The Root of the Issue with Garrett Wang and Megan Elise

In the first interview from The Real Brian Show, we're excited to present an interview with Garrett Wang and Megan Elise!

In This Episode

- Working on the set of Star Trek: Voyager
- Exerting superiority can limit opportunities for others
- Relationship advice
- What do Garrett and Megan geek out over?
- Garrett and Megan talk about their inner superheroes
- Disarming others with your own personal brand of superhero
- Negative reactions have a negative effect
- How we're treated dictates how we act
- Encouragement from Garrett and Megan
- The counseling side of bullying

Meet Garrett Wang

What better way to start off the interviews featured on The Real Brian Show than with Garrett Wang (Star Trek: Voyager) and Megan Elise! Since the day Brian met Garrett Wang at DragonCon, all I’ve heard from him is how awesome Garrett is and how down to earth Garrett is. So it is very appropriate that we kick off interviews with an actor from Brian’s favorite show (Star Trek) and an actor that embodies some of the rarest characteristics in Hollywood.
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When asked, Garrett will tell you that he left Hollywood many years ago. But he’s far from left the public eye, and that is definitely to our benefit. Getting to tap his memory bank for some history and behind the scenes on Star Trek, with raw and unfiltered expositions on working with the cast and crew of the show, is something we don’t hear very often. He’s not shy about telling things the way they are, and how so much of Hollywood is dictated by behavior.

For example, we have all experienced a situation in which we were prevented from doing something we either thought we had a particular expertise in or merely had an interest in attempting because the person (or people) in charge of a project asserted their own superiority. Whether this superiority is legitimate or self-perceived is beside the point; projecting this superiority on others limits opportunity. It’s often a power play designed to maintain control, so that they do not cede any ground over which they might have expertise.

This projection of superiority has two negative side effects, one to the person projecting it and the other to the person being projected upon. When we treat others as superior, it reaffirms their own notion of superiority and feeds this behavior. It spreads, then, almost like wildfire, in its ability to consume everyone in its path.

The real and candid conversation Brian, Garrett and Megan have about this detrimental attitude both brings awareness to angles of it that aren’t really talked about, anywhere, and also dives into how we can actively counteract the behavior. trbs-002-t-jefferson One such methodology is, to paraphrase, disarming others with your own personal brand of superhero. How we are treated dictates how we act. Negative treatment produces a negative response; but negativity is a cyclical problem whose cycle can be broken!

It can be difficult to be the positive force in the midst of a sea of negativity. Personally, I resort to silence, instead of either a positive or negative reaction. While my null reaction, though, does not necessarily exacerbate negativity (it sure can, however), neither does it diffuse negativity. I am challenged to rise above my passive aggressive response and find something characteristic of me in order to be a positive force against negativity.

A huge thank-you to Garrett and Megan for their time! And for being awesome, proud geeks! Please be sure to give them a shout out on Twitter (links below) and thank them for being on the Real Brian Show.

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