this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023

349 points (96.5% liked)

Risa

7532 readers

183 users here now

Star Trek memes and shitposts

Come on'n get your jamaharon on! There are no real rules—just don't break the weather control network.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website

349

How they bought his nonsense I will never know (startrek.website)

submitted 2 years ago by Stamets@startrek.website to c/risa@startrek.website

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

all 27 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] BunnyKnuckles@startrek.website 112 points 2 years ago (4 children)

For reference: https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2021/02/26/voyagers-native-american-consultant-was-a-fraud/

[–] Tb0n3@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)

To be fair aren't a lot of Mexicans actually native?

[–] fluxion@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago

The link isn't about the actor, it's about the "Native American" consultant they hired to help with his character development that turned out to be a complete fraud.

[–] PlasmaDistortion@lemm.ee 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You are correct. My Hispanic mother in law is about 60% native and there are some areas where she is from that the majority of the population is native. That being said, Beltran does not appear to be even remotely native.

[–] BunnyKnuckles@startrek.website 17 points 2 years ago

Robert Beltran is partially native but the OP and the article aren't about him.

[–] USSBurritoTruck@startrek.website 70 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Fuck Jackie Marks and the appropriating grift he rode in on.

[–] chaogomu@kbin.social 54 points 2 years ago

A similar thing happened (on a smaller scale) with the band Nightwish. Their song, Creek Mary's Blood, has a spoken word poem in Lakota. Except the man who speaks the poem in the song, and who translated it into Lakota, John Two-Hawks, is not registered with the Lakota as a member of the tribe. He's of mixed ancestry, but that's not necessarily a dealbreaker for the various tribes...

The poem, while containing actual words from the Lakota language, is apparently almost completely gibberish.

[–] BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world 20 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Don’t forget Robert Beltran is a scab too!

[–] AlolanYoda@mander.xyz 4 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Wait, is he? Why?

[–] Stoneykins@mander.xyz 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I looked it up.

He went to a non-official startrek convention recently, during all these strikes. All the other star trek actors weren't allowed to/avoided talking about star trek directly because it is owned by a company they are striking against (with the exception of the animated shows I guess?). He apparently talked freely about startrek without any concern as though he doesn't care about the strike.

I was wondering too, because I was wondering how a well known actor "scabs" exactly, but this makes sense, he is still promoting the show, disregarding the strike rules and working class actors.

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is that what screwed over Chakotay, or was it just that they never really gave him a lot to do so the actor got bored and began phoning it in?

[+] MxM111@kbin.social -37 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I do not understand this. Do people believe that genetics matter? That only correct chromosomes can give right information?

[–] RedditWanderer@lemmy.world 46 points 2 years ago

A consultant for a native-american character should know about native-americans, regardless of his genetics.

[–] charonn0@startrek.website 27 points 2 years ago

While culture and genetics are not inextricably linked, they are nonetheless linked.

[–] Stoneykins@mander.xyz 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This would be a not bad argument if the guy was informed and did a good job.

He was not, and he did not.

[–] MxM111@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

But not because of his genes.

[–] Neato@kbin.social 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

If you're going to write a character that portrays a real human ethnicity or culture, why wouldn't you hire an actor from said ethnicity? It's not like they picked one so small it would be too difficult.

That'd be like writing a show that has women in it and then only hiring men to play them.

In this case it wasn't an alien culture, it was native Americans.

[+] doctorn@r.nf -5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] Neato@kbin.social 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This kind of thinking costed us Apu Nahassapeenapettalon…

...a trope-filled caricature was the only representation Indian-Americans had for years and years.

which in my book is more racist than what we are attacking… Judging movies cause of the color of an actor’s skin (related to the role they play or not) kinda seems worse to me… 🤷‍♂️

Oh look! This old racist chestnut. "The real racists are the ones calling out racism."

you should watch Monty Python

Are you seriously equating a sketch comedy troupe with hiring new actors and actresses? Not only is that a bad faith argument that misses the point entirely, it's not even a good attempt.

[–] query@lemm.ee 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Apu was one of my favorite characters, and next to the rest of Springfield I wouldn't say he was portrayed as any kind of bad guy. But I think it's entirely fair to find fault with him and the stereotypes used.

The "This is why we can't have nice things" guys are the ones who use this type of character to mock people of Indian descent. Having heard about their experiences, I would say that the bare minimum that should be done is involve someone from the community you're portraying, when creating a character who stands out as someone of that community.