Kevin R. Hamm

Wil Wheaton should be condemned for attacking Stephen Miller on Friday over a simple tribute to Patrick Stewart. Showing basic humanity when someone dies should be accepted by everyone, even people you disagree with. Wheaton’s response to Miller mourning Stewart was shameful. For those who don’t know him, Wheaton played Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He was young at the time and did a solid job in the role. That doesn’t give him license to police condolences. His comments against Miller show how political derangement has turned some leftists into unpleasant people. Or maybe they were already unpleasant and that’s why they went that direction. Either way, Miller set a better example by offering graceful, classy remarks about Stewart. Plenty of people who didn’t share Stewart’s politics still offered basic respect when he passed. I did the same. Wheaton needs to learn that life is bigger than whatever ideology he currently favors. People change their thinking as they get older. He should try it. America ultimately needs more unity if it’s going to hold together. That requires people like Wheaton to accept they don’t have everything figured out and are wrong about a lot of things. One of my own biggest realizations was recognizing that much of the mainstream media functions as Democratic messaging. Once that veil lifted, a lot of other things became clearer, including the record of figures like Obama. Wheaton still appears to take his cues from that same media environment. That’s why a routine tribute set him off. Star Trek was always supposed to be about exploring new ideas. If he actually respects Stewart and the show’s premise, he’ll eventually have to confront his own blind spots. Right now it looks like he’s more comfortable staying angry than facing anything that challenges his narrative.