Description
Book SynopsisThe forward progress of society is not automatic and should not be taken for granted. The assassination President John F. Kennedy in 1963 ended his effort to deploy American prestige, power to forward progressive change worldwide. Today, there are political forces seeking to stop progressive social, political, economic change. Whatever their reasons, such forces are conspiring to impose authoritarianism to suppress the public’s desire for just, democratic governance, government. The brutality, violence, viciousness, racism (dystopia) of authoritarianism is 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 roughly 30 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, malign critics of this conspiracy as guilt of conspiracy theory – advocating, embracing baseless fantasies. Worse yet, proponents of conspiracy theory (by implication) are deemed as psychologically suspect for arguing that political elites are engaged in a process to eliminate all meaningful vestiges of democracy.
Trade Review“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, University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley
Table of ContentsChapter 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
