Extremism (aka yet another post about James Rolfe and the Ghostbusters movie fiasco)
I was writing in my pencil and paper journal this morning. I don't usually care to talk about what I write in that thing on public forums like this, but in this case, I think I will make an exception. And yes, I know, I said that my previous post would be the last one on the subject, unless I changed my mind. Well, I changed my mind, obviously. Consider this post here to be the very-definitely-last-post-I-ever-make-about-the-James-Rolfe-nuBusters-brouhaha-until-I-decide-to-change-my-mind-yet-again-and-make-another-one.
Transcribed from my pencil and paper journal (with a few small additions that weren't in my journal, but you'll never know what I added here and what was already in the journal itself):
Now, on to the meat of this entry: extremism.
Here's the problem with extremism. Nobody believes that they, themselves, are extremists. I doubt that Donald Trump believes himself to be an extremist, any more than he believes himself to be a racist, sexist, and all of those other things that he is, whether he believes it or not. I doubt neo-nazi skinheads think of themselves as extremists. Same with the Westboro Baptist Cult.
The problem with all these extremists is that they merely think of themselves as "right." Everyone else is simply "wrong."
GamerGaters, as another example, don't think they're wrong when they send rape and death threats, or when they dox people. They feel that they are perfectly justified. Because they think they are "right." All those radical feminists that they hate so much are "wrong."
Which, now, brings us to the radical feminists themselves. For the longest time, I mostly just gave them a free pass, given all the terrible horseshit that feminists in general get from all sides from the GamerGate shitbags and other such MRAs and whatever. But radical feminists have the exact same problem as all of these other extremists. They don't think of themselves as "extremists." They only think of themselves as "right." Same as with all other extremists, anyone who even a little bit diverges from what they think is "wrong," and thus worthy of the most heinous of terrible ridicule and dogpiling harassment.
That brings us to James Rolfe, also known by his character, the Angry Video Game Nerd. James owns the site Cinemassacre. A couple of days ago, he released a video in which he said he wasn't going to see the 2016 Ghostbusters movie (which henceforth I will refer to as nuBusters). He said he wasn't going to review it. Because he thought it looked like it was going to be a bad movie, based on the trailer. I agree with him 100%. The movie does look like it's going to suck the shit straight from Satan's sphincter through a swirly straw.
But here's the thing about nuBusters. It is a reboot/remake of the 1984 original Ghostbusters movie. More importantly, all the main Ghostbusters in the nuBusters movie are played by women. Extremists, like those described previously, call it the "feminist Ghostbusters movie," and dismiss it as such.
I, on the other hand, have no problem with it being a cast of women. I'm perfectly okay with that. My issue with nuBusters is that it simply looks like it's going to be a terrible movie, regardless of who is in it, based on the two trailers that have been released so far. I feel the same way, exactly, about the upcoming Star Trek Beyond movie, for the same exact reasons: the trailer looked like shit.
And, back to nuBusters, I think that's how James Rolfe feels about it, too. It's a shitty cash grab reboot, just like every single other shitty cash grab reboot that Hollywood has excreted out of its malignant bunghole over the past decade or two, none of which I have seen myself, because I recognized them for the shitty cash grab reboots that they are (the only exceptions being the first, and only the first, of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, which was when the current trend of rebooting/remaking shit was first starting to hit its stride, and, maybe, the 2009 Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, and the decreasing quality of those is also part of why I don't much want to see Star Trek Beyond at this point, in addition to issues with the trailer). James Rolfe, in his video about why he wasn't going to review the nuBusters movie, mentioned the all-female cast once, in passing, and didn't dwell on it or harp on about it or anything like that.
But this brings us back to radical feminists again. They took one glance at Rolfe's video, if even that much, and then brought the wrath o' god down squarely on James Rolfe's head. For the past couple of days now, this guy has been absolutely flame broiled by these extremists. They don't believe they are wrong about James Rolfe (even though they are wrong, without a doubt). It is amazing just how smug and holier-than-thou they've been about how "right" they are to condemn James Rolfe as a "sexist," as a "misogynist," as a "well known bigot," as a "whiny pissbaby," as a "basement-dwelling manchild." They say he's just "scared of girls," and that's the only reason he could possibly not want to see this shitty fucking movie, according to these extremists. Just to note, James Rolfe has been married since 2007, and his daughter was born in 2013. Yeah, he's "scared of girls."
James Rolfe is "wrong," and they are "right," and that is all there is to it, as far as they are concerned, and this gives them carte blanche to borderline slander and libel Mr. Rolfe to hell and back. And yet, when GamerGate and the like do the exact same goddamn things to them, they pitch hissy fits to the high heavens.
Extremism is fucking stupid. Period.
Unlike James Rolfe, I haven't completely written off watching the nuBusters movie at some point, just as I haven't completely written off ever watching any more of the nuTrek movies either. I've said in the past that it's kind of dumb to dislike a work simply because you may not like the person who made the work, for whatever reason, rather than judging the work on its own merits. Similarly, I think it's kind of dumb to judge a work based on whatever fucked up stupid controversy may surround the work, rather than judging the work on its own merits. (To restate: judging and refusing to see a movie because said movie's trailer looks like complete ass is a valid reason, but judging and refusing to see a movie because "durr hurr feminism bad SJWs suck herp derp" is a dumb reason.)
However, even with that said, I have to admit that the ridiculous, distraught, pompous, self-righteous, priggish overreaction to James Rolfe's video about nuBusters by all these extremist radical feminists (including some people who I had thought were more level-headed than this, but I guess I was mistaken) has certainly dampened what little enthusiasm I may have had to see nuBusters down to a level that is even lower than my enthusiasm to see more nuTrek.
Transcribed from my pencil and paper journal (with a few small additions that weren't in my journal, but you'll never know what I added here and what was already in the journal itself):
Now, on to the meat of this entry: extremism.
Here's the problem with extremism. Nobody believes that they, themselves, are extremists. I doubt that Donald Trump believes himself to be an extremist, any more than he believes himself to be a racist, sexist, and all of those other things that he is, whether he believes it or not. I doubt neo-nazi skinheads think of themselves as extremists. Same with the Westboro Baptist Cult.
The problem with all these extremists is that they merely think of themselves as "right." Everyone else is simply "wrong."
GamerGaters, as another example, don't think they're wrong when they send rape and death threats, or when they dox people. They feel that they are perfectly justified. Because they think they are "right." All those radical feminists that they hate so much are "wrong."
Which, now, brings us to the radical feminists themselves. For the longest time, I mostly just gave them a free pass, given all the terrible horseshit that feminists in general get from all sides from the GamerGate shitbags and other such MRAs and whatever. But radical feminists have the exact same problem as all of these other extremists. They don't think of themselves as "extremists." They only think of themselves as "right." Same as with all other extremists, anyone who even a little bit diverges from what they think is "wrong," and thus worthy of the most heinous of terrible ridicule and dogpiling harassment.
That brings us to James Rolfe, also known by his character, the Angry Video Game Nerd. James owns the site Cinemassacre. A couple of days ago, he released a video in which he said he wasn't going to see the 2016 Ghostbusters movie (which henceforth I will refer to as nuBusters). He said he wasn't going to review it. Because he thought it looked like it was going to be a bad movie, based on the trailer. I agree with him 100%. The movie does look like it's going to suck the shit straight from Satan's sphincter through a swirly straw.
But here's the thing about nuBusters. It is a reboot/remake of the 1984 original Ghostbusters movie. More importantly, all the main Ghostbusters in the nuBusters movie are played by women. Extremists, like those described previously, call it the "feminist Ghostbusters movie," and dismiss it as such.
I, on the other hand, have no problem with it being a cast of women. I'm perfectly okay with that. My issue with nuBusters is that it simply looks like it's going to be a terrible movie, regardless of who is in it, based on the two trailers that have been released so far. I feel the same way, exactly, about the upcoming Star Trek Beyond movie, for the same exact reasons: the trailer looked like shit.
And, back to nuBusters, I think that's how James Rolfe feels about it, too. It's a shitty cash grab reboot, just like every single other shitty cash grab reboot that Hollywood has excreted out of its malignant bunghole over the past decade or two, none of which I have seen myself, because I recognized them for the shitty cash grab reboots that they are (the only exceptions being the first, and only the first, of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, which was when the current trend of rebooting/remaking shit was first starting to hit its stride, and, maybe, the 2009 Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, and the decreasing quality of those is also part of why I don't much want to see Star Trek Beyond at this point, in addition to issues with the trailer). James Rolfe, in his video about why he wasn't going to review the nuBusters movie, mentioned the all-female cast once, in passing, and didn't dwell on it or harp on about it or anything like that.
But this brings us back to radical feminists again. They took one glance at Rolfe's video, if even that much, and then brought the wrath o' god down squarely on James Rolfe's head. For the past couple of days now, this guy has been absolutely flame broiled by these extremists. They don't believe they are wrong about James Rolfe (even though they are wrong, without a doubt). It is amazing just how smug and holier-than-thou they've been about how "right" they are to condemn James Rolfe as a "sexist," as a "misogynist," as a "well known bigot," as a "whiny pissbaby," as a "basement-dwelling manchild." They say he's just "scared of girls," and that's the only reason he could possibly not want to see this shitty fucking movie, according to these extremists. Just to note, James Rolfe has been married since 2007, and his daughter was born in 2013. Yeah, he's "scared of girls."
James Rolfe is "wrong," and they are "right," and that is all there is to it, as far as they are concerned, and this gives them carte blanche to borderline slander and libel Mr. Rolfe to hell and back. And yet, when GamerGate and the like do the exact same goddamn things to them, they pitch hissy fits to the high heavens.
Extremism is fucking stupid. Period.
Unlike James Rolfe, I haven't completely written off watching the nuBusters movie at some point, just as I haven't completely written off ever watching any more of the nuTrek movies either. I've said in the past that it's kind of dumb to dislike a work simply because you may not like the person who made the work, for whatever reason, rather than judging the work on its own merits. Similarly, I think it's kind of dumb to judge a work based on whatever fucked up stupid controversy may surround the work, rather than judging the work on its own merits. (To restate: judging and refusing to see a movie because said movie's trailer looks like complete ass is a valid reason, but judging and refusing to see a movie because "durr hurr feminism bad SJWs suck herp derp" is a dumb reason.)
However, even with that said, I have to admit that the ridiculous, distraught, pompous, self-righteous, priggish overreaction to James Rolfe's video about nuBusters by all these extremist radical feminists (including some people who I had thought were more level-headed than this, but I guess I was mistaken) has certainly dampened what little enthusiasm I may have had to see nuBusters down to a level that is even lower than my enthusiasm to see more nuTrek.