain Nahla Ake. Set in the 32nd Century, the show will chronicle the lives of cadets and their instructors as they navigate the challenges the United Federation of Planets faces years after a disaster changed the universe.
Only two episodes have aired, and the reviews are mostly positive, but that hasn’t stopped conservatives from complaining about it. They have immediately taken to social media to use their favorite dog whistle word, “woke,” to describe it.
Stephen Miller even demanded that 94-year-old William Shatner be given complete creative control over the franchise to “save” it from “wokeness.”
Tell me you don’t know Star Trek without telling me you don’t know Star Trek. As James T. Kirk in the Original Series, Shatner pioneered the first interracial kiss on television with Nichelle Nichols, who portrayed Lt. Nyota Uhura, a black woman in a command position on the USS Enterprise. All of this occurred in the 1960s in the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. It should also be pointed out that Shatner is Canadian.
This is just a taste of the “wokeness” that Star Trek displayed repeatedly throughout its three-season run and has been a staple of every film and series since, including recent films and series, all of which have been enthusiastically endorsed by members of the original cast. Star Trek has explored topics such as sexuality, racism, environmentalism, conservation, diplomacy, gender inequality, ethics in technology, religious fundamentalism, and the debate between capitalism and socialism, among others.
Diversity, equality, and acceptance are all central Star Trek themes, no matter how hard Miller and his Nazi buddies pretend otherwise. Social media relentlessly mocked Miller in response to his whining.
As a decades-long Star Trek fan, I enjoyed the first two episodes of this new series. I saw nor heard anything remotely objectionable. It is in line with what Star Trek is all about, and if conservatives are losing their minds over it already, it clearly must be doing things right.
Featured Image: Wikimedia Commons/Gage Skidmore
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