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And that sort of classical liberalism was controversial in the 60's when Star Trek was doing it with the OS and, if not controversial, at least something people had in mind as a sore point when TNG was doing it in the 80's.
And how is that relevant? I don't think progressives should get to claim movents from the past, that they are now vehemently rejecting.
Progressive just wasn't a word used much at the time, but the kind of liberalism TOS/TNG Star Trek embodied could have pretty uncontroversially been called 'progressive'. It's not that modern progressives are claiming some past non-progressive ideology as their own, it's that the word 'progressive' itself has morphed in meaning since the 1960's (and before...), to the point where most people who would identify as 'progressive' today are really just Leftists. Most modern 'liberals' in the old progressive sense are just confused and can't tell this has happened.
It's not about the word, it's about the ideas behind it.
Yes it is. Every single time, when someone complains about the new Star Trek departing from it's original ideals, a modern progressive jumps in to claim the old Star Trek as well, and thus invalidate all complaints about the new one.
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Sure, but it's different from progressivism.
It was at the time, although progressivism was a dead word that only got revived in the 90's after conservatives succeeded in making 'liberal' a dirty word.
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