Politics

10512 readers

224 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Socialism

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago

MODERATORS

alyaza@beehaw.org

TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org

circularfish@beehaw.org

knokelmaat@beehaw.org

remington@beehaw.org

Star Trek Is Propaganda (www.youtube.com)

submitted 1 week ago by Powderhorn@beehaw.org to c/politics@beehaw.org

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It took me quite some time to decide to post this here instead of in Entertainment.

If you don't know what the Kobayashi Maru is, this will likely not be something that interests you. It is steeped (Earl Grey, hot) in Trek lore but makes some very insightful points about geopolitics.

Fair warning, as someone in his 40s: The cinematography is somewhat jarring. Everything is always moving and cuts from the narrator momentarily seated to walking around with the camera not just following but moving around, which gets somewhat grating over the course of nearly an hour.

Still, this is an interesting take on what Star Trek in its various forms portrays -- or at least attempts to portray.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] jay2@beehaw.org 2 points 1 week ago

I think that ALL fiction has to inherit a certain amount of propaganda as a side effect of the idea being created, much like rounding off a number inherently reduces it's accuracy. Additionally, some fiction can be a better conveyance for propaganda, and I think Star Trek is likely one of the best at it. It's set in the future which gives it a blank canvas for maps, races, politics and technology. Nothing has to be real or provable because it's set in the future and can't be confirmed. They took advantage of this too by creating a pretty rich and detailed world far far different from our own. This drastic difference amplifies the propaganda effect and makes it more obvious. I think you could go watch Sesame Street or any other fictionalized show and walk away with some sort of idea.