Read Online Oh Myyy! by George Takei - Free Book Online Page B

nation’s promise of due process that was eviscerated. One of the reasons I believe Allegiance will succeed, where other internment stories have failed, is that it entertains as well as educates. It lifts the spirit, its music soars, and our hearts break together, actors and audience, as we participate in the story eight times a week.
    I truly hope my social media work has the same ultimate effect. Sure, it’s primarily entertaining, but it’s also educational. I want people to not only laugh, but to think, to not only be inspired, but to participate. Fans may not always agree with me, but they will know I have an opinion, as will they, I’m sure. My Facebook page will remain a place where those opinions are hashed out freely and openly on the Internet.
     

     
    About a week later, I released my second Obama endorsement video, joining with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, Billie Jean King, Chaz Bono and Zachary Quinto in praising the administration for its strides forward on the question of LGBT equality. I told the story of how moved I was to hear the President say that he believed gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry. And I expressed my firm belief that we have to keep fighting for our rights, which means not supporting the party that would take us backwards — in this case, the Republican ticket.
    It came as no surprise that this second endorsement video raised another hoopla, though smaller than the first. It seems my fan base is less surprised that I would endorse Obama on account of his stance on gay rights than on account of his support for the Asian American community. Or perhaps the fans have just gotten more used to me speaking my mind on a political matter. I began to feel a bit of what the candidates themselves must feel each time they take a position that threatens to alienate their base. Ultimately, you must take a position, and accept the consequences of that decision, even if it means losing some support. If people truly support you, they’ll come back around, and even hold their nose and vote for you (or in my case, reluctantly start clicking like and sharing my funnies again).
    It may seem I’ve gone full circle, arguing that to build a fan base it has to be about them, but to reach them with any kind of message, you have to be willing to sometimes make it about you. I suppose in the end it’s all about the balance and the timing. Fans will forgive the occasional self-promotion (after all, it’s what’s selling this book) and even forgive the politics in a political season. As far as I can tell, few of my fans “unfollowed” me for the sin of expressing my opinion, and if they did, well, I hope they miss the laughs and come back. I’ll keep the light on for them.

Spider-man, Spider-man, George Takei should be Spider-man
     
     
    I’ve come to understand, in a small way, the demands that humanity puts on its superheroes. Allow me to explain.
    The producers of Allegiance approached me with the idea that we should do a video series called, “The Road to Broadway,” with me auditioning for various shows currently playing. I thought it sounded like a splendid idea. We were years away from our own Broadway debut, but I understood that to get there, we needed to build buzz early for the show. So I was all for it.
    Then they told me that the first show I would make a video about was Spider-man: Turn Off the Dark . Now, if you haven’t been paying attention, Spider-man on Broadway is a multi-million dollar extravaganza that was plagued from the outset with numerous technical difficulties and injuries, some very serious. So I wasn’t sure how I was going to pull off my own Peter Parker. “Don’t worry,” they assured. “We’ll do everything on green screen, and we’ll have professional stunt people there to help.”
    When I got to the sound studio, I learned that I would be spending much of my day in a body harness, dangling several feet off the ground. Now, this may not