Popular Culture, Conspiracy Theory, and the Star Trek Text

by George A. Gonzalez

Overview

The forward progress of society is not automatic and should not be taken for granted. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 can be viewed as ending his effort to deploy American prestige and power to forward change worldwide. Today, there are political forces seeking to stop progressive social, political, and economic change. Whatever the reasons, such forces are conspiring to impose authoritarianism to suppress the public’s desire for just, democratic government. The brutality, violence, viciousness, and racism (dystopia) of authoritarianism are becoming more and more the hallmark of world politics. Perhaps the most glaring aspect of this dystopia is the fact that the American state has been almost continuously at war for the past thirty years—including a sinister, dastardly drone assassination program. One means to obscure the ongoing conspiracy to ultimately impose outright dictatorship on the American people and the rest of the world, is to smear and malign critics of this conspiracy as guilty of conspiracy theory—advocating and embracing baseless fantasies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781793616401
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	03/04/2020
Pages:	116
Product dimensions:	6.34(w) x 9.05(h) x 0.58(d)

About the Author

George A. Gonzalez is professor of political science at the University of Miami.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: The Misuse of Conspiracy Theory Exposed by Star Trek

Chapter Two: The Metaphysics of Star Trek

Chapter Three: The Progressive Dialectic of Star Trek

Chapter Four: The JFK Assassination and the Progressive Dialectic

Chapter Five: Cheney/Trump America as Dystopia

Chapter Six: War and the Human Mind: Star Trek, Star Wars, and Hanna

Chapter Seven: The Politics of Anger in Neoliberalism: Star Trek, The Expanse, and Veep

Editorial Reviews

Popular Culture, Conspiracy Theory, and the Star Trek Text is a timely and provocative book written against a background of contemporary American politics, where so much public discussion revolves around conspiracy theories and allegations of conspiracy. Gonzalez makes an important distinction between conspiracy theories, which are elaborate and unsubstantiated narratives, as compared to actual conspiracies, where corporate and political elites covertly engage in illegal or unethical actions to advance their interests at the expense of the American people. The author deploys the Star Trek text to illustrate how charges of conspiracy theory are frequently deployed by elites to discourage the investigation of elite misconduct and to question the mental state of those who engage in legitimate critical thinking about the corruption of capitalist and state elites.

Clyde W. Barrow