George A. Gonzalez 
Popular Culture, Conspiracy Theory, and the Star Trek Text 

The forward progress of society is not automatic and should not be taken for granted. The assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 can be viewed as ending his effort to deploy American prestige and power to forward change worldwide. Today, there are political forces seeking to stop progressive social, political, and economic change. Whatever the reasons, such forces are conspiring to impose authoritarianism to suppress the public’s desire for just, democratic government. The brutality, violence, viciousness, and racism (dystopia) of authoritarianism are 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 thirty yearsincluding 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 and malign critics of this conspiracy as guilty of conspiracy theoryadvocating and embracing baseless fantasies.