George Takei > Quotes

“Years later, the trauma of those experiences continued to haunt me. Most Japanese Americans from my parents' generation didn't like to talk about the internment with their children. As with many traumatic experiences, they were anguished by their memories and haunted by shame for something that wasn't their fault. Shame is a cruel thing. It should rest on the perpetrators but they don't carry it the way the victims do.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“Shame is a cruel thing. It should rest on the perpetrators but they don't carry it the way the victims do.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“It’s really hard to hate someone for being different when you’re too busy laughing together.”
― George Takei

“That remains part of the problem—that we don't know the unpleasant aspects of American history...and therefore we don't learn the lesson those chapters have to teach us. So we repeat them over and over again.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“During my first few months of Facebooking, I discovered that my page had fostered a collective nostalgia for specific cultural icons. These started, unsurprisingly, within the realm of science fiction and fantasy. They commonly included a pointy-eared Vulcan from a certain groundbreaking 1960s television show.

Just as often, though, I found myself sharing images of a diminutive, ancient, green and disarmingly wise Jedi Master who speaks in flip-side down English. Or, if feeling more sinister, I’d post pictures of his black-cloaked, dark-sided, heavy-breathing nemesis. As an aside, I initially received from Star Trek fans considerable “push-back,” or at least many raised Spock brows, when I began sharing images of Yoda and Darth Vader. To the purists, this bordered on sacrilege.. But as I like to remind fans, I was the only actor to work within both franchises, having also voiced the part of Lok Durd from the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

It was the virality of these early posts, shared by thousands of fans without any prodding from me, that got me thinking. Why do we love Spock, Yoda and Darth Vader so much? And what is it about characters like these that causes fans to click “like” and “share” so readily?

One thing was clear: Cultural icons help people define who they are today because they shaped who they were as children. We all “like” Yoda because we all loved The Empire Strikes Back, probably watched it many times, and can recite our favorite lines. Indeed, we all can quote Yoda, and we all have tried out our best impression of him.

When someone posts a meme of Yoda, many immediately share it, not just because they think it is funny (though it usually is — it’s hard to go wrong with the Master), but because it says something about the sharer. It’s shorthand for saying, “This little guy made a huge impact on me, not sure what it is, but for certain a huge impact. Did it make one on you, too? I’m clicking ‘share’ to affirm something you may not know about me. I ‘like’ Yoda.”

And isn’t that what sharing on Facebook is all about? It’s not simply that the sharer wants you to snortle or “LOL” as it were. That’s part of it, but not the core. At its core is a statement about one’s belief system, one that includes the wisdom of Yoda.

Other eminently shareable icons included beloved Tolkien characters, particularly Gandalf (as played by the inimitable Sir Ian McKellan). Gandalf, like Yoda, is somehow always above reproach and unfailingly epic.

Like Yoda, Gandalf has his darker counterpart. Gollum is a fan favorite because he is a fallen figure who could reform with the right guidance. It doesn’t hurt that his every meme is invariably read in his distinctive, blood-curdling rasp.

Then there’s also Batman, who seems to have survived both Adam West and Christian Bale, but whose questionable relationship to the Boy Wonder left plenty of room for hilarious homoerotic undertones. But seriously, there is something about the brooding, misunderstood and “chaotic-good” nature of this superhero that touches all of our hearts.”
― George Takei

“We should indeed keep calm in the face of difference, and live our lives in a state of inclusion and wonder at the diversity of humanity.”
― George Takei, Lions and Tigers and Bears - The Internet Strikes Back

“People can do great things, George. They can come up with noble, shining ideals. But people are also fallible human beings, and we know they made a terrible mistake. - Takekuma Norman Takei”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“Turkey Bacon. It's like saying "shoot" instead of "shit." It just doesn't quite carry the moment.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy!

“Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.”
― George Takei, To the Stars

“Memory is a wily keeper of the past, usually dependable, but at times, deceptive. Childhood memories are especially slippery. Sweet and so full of joy, they can often be a misrendering of the truth. For a child, that sweetness, out of context and intensely subjective, remains forever real. I know that I will always be haunted by the larger, vaguely remembered reality of the circumstances surrounding my childhood.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“As with many traumatic experiences, they were anguished by their memories and haunted by shame for something that wasn’t their fault. Shame is a cruel thing. It should rest on the perpetrators but they don’t carry it the way victims do.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“People forget that stereotypes aren’t bad because they are always untrue. Stereotypes are bad because they are not always true. If we allow ourselves to judge another based on a stereotype, we have allowed a gross generalization to replace our own thinking.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“As the old saying goes, I was simply looking for fan love, in Alderaan places.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy!

“Unfriending me when I didn’t even know we were friends? It’s like breaking wind when you’re home alone. If I can’t smell you, knock yourself out.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy!

“Cats, on the other hand, are similar to Vulcans—dispassionate, contemplative and pointy-eared.”
― George Takei, Lions and Tigers and Bears - The Internet Strikes Back

“Our Democracy is a Participatory Democracy. Existentially it's dependent on people who cherish the shinning, highest ideals of our Democracy and actively engage in the political process.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“My father once told me that American democracy is a people’s democracy at heart, and that it therefore can be as great as the American people, or as fallible. It depends on all of us. But our system is more fragile than we know. To sustain it, we must always cherish the ideals on which it was founded, remain vigilant against the dark forces that threaten it, and actively engage in the process of making it work.”
― George Takei

“There is more story in a minor character like Boba Fett than there is in all the clutter of various vampires in the Twilight franchise.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy!

“If you don’t know who Eleanor Rigby is, you probably were born after 1985 and need to listen to some real music.”
― George Takei

“Life is too short not to order the bacon dessert.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy!

“The irony of this endeavor is palpable, for English itself is a hopeless hodgepodge of other tongues, with more exceptions than rules, more chaos than order, and enough new words created each day to keep the Oxford English Dictionary folks very, very busy.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“I appreciate failure. Failure means that an attempt was made, and a lesson can be learned. As long as we’re alive after the effort, there is a chance for success the next time around.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“The wheel of democracy turns slowly.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy

“If we must withhold all ribbing in the name of protecting everyone’s feelings, then we truly are a toothless society. We will reach what I call “the lowest common denominator of butthurt.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“Being human means learning to see the common humanity in us all.”
― George Takei, Lions and Tigers and Bears - The Internet Strikes Back

“Then there’s also Batman, who seems to have survived both Adam West and Christian Bale, but whose questionable relationship to the Boy Wonder left plenty of room for hilarious homoerotic undertones.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“I’ve sometimes imagined that if sin had a flavor, it might very well be bacon. It even tastes smoky, as if it emerged piping hot out of the fiery pans of hell”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“cultural icons stand the test of time because they speak to our deeper convictions and ignite our dreams.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“They claim they did all this because they love me, but I must say, I’ve never been loved in such a bizarre fashion.”
― George Takei, Oh Myyy! (There Goes the Internet): Life, the Internet and Everything

“Shame is a cruel thing. It should rest on the perpetrators... but they don't carry it the way the victims do.”
― George Takei, They Called Us Enemy