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

[marmar]

from YES! Magazine:


Star Trek’s George Takei: Putting Facebook Fame to Good Use
Famous for his role as Dr. Sulu on Star Trek, today George Takei uses the popularity of his kitchy humor to promote discussion about the rights of women and LGBT people.

by Mark Engler
posted Apr 30, 2013


[font size="1"]George Takei at the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Pride. Photo by Zesmerelda.[/font]


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?”

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. ...................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.yesmagazine.org/happiness/star-trek-george-takei-fighting-for-equality-funny-cat-photos

[Marrah_G]

1. His page is my favorite page!

[Bluenorthwest]

2. George's fame was earned by his work in arts and in policits, his fame is not Facebook fame

Facebook is merely a tool that is useful for famous people to use, it not the source of that acclaim. George is the source of his own fame, which existed long before Facebook came to be. Sorry, but the words just bothered me.

[marmar]

3. I don't think the article disagrees with you. It just focuses on his Facebook activism.

[TlalocW]

4. And he's holding a balloon sculpture!

I'm a balloon twister in the Kansas City area. KC Comicon recently happened, and I went there in my twisting outfit (colorfully striped vest, boater hat - I look like a sideshow barker from the 1890s-1920s). I also made sculptures for certain guests that I wanted to get pictures of holding them - Peter Mayhew got Chewbacca, Ray Park got a Darth Maul, Lou Ferrigno got a Hulk. Unfortunately, George's line didn't allow poised photography so I couldn't get a picture of him with what I brought for him to hold - a large USS Enterprise with a red and pink marriage equality balloon sculpture hanging from it. I did take it out to show it to him, and I got him to exclaim, "Oh, myyyy."

He also asked what I was dressed as, and I said, "The Takei 90s." He got a good laugh out of that.

Here's the Enterprise before I put the equality sign on it.



TlalocW