Humor/Comedy Journalists Release 87 page article on Toxic Star Wars Fandom

[Husky_Khan]

The funny thing is, the 87 page report (archived here as a pdf download) is also only PART ONE of an apparent two part "article" which will explore how an Alt Right conspiracy targeted The Last Jedi.

The "article" is titled "In Plain Sight: How White Supremacy, Misogyny and Hate Targeted the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy and Won.

They also issued related podcasts from the channel Rewriting Ripley in case the two massive novella sized articles apparently didn't cover enough content. Anyways I haven't read anything of the report yet however other Fandom Menace style nerds have.

If You Don't Like Disney's Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, You're Probably "Alt-Right."

If you don’t like Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy, that’s probably just because you’re “alt-right.” According to Wikipedia, the “alt-right” consists of “a loosely connected far-right, white nationalist movement.” (Wow. That’s pretty harsh. Especially if you’re not white.) Oh, and you’re...

www.piratesandprincesses.net

The funniest graphic seen so far, check out these Alt Right channels:

That's right the top Anti-The Last Jedi/Alt Right channels (terms seem to be basically used interchangably) are the following.

1. The Quartering
2. Geeks + Gamers
3. The Critical Drinker
4. Clownfish TV
5. Thor Skywalker.

Among the other Alt Right channels that practice misogyny include 'Nerdrotic' and something called 'That Star Wars Girl.' Whoever that Star Wars Girl is... she's spreading misogyny apparently. Sad. Even more sad is that Bounding Into Comics barely made the list.

Katie McCort, the author of this novella sized article, has already announced she's a victim of doxxing since supposedly "hackers" discovered her full name and her Twitter account (which is now private) and those claims are about as funny as the rest of her painfully bloated analysis.

 

[Captain X]

Just illustrating that they will always label people with opinions they don't like as "Alt-Right," which is just their new word for "Nazi."

 

[S'task]

1. The Quartering
2. Geeks + Gamers
3. The Critical Drinker
4. Clownfish TV
5. Thor Skywalker.

I've seen videos by most of those... and none of them espouse anything "alt-right"... FFS, most of those don't even espouse ANYTHING even MILDLY right wing as far as politics go...

 

[Captain X]

Leftists have never let facts get in the way of a good narrative. See, by labeling all their critics as alt-right, they can then claim that all their critics are alt-right.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

How many normies are actually going to read this article anyway? I always got the impression that the "journalists" talking about an alt right conspiracy theory to tear down Star Wars were just shouting into a void and hardly any normies were reading their stuff, and that it was the Fandom Menace channels who - through their constant coverage of those articles every other day and week - made it look like a way bigger controversy than it was. So basically it was an echochamber of two vocal minorities shouting at each other.

I know plenty of people who were disappointed by the sequel trilogy, but I don't know anyone who actually knows about the fandom menace or knows about the Gina Carano controversy, and other stuff. That seems to be a pretty niche sphere.

 

[Terthna]

I've seen videos by most of those... and none of them espouse anything "alt-right"... FFS, most of those don't even espouse ANYTHING even MILDLY right wing as far as politics go...

Doesn't matter; the accusation doesn't need to be accurate to make them a target for the regressive left, which is what articles like this are intended to do. It's just a call for them to hurt these particular people any way they can, but gussied up so that they can claim plausible deniability when accused of soliciting violence.

Make no mistake; these people are trying to destroy us, but in such a way that any attempt to defend ourselves, or even simply object, can be portrayed to the ignorant masses as an unprovoked assault against them, and proof that we are indeed the evil monsters they say we are.

How many normies are actually going to read this article anyway? I always got the impression that the "journalists" talking about an alt right conspiracy theory to tear down Star Wars were just shouting into a void and hardly any normies were reading their stuff, and that it was the Fandom Menace channels who - through their constant coverage of those articles every other day and week - made it look like a way bigger controversy than it was. So basically it was an echochamber of two vocal minorities shouting at each other.

Probably close to none; but that makes it even worse. They'll at least hear about the article and, without having even read it, many will just assume the main thrust of it is true; that critics of the Star Wars sequels are evil, and deserve to be hated.

