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<h1>Star Trek’s George Takei: Putting Facebook Fame to Good Use</h1>

<div><div><div><p></p>  <p>I was a relative latecomer to Facebook&mdash;and a skeptic, too. Well into the Obama era, I was parroting the standard criticisms that people who haven&rsquo;t     actually spent time on the platform like to recycle: chiefly, &ldquo;Why would I want to know what a bunch of my old classmates and distant acquaintances just     had for breakfast?&rdquo;</p>  <blockquote>Takei&rsquo;s kitschy cat photos are not themselves of political interest, but  their popularity has given him a platform for his online activism</blockquote>  <p>I&rsquo;ve come around. It&rsquo;s always unnerving to be hooked to a giant corporation, and I still keep my guard up a little. But once I got to using Facebook it     quickly became clear why it has a mass following. It&rsquo;s a fun way to keep in touch with friends, a useful source of interesting links (link up with some     media-savvy users and you&rsquo;ll have a customized news feed that&rsquo;s hard to beat), and an effective means of affectionately razzing extended family members     (when a cousin&rsquo;s March Madness bracket started doing far worse than mine, I somehow made time in my busy schedule to gloat).</p>  <p>And then there&rsquo;s the joy of seeing posts from George Takei.</p>  <p>Takei&mdash;a seventy-five-year-old actor most famous for playing Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek&mdash;is friendly and warm-hearted, matter-of-factly out of the     closet, always ready with a pun, and unabashedly nerdy (items that combine or conflate the Star Wars and Star Trek universes are a subspecialty of     Takei&rsquo;s). If there is a more beloved personality in the world of social networking, I haven&rsquo;t met him or her.</p>  <p>It&rsquo;s likely that you don&rsquo;t need me to tell you any of this. I&rsquo;m merely one fan out of the 3,789,097 that Takei has amassed on Facebook. Admittedly, those     aren&rsquo;t Justin Bieber or Rihanna numbers. Yet Takei manages to stock the online world with more cartoons, humorous memes, and cheeky quips than pretty much anyone else. Even    <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/04/20/george-takei-social-media/">more so</a> than people with larger followings, his fans respond to and re-circulate his content in droves&mdash;whether the posts are <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=634239293272194&amp;set=a.223098324386295.105971.205344452828349&amp;type=1">merely </a><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=631341896895267&amp;set=a.223098324386295.105971.205344452828349&amp;type=1">frivolous</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=630471776982279&amp;set=a.223098324386295.105971.205344452828349&amp;type=1">heart-warming</a>, or<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=634834573212666&amp;set=a.223098324386295.105971.205344452828349&amp;type=1"> politically</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=633914879971302&amp;set=a.223098324386295.105971.205344452828349&amp;type=1">pointed</a>.</p>  <blockquote>Takei describes his approach to     promoting LGBT rights as &ldquo;combating idiocy with humor.&rdquo;</blockquote>  <p>Takei&rsquo;s kitschy cat photos are not themselves of political interest, but their popularity has given him a platform with exceptional     reach for his online activism. This past week was the two-year anniversary of the launch of his Facebook page; it also witnessed several developments that highlighted Takei&rsquo;s     commitments as an engaged public figure.</p>  <p>One development was the national discussion of same-sex marriage, precipitated by the arguments taking place before the Supreme Court. (A useful and funny summary of last Tuesday&rsquo;s oral arguments about the constitutionality of California&rsquo;s Proposition 8 is available    <a href="http://courtneymilan.tumblr.com/post/46374496823/truncated-transcript-from-todays-scotus-argument">here</a>.) The debate is directly relevant to     Takei, who in the past decade has become an <a href="http://blog.theautry.org/2010/09/09/george-takei-on-his-human-rights-activism/">outspoken advocate</a> of LGBT rights. He and his partner     Brad were among the earliest and most prominent same-sex couples in Hollywood to obtain a marriage license in 2008, and they were the first gay couple ever     to <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdgBUWPUtL8">appear</a> on the <i>Newlywed Game</i>.