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Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations: Star Trek Was Woke From The Beginning
(subspacechatter.substack.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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Being the work of bots makes a lot of sense. I'm not a Luddite with social media, but I definitely qualify as a dabbler, i.e. I'm not signed up with most social media sites. I know of bots, and the damage they can do online, but I keep not factoring in bots for something like Star Trek. When I don't like something I spend less time on it, not more.
Bots and shills accounts are a huge problem in any public discourse about any topic, but they really come out in full force when "hot button" topics come up. IE: I watch Doctor Who, also a highly political and progressive show with "fans" suddenly and inexplicably divided the second there was a whiff of casting news regarding a new Doctor.
Years ago, before Jodie Whittaker got the role officially, there were reports that Phoebe Waller-Bridge might be in talks to play the Doctor and the Doctor Who subreddit exploded with "as a woman I don't think the Doctor should be played by a woman" posts. After Jodie was announced the posts exploded again. Then later, there were talks a black actor could be playing the Doctor and once again inexplicably tons of 'as a black man I don't care about representation... " posts went flying.
Even little subs like PrintSF for sf/fantasy etc. books got the occasional comments when it was time for Hugos. Any mention of female or diverse authors being nominated got random accounts never accessing the sub before saying shit like "anyone else notice all the books are by LGBTQ authors? I'm just asking questions" never to be seen again after Hugos were over. There's still a remnant of Sad Puppy/Puppygate bad faith posters and shills sewing discord years later after the whole drama subsided.
It just seems like anytime potential division can be created there's an influx in new/ random accounts pushing it where it makes no sense, like with Star Trek or Doctor Who specifically being great examples. I hope fediverse places make this kinda blatant discord harder to create.
I really do believe there is a concentrated organized effort aimed at sewing that kind of discord in every online community, regardless of subject. Fandom has long been a place for people of all stripes to come together and bridge divisions that might exist in the outside world, and that is a threat to certain people in power who benefit from conflict.
I am NOT saying that all objectors to casting choices or "woke" story beats are paid shills. What I'm saying is that they are riled up and encouraged by a relatively small but dedicated contingent of actual paid trolls, working for shady troll farms, funded via dark money by those who profit from division.
Just to keep the conspiracy going, I agree, and also feel like at least some of that has to be from the studios themselves. Like, anti-woke protests are obnoxious, but they're also advertising for whatever they're protesting against. Some people will hate-watch it. Some will tune in just to see what the fuss is about. It would take relatively little investment to seed a few trolls out there and rile up the anti-woke crowd to create engagement that far outstrips traditional advertising, so why shouldn't Paramount kick the hornet's nest a bit?
Great points, bubbles of fandom being divided over wider political, civil, or national issues seems to be highly prevalent. Agreed I'm sure there's a minority of shills and bots but their message gets amplified by the "national debate" or what not surrounding whatever topic, it appears to be relatively easy to manipulate large groups of people with very few comments or ideas.
That's be a use most people don't realize what's going on. They don't understand that their natural lizard-brain response is being weaponized en masse to fuel the conflict. The only way to combat this is just to keep repeating it: we are all being manipulated.
Just knowing that, and not even knowing how or why, is enough to diffuse the effectiveness of it.
Don't let strangers rile you up and you'll keep your feet. It's pretty simple, but knowing is half the battle.
I'm also reminded of the time a few years ago (but post gamergate) when the total war subreddit got flooded by people lamenting the wokeness in Rome 2 due to "being able to have all female armies"... Except this wasn't true, the screenshot floating around depicting all female armies was from a mod.