Here’s a few examples:

The Popcast (recently made a video warning of the “dangers” of the Barbie movie because it’s feminist. Now Im going to go see it lol), Midnights Edge (general right wing conspiracy theories regarding media, occasional delving into new age crank too), Nerdrotic (thinks Hollywood is engineering a communist Red Guards plot to kill conservatives), The Critical Drinker (typical edgelord anti feminist), Dave Cullen (extreme anti feminist who believes in all the QAnon, Agenda 21 conspiracy theories).

And it goes on and on. I know there’s popular left wing and liberal reviewers too, but for whatever reason so many of the ones I run into are far right. Is there some sort of draw for conservatives to geekdom or is something else going on?

  • effinstephen@startrek.website
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    Block, block, block. You have to beat Youtube with a hammer to steer the algorithm, but it’ll catch on eventually. And one thing to avoid is hate-watching. Youtube doesn’t care if you’re only watching it because you hate it, it just cares that you’re watching it.

    And right-wingers get into Star Trek for similar reasons to liberals–because it’s entertaining, and it reflects their values. Only, they don’t see the space communism, the egalitarian society, the infinite diversity in infinite combinations. They see the mighty starships roaming a war-ridden galaxy, essentially stand-ins for American Navy vessels (as every “Constitution” class ship makes clear in its name). They see simple morality plays where a majority-white-male crew consistently demonstrates the superiority of their wits and values over other races, while also hooking up with alien women. It’s a myopic view of the franchise, but it can certainly describe a lot of the original series, a fair amount of nineties trek, and the whole Abrams trilogy, too.

    • NightAuthor@beehaw.org
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      1 year ago

      I’m not a huge fan, but I have an appreciation of the series. And hearing of these myopic views of it is very sad, and endlessly concerning for our future.

    • Intralexical@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Just turn off your watch history, and you won’t have to deal with any “Algorithm” crap. If you see something you like, press the “Like” button or add it to a playlist— You can explicitly steer and basically whitelist types of videos for YT to recommend to you this way.

      • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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        I had not watched them in years. Not since the Orville was still on local television. But it seems I will not be watching them ever again.

    • Eldritch@lemmy.world
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      I have. Oh god I have. Was watching star trek lore videos years ago for white noise etc. Pre pandemic. Ended up on some soulless gingers channel. The first few videos were okay. But as it kept going the amount of star trek content shrank. Eventually being a blurb about star trek tacked on to the front of a 30-60 minute culture war gamergate screed. Soon as I realized I hit eject and tried to bail. But the algorithm wasn’t having that.

      You literally have to go through and lobotomize your watch history. Or nuke it from orbit. And even then that’s not always enough. Thankfully these days you have a way to individually tell YouTube that you don’t like something and not to recommend it to you again. That wasn’t always the case. Even with that that still doesn’t always solve the problem.

  • Troy@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I think this is largely the same effect: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Engineers_and_woo

    Basically, some techy types have this notion that, because they understand one complex thing, then they also understand all complex things. But in reality, they’ve only been trained to understand the one complex thing and are actually just a delusional idiot.

  • buckykat@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    1 year ago

    thinks Hollywood is engineering a communist Red Guards plot to kill conservatives

    Every day I wish the left were as cool as the right thinks we are.

    Youtube’s algorithm is really eager to guide people into the alt-right pipeline. You basically have to immediately block any channel that seems even a little bit sus to keep that shit out.

    Additionally, there is a draw for conservatives to geekdom in general: antisociality and a belief in one’s own intellectual superiority.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      1 year ago

      Additionally, there is a draw for conservatives to geekdom in general: antisociality and a belief in one’s own intellectual superiority.

      That actually explains a lot, thanks :D

  • porthos@startrek.website
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    Youtube systematically encourages rightwing content both because rich people rely on braindead conservatism to retain their strangehold on society and also because rightwing content is junkfood optimized to cause strong reactions in people and manipulate vulnerable, afraid people.

    I also think it is important to point out that if you step back from Star Trek and squint, you can see it as a scifi submarine war drama about the glory of serving your country in the navy. Nevermind that starfleet is much more than a military and comparing it to a present day military is a huge stretch, that the federation is a leftist mostly functional utopia, that Star Trek directly speaks to the dangers of blind patriotism and militarism… Conservatives don’t let the details of reality get in the way of the narratives they tell about the world.

    Renegade Cut did a really good video that I think does a pretty good job of answering your question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69Tm5KxkM8A&list=PLbNseMNQjpNuh2RfoyBHTAad48PN-MZa5&index=5

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      Youtube systematically encourages rightwing content both because rich people rely on braindead conservatism to retain their strangehold on society and also because rightwing content is junkfood optimized to cause strong reactions in people and manipulate vulnerable, afraid people.

      Damn, couldn’t have put it better myself.

  • fleemfleemfleemfleem@startrek.website
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    1 year ago

    There are probably a few things going on.

    • First the algorithm rewards videos that drive interaction. That can be angry comments, up or down votes, subscriptions, whatever.