</p>  <p>As an online advocate, Takei <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2012/03/23/how-george-takei-conquered-facebook/">describes</a> his approach to     promoting LGBT rights as &ldquo;combating idiocy with humor.&rdquo; This was on display during his &ldquo;<a href="http://youtu.be/dRkIWB3HIEs">It&rsquo;s OK to Be Takei</a>&rdquo;     campaign in 2011. That year the Tennessee state legislature considered a &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t Say Gay&rdquo; bill, which would have prohibited teachers from discussing     homosexuality with their students. In response, Takei helpfully offered his last name (which rhymes with gay) for use by schoolteachers who needed a handy     substitute for any words forbidden in the classroom.</p>  <p>While his status as a spokesperson for LGBT rights is relatively new, Takei has long been involved in other civil rights issues, such as raising awareness     about the government internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. As a child, Takei was held with his family for four years in prison     camps. Last week, TED made <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/03/28/george-takei-on-star-trek-musicals-and-japanese-american-internment/">available</a> Takei&rsquo;s <a href="http://youtu.be/cHSQGnhdSi4">talk</a>about the experience and how it motivated him to create a forthcoming Broadway musical, entitled    <i><a href="http://www.allegiancemusical.com/">Allegiance</a></i>.</p>  <p>Social media holdouts may have     <a href="http://www.alternet.org/media/facebook-causing-deterioration-society-we-know-it?akid=10256.6311.Rd--sS&amp;rd=1&amp;src=newsletter816980&amp;t=9"> good reason </a> for their wariness. But if you are going to cave to Facebook, Takei&rsquo;s distinctive combination of politics and meme silliness&mdash;what he describes as &ldquo;talking     about the internment of Japanese Americans, mixed in with some cute kitties&rdquo;&mdash;is a pleasure worth indulging.</p>  <p><iframe frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dRkIWB3HIEs" width="560"></iframe></p>  <hr width="50%"><div></div>  <p><strong> Interested? </strong></p>  <ul><li>  <br> Explore 100 years of human rights achievements and losses in the US: racial justice, immigrant rights, women's rights, worker rights, and more. </li>  <li>  <br> How do we help students to build a fair and just world? </li>  <li><span>LGBT road trip breaks through stereotypes. Get the inside scoop from the 2007 Equality Rides.</span> </li>  </ul></div><!-- <img src="b4d7de7a6fcd4252aa6abcf92d9db7e8"> --></div><!-- <p>Mark Engler is a consulting editor <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org">YES! Magazine</a>, a senior analyst with Foreign Policy In Focus, and author or <a href="http://powells.com/partner/23116/biblio/9781568583655"><i>How to Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy</i></a> (Nation Books, 2008). He can be reached via the website <a href="http://www.democracyuprising.com/">www.DemocracyUprising.com</a>. You can follow Mark on Twitter (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/markjengler">@markjengler</a>) or on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/DemocracyUprising">Facebook</a>.</p> --></div><!-- <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/is-the-u.s.-ready-for-human-rights/100-years-of-human-rights-in-the-u.s" title="100 Years of Human Rights in the     U.S."> 100 Years of Human Rights in the U.S. </a>  --><!-- <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/for-teachers/social-justice-human-rights" title="Social Justice &amp; Human Rights"> Social Justice and Human Rights </a>  --><!-- <a href="resolveuid/1db548ec12524635f08a18d86671da0e">Equality Ride<br></a> -->

