Mack: IDIC Means Everyone
2 min read
Star Trek Author David Mack responded to a critical fan email and showed just what “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations” should mean.
The unnamed fan was upset over a same-sex relationship depicted in Mack’s Star Trek: Vanguard: Harbinger novel.
“David Mack will probable never read this email but I am writing it anyway,” said the fan.
“I purchased and started reading your book, Harbinger and stopped when I got to the part where the Vulcan was having a homosexual affair with the Klingon spy. I deleted the book from my E-reader and will never purchase another volume authored by David Mack. You can call me a homophobe or use any other excuse you choose to write me off but the truth is homosexually is not universally accepted and I get to decided what I read and I choose not to read any more of your work. And on top of that no Vulcan would consider the situation ‘logical’. You can’t just remold the Vulcan persona to suit yourself.
“I am just letting you know that you have lost at least one reader.”
But Mack did read the email and he responded via his blog to the fan. “Well, the author of that e-mail might not have been looking for a reply, but he’s going to get one,” said Mack.
“If he thinks the fear of alienating a few closed-minded readers is going to stop me from writing stories that feature and promote characters of diverse backgrounds—including LGBTQ characters, persons of color, and people who belong to ideological or philosophical minorities—he must be out of his mind. I’m a fucking Star Trek writer. Hasn’t he ever heard of IDIC—’Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations’?
“Most of my writing work to date has been for Star Trek. Although the various television series could have done more in their respective times to portray ethnic and gender diversity, those of us who write the licensed Trek fiction continue to do our best to depict a more progressive, enlightened, open, and harmonious future, not just for humanity but for all sentient beings. One in which love, equality, and compassion are the touchstones of civilized society.”
“I will never be made to feel shame for doing this,” said Mack. “I am proud that we’ve been able to do this. I know we’ve still got more work to do, and we can do better at integrating more diverse viewpoints and characters into the ever-expanding universe of Star Trek.”
More of Mack’s response can be seen at his blog, located here.
About The Author
^^^ ANGRY LOSER.
I really enjoyed the Relaunches at first, but they gradually unraveled the further away they spun from the endings of the TV shows and the more insistent they became on tying absolutely all people, places and things in the Trek universe together. It just got too ridiculous for me. Some things are best left as they were.
Example?
He has attempted to TYPE IN ALL CAPS TO DRAW ATTENTION to key points in his text wall of straw-man cliches so there may be hope of breaking through yet.
In other words, you’re a freakin’ idiot.
It has NEVER been said that pon farr is the only time Vulcans have sex, nor has it been said that pon farr is completely about procreation. In fact, procreation doesn’t even seem to be the issue at all–it’s a reaction to holding back animal instincts.
There is no indication that Vulcan sex is not about pleasure. None whatsoever.
Grow up, jackass.
Spoken like an obvious homophobe. He’s better off without you.
In other words, you’re an idiot.
It’s true. They do have the right to be ignorant, hateful, ill-informed and closed-minded. It’s a big shame that they choose such a meaningless existence, but hey, vive la différence.
Ah, another “tolerant” liberal
To everyone who is saying pon farr in not about sex, please tell me where you get that from? EVERYTHING that has been said in TOS as well as Search for Spock, indicates that it is, and that is ALL it is. Enterprise has gone a little off the reservation about Vulcans in my humble opinion.
Actually, yes it has. in Amok Time, Spock says it is about Vulcan biology, Kirk says “as in procreation”, Spock nods the affirmative. Then they talk more about it. So, yes, Pon Farr IS about procreation.
Spoken like a hypocritical pig. We’re all better off without you, so off you go again.
Spock and Uhura. End of story.
And no, pon farr does NOT only affect Vulcan males. You need to actually WATCH Star Trek before commenting again.
Grow up, kid.
Ah, another low-IQ twat who assumes anyone who disagrees with him must be a liberal.
I’m not.
Okay, kid. 😀
You make a valid point, we can quibble on the percentage, But lets use the 2%. As a rational being out of the hundreds of fiction Trek books, and out of the tens of thousands of individual characters that have been mentioned. How many have been homosexual?
I have dropped out of most of Trek fiction after about the 250th novel I read, and I can state that homosexuals weren’t in 2% of those books, nor did they represent 2% of the characters that showed some form of attraction to others. Not even close.
Now perhaps since that time, every book that has 50 characters in it has featured one homosexual, if so then your point would be very valid. I eagerly await the list that shows that.
Yes, and god what will people think when bisexuals are included, and people who are gay that won’t mention it to others for fear of reprisals actually state their sexuality to census workers.
As for media, while you might feel homosexuals account for an ungodly percentage of the media. You might actually want to double check that.
Less then 2% of characters on fictional tv and film are portrayed as gay. i don’t follow radio shows, so I can’t comment about that.
On the sports side of media, far, far less then 2% of any player, commentator, owner, or coach has stated to be gay or shown with a partner that is of the same sex.
On the print and video news, do you really see at least one in 50 stories about gays? Because I don’t at least not on a daily basis week after week, month after month and year after year.