 

[Captain X]

The funny thing is, it was the media hating on Star Wars until Disney bought it.

 

[Val the Moofia Boss]

The funny thing is, it was the media hating on Star Wars until Disney bought it.

That's just the franchise cycle in a nutshell, not anything unique to Star Wars.

When a franchise lasts long enough, you start having different generational fans who are fans of different entries. They love their first entry into the franchise, and wish that future entries were the same as the one that is their favorite. But times change. The people on the project changes. The people, the artists themselves change. It's a never ending cycle: fans get hyped up for the next entry, hoping it will be like the thing they loved, and they are disappointed when it comes out and it isn't. It's its own unique thing. And that thing gets hated until the next entry comes out.

We saw it with Star Trek (TOS vs TNG debates were huuuuge way back when. TNG vs DS9? VOY and ENT being compared to the prior entries?). We see it with Pokemon (Gen 1 vs gen 2, gen 3 vs the prior gens, etc). We see it with Gundam. We see with different editions of D&D. We see it with Final Fantasy. We see with the Trails series. We see it with different editions of Warhammer. Etc.

The only thing that makes Star Wars unique in that regard is that it had the most cultural relevance to Americans. Every American was a Star Wars fan, so when you had that generational divide, it wasn't just some war between fans on internet forums and at fan conventions that you wouldn't know about unless you yourself was a fan. You had people walking out of the Prequel theaters and being interviewed on live TV being disappointed that it wasn't just like the OT. You had the prequels being ridiculed by OT fans on late night shows seen by millions by old fans. That's what made that divide different: this was really the first and only time that a fandom war/generational divide was visible on such a mass scale.

That sequel hate hasn't reached anywhere near the same level of visibility as the prequel wars did, because most people aren't into Star Wars today. You don't people talking about Star Wars on today's late night shows like they did 20 or 30 years ago. Star Wars just isn't the most popular thing ever like it used to be (and there likely never will be such a monoculture franchise again), because it isn't the pre-2000s anymore where the mainstream corporate media machine can focus everyone's attention onto one franchise. The internet allows people to access whatever specific niche they want: you're not stuck with the one choice of "Star Wars or nothing".

 

[Captain X]

No, no, I mean back when the prequels were made, it was the media accusing Star Wars and George Lucas of being racist. The guy who played Jar-Jar and the child Anakin from Episode 1 were both bullied by the media at the time, yet now the media is trying to shift the blame and claim that they were bullied by the fans.

 

[prinCZess]

The Cycle Continues!

Seriously--I'm growing half-convinced ever since the relatively widespread watchinig of Red Letter Media's hours-long BS'ing about the prequels and the growth of 'criticism' online as an industry, that portions of all this are some kind of...unorganized conspiracy mutually-reached by opposing sides as they furiously write very eloquent and/or long-winded screeds about how the sequels were good/bad and enjoyed/hated by good/bad people, with takes on pre or parallel-existing hot-topics being inserted for spice and flavoring.

I mean...I've written me some long-winded complaints about how the sequel Star Wars doesn't appeal to me and otherwise shaking my stick at the damn kids ruining things, but some people take it to serious extremes...And there's very clearly by this very report and general media coverage of almost anything a big presence of 'this media franchise says the right/wrong thing about [x]' where [x] is whatever pet issue the writer has. And then they just churn up the creative interpretation machine and By The Power of Greyskull Subjectivity read whatever they want or don't into things to get articles and clicks and the like.

 

[Battlegrinder]

87 pages, good grief. At that point you might as well bulk it up a bit more and try to get a book deal, because you're well past the point where an editor could hack it down to something manageable.

I've just skimmed it so far, and I'm seeing a big list of "we need to talk about *liberal bugaboo*" statements, a trigger warning, starting the articles framing at gamergate*, whinging over Tran getting flak on Twitter, excessive praise of Rian, etc, and I'm left with one of two conclusions.

1. It's fake, and is amoung the most masterfully crafted acts of trolling I've ever seen.
2. It's real, and is the most autistic thing I've ever seen someone make (and I've seen mauler's hours long dissertations about TLJ, so the autism bar is set fairly high).

