Posted on 12/24/2015 11:17:11 PM PST by Impala64ssa
Dear Mr. Abrams,
When you were younger, did your elders ask you questions like, "If you could have lunch with anyone in the world, who would it be?" I have a hunch your answers were a lot like mine: Jean-Luc Picard, or rather Data. Possibly Q. Definitely Princess Leia. Maybe Darth Vader. (On second thought, maybe not Vader. I feel like he’d be distinctly unimpressed with me.) Star Trek gave me hope. Star Wars was my happy place.
Which makes you my hero. And a lot of other people's, too.
You’ve rebooted both sacred franchises. You not only get paid to live in some of the greatest worlds ever conceived, but to extend them into our age. What an honor and a privilege it is to re-imagine our most cherished tales. But with great power, as Ben Parker would say, comes great responsibility.
This should be a joyous week for me, with the release of both the new Star Trek Beyond trailer, and Star Wars:The Force Awakens. Had you asked me about this a few months ago, I would’ve told you so much happiness in so few days should be banned.
But that was before Paris, San Bernardino, before leading presidential candidates began actually talking about people like me being banned. The national climate for Muslims is uglier than I can recall. I'm legitimately afraid folks dressed up as Jedis at the premiere might be confused for Muslims, and attacked.
That’s where we are right now.
When it comes to Islam, a fair proportion of Americans seem to go nuts. We’ve had Ben Carson saying Muslims aren't loyal enough to be be president, Jeb Bush claiming Muslim refugees shouldn't be let in, Donald Trump talking about special IDs, databases, surveillance techniques, killing family members of the San Bernardino shooters, and Klu Klux Klan members are recruiting anew on the fear of Islam.
I think you can see where I'm going with this. Many Americans fear Islam and think our faith is incompatible with U.S. values. We cannot possibly change these narratives on our own. Whether or not someone likes Muslims is dependent on whether or not she even knows a Muslim. It’s unlikely, even if every Muslim had a transporter device, that we could meet everyone, and change minds single-handedly.
As Muslim American parents, we’re struggling to keep our kids faith innocent
There are a few million American Muslims. There are over 300 million Americans.
Movies and music, art and popular culture — your purview — they can make the introductions we need. At light speed. I know there will be many other projects and films with your name, your vision and your lens flares inside them. (I'm hoping someone gives you the money to make The Silmarillion.) But please, Mr. Abrams, consider going back to Sector 001 one more time. There’s just nowhere like it.
Especially for the away mission we need you to go on.
A Pakistani kid growing up on the margins, I was an awkward child with overly large glasses and way too much hair (not a problem for me anymore, incidentally), who had his first conversation with a girl he was attracted to many years after most of his peers forgot about their braces. I adored Star Trek because it portrayed a future where imagination, discovery and courage were all that mattered. Who cared about races or religions when there was an entire universe out there to explore and discover?
That's the very kind of place where America can not only meet a Muslim, but see her as a hero. What other franchise can do that? A white guy called Luke, born on a planet named after a city in overwhelmingly Muslim Tunisia (Tataouine inspired Tatooine), that we can all believe. But a Jedi named Muhammad? Right now that feels unlikely.
By bringing a Muslim to Star Trek or Star Wars, you'd be so very faithful to the enterprise, too, continuing a proud tradition of breaking boundaries, of reconfiguring the stuff of our stereotypes. Just like Gene Roddenberry, of course the original creator of the Star Trek TV series.
When the Star Trek creator cast Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura, he made a Trekkie out of Martin Luther King Jr. One of America’s greatest leaders knew the power of visibility. In fact, he urged her to stay even when she was disillusioned with her role. (When Kirk and Uhura kissed, the show was banned by CBS affiliates in parts of the South.) There was a Russian character too, Pavel Chekov, when Russians were the evil empire on the other side of the world. There was Hikaru Sulu, too, of Japanese descent, when the internment camps were not so distant a memory.
All of them, on the bridge, against Khan or, better yet, joining forces to expand our knowledge of the universe. These weren’t characters briefly introduced and revoked. They were protagonists who opened the door to the diversity many of us now take for granted, precisely because they challenged the norms and expectations of their time. Let’s do it again.
A crew of Asians and Caucasians, Vulcans and Muslims (bottom line, there would need to be a few of us to represent anything close to global population stats, but I'd be satisfied at this point with one), seeing what's just around the corner, facing down danger together: Star Trek against the clash of civilizations, a movie that inspires generations, that takes hold of our imagination, that forces us to wonder whether the things that divide us today might not tomorrow. Make it so, please.
Imam agree that slavery is still permissible under Islam even if it is ‘politically incorrect’ to say so. The Imam will hedge their statement by saying that the slaves must be acquired under certain conditions (seized in holy war and then taken to ‘muslim territory’ before they are divvied up).
The laws of Mohammed cannot be repealed under Islam and they are incompatible with modern society.
There are many real life Muslim heroes.
These are the brave men and women that leave the cult of Satan and death in exchange for Christ and eternal life.
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In that case they are indeed “heroes”...but NOT MUSLIM HEROES...they would be Christian heroes.
