Tuesday, May 05, 2015

"There's an ugly strain of social progressives that like to attack others for not being the "right" kind of progressives."


Avengers director Joss Whedon quits Twitter shortly after record-breaking Age of Ultron premiere | The Verge: "Avengers director, Buffy creator, and noted user of social media Joss Whedon has deleted his Twitter account shortly after the premiere of his latest movie, Avengers: Age of Ultron. Whedon, who used the service heavily and had 1.14 million followers, tweeted a thank-you message to "all the people who've been so kind and funny and inspiring up in here," shortly before closing his account."

Joss Whedon Just Quit Twitter | TIME: "Whedon’s departure did create a wave of speculation on Twitter that he closed his account because of “death threats.” A search of tweets directed at him over the past week definitely turned up some deep ugliness, with some of the abusive users urging him to “die” or “commit suicide” over plot points they didn’t like in Age of Ultron. Although these comments are clearly disturbing, there was no unifying complaint or groundswell of attack beyond just the random (but all-too-typical) viciousness of anonymous social media trolls."



James Gunn Calls for a Kinder, Gentler Fandom Following Joss Whedon's Twitter Disappearance - The Hollywood Reporter: ""The angry contingent of fandom is getting more aggressive all the time." A day after Joss Whedon shut down his Twitter account, prompting discussion about whether or not he was escaping criticism and threats resulting from Avengers: Age of Ultron's portrayal of women, James Gunn has taken to Facebook to make a plea for more polite social media. "Imagine being a guy like Joss Whedon, who has committed his life to fandom and to creating the best characters he possibly can, characters he loves and has spent two years of his life working on a movie and then has to wake up to this shit on Twitter," Gunn wrote at the start of a lengthy post on the site. "The angry contingent of fandom is getting more aggressive all the time, and it's difficult to block out as a person in the public eye." 

..."It's easy to be outraged by these tweets. But whatever these angry tweeters are in need of, I don't think it's more anger and more rage thrown back at them on Twitter. I actually think that's what they're seeking. But what they need is something different. Compassion, maybe? A kind request for boundaries? I don't know. Maybe you guys have some ideas.""

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