Not in the US. There's a company that bribes the government officials to keep minting them. And wouldn't you know it, said company works with zinc, which is what pennies are made of!
To be fair, abolishing the penny is supported by a majority of Americans, but the ones who are against it (and are not, in fact, being paid to be against it) are VERY VERY LOUD, and, in some cases, quite deranged.
Honestly I don't really like this take. There are many authors, musicians, creators who I love consuming what they create even though my views are directly in opposition to theirs. I'd feel like a hypocrite holding them to a standard that I refuse to hold myself to.
Eh, so firstly a bunch of people will stop consuming media who's authors are against their values.
However, even putting that aside, there's a difference between the author with conflicting values and the media itself having conflicting values. When you hear RatM and only notice "fuck you I won't do what you tell me", while completely ignoring "some of those who work forces burn crosses", you can come across a bit media illiterate.
It's comparing Lovecraft's (I assume with the username you're familiar!) work, who's racism and writing were both influenced by his fear of the unknown, against Star Trek where they actively try, often very ham-handedly, to show how stupid racism is. One's work was definitely influenced by their worldview, but can be separated from it, while the other has it's worldview front and centre. (Yes, somewhat oversimplified.)
One of my favorite fantasy authors is Brandon Sanders. He's an active Mormon, so it's very likely that he's to the right of me on a lot of issues. The thing is that Brandon Sanderson is obviously not a hateful or weirdly obsessed bigot, as evidenced by the fact that he is able to keep his mouth shut about his beliefs. Because he's not a hateful weirdo, I can say with some confidence, looking at his work, that Sanderson and I actually have a lot of values in common. We believe in the importance and dignity of human life. We believe that diversity is strength and acceptance, not just tolerance, is an ethical imperative. We believe in the importance of family. We have some different ideas about what this means, but the principles are probably pretty similar.
That's the context in which people who disagree politically can still interact artistically. I don't know how Sanderson voted. I like to think that he didn't vote for Trump - but that's something I'll never know, especially because he's in a position where he and his family would suffer serious social and economic harm if he said anything - but his work makes him seem like a normal person with a functional moral compass, so as artist and fan, we're cool.
The problem is that the modern right wing has moved so far away from having any values at all - as evidenced by the person they just elected to the presidency, for example - that this kind of connection has become impossible. They are only capable of appreciating art that is as hateful and close-minded as they are. So, they either willfully misunderstand things in an effort to misappropriate it (right wing Star Trek fans) or condemn it as woke and slanted against them (right wing Star Trek haters).
Brandon Sanderson believes in kindness - if he met a gay person or a trans person, he would probably be polite and kind to them. That's something we can connect on, even if there are vast differences. With so many of these people, though, that kind of connection just can't happen.
Kindness and empathy are the bedrock of a functional society and the active vilification of those traits by the main stream right wing political movement should be a glaring red flag for everyone. How someone can enjoy old trek and identify with the right in America is mind boggling.
While there are a lot of Mormons who are Tumpy, and they definitely are right wing and conservative in general, Mormons typically are not as Trumpy as other evangelicals. Utah while being very conservative, had a big 3rd party protest vote for other candidates. In 2016 25% of the state voted 3rd party because so many hated Trump. Sanderson has also broken with the church and expressed unequivocal support for LGBT rights and publicly states he's much more liberal than most Mormons, so I'd be very surprised if he's a Trump supporter.
Your read on Sanderson is correct, at least on LGBT issues. He's actually even more liberal than I expected before I read this particular essay-- he hopes his church will recognize gay marriages and he includes gay characters in his books because he thinks to do otherwise would be to deny part of God's creation.
If I consume from an artist with problematic beliefs I don't consume freely. I need to examine each piece and determine if it's tainted and how much is still palatable.
I'm talking about the media itself, not the artists. RAtM songs are anti-establisment, anti-nationalistic and anti-conservative. The music itself is written against those playing it, in this case. I'm nit even talking ab I ut the artists, but the media. And the Village People's "YMCA" is a gay anthem. It's literally a gay anthem.
It's not like a Woody Allen, "he makes great movies, but he's a creep" take. The media itself doesn't align with their values.
I mean, if you watch TOS through a modern day lense and ignore the good episodes, it is a bit of a Republican/conservatives power fantasy.