Watch the movie, Traitor, from Overture Films, 2008, and starring Don Cheadle and Samir Horn, an American Muslim who goes undercover from the CIA into the heart of a very threatening terrorist organization, but is thought to be a traitor by the FBI.
GREAT movie.
There are Islamics serving in the US Military and the intelligence agencies like this man, who know full well what the Jihadists represent, and themselves have escaped from them and are willing to fight them to the death.
Those people have already stood up and are doing their duty as Americans.
The problem is that there are:
1) A large number who are complacent and will not stand up.
2) Many who themselves are afraid to stand up.
3) Others who will not stand because in their hearts they sympathize with the Jihadists.
4) Some who openly support the Jihadists.
Ferreting out who is who is the issue.
And until we know we can do that, we simply have to stop the flow of more into the country. And we also have to devise a methodology for separating the god from the ill with those already here.
I believe adherence to, and devotion to Sharia Law (which is incompatible with the US constitution, and is a societal law which proscribes punishment for civil actions), could be one of the keys to doing so.
If a Mosque teaches Sharia Law, it is no longer religious and should be closed down.
If an individual adheres to, or believe people live their day to day life according to Sharia law, unless they are willing to renounce it, we should consider renouncing their citizenship and deport them to a nation that does adhere to Sharia Law..
Why is it Muslims don’t make good movies about Muslims? Why don’t Muslims create anything that might have some value to the world.
Trying to convince Muslim kids that Islam is a good religion is child abuse.
I suppose heroism in the context of unidentified beneficiaries who are plausibly Islamic themselves, would fly as a cartoon meme even before imams with their fatwa pens.
It’s a bittersweet situation. I observe that many Muslims (at least in name), even knowing their life is overshadowed by hell, participate in defiances of this hell through various customs that are warm and humane. These are not the people who grab the headlines; the bombers do. We also don’t know what they will choose eternally.
60% of the muslims in America are first generation immigrants.
And some who come here reject the theocratic rule of Islamist nations. Yet some of the terrorists we’ve seen coming from England and the US reject the ‘Westernized’ or ‘diluted’ form of Islam of their parents and seek out the ‘radicalized’ or ‘fundamental’ Islam of Mohammed.
If the whole ball of wax can’t sustain several generations of peaceful progress, it will never take root.
Again if you challenge the rules you have, well, challenge the rules. Anything less than godly can have its rules changed.
The question for us would be why not just evangelize rather than trying to re-mold a turd, cutting its stinkiest pieces out as we do.
There is Muslim fundamentalist “evangelism” too. They are not living in vacuums.
The author of this piece is an idiot. Why doesn't he condemn the TERRORISTS, instead of sounding like a backward child looking for recognition?
Sounds good to me!
True. I considered that, but in my search for ‘Muslim heroes’, they were all I could come up with. And they truly are heroic (though Christian).
Lucas already did, they’re called Sand People, or Tuscan Raiders for the PC.
The only religious beliefs I can recall from the show:
Precious little from the Original Series, Some stupid planet had proto-christians worshiping the Sun “Not the Sun” Uhura eventually figures out but the SON of God, I’m surprised Roddenberry allowed that.
Klingons with stupid Klingon beliefs.
DS9 had Bajorans worshiping the stupid aliens that lived in the wormhole. And slave races worshiping the Changelings cause they’d been bred too.
A few other aliens, usually fanatics or primitives.
A GD muzzie would be way out of place even for Federation libtards.
>>Jeb Bush claiming Muslim refugees shouldn’t be let in
FALSE
The writer is an Islamophobiaphobe.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/427224/jeb-bush-dont-ban-muslim-refugees-tim-alberta
Jeb Bush: Don’t Ban Muslim Refugees (November 17, 2015 4:42 PM)
Between the various ST shows, only once was a specific Earth religion assigned to a character. Harry Kim on Voyager was a Catholic, but it was not mentioned much, especially after the first season. The same thing was used in Falling Skies with Lourdes Delgado, also a Catholic. Of course, she gets mad at God and that’s the end of what might’ve been an interesting challenge for the writers.
In the original Star Trek series, there was an episode, “Bread and Circuses”, that did not address a denomination but a belief in the Son (which the landing party thought the natives worshiped the sun). The final dialogue was a nod to the Messiah repeating His earthly visit on another planet. There was a Ray Bradbury short story, “The Man”, they probably stole that idea from.
It’s hard to totally hate Christian faith. I know, because I tried before becoming a believer almost entirely (but not quite) against my will. Its charm gets through chinks in the soul. The Son/Sun pun gave Roddenberry a dramatic rationale.
It might be harder to find a place for any kind of Islam, even one that is not at war. What does it do that would interest anyone futuristic and sci-fi?
Imagine, no countries
Imagine, no religion
...People living day to day
All religions are not equal because at least some of them represent a false (even if well intentioned) path.
They can’t. It takes place in the future.
There’s not been a Christian super hero. They’ve all been secular characters.
I suppose a muslim super hero would have a hard time saving the world if he has to pray 5 times a day.. Imagine the bad guy is coming to fight the muslim superhero but it happens the same time he has to pray. There goes the world, destroyed!
Merry Christmas!
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