
Leonard Nimoy's Advice to a Biracial Girl in 1968 - chepin
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2015/02/27/389589676/leonard-nimoys-advice-to-a-biracial-girl-in-1968
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jasonzemos
Star Trek was originally a show to address racism and not just science
fiction! It might take a reminder from a baby-boomer to realize what it meant
for a black woman, Russian, Japanese, Scottish characters to all share the
same bridge in close quarters in 1968! Then we can't forget all of the aliens,
strange encounters with other cultures, etc...

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chris_wot
A lot of science fiction had that goal as well - through looking into the
future they often held a lens up to the present.

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pixelglow
Interesting that "Spock" uses a lot of emotional language -- "prejudice",
"lonely", "happiness", "frightening", "feel best about himself" \-- contrary
to the popular conception of Vulcans as an emotionless, logic-above-all race.

Certainly, modern conceptions of Vulcans are a lot more nuanced e.g. they are
privately strongly emotional or otherwise have to strongly suppress their
emotions. See for example Star Trek (2009) which deals with Spock as a young
boy in Vulcan culture, which is eerily reminiscent of this article. Wonder
whether Orci, Kurtzman or Abrams read this article before conceiving the 2009
incarnation of Spock?

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DLWormwood
Actually, the fact that young Spock was an outcast was already established by
the early '70's thanks to the animated series’ episode “Yesteryear”, written
by D. C. Fontana. For the most part, this was only episode of that series that
was considered canon until _ST: Enterprise_ incorporated more of that series
into official lore.

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kstenerud
It was actually established in 1967 in "Journey to Babel", when his mother
said "When you were five years old and came home stiff-lipped, anguished,
because the other boys tormented you saying that you weren't really Vulcan. I
watched you, knowing that inside that the human part of you was crying and I
cried, too."

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ahuth
The fact that he wrote this in 1968 is really amazing. How many people in 1968
would not have felt compelled to respond to the girl in a compassionate way?

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aaron695
Do you seriously think people in 1968 were different to people today?

People have always been people, they are and always have been intrinsically
nice to others at a personal level. Most people then and now would have
responded in a compassionate way.

It's in groups and at higher levels they can be more uncaring.

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chris_wot
Not necessarily. The unpopular point of view is that some are just prejudiced,
regardless of the group that surrounds them.

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mcguire
Am I alone in finding the irony in...

Be IN

start a fad

...the ad next to the article?

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omegaham
Nope, and you'll see this everywhere that you see the intersection of pop
culture and the advice to "be yourself."

This isn't a dig at Nimoy's advice - it's _damn good advice_. But it doesn't
sell compared to _You 're worthless unless you buy our stuff_. The only reason
why they can print Nimoy's advice is that the "Be a FAD" ad is right next to
it. And not only that, the earnest advice itself is often packaged and
cynically sold, right alongside the "OBEY CONFORM CONSUME" message!

One of the most recent examples of this is a song I keep hearing on the radio
- "Try," by Colbie Caillat.[1] The message of the song is pretty simple - it's
that people work their asses off to be liked, but they're still not happy
because they're straying from being true to themselves.

But it's a manufactured product explicitly created to appeal to people who are
feeling lost, confused, and frustrated with being popular. And they have a
beautiful woman, who is already an enormous success, singing this song that's
specifically saying, "Stop worrying about what other people think about you"
when her entire career is _based_ on what other people think of her.

I'm a much bigger fan of Tool's Hooker With a Penis.[2] At least Keenan is
frank about it.

 _All you read and wear or see and hear on TV is a product_

 _Begging for your fatass dirty dollar_

 _So shut up and buy, buy, buy, my new record_

[1]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZLPSw8U8)

[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R890wISHwG4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R890wISHwG4)

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WalterBright
I always enjoyed the irony in the 1970's Dr Pepper ads that exhorted people to
join the non-conformists.

~~~
TeMPOraL
Yup. Reminds me of a quote:

"Revolution has already been televised. Revolution has been _merchandised_.
Revolution is a commodity, a packaged lifestyle, available at your local mall.
$19.95 gets you the black mask, the spray can, the "Crush the Fascists"
protest sign, and access to your blog where you can write about the police
brutality you suffered when you chained yourself to a fire hydrant.

Capitalism has learned how to sell anti-capitalism."

From [0], found when reading [1].

[0] -
[http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/biplog/archive/00074...](http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/biplog/archive/000748.html)

[1] -
[http://lesswrong.com/lw/k6/the_outside_the_box_box/](http://lesswrong.com/lw/k6/the_outside_the_box_box/)

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icebraining
One of my favorite examples of that is the game Guerrilla War [1], made by SNK
- a step above and beyond the infamous t-shirts of Che.

[1]
[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_War_(video_game)](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_War_\(video_game\))

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msie
This is amazing. Especially in a time that wasn't so obsessed with social-
media and celebrity. Why was there no black bar again?

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xacaxulu
Ah yes, the mythical utopian past, where none of the bad things happening
today existed.

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serge2k
especially good in a thread where is topic is a response to a young biracial
girl who was feeling left out and actively disliked because of her race.