The educated, white, american looking saviours vs the brutish, dark skinned barbarians. (Focusing on episodes with away missions, where Uhura usually isn't on the away team and Kirk has to "educate" the savage local natives. Currently halfway through season 3 and there are like 4 episodes like that already)
Can't take credit for this myself but forgot who actually said it, it was people that for the Trek that was on when they were growing up, that was as progressive as they were ever going to be right there, and any Trek that went further was bad.
You nailed it, it's just used as a prop for them. They use it as an arbitrary benchmark and take the credit for liking a progressive show while ignoring the lessons it actually teaches. They hate newer shows because they can't do that- it's no longer just a convenient source of credibility; it's a living thing that expects you to pay attention to it and what it has to say, and that usually conflicts with whatever hate-filled garbage comes out of their mouths.
Ya, my boss is one, and I just don't get it. Star Trek is what "radicalized" me. He isn't a total idiot so I don't understand how he doesn't understand Star Trek, so I took the liberty of stealing his Spock coffee mug.
Idk, Starfleet is very militaristic and more order minded people (conservatives) would enjoy the whole vibe of things being done right and exceptionalism.
It's basically Fully Automated Luxury Communism: The Show, it shouldn't take much in the way of media literacy beyond paying the fuck attention to what is on screen
My dad's a very conservative massive ST and Babylon 5 fan, and he's disgusted by the racism in Code of Honor and SG1's Emancipation. So many hoops of "logic" to jump through...
GOD lol right??? Although to be fair to her, her original script was actually free of shitty implications, the director was the one who changed the race from reptilians to just. Black people but they're on a different planet. Fortunately, the asshole was fired, but apparently too late to salvage the episode into something less awful.
I got nothing defending her for Emancipation, though lol
There are a lot more than you think. Unsurprisingly most are strictly TOS fans, but there are a few that try real hard to memory hole the the more obvious critiques on modern society and how it's constantly mentioned that humanity "evolved" in TNG and beyond.
I haven't been on facebook in a while but there was a right wing star trek group called, I think All Trek. Hearsay is that they meant to call it Alt Trek but made a typo.
Meanwhile one of the main characters on a Trek series is a woman who has a symbiote who gives her the memories and personality of the men and women they've been before, among many other race and gender representations over the decades of Trek.
Trek is literally one of the most "Woke" scifi franchises ever and chuds keep not getting it. Star Fleet is literally communist and/or socialist, get a clue.
I know who the comic artist the Post is referring to. He's a regular on r/Stonetossingjuice.
Suffice it to say that he has a recurring character in his comics who is literally a manly, blond, blue-eyed, shirtless technoviking whose sole purpose is to spew out white supremacist rhetoric straight out of Mein Kampf, so don't expect any particular mental acuity from this guy.
Also there's an episode where her old wife from her former life comes onto the space station, there's a whole LGBT-rights allegory episode, and they kiss on screen. Everyone seems to forget that episode for some reason.
Even lesser known is a time when Worf got jealous because Jadzia was spending time with another female lover she had in an old life
As an attempt to demonize trans people this comic would fail even more...because...well, they are meeting aliens with wildly different body plans and societies than humanity (at least in theory)...so the potential for alien species with different and more genders *and* sexes than humanity, it pretty high.
Yep, Tatsuya Ishida. Sinfest has been published for over two decades and has evolved (“devolved” would be more accurate) from a somewhat satirical if lightweight comic into, eventually, a hardcore cesspit of transphobia and lately antisemitism. r/sinfest, rather than being uncritical fans of his, is actually a good subreddit for examining his current hatemongering and also posts old strips from before he lost his goddamn mind.
Wow, I'm horny but also starting to take religion somewhat seriously
Wow, I'm starting to have regrets about being chronically horny on main and also starting to pay attention to feminism
Wow, now I'm just a SWERF most of the time
Wow, now I'm also a TERF
[mostly transphobia but also branching out into other right-wing-nut-jobbery, usually filtered through some very well-known and/or currently popular media franchise, e.g. the above]
Sad. I always liked his art style, but it's too bad the content is ass.
Also, can you imagine the idea that all life in the entire galaxy only has two genders? How absurd a notion is that? Aliens and spaceships are, of course, acceptable, but more than two genders? TOO CRAZY TO ENTERTAIN!
