Never Meet Your Heroes

Zoom today! Sunday Noon PT / 3PM ET

Happy Sunday friends:

I grew up watching Star Trek. While the original series aired for just three years around the time I was born, it was in constant reruns so I know every show by heart. My mom was a Trekkie and used to take me to conventions where you could meet the actors, including Captain Kirk played by William Shatner who I met sometime in the late 70s when I was about ten.

Shatner, now 95 years old, is not without his issues but I’ve always seen him as a relatively benevolent steward of sci-fi and Star Trek fandom. He was granted a trip to space by Jeff Bezos on a Blue Origin rocket and was suitably awed by the experience.

Unfortunately, however, he has also attached himself to another, even more amoral oligarch. When Elon Musk posted that he was a “(Former) Trillionaire,” Shatner posted “I still love you.”

While this is not the first time they’ve interacted, when I noticed it I felt compelled to respond. This created a flood of Elon’s bots and trolls coming to defend the world’s richest racist.

Shatner’s response was to block me.

As someone who has thought of him as something of an icon for half a century, I admit this was pretty hurtful. You’d think a man who performed the most famous interracial kiss in television history—with Lt. Uhura played by Nichelle Nichols—would be against racism.

But in the end, Shatner’s kowtowing to billionaires is just business to him, even at 95 years old. And while I’m disappointed, at least I briefly got his attention before he passes on, even if it was to cut me off.

Sadly, we are in a time where confrontation is necessary. Appeasing the people who put us in this situation is unacceptable. If you choose to attach yourself to someone so publicly evil, you should expect people to be angry. It should, and must, have consequences.

Please join me and our amazing community today, Sunday, at Noon PT / 3PM ET to discuss recent events, the three Dead-Enders threatening the planet, and anything else you’d like to talk about. There is no pressure to talk but it is always wide open for questions and comments. Hope to see you! Details below.