Star Trek and the nature of hate

by AngryPanda

Why I hate Star Trek (Part 1)

If you read this blog you may have caught some subtle hints that I am not exactly a positive person. There are a lot of things I dislike and usually I take this to extremes that are entirely out of proportion to the subject matter. The reason for this is simple: I have infinite capacity for hatred and anything that ticks me of risks accesing that wellspring of unfocused aggression and negativity. That said I don’t really hate most things I rant about on this blog. I just voice my dislike in pretty aggressive terms. I don’t hate the silliness that is the grimdark universe of Warhammer 40k I just dislike a lot about it and this dislike is probably a lot stronger than most people’s. Same with let’s say Neon Genesis Evangelion. These are generally things I dislike so much that I will in a casual conversation say I hate them. But that’s just hyperbole, real honest hate is something far stronger, something ugly, something that causes aggression and despise for the subject itself and anyone connected to it. Real hate kills friendships, causes strife and often enough results in violence. IF all the people who claim to hate Michael Bay’s Transformers really hated it instead of just disliking it someone would have set him on fire by now. Hate is an overused word that we apply to lesser feelings that are not worthy of the feeling that causes strife, murder, wars and all sorts of other things that are a bit over the top while talking about something like a TV Show, a movie or a book. I would go so far as to say that claiming to hate something like this is most likely hyperbole or a lie and if not it might be a sign of insanity.

Now that we have that out-of-the-way let me be clear: I HATE Star Trek. To say I dislike Star Trek would be like saying the sun is pretty warm. No, I hate it with a passion that should be reserved for people who have actively tried to make my life miserable or various sorts of extremely unpleasant criminals. Star Trek gets my blood pressure so high that if anyone praises it in my presence I end up being both surprised and disappointed that I’m not breathing fire on them. It’s not enough for it to go away, I want it erased from human history, burned from all memory, its influence on any other media and the perception of sci-fi eradicated from reality. If I were presented with a big red button that would cause anyone ever involved in the development of Star Trek, from Gene Roddenberry to the last extra in Into Darkness to die a horrible death as a child and prevent this franchise from every existing I would most likely press it with only a minimum of hesitation. Yes I’d send a Terminator after George Takei as nice as he seems to be. Star Trek fills me with a level of fury that makes it impossible to keep my good intentions of not ranting about things my friends like or even to simply ignore it. The raw aggression builds up until I have to vent it someway, even if it means pissing of people I care about.

Now to get to such immense levels of hate it takes more than just a TV Series and a few movies I don’t care for. After all I don’t feel the same way about other stuff that is either full of plotholes or plain boring. You don’t see me going nuts about Twilight or Harry Potter. You see like most explosives it takes more than one ingredient to get the right mix here. In case of Star Trek it is three. Number one is public perception. Star Trek has and does dominate the view on what science fiction is and what fans of the genre like. As such I am immediately involved, the franchise spreads its wings over me whether I try to ignore it or not. That’s only a small part thought. The second is familiarity. I don’t despise Star Trek as someone who is only casual familiar with it and can’t bear watching it like so many people who dislike anime. I have seen all the movies and at least two-thirds of all the TV episodes of the combined shows. Just like with Christianity I have very specific reasons for disliking it. Generally I do not watch something just to rant and as such simply lack the familiarity that is needed for this kind of intense hatred with other things that may or may not tick me off. So why do I know Star Trek? The reason would be the third ingredient for my recipe for hate here. I can absolutely  watch an episode of Star Trek or one of the movies (or play one of their videogames as I’ve found out), cringe and the worst parts, laugh at some others and even appreciate the well done bits. I can after all also read about religion and be interested in the historical context. What is needed to set me of is someone who believes that shit right now. Translated into Star Trek (and as I will explain in this series of posts it is not much of a translation at all) this would be a Trekkie. They are the catalyst that make me want to stick various sharp objects in people and set them on fire. Hearing a Trekkie talk is like pouring gasoline of a candle flame for me. After a certain point I’m perfectly capable of hating people I usualy admire if Star Trek comes up. I’m not proud of this, and in fact I’d really prefer if I could get myself to not care. It would be more healthy, more reasonable and would get me into so much less trouble with friends. But I can’t. Don’t think I haven’t tried, but this hate is both too strong and in my opinion justified to be extinguished.

So now that we’re clear on how I feel about Star Trek we can get into what exactly it is I dislike about it next time. The follow-up should then likely be about Trekkies and what gets me so riled up with them. With hopefully  one last entry to wrap it all up.