I’m not trying to gatekeep the franchise and my political biases are obvious with my screen name, but I just find it confusing that a conservative wouldn’t automatically be pissed off from a franchise that has had liberal/left biases baked into it from the beginning. I know a lot of them don’t like “NuTrek” so I won’t even get into those. DS9, which was the “darker” and more morally ambiguous show, had these biases still baked into it, what with a pro union episode that positively quoted the Communist Manifesto. Or Past Tense or a host of other episodes I could list. Enterprise’s last two parter was an anti xenophobia, and basically pro “globalism” episode and etc etc. The franchise has always been a left soapbox of sorts so it just kinda confuses me that there’s apparently a legion of conservative, right wing fans.
Media literacy is low among conservatives. Unless its literally spelled out they probably miss it even when directly quoted.
I notice they tend to find metaphors and allegories confusing.
Conservatism is fundamentally tied to a lack of empathy for people beyond one’s immediate circle, and creativity in large part is fueled by the ability to imagine other people’s experiences, i.e., empathy. It’s likely why there are so few conservative artists, and when they do exist, they tend to focus on literal/realistic or derivative art.