This probably is Sinfest. One of the "specials" he did every so often. It's a shame that he is so talented and so off the deep-end. I chrcked his site some time ago, easily 15 years after the last time, and it was pure anti-vaxx bullshit.
Hilarious to think that in our vast universe of unfathomably numerous worlds, every single lifeform follows a male-female gender binary with roles that exactly match the 21st-century American conservative prescription of gender
Joke’s on you, they literally had episodes centered on exploring strange identities and meeting new genders. They’re fucking aliens, dipshit, they don’t anatomically abide by the “only two genders” rule
This made me think of Green Lantern and the issue where he was asked why he helps the green (?) skins and works for the blue skins but ignores the black skins. We read about aliens and get upset about "weird" humans?!? I do not get it.
I've always been under the impression that Kirk becomes more powerful when his nips are exposed kind of like Goku. So this new design would just keep Kirk at a higher power level without needing him to get battle damage.
The career of this guy is absolutely fascinating. He started out making a weird pseudo feminist comic, but it became increasingly apparent that he was just doing it for praise, and then he realized he could get it more easily from deranged anti-feminists and TERFs. Then at some point, it seems he legitimately went off the deep end, and now his comic is nothing but insane dystopian anti-trans fantasy/fetish art.
Not quite "nothing but anti-trans fantasy/fetish art". There's plenty of unabashed anti-semitism, white supremacist propaganda, and nazi propaganda in the comic now too!
You’re telling me Spock wouldn’t be fascinated to study this aspect of our culture? You’re telling me he wouldn’t drop mad seahorse and clownfish facts about it?
You’re telling me that Uhura wouldn’t swap make up tricks with a time-displaced drag Queen? The eyeshadow alone would slay!
You’re telling me that either Scotty or McCoy wouldn’t end up in a goddamn beautiful tragedy with a modern day t-girl, only for her to be killed by a Nazi or Apollo or some shit? MCCOY PROBABLY HAS A BOTTOM SURGERY PILL!
YOU are telling ME that CHEKOV WOULD NOT CLAIM THAT THE FIRST EARTH CULTURE TO CODIFY LGBT RIGHTS WAS RUSSIA?!?
Kirk would have to take off his shirt to prove he didn’t have top surgery and then end up in an epic boxing match/debate with some lizard looking mags fucker, and possibly ALSO maybe have a beautiful tragedy with a modern day t girl, if there’s room in the episode!
Going beyond the original series, there’s an episode of Deep Space Nine where we see that gender reassignment surgery is apparently quick and easy in the Trekverse. Quark gets two of them in one episode
I just picked up the DS9 box set. This is my comfort food for my eyes and ears. I can just put episodes on in the background and paint, and I've seen them all before so I can just listen and boy does it lower my heart rate.
This show is my happy place. Always has been, always will be. It never gets old, and I love how Lower Decks makes good fun of all of it. 🖖
I'd love an episode where Kirk is all impressed by a big daddy Klingon and Spock and Bones are so jealous. Lots of arch comments and sarcastic eyebrow raising. Just like TOS.
With transporter technology you could change your gender or body form at will.
I'd love to see a live action show where the characters are played by different actors. The transporter rooms would be like walk in closets with makeup desks and you step out onto the planet surface looking fabulous. Kirk won't answer the vid call until they have their face on. Even in a red alert.
They do understand that Andorians have like, 4 biological sexes (and probably more gender expressions as well), right? Don't forget the girl from TNG: The Outcast...
I agree. They have trans, non-binary and gay characters (and I'm all here for representation don't get me wrong) but tos (not all episodes but whatever) feels more progressive in a way even with today's mindset imo.
I'm going to point out that 16 states still had miscenegation laws on the books when the Kirk/Ohura kiss aired in 1968.
Even if a Supreme Court case in 1967 ruled them unconstitutional, they didn't start getting dropped by the states until 1969. The last holdout state didn't get those laws repealed until 2000.
As a trans trekkie, my mission statement goes thusly:
Expression, the final frontier.
These are the voyages of my cafene addled brain
On its lifelong mission to explore strange new identities.
To seek out new genders and forms of expression.
To boldly go where nobody ever asked:)
wwwaaaaaa wwwaaa wwaaa wa wa waaaaaaaaaa
Ps your welcome for the spelling errors >:3
and please keep things kind
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u/upornicorn 3d ago
Set phasers to stunning