The funniest graphic seen so far, check out these Alt Right channels:

That's right the top Anti-The Last Jedi/Alt Right channels (terms seem to be basically used interchangably) are the following.

1. The Quartering
2. Geeks + Gamers
3. The Critical Drinker
4. Clownfish TV
5. Thor Skywalker.

Among the other Alt Right channels that practice misogyny include 'Nerdrotic' and something called 'That Star Wars Girl.' Whoever that Star Wars Girl is... she's spreading misogyny apparently. Sad. Even more sad is that Bounding Into Comics barely made the list.

I'm surprised Mauler isn't in there, in terms of total view count he should be showing up near the top of the list and he certainly hates TLJ (and there's no way the type of person that makes an article like this wouldn't call him alt right).

I've seen videos by most of those... and none of them espouse anything "alt-right"... FFS, most of those don't even espouse ANYTHING even MILDLY right wing as far as politics go...

They're clearly defining alt right as "vocally anti-SJW", or at least using that as one definition. Which does kinda work as a valid definition, but the problem is that it's more or less mutually exclusive with the "has actual real world power and influence" category that they want the alt right to have.



* I'm reminded of a comment I saw someone make on kiwifarms in reference to media figures cramming gamergate references into articles like this (specifically "the alt right is behind everything" ones, not super 'tismy star wars rants):

So, it seems the big zeitgeist of this generation, the event that changed the perspective of millions of people and made way to change history as we know it, won't be the murder of a high-profile politician, a war broken over dubious claims, a terrorist attack victimizing thousands or even a school shooting.

Nope, it will be a fucking internet slapfight started over some fat slag literally whoring herself out to hack gaming journos (but I repeat myself).

 

[Marduk]

I've seen videos by most of those... and none of them espouse anything "alt-right"... FFS, most of those don't even espouse ANYTHING even MILDLY right wing as far as politics go...

The functional definition of "alt-right" for media smear purposes is purely based on the culture war, as in "whoever opposes progressive left's cultural agenda". Of course that means some people who aren't really right wing can easily fall on the alt-right of this line, and likewise some moderately right wing RINO style politicians can avoid it.
Also by the same definition, whoever criticizes a movie full of progressive left's cultural agenda for its writing (unless its about the propaganda not being far left enough) inherently is being caught crossing that line.

 

[S'task]

The functional definition of "alt-right" for media smear purposes is purely based on the culture war, as in "whoever opposes progressive left's cultural agenda". Of course that means some people who aren't really right wing can easily fall on the alt-right of this line, and likewise some moderately right wing RINO style politicians can avoid it.
Also by the same definition, whoever criticizes a movie full of progressive left's cultural agenda for its writing (unless its about the propaganda not being far left enough) inherently is being caught crossing that line.

It also shoves a bunch of people who are definitionally traditional "right wing" into the "alt right" label (myself for instance). Which then renders the term meaningless, because most here would recognize me as being very much an Reaganite style right winger who primarily comes from a Fusionist perspective on things...

 

[Husky_Khan]

I'm surprised Mauler isn't in there, in terms of total view count he should be showing up near the top of the list and he certainly hates TLJ (and there's no way the type of person that makes an article like this wouldn't call him alt right).

Mauler is number seven or so on the chart I think.

 

[Battlegrinder]

Mauler is number seven or so on the chart I think.

Ah, so he is. Missed that the first time. Speaking of absurd charts, behold:

Steve Bannon, the Dark Lord of the Fandom Menace. Apparently.

 

[Aaron Fox]

As someone that 'toe dipped' into the Star Wars fandom back when the Prequels were getting shat on, I'll have to say that the fandom was a toxic time bomb back then. The modern internet simply pulled the curtain so to speak.

I stand by my euphemism of an overstocked powder room filled with tumbleweed for the Star Wars fandom. You would be surprised at all the toxic shit that was fermenting in there...

