Wednesday, July 03, 2013

To Boldly Go...where no man has gone before.....

Primitive Obsession
In the days following the Supreme Courts historic striking down of DOMA decision, the conservative christan and tea brained bigots have all burst flaming from their hate filled closets. It's pretty idiotic of me to even ask "What is it with these guys and gals?" First, we have Kentucky Senator and practicing Aqua Budha Boy, the air head apparent so to speak, Rand Paul being interviewed on Glenn Beck...I guess that says it all the day after the decision::

“I think this is the conundrum and gets back to what you were saying in the opening — whether or not churches should decide this. But it is difficult because if we have no laws on this people take it to one extension further. Does it have to be humans?
“You know, I mean, so there really are, the question is what social mores, can some social mores be part of legislation? Historically we did at the state legislative level, we did allow for some social mores to be part of it. Some of them were said to be for health reasons and otherwise, but I’m kind of with you, I see the thousands-of-year tradition of the nucleus of the family unit. I also see that economically, if you just look without any kind of moral periscope and you say, what is it that is the leading cause of poverty in our country? It’s having kids without marriage. The stability of the marriage unit is enormous and we should not just say oh we’re punting on it, marriage can be anything.”


Of course, when challenged hours later on his statement, he backtracked with the typical...I did not mean what you heard me say and I'll get back to you when my lawyers tell me what I really said...kind of logic.
Ex Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum immediately twitted that this brought back his old "man on dog" days. Pat Roberson, always the voice of moderation on these matters immediately forecast a  heavy rain of fire and brimstone because, well, then, god just might be a little peeved over this, but then again, Robertson makes a lot of "predictions".  Predictably, as well, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council claimed that the Supreme Court decision "Car Jacked" the nation.  Conservative Tea Brains, religious fanatics all seem to be in the same downward spiral in the mental toilet bowl of their collective hate. The collective sputtering and short circuiting of faulty brain synapses is beginning to get pretty confusing. The static howl is beginning to drown out their own arguments! What next?
What next? Don't be silly! We have to ban the future! We have to ban cosmic alien sex! That seems to be the next frontier of conservative sexual paranoiac panic! And conservative christian radio preacher, Kevin Swanson is leading the charge with his claims that the new Star Trek movie, Star Trek:Into Darkness, definitely promotes bestiality, because, you know, Kirk has sexual relations with a green skinned alien hottie and you just know what perverted thoughts that might put into the minds of America's pristine youth! You can read and listen to the actual radio broadcast here!
Sex with the aliens 2013!
But it's not like this hasn't happened before...the old Kirk, William Shatner used to have sex with alien hotties all the time and no body raised an eyebrow!
Sex with the aliens, 1966!
But, Star Trek was always about breaking barriers and instilling dangerous ideas in the consciousness of Americans. Star Trek broke any number of taboos in it's original form. The character, Mr. Spock, Chekov the Russian or Sulu...I'd say George Takei has broken more barriers in his life than any number of so called controversial personalities just by simply being George Takei. The most threatening character, to conservative white Americans, in the original series was of course the character played by Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura. A strong African American woman who was in charge, did her job competently and was accepted as just another member of this crew. As evidence as to how dangerous the character she embodied, Lieutenant Uruha really was, I must quote from this NPR interview she did a few years ago talking about an encounter she had with a certain Star Trek fan:

Ms. NICHOLS: I went in to tell Gene Roddenberry that I was leaving after the first season, and he was very upset about it. And he said, take the weekend and think about what I am trying to achieve here in this show. You're an integral part and very important to it. And so I said, yes, I would. And that - on Saturday night, I went to an NAACP fundraiser, I believe it was, in Beverly Hills. And one of the promoters came over to me and said, Ms. Nichols, there's someone who would like to meet you. He says he is your greatest fan.
And I'm thinking a Trekker, you know. And I turn, and before I could get up, I looked across the way and there was the face of Dr. Martin Luther King smiling at me and walking toward me. And he started laughing. By the time he reached me, he said, yes, Ms. Nichols, I am your greatest fan. I am that Trekkie.
(Soundbite of laughter)
Ms. NICHOLS: And I was speechless. He complimented me on the manner in which I'd created the character. I thanked him, and I think I said something like, Dr. King, I wish I could be out there marching with you. He said, no, no, no. No, you don't understand. We don't need you on the - to march. You are marching. You are reflecting what we are fighting for. So, I said to him, thank you so much. And I'm going to miss my co-stars.
And his face got very, very serious. And he said, what are you talking about? And I said, well, I told Gene just yesterday that I'm going to leave the show after the first year because I've been offered - and he stopped me and said: You cannot do that. And I was stunned. He said, don't you understand what this man has achieved? For the first time, we are being seen the world over as we should be seen. He says, do you understand that this is the only show that my wife Coretta and I will allow our little children to stay up and watch. I was speechless.


But as seemingly controversial that Star Trek appeared, the line of inter species kannoodoling had long been crossed utterly and irrevocably many years earlier. I mean, what would the Reverend Swanson have to say about this?

4 comments:

J.O.B. said...

I am having an issue with the gay rights advocacy in Chicago and sadly my issue is with the black community. Now I understand all these extreme right wing Conservative groups that base their beliefs on the bible. That great old book has been telling them for centuries that they are the chosen ones. No matter how dilapidated their trailer is, they shall inherit the Earth. But now in Chicago the black community is joining in the fight against gay rights. Apparently these staunch Baptists believe in this wonderful book as well. But these aren't twenty year old kids I'm talking about Dotty. These are sixty and seventy year old men and women who surely remember their own civil rights struggles. It seems today that this country is under going another civil rights fight. But instead of blacks, it's now gays. I just wish the black community would remember how hard they had to work for the most basic rights. In closing, this was a great post. Thank you for sharing it.

On a lighter note, a Happy Fourth to one of the most interesting Americans I have ever met. :-)

Ol'Buzzard said...

Republicans seem to know only one Constitutional amendment - the second. They are totally ignorant of the separation of church and state.
the Ol'Buzzard

squatlo said...

I'm not positive about this, but I believe her character's passionate kiss of Capt. Kirk was television's first interracial kiss. Might be wrong, but I think that's correct...



Good post.

microdot said...

squatio, you are correct and forgot about it, but, I'm found it on YouTube and I'm updating my piece tout de suite! Thanks!
JOB...I understand your point, but where did the outrage and the political action in the Illinois Black community come from? It came from a real effort of the Conservative Christian...again a real effort of Per3kins and his ilk and the Mormons to create the noise in the Black religious world...these are the people who vote, the righteous relgious fanatics fired up by their ministers...this was tragic, but it's not over...by a long shot!