Good news for Star Wars fans: when you finally get your chance to go see Star Wars: The Force Awakens in theaters, you won’t find yourself stuck sitting next to a white supremacist. Or Chuck C. Johnson.
Yes, it’s true, #BoycottStarWarsVII is a real thing, brought to you by more or less the same motley crew of racist trolls and “alternative right”-wingers who catapulted the term “cuckservative” into mainstream Republican discourse not that long ago.
Their complaint? That the upcoming episode in the Star Wars saga, directed by JJ Abrams, supports “race mixing” and therefore “white genocide.” Because one of the main characters is, you know, B-L-A-C-K. And some of the others are B-R-O-W-N. Oh, and JJ Abrams is a J-J-JEW.
I’ll let this Twitter dude explain.
https://twitter.com/DarklyEnlighten/status/655910679971389440
https://twitter.com/DarklyEnlighten/status/655911535710081024
https://twitter.com/DarklyEnlighten/status/656165064882302976
He’s also apparently worried about property values in the far-away galaxy where Star Wars takes place.
https://twitter.com/DarklyEnlighten/status/655911807949799424
Naturally, the boycotters took this as