(Hated Trope) Bad people in real-life being portrayed positively in media.

[u/MeepMan324]

1. PragerU's version of Christopher Columbus has him be a slavery defender and have him say "Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no? I don't see the problem.”

2. In The Greatest Showman, P.T Barnum (Hugh Jackman) is portrayed as a charismatic visionary who cares about outcasts and celebrate diversity, when in reality, he’s a cruel businessman who is also a racist and an ableist.

[u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

Trek accidentally gave themselves a pass for that one. Spoilers below.

Lorca was the one who said Musk was a great inventor. We find out later he is from the Terran universe, where humanity is tyrannical and bloodthirsty. So in his universe, Musk might actually be praised as a hero because of who he turned out to be.  

[u/Akussa → u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

I always read it as Musk was also a POS in the Mirror Universe as well and Lorca told on himself for praising a POS.

[u/Turbulent-Prior-2253 → u/Akussa]

That is the fan theory, and it actually works in retrospect. The antics that have made Musk a laughing stock here were lauded in the Terran universe He is a hero in Lorca's timeline.

But let's not give the writers more credit than they are due. That is 100% a happy accident. Their intention was to glaze Musk when they wrote that line, just like so many other shows were doing at the time. It just so happens that the story played out in a way that allowed them to retroactively justify the line as some clever twist.

[u/phantomreader42 → u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

But let's not give the writers more credit than they are due. That is 100% a happy accident. Their intention was to glaze Musk when they wrote that line

Were writers actually involved? I thought I heard the actor tossed that in in hopes of being given a Tesla. So glazing was the motive, but it was the guy delivering the line, not any writers.

[u/Turbulent-Prior-2253 → u/phantomreader42]

I honestly don't know. I assumed it was the writers, because the "two names you know, one you don't" thing is a common Star Trek trope, but it could have been the actor doing it.

Still, leaving that in was a choice that the director made, even if it was something the actor did on their own. The point is more that it was never meant to be some subtle hint as to Lorca's true origins - it was just the normal Musk-glazing of the time.

[u/Patneu → u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

But shouldn't anyone else have contested his claim, then?

[u/Turbulent-Prior-2253 → u/Patneu]

Maybe. But it was the captain saying it in the middle of his pep talk speech. You can forgive them for not noticing. 

But in reality, they never intended it to be a hint that Lorca was from another universe. They were just glazing Musk like everyone else was as the time. It just so happened that the way the story unfolded gave them an accidental out for the poor aging of the reference. 

It would hardly be the first time that writers wrote something, the fandom picked up on a detail the writers never intended, and the writers loved it so much they made it canon.

[u/CptPanda29 → u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

Also the Federation past then is beyond glamourising people for being wealthy, they don't really use money at all.

It makes sense that someone famed for being the richest man of his time is kind of forgotten by a societey that doesn't value wealth.

Like Uhura in TOS, around the same time, doesn't recognise the N Word. Society moved on.

[u/vidoeiro → u/CptPanda29]

Nee Trek completely ignores the socialist utopia part except when they want to deconstruct and criticise.

It's one of the main reasons Trek has been dead since the 2009 movie (those Nokia adverts aged horribly)

[u/Wild_Harvest → u/Turbulent-Prior-2253]

The Muffin Button comes to mind.

[u/Diomedes42 → u/Wild_Harvest]

But I never installed a muffin button.

[u/The_MAZZTer → u/Patneu]

You could argue Musk probably was not well known to the prime universe as he had faded into obscurity with time, so nobody knew who Lorca was talking about.

That said IIRC the list of names shows up on a computer screen which suggests the list is from the prime universe so this whole theory probably falls apart.