    • The algorithm will drive you towards more content of the kind that you interact with. If you interact with conservative leaning videos that will drive what it shows you in the future.

    • A lot of scifi (although forward looking) is driven by nostalgia. People remember reading heinlein, azimov, etc in their childhoods. Nostalgia often comes along with a strong dose of traditionalism. People want to hold on to the old versions of things. Old stories, old ways of doing things.

    • The role of reviewer can be somewhat inherently regressive. Reviewers can respond badly to change, differences from what came before. They can hold back innovation when they don’t understand how to conceptualize something new. They can be incentivized to adopt the consensus opinion of other reviewers.

    • If you love something you’re less like to have a successful channel. People love to watch cinema sins, nostalgia critic, etc. People giving bad faith angry yelling into a mic reviews that become a series of low effort jokes. If you love something there’s often less to say, fewer jokes to make, and less to engage with. Star trek is progressive, so if you’re someone who loves it, you may be less likely to make a forceful critque of the kind that’s been in vogue on youtube.

    • “geekdom” in general had often had an exclusionary bent. See the sad puppies, or gamergate. At one point geek culture was a safe haven for outsiders who felt that the world didn’t or couldn’t understand their interest. It was a place to meet other smart people, and talk about the stuff you care about that not everyone will get. Unfortunately that also comes with a lot of broken people who see a place with a lot of smart people as a place to be “superior,” see discussion forums as a place to flex their might knowledge of canon and browbeat newcomers to franchises, or see geekdom as a place that they dominate from which other must be kept out-- hence the “you’re not a real nerd” stereotype. That seems to tie in with a conservative mindset about social issues.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      1 year ago

      Thanks a lot for this breakdown! These are all very good points

      A lot of scifi (although forward looking) is driven by nostalgia. People remember reading heinlein, azimov, etc in their childhoods. Nostalgia often comes along with a strong dose of traditionalism. People want to hold on to the old versions of things. Old stories, old ways of doing things.

      I’ve encountered this a lot. When I tell people I like SNW and didnt like Picard Season 3 so much, I get a lot of visceral responses on how Im not a true fan…

      • fleemfleemfleemfleem@startrek.website
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        1 year ago

        Yeah I find it strange how people want to decide who can and can’t be a fan.

        I mostly liked Picard s3, but only because it was better than 1 and 2. Not going to be bothered by someone not liking something I liked.

        • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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          I actually like PIcard Season 3 more now on rewatches, but I kinda hate the fanbase surrounding the season because it’s very toxic (and not because they dislike the New Trek shows, I mean the whole “its not woke” nonsense)

          • fleemfleemfleemfleem@startrek.website
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            I liked seeing the old gang back together, but it seemed like they prioritized that over other considerations. They were the Next Generation, but their own children need their help to do engineering tasks or solve other problems.

            Also TNG has had like 3 endings now. Enterprise didn’t even get one.

            If the franchise is going to move forward it needs new casts like SNW or lower Decks to carry that way.

            • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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              I agree. I loved seeing the TNG cast back together, but I want all new characters. That’s actually a problem with SNW as well, yes its a new cast but theyre playing 57 or whatever year old characters. That being said, since you brought up Enterprise, I’d love to see an Archer miniseries that gives some actual closure to Enterprise, if possible.

    • perviouslyiner@lemm.ee
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      They’ve just disabled the front page completely if you have an account that doesn’t store watch history - I was hoping they would use favorites and liked videos to form recommendations but apparently it’s just the “watched” flag being used.

      Still, maybe you can curate that flag by removing anything from watched history that you don’t want influencing the front page?

  • Dinsmore@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Yeah who are these people?

    Briahna from the bad faith podcast and Yannis Varoufakis are pretty left and avid star trek fans.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      I never said all were far right, just that a lot of Youtubers who center around Star Trek or sci fi in general are far right. A lot complained that the Orville went “woke” in its third season, for example. And praised Picard Season 3 for being “unwoke”

      • Dinsmore@sh.itjust.works
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        I guess I just am never exposed to these Youtubers. Are these people popular? Seems like I’m better off staying ignorant of them!

        • StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website
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          They are regrettably popular and influential with a certain swath of fans, particularly among those who are Berman-era fans.

          Terry Matalas courted them assiduously to bring a target niche of disgruntled and vocal fans back to the franchise for season three of Picard. It was successful to some extent, but now they are campaigning for all new Trek content to be ‘Terry Trek.’ They have hats and t-shirts and everything.

  • CeruleanRuin@lemmings.world
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    It’s all just clickbait ragemining, that’s all it is. Loser conservos boost it no matter what it’s about so long as it confirms their biases, and that artificially inflates the profile of these channels.

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    Could be because everyone can enjoy fiction. Project their own selves into the fictional world. So fiction is where you intersect with people of different political views.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      Normally that’s a fine explanation, but these are the types who complain about any liberal message in fiction, yet seem to ignore it in this big case.

      • themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works
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        Conservatives have no media literacy. Most of these channels don’t actually analyse media, they just get mad at it when a critical mass of conservatives are also mad at it.

  • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
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    A lot of this has started as a counter to the crappy reboots of favourite geeky franchises. Some call it “woke” and I’m not getting into that debate.

    But it’s reality that a lot of these reboots or sequels - Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Terminator, Indiana Jones etc, do go against the nature of the originals in many respects.

    So you’ll get people talk about it, and well, those who shout the loudest are heard the most.

    I used to watch to some of those guys you mention, when they were still fresh and talking only about the media. But eventually they 1) kept repeating the same points over and over and over, 2) went on to only bitch without any real constructive input (e.g. even refusing to watch the shows but making 15 videos anyway), 3) keep adding their political agenda, which is exactly what they criticise the media for.

    Mind you, there are left wingers reviewing geeky stuff which are just as annoying, and have just as little to say. Can’t remember who is that Trek person on YT that keeps inserting his political bits, but I also stopped watching. If I wanna hear about politics, I’ll watch a channel dedicated to that and not some random ass that watches movies.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      I agree actually. The fact is I still prefer The Orville over even SNW because I feel The Orville is more in keeping with that TNG style I love so much. I never found people hating reboots toxic, its associating phantom communist agendas to them that’s the toxic bullshit.

      • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
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        I actually found Orville to be just as annoying as some reboots. I liked it at first, but lost my appetite with the trans court episode, and definitely quit at the suicide episode. It’s impossibly preachy at times, and I’m not here for literal ethics lessons.

        I was very hesitant to start SNW, but I quite like it. The annoying part about it is that it recycles storylines and beats from previous treks. But that’s a Trek trope in on itself, and I guess it works for people who haven’t watched Trek, so it functions as a modern reboot. People were hesitant to accept TNG as well.

        Also its court episode (which is where I’m at atm), while preachy, wasn’t as preachy as Orville’s. I hope they got the messaging out of their system and can get back to just exploring space.

        • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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          Star Trek was always preachy though, the fact that NuTrek has nothing to say is something that turns me off from it. Also SNW is poorly named, theres almost no “strange new worlds” its all just Earth like planets with humans on it. The Orville actually has a fair share of “strange new worlds” and a better visual style, and better writing, etc.

          • WhoRoger@lemmy.world
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            It has been, but not to this degree I feel. And when it was, it could at least occasionally be great at it, especially DS9. Or they could make an organic story around it. Or if nothing else, it could at least be amusingly dumb. The modern era is just “sit down you dummies, today’s lesson is about X” and it’s just an hour about how horrible/awesome that thing is.

            As I said, SNW really does rehash old storylines and beats. Ya know, “if you try to save your crewmatss from this religious artefact, it will be an act lf war!” and “we’re not so different after all, you weird weak emotional human and I, the commander of a bloodthirsty army who’s gonna kill me in a few seconds” and “oh hey we conveniently time travelled into the past into the exact time where my skills will be useful and area where I can find friends” stuff.

            Everything we’ve seen 5 times before… But I’ve been watching SNW with someone who’s never seen Trek before and they’re liking it. When I look at it like that, yea it mostly works.

            • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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              Actually I guess you’re right now that I think about it, NuTrek does preach occasionally in a really dumb way, and often the wrong message IMO.

              I’ve been watching SNW with someone who’s never seen Trek before

              Yeah that’s why I sometimes wish I haven’t seen every 700 or so Trek episodes out there, because SNW would be far better then. Admittedly it’s also a problem with The Orville as well, because they also rehashed and straight up ripped off old Trek episodes in an inferior way, but did enough original (for TV anyway) and interesting things for me to forgive this.

  • Reva@startrek.website
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    Star Trek is nerd culture. Nerd culture is predominantly white cishet guys. White cishet guys who feel excluded from the rest of society or face issues growing up (which usually leads to them being nerds) tend to be radicalized by far-right talking points as a replacement for an identity.

    Not all of them of course, but a lot of them. That’s the reason. Star Trek is different than other fandoms in that it historically has always been a lot more diverse than other fandoms. If you think the Star Trek fandom at large is bad, check out others. Way worse.

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    Damn, I just saw a few random popcast videos, they were alright… But now i don’t want to support them, so I will block them.

    I’ve already blocked the critical drinker because of his anti women views.

    • startrekexplained@startrek.websiteOP
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      Yeah I liked Popcast’s deep dives into Star Trek and Stargate, but they’re turning into yet another far right “anti-woke” channel, so sigh

  • YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    This isn’t a youtube problem, I was watching some old Star Trek episodes on a stream and everyone in the chat was using racist dog whistles and just spamming the n-word

    Old fanbases are the worst and most racist and everyone should avoid them unless they secretly agree with them

      • YaaAsantewaa@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        It’s the same, same with LOTR and Star Wars, and it’s always bizarre because the universes are anything but right-wing and never were but they just latch on to anything and ruin it for everyone else. They stole the red-pill metaphor from Matrix this same way.

        So now I just stay away entirely from the fanbases and stick only to close friends