4 ms·

I wonder if the George Takei suggestion was intelligent situational awareness ... or if everyone has him as the first suggestion because he's basically the plat

I wonder if the George Takei suggestion was intelligent situational awareness ... or if everyone has him as the first suggestion because he's basically the platonic form of a Facebook celebrity?

ck2 12y ago
If you are not aware, Shatner doesn't like Takei.
- qbrass 12y ago
  If it wasn't a Facebook app, I wouldn't expect it to know that.
- Aqueous 12y ago
  And Takei doesn't like Shatner.
- Udo 12y ago
  I didn't know that, so I dug around for the cause. From a recent NYP article: Takei married his husband in 2008 and Shatner became enraged when he claimed he wasn’t invited. He ranted against Takei in an online interview. [...] Shatner called Takei’s wedding a publicity stunt and hypothesized that their feud stemmed from Takei’s unwillingness to playing second fiddle to Shatner on “Star Trek.” It seems to be mostly based on petty, even comical stuff like this. This may sound paradoxical, but as someone who always had a lot of respect for both of them, this is disappointing and a bit of a relief at the same time.
  - pessimizer 12y ago
    That wasn't the cause. According to Takei, they didn't get along even during Star Trek. "Petty, comical stuff" is what the media narrative consists of because they're two amusing personalities, and we want to be amused by them. Also they're two old men who wouldn't have spoken for the last 50 years if it weren't for an avalanche of fan-cash that has forced them into continued contact and some civility.
  - _delirium 12y ago
    From what I can tell he's had a bad relationship with a number of the other cast members since the original series's filming, since they thought he was too self-centered and kept trying to minimize screentime given to the supporting cast. The feud became kind of well known among fans, because four of the actors (Walter Koenig, James Doohan, Nichelle Nicols, and Takei) often aired their dislike of Shatner at Star Trek conventions. Though for his part Shatner claims it was a one-sided feud he didn't even know about until 1993: he says he discovered the issue when he tried to interview a bunch of the old cast for his memoir, and several wouldn't talk to him, or did but had negative things to say.
    - pessimizer 12y ago
      >Though for his part Shatner claims it was a one-sided feud he didn't even know about until 1993 Which, of course, humorously confirms all of the casts' characterizations of him as a selfish egomaniac in a wig and a girdle. I think that Shatner is aware of this (within the past 20 years, not at the time) and plays into it for the humor value and a media bump if he's currently selling something. He's always selling something.
    - DavidAdams 12y ago
      Which basically sums up the setup for the film Galaxy Quest, which lampoons the Star Trek cast archetypes masterfully.
  - corobo 12y ago
    I'm just glad that he's annoyed that he wasn't invited rather than annoyed at gay marriage
untog 12y ago
I suspect it's a very simple calculation based on mutual followers.
natrius 12y ago
The latter. George Takei makes Facebook money by making it more engaging. Facebook wants more celebrities to see what George Takei is doing so they do it too.
- waterfowl 12y ago
  Sure this is good for facebook cause pageviews but all the Takei shares that show up on my feed are almost invariably reddit frontpage reposts. I guess he adds volume to facebook, but it's not very quality volume imo, if anyone else shared the stuff he did, it wouldn't collect thousands of upvotes/likes/etc. Plus if he really has a staff doing it, then the whole "wow what a zany old man who is "relevant" and reads reddit/9gag/wherever people think the content comes from" thing kinda falls apart.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
rbanffy 12y ago
I think it's the vast AI that runs Facebook saying this madness has gone too far. ;-)

I wonder if the George Takei suggestion was intelligent situational awareness ... or if everyone has him as the first suggestion because he's basically the platonic form of a Facebook celebrity?

ck2 12y ago

If you are not aware, Shatner doesn't like Takei.

qbrass 12y ago
If it wasn't a Facebook app, I wouldn't expect it to know that.
Aqueous 12y ago
And Takei doesn't like Shatner.
Udo 12y ago
I didn't know that, so I dug around for the cause. From a recent NYP article: Takei married his husband in 2008 and Shatner became enraged when he claimed he wasn’t invited. He ranted against Takei in an online interview. [...] Shatner called Takei’s wedding a publicity stunt and hypothesized that their feud stemmed from Takei’s unwillingness to playing second fiddle to Shatner on “Star Trek.” It seems to be mostly based on petty, even comical stuff like this. This may sound paradoxical, but as someone who always had a lot of respect for both of them, this is disappointing and a bit of a relief at the same time.
- pessimizer 12y ago
  That wasn't the cause. According to Takei, they didn't get along even during Star Trek. "Petty, comical stuff" is what the media narrative consists of because they're two amusing personalities, and we want to be amused by them. Also they're two old men who wouldn't have spoken for the last 50 years if it weren't for an avalanche of fan-cash that has forced them into continued contact and some civility.
- _delirium 12y ago
  From what I can tell he's had a bad relationship with a number of the other cast members since the original series's filming, since they thought he was too self-centered and kept trying to minimize screentime given to the supporting cast. The feud became kind of well known among fans, because four of the actors (Walter Koenig, James Doohan, Nichelle Nicols, and Takei) often aired their dislike of Shatner at Star Trek conventions. Though for his part Shatner claims it was a one-sided feud he didn't even know about until 1993: he says he discovered the issue when he tried to interview a bunch of the old cast for his memoir, and several wouldn't talk to him, or did but had negative things to say.
  - pessimizer 12y ago
    >Though for his part Shatner claims it was a one-sided feud he didn't even know about until 1993 Which, of course, humorously confirms all of the casts' characterizations of him as a selfish egomaniac in a wig and a girdle. I think that Shatner is aware of this (within the past 20 years, not at the time) and plays into it for the humor value and a media bump if he's currently selling something. He's always selling something.
  - DavidAdams 12y ago
    Which basically sums up the setup for the film Galaxy Quest, which lampoons the Star Trek cast archetypes masterfully.
- corobo 12y ago
  I'm just glad that he's annoyed that he wasn't invited rather than annoyed at gay marriage

untog 12y ago

I suspect it's a very simple calculation based on mutual followers.

natrius 12y ago

The latter. George Takei makes Facebook money by making it more engaging. Facebook wants more celebrities to see what George Takei is doing so they do it too.

waterfowl 12y ago
Sure this is good for facebook cause pageviews but all the Takei shares that show up on my feed are almost invariably reddit frontpage reposts. I guess he adds volume to facebook, but it's not very quality volume imo, if anyone else shared the stuff he did, it wouldn't collect thousands of upvotes/likes/etc. Plus if he really has a staff doing it, then the whole "wow what a zany old man who is "relevant" and reads reddit/9gag/wherever people think the content comes from" thing kinda falls apart.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]

rbanffy 12y ago

I think it's the vast AI that runs Facebook saying this madness has gone too far. ;-)