<p>This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a> at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2013/05/01/star-trek-george-takei-fighting-for-equality-funny-cat-photos">https://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2013/05/01/star-trek-george-takei-fighting-for-equality-funny-cat-photos</a>.</p><link href="https://www.yesmagazine.org/health-happiness/2013/05/01/star-trek-george-takei-fighting-for-equality-funny-cat-photos" rel="canonical"/><p>Yes! Magazine is a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of ... . Learn more at <a href="https://www.yesmagazine.org">Yes! Magazine</a></p><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://www.yesmagazine.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=11412&ga4=G-74QJNNY44Z" style="width:1px;height:1px;">

Star Trek’s George Takei: Putting Facebook Fame to Good Use

I was a relative latecomer to Facebook—and a skeptic, too. Well into the Obama era, I was parroting the standard criticisms that people who haven’t     actually spent time on the platform like to recycle: chiefly, “Why would I want to know what a bunch of my old classmates and distant acquaintances just     had for breakfast?”  Takei’s kitschy cat photos are not themselves of political interest, but  their popularity has given him a platform for his online activism  I’ve come around. It’s always unnerving to be hooked to a giant corporation, and I still keep my guard up a little. But once I got to using Facebook it     quickly became clear why it has a mass following. It’s a fun way to keep in touch with friends, a useful source of interesting links (link up with some     media-savvy users and you’ll have a customized news feed that’s hard to beat), and an effective means of affectionately razzing extended family members     (when a cousin’s March Madness bracket started doing far worse than mine, I somehow made time in my busy schedule to gloat).  And then there’s the joy of seeing posts from George Takei.  Takei—a seventy-five-year-old actor most famous for playing Mr. Sulu on the original Star Trek—is friendly and warm-hearted, matter-of-factly out of the     closet, always ready with a pun, and unabashedly nerdy (items that combine or conflate the Star Wars and Star Trek universes are a subspecialty of     Takei’s). If there is a more beloved personality in the world of social networking, I haven’t met him or her.  It’s likely that you don’t need me to tell you any of this. I’m merely one fan out of the 3,789,097 that Takei has amassed on Facebook. Admittedly, those     aren’t Justin Bieber or Rihanna numbers. Yet Takei manages to stock the online world with more cartoons, humorous memes, and cheeky quips than pretty much anyone else. Even    more so than people with larger followings, his fans respond to and re-circulate his content in droves—whether the posts are merely frivolous, heart-warming, or politically pointed.  Takei describes his approach to     promoting LGBT rights as “combating idiocy with humor.”  Takei’s kitschy cat photos are not themselves of political interest, but their popularity has given him a platform with exceptional     reach for his online activism. This past week was the two-year anniversary of the launch of his Facebook page; it also witnessed several developments that highlighted Takei’s     commitments as an engaged public figure.  One development was the national discussion of same-sex marriage, precipitated by the arguments taking place before the Supreme Court. (A useful and funny summary of last Tuesday’s oral arguments about the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8 is available    here.) The debate is directly relevant to     Takei, who in the past decade has become an outspoken advocate of LGBT rights. He and his partner     Brad were among the earliest and most prominent same-sex couples in Hollywood to obtain a marriage license in 2008, and they were the first gay couple ever     to appear on the Newlywed Game.  As an online advocate, Takei describes his approach to     promoting LGBT rights as “combating idiocy with humor.” This was on display during his “It’s OK to Be Takei”     campaign in 2011. That year the Tennessee state legislature considered a “Don’t Say Gay” bill, which would have prohibited teachers from discussing     homosexuality with their students. In response, Takei helpfully offered his last name (which rhymes with gay) for use by schoolteachers who needed a handy     substitute for any words forbidden in the classroom.  While his status as a spokesperson for LGBT rights is relatively new, Takei has long been involved in other civil rights issues, such as raising awareness     about the government internment of Japanese Americans during the Second World War. As a child, Takei was held with his family for four years in prison     camps. Last week, TED made available Takei’s talkabout the experience and how it motivated him to create a forthcoming Broadway musical, entitled    Allegiance.  Social media holdouts may have      good reason  for their wariness. But if you are going to cave to Facebook, Takei’s distinctive combination of politics and meme silliness—what he describes as “talking     about the internment of Japanese Americans, mixed in with some cute kitties”—is a pleasure worth indulging.       Interested?      Explore 100 years of human rights achievements and losses in the US: racial justice, immigrant rights, women's rights, worker rights, and more.      How do we help students to build a fair and just world?   LGBT road trip breaks through stereotypes. Get the inside scoop from the 2007 Equality Rides.

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