We’re All Trekkies Now

Wow.
This article gave me goosebumps.
Just amazingly well written-a pardigm of good journalism.
You're spot on with the optimistic trekkie view of the future and how we can change the world in the trekkie fashion.
Thanks so much. This article's a keeper.

Daly, you have GOT to be kidding me. Tell me that journalism isn't falling off a cliff when I read an article the compares the Spock to Barack Obama.

If Spock where anything like Barack Obama, he wouldn't have taken action against an aggressor like Nero (who many could say has "terrorist" tendencies), but rather would have convened some kind of a meeting to talk it out first. I'm sure that even-tempered and cuddly Nero would have appreciated such attempts -- even as he acted in open aggression against the Federation.

Surprisingly, all through your nauseating rant and ridiculous allegory, you miss the real focus of the epic - James Kirk. It was always Kirks swagger, gut instinct, and do-or-die mentality that made the sci-fi epic a cult favorite. It was this ???space western??? appeal to do whatever was necessary to save his crew and protect his ship that kept fans coming back for more!

But you only have to look at the film you praise to see the proof. Even as ???logic??? dictated that the Enterprise should ???retreat to talk??? to the Fleet after Vulcan???s demise, it was Kirk who wanted to stop the Narada???s advanced on Earth. It was only Kirk???s actions that enabled the Enterprise to confront Nero and the Narada to save the day.

Sounds very much like taking action without apology to save lives vs. sticking your head in the sand and pretending like events aren't happening. If Spock were really like Obama, maybe for his next move Spock can change terms "galactic threat" or "space terrorists" for "Romulan-made intergalactic contingency operation" --- sounds Obama-esque, no?

Let me ask you something Stevie: What match-book cover did you fill out to get that journalism degree of yours, eh?

Do me a favor, don't say you're a "Trekkie" or a "Trekker" or anything of the sort. You give the rest of us who actually enjoy the franchise ??? and think for ourselves ??? a very bad name.

An adid

Newsweak is a joke. Somewhere a real news editor is rolling in his grave wondering where journalism went. Here's a couple topics that the current Newsweak Editor is probably pondering. 'The Bush Hitler Connection' - 'Why Bush Started Swine Flu' - 'The Source of Aids is Found... George Bush' - 'Obama Shakes Gods Hand, and Then Takes His Chair' - 'Is Jesus Christ Obamas Actual Father, or His Son?' - 'Obama Is My Everything' ... It's all ridiculous. The government should bail out these horrible excuses for "News" papers. It's already owned by the government. It might as well be on paper.

I very recently described attending one of the first conventions at the Americana in NYC to a room full of folks where I work. HOw strange to read about it in your article today! Life is wonderful!

Very strange. I was just telling folks around here that I attended one of the first conventions at the Americana in NYC and then I read this today! Life is good!

I thought this was a Star Trek article, not yet another Obama puff piece. Obama believes (or claims to believe) in whatever plays best with his current audience. It got him elected because he let people see what they wanted to see. But as his own avowed hero said ???you can???t fool all of the people all of the time???. Slowly but surely he is alienating every group that ever supported him.

I thought this was a Star Trek article, not yet another Obama puff piece. Obama believes (or claims to believe) in whatever plays best with his current audience. It got him elected because he let people see what they wanted to see. But as his own avowed hero said ???you can???t fool all of the people all of the time???. Slowly but surely he is alienating every group that ever supported him.

It's a movie, forget politics. That's right, politics has become nothing more than a stage production.

Nerds/Geeks/Trekkeies - we have always known we were cool!!!!!!!! The rest of the Universe is just getting it.

Live long and prosper.

Sorry for the double post and typos! The posting system here is not too smooth. I'm on twitter as JLichtenberg.

Some comments here ae missing this article's main point. The political comparison had to be in this article to get it published, so shrug it off.

I am the primary author of the Bantam paperback STAR TREK LIVES! that blew the lid on Star Trek fandom and slash fiction and made fanzine a household word. I know my history of that era from firsthand participation. (I am the creator of the Kraith Universe, the series of alternate universe Star Trek fanzine stories with more than 50 fans participating.)

I was at the Americana Hotel convention as a Guest Speaker. I remember it from the point of view of being behind the celebrity security lines, dashing through back corridors and banquet kitchens, service elevators and such. I remember coming out into the main lobby and seeing the excited mob of fans and wondering what happened. I remember hearing how Ticketmaster (then a fairly new marketing concept) had messed up the ticketing and issued more tickets than the Americana Hotel could hold.

I remember the Committee in a panic about that.

This article contains several factual errors. Gene Roddenberry was NOT connected to the first letter campaign -- he was startled and dismayed by it at first. It was led by Bjo Trimble, a good friend of mine for many years, and known to me many years before Trek.

There are other errors I hope others will point out, but real point of this article is a MAJOR CONTRIBUTION to the dialogue here.

Recently, Fantasy and even much SF has focused on a view of the universe which depicts humanity as in danger from vast and unbeatable horrors.

STAR TREK stands against that view. The essence of humanity is the spirit of meeting the unknown with joy and delight, prevailing over any challenge, GOIING WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE!

And in fact, STAR TREK has changed the world. Geek is Good today.

We should thank Steve Daly for bringing out this point on this huge podium of Newsweek.

Some comments here ae missing this article's main point. The political comparison had to be in this article to get it published, so shrug it off.

I am the primary author of the Bantam paperback STAR TREK LIVES! that blew the lid on Star Trek fandom and slash fiction and made fanzine a household word. I know my history of that era from firsthand participation. (I am the creator of the Kraith Universe, the series of alternate universe Star Trek fanzine stories with more than 50 fans participating.)

I was at the Americana Hotel convention as a Guest Speaker. I remember it from the point of view of being behind the celebrity security lines, dashing through back corridors and banquet kitchens, service elevators and such. I remember coming out into the main lobby and seeing the excited mob of fans and wondering what happened. I remember hearing how Ticketmaster (then a fairly new marketing concept) had messed up the ticketing and issued more tickets than the Americana Hotel could hold.

I remember the Committee in a panic about that.

This article contains several factual errors. Gene Roddenberry was NOT connected to the first letter campaign -- he was startled and dismayed by it at first. It was led by Bjo Trimble, a good friend of mine for many years, and known to me many years before Trek.

There are other errors I hope others will point out, but real point of this article is a MAJOR CONTRIBUTION to the dialogue here.

Recently, Fantasy and even much SF has focused on a view of the universe which depicts humanity as in danger from vast and unbeatable horrors.

STAR TREK stands against that view. The essence of humanity is the spirit of meeting the unknown with joy and delight, prevailing over any challenge, GOIING WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE!

And in fact, STAR TREK has changed the world. Geek is Good today.

We should thank Steve Daly for bringing out this point on this huge podium of Newsweek.

I thought I was going to be reading an article on Star Trek! Apparently, I hit the wrong link and read someone's diary about how in love with Obama they are. Get a room.

"It's the Spock plot strands that give the new "Trek" its best shot at once again commanding the zeitgeist. Spock's cool, analytical nature feels more fascinating and topical than ever now that we've put a sort of Vulcan in the White House. All through the election campaign, columnists compared President Obama's unflappably logical demeanor and prominent ears with Mr. Spock's. But as Spock's complicated racial backstory is spun out in detail in the new "Trek"???right back into childhood???the Obama parallels keep deepening. Like Obama, Spock is the product of a mixed marriage (actually, an interstellar mixed marriage), and he suffers blunt manifestations of prejudice as a result. As played by Zachary Quinto, the young Spock loves his human mother, but longs to assimilate completely into his Vulcan father Sarek's ways, eschewing messy emotions the way all Vulcans do. Young Spock is constantly being told by Vulcans and humans alike that he's either seething with inappropriate emotions???indeed, he takes Kirk by the throat at one point???or that he's not emotional enough and shouldn't be so repressed. Obama may or may not be a fan???the White House says he isn't, but Trekkies have claimed him as one of their breed ever since he said, "I grew up on 'Star Trek'???I believe in the final frontier," at a campaign stop last year. If he does check out the new movie, I can imagine he might feel a special empathy for Spock's position, given the chattering class's insistence that he needs to show more emotion, too."

You're kidding right? What a pathetic and over reaching analogy. This looks like the kind of gushing crap that belongs in a tween rag.

i read the first two lines of this article and flashed back to 1974. I was 17 and we rented a room at the Americana Hotel(we trashed it). I had just finished the Foundation Trilogy and saw Issac Asimov. I was in heaven. I never thought that there were so many people that followed Star Trek. I did not realize how fanatic they were until I went to the Star Trek trivia session. These people has memorized every script of the show! There was a lot of excitement at that hotel and I will never forget it.

Jjudging from the previous posted comments, I see we still have a long way to go!
Star Trek is about peace, acceptance and tolerance of ALL beings REGARDLESS of their culture or beliefs!
Long life & prosperity to all!

I saw the cover page of the May 4th edition of Newsweek while traveling on business highlighting the fact that the magazine was going to tell us "how Star Trek taught us to dream big". As a long time trekkie, I love the original series, went to the conventions, watch the movies and the later series. I'm excited about the new movie coming out next week and thought the article would be very interesting. Was I mistaken.

The author had the chance to emphasize the greatest of the series. It entertained us while reminding us that it didn't matter if you were male/female, black/white, human/alien, liberal/conservative there is great value in us all and that our diversity makes us better. Also, the series opened the minds of a generation to think big about the future. I believe the far out concepts of the series helped introduce ideas such as the cell phone which is just a communicator used by those on the series.

But instead, Newsweek and the author decided to use the buzz about the new movie to deride the previous Bush administration as the "evil empire" and praise the Obama administration as the heroic peace corps. I thought Newsweek was written by unbiased journalist but apparently its just a liberal op ed piece. I won't be purchasing another Newsweek magazine anytime soon.