 

[Battlegrinder]

Ok, so having reviewed the article, it's just....garbage. It recycles every left wing talking point that been prominent in leftist circles for the past 6 or 7 years. All of them. The youtube alt right pipeline that doesn't exist, a bunch of anti-gamergate propaganda, shoddy research claiming TLJ was widely acclaimed and popular, freaking out about a bunch of racist/sexist attacks on SW that went nowhere. They even go to bat for Chuck Wendig, casting him as some kind of victim.

In 2018, Wendig posted a viral tweet thread that criticized calls for “civility” when dealing with right-wing extremism that landed him in a video by ComicArtistPro Secrets (Ethan Van Sciver). Wendig was then harassed on his Twitter account by Sciver’s followers. Wendig was abruptly fired from Marvel following the harassment.

They don't link to what Wendig actually said, so if you don't know what his tweets actually said, this might sound plausible. Unfortunately for them, I do know what he said:

(This was in reference to Kavanagh being confirmed, BTW).

Now, you can agree or disagree with his opinion here, but saying that he "critized calls for civility when dealing with exteremists" is a flagrantly dishonest whitewash.

Though the worst part, and a key factor behind the article's bloated word count, is how it frames every single person outside of the left. Take this section, that's citing a comment by Tim Pool, everyone's favorite fence sitting bald beanie enthusiast:

Seeking out videos pushing hate against Kelly Marie Tran’s character in The Last Jedi will lead you to a video* by YouTuber Timcast where the YouTuber argues that online backlash against the removal of Rose Tico from The Rise of Skywalker merchandise is a form of “moral authoritarianism” likened back to the puritans fleeing England to establish religious freedom.

Timcast is not an alt-right Star Wars or pop culture channel. It is the YouTube channel of journalist Tim Pool who has ties* directly to Paul Joseph Watson, the editor of right-wing extremist conspiracy theory site Infowars who was banned from Facebook for hate speech. Infowars is responsible for pushing damaging conspiracy theories that led to the election of Donald Trump, including coordinating with designated hate group the Oath Keepers to organize the Capitol insurrection.

This kind of hand wringing "This guy said a thing, but he's vaguely connected to another guy that said a bad thing, who's connected to something directly related to Bad Orange Man" character assassination is representative of the normal framing of the article (granted, sometimes they cite someone that's actually been personally bigoted, but those people aren't big names in the SW fandom).

That last element is particularly relevant, because it's so obviously disingenuous if you're familiar with what people that actually hate TLJ or the ST say. The actual criticism of the film, and the article's characterization of them, are so wildly out of step it can't be on accident. Do you know what characters I've seen get the most hate in the ST? Kyle "straight white dude" Ren.


And then there's just the bits that are out and out lies.

Mary Sue is a pejorative label given to female characters who typically have a lead role, are strong-willed, powerful, and are allowed to exercise femininity. The term applies standards towards female fictional characters that are not applied to male characters in an effort to dismiss their legitimacy in the narrative.

That's not what the term "Mary Sue" means, and anyone that's even vaguely involved in fandom debates knows that. Yes, the term is a bit vague and is sometimes misapplied and used to mean "female character I dislike", but that's not normal. No one calls Princess Leia a sue, and since the article references marvel, of the dozen or so women in the films, only one got stuck with it, and Biri Larson was not critized for expressing her femininity (I believe the main issue was thst she didn't express any emotions or personality whatsoever).


In conclusion, this article is bad, the people who wrote it are wrong, and I want the several hours I spent reading it and writing this back.

 

[Arlos]

and I want the several hours I spent reading it and writing this back.

I am going to make you even sadder and say I expected at least 90% of what you said without reading it.

Just out of curiosity, are journalists in whatever media the writer is from paid by the word?

 

[Battlegrinder]

Just out of curiosity, are journalists in whatever media the writer is from paid at the word?

No. It's on Medium, they're just a content host. These people make their money via patreon, I assume.

 

[Arlos]

No. It's on Medium, they're just a content host. These people make their money via patreon, I assume.

Ah well, I thought the writer may just have written 87 pages because he was paid for each word, but it look like it’s not the case, he just think feel very strongly on the subject.