I disagree. Trek has always been progressive, and that’s what the whole series is about: infinite diversity in infinite combinations. TOS had Chekov, a Russian on the bridge in an American show during the Cold War era. It had Uhura, a Black woman on the bridge at the age of segregation and institutional racism. It had Sulu, a Japanese man when Japanese American families were wrongly incarcerated only years ago in WWII. The founders of the Federation were from four different species and set aside differences to build a better union. It’s the bastion of progressivism, and a rebuke to conservatism and isolationism.
Let’s move on to the Berman era. The Federation is now what people like Tasha Yar look up to, after spending her childhood escaping rape gangs. What does the Federation stand for? Equality. We have Doctor and Data trying to be recognized as equals to sentient beings. We have Tasha Yar, a woman engineer, Kathryn Janeway, a woman captain, Kira Nerys, a woman Bajoran leader on DS9. Berman and his colleagues never seriously considered a man playing the captain of the Voyager. They also made women characters complex and gave us Seven of Nine and Kai Winn, who both have their own motivations and personal history that shape their characters. And who can forget the Sisko as the first Black captain leading a series and his realistic relationship with Jake?
Kurtzman is also the executive producer on SNW, so I’m not sure what you’re on about. Kurtzman carried on the Roddenberry vision of filling leading Trek roles with a diverse cast, SNW, LOW, PRO, and DIS included.
all white males would be stupid or evil in the script
I have no idea where you got that from. Is Stamets evil? Is Sarek evil? Is SNW Pike evil? Is Chief Kyle evil? Well, yes, very evil. The only evil white male character I can think of is mirror Lorca.
This was the age of discovery in Trek where Star Fleet was full of brave heroes. He wrote his characters to be weak, angry, or overly emotional.
I feel like you’re idolizing “heroes” as demigods in real life, much like how Christopher Columbus was celebrated, when in reality he committed genocide and enslaved generations of Native Americans. Heroes in Earth’s age of discovery were also humans. They had emotions, they had feelings, they cried, they had PTSD, they were angry, and some of them were weak. Some of them had egos that cost their lives (see Robert Scott’s expedition to the South Pole.)