I mean seriously pick random issue of the USAtoday it will have hundreds of articles of various times, how many are about homosexuals? What about the Wall Street Journal, what about the New York times, what about each city that has a paper in the US, what about local news, what about national broadcast news, what about 24 hour news outlets. In my town I can go weeks without any stories about Gays in print or televised media (Again nota radio person so perhaps there are hundreds upon hundreds of stations around the world with gay hosts, or gay stories.
And this is in the US, let alone parts of the world that official don’t even admit homosexual exist. let alone be allowed to be shown or even mentioned in any form of news,or entertainment or sport.
Maybe you need to have the intelligenfe to understand Star Trek, before you watch it , since we are going to start insulting…
I’m simply curious as to why this e-mail sender had to say anything at all. There are many forms of fictional media that I do like and others that I don’t. Do I have a need to contact the writers of the stuff I don’t like and tell them I want nothing to do with their material? He has the right to his opinion and Mack to his that such people in need of that kind of ego massage are around. I probably wouldn’t have responded the way he did. At least he didn’t mention this individual by name as the blogs of right-wing pundits have done.
Just out of curiosity, are there really rampart numbers of minority activists complaining about the lack of adequate representation in fictional media to demanding there be at least one black character, at least one gay character, or at least one handicapped character just for the sake of having a token minority. Or are they just something social conservatives conjure up to rationalize their own prejudices?
So Sarek and Amanda spend every night crocheting and reading the Bible?
Tyranny of the majority is a situation where a majority will use their superior numbers to actively oppress an individual or a minority; the justification of this is that since the majority supports something, the opinions and/or rights of a minority or individual are irrelevant. A good example of this are “Jim Crow” laws, where white majorities would pass laws regulating where a minority, in this case blacks, could live, work, go to school, et cetera.
The Bill of Rights is specifically intended to protect the rights of the individual, and by extension the minority, from being infringed by an abuse of power by the democratically elected government– which is elected by a majority. It is, as all things, a work in progress; there is still and always will and should be a debate over where the rights of the individual and the rights of a society begin and end.
My question for you is this. Since gays constitute a small percentage of the population, should they then be excluded from representation in that society, whether it is in governance or in fiction?
Stop with the personal insults, guys. I’ve already banned one and deleted a bunch of personal comments.
Is it so difficult to discuss this in an adult manner? Have a little respect for each other.
I have not read email, blog post, or book, but here’s my take on the acceptance of homosexuality on Vulcan–if the place actually existed, it would be guaranteed to be the one planet in the galaxy you wouldn’t want to be Vulcan and gay. Because a.) I think it is pretty clear that there is a powerful social norming process on Vulcan, because Vulcans are clearly born with emotional capability–and Romulans clearly are Vulcan in biology, and express emotion much more freely–so austere logic rules on Vulcan because the culture makes it rule, and that requires a norming process, perhaps a severe one; and b.) IDIC logic did not keep young Spock from feeling as an outcast, did it? So clearly the Vulcans can be snobs, arrogant ones.
I think someone, a Vulcan on Vulcan, not just indulging in an emotion, but one based upon potentially faulty wiring of the body’s sex drive, is not going to get quite the same warm treatment as, say, George Takei in Hollywood of the present day. Instead…cold toleration. In other words, what Spock got.
Of course, the concept is…fascinating. Presumably, by the 23rd/24th century we would be talking about the platonic ideals, because things caused by faulty wiring (i.e., not in line with the rest of the organs, the biological urge marking the wrong target, in relation to gender), would almost certainly have physical cause identified and corrected with the level of medical knowledge available to Federation worlds. Today, of course, we would not allow such treatments to happen if they were possible, in a situation akin to “bussing schoolkids” so as to achieve social norms desired (and this will be a battle that plays out one way or the other once those treatments come on line, as they presumably will at some point in time, as man’s knowledge ever expands).
Future societies might, however, and probably will, as a matter of course, correct the physical issue if an easy fix. So we will probably be talking small numbers in the future, and platonic ideals of love. And my guess is that a planet of people barely tolerant of unsuppressible emotional needs would be even less tolerant of the suppressible ones. Legally tolerant, perhaps. Socially? I doubt it, doubt it very much.
I would also think that IDIC is more what separates the Vulcans from the Romulans, as to how they will relate to the rest of the universe, than how Vulcans will relate to each other. Inside Vulcan, my belief is that it is probably somewhat a strait-jacketed society. Outside–the Vulcans have abandoned any idea of superiority, or ruling via better intellect or strength. The Romulans on the other hand, did not, and this conceit that they should rule because they are simply better is the main underpinning to understanding the culture. It is why they are so arrogant an so devious–they don’t respect you to start with, till you show them that you are on the same plane level of the food chain.
I suggest reading the books. They’re really good, and although I agree that a Klingon and Vulcan having a romance sounds unlikely, the pairing really worked for those two individuals – because that’s what they were, well developed characters who are more than racial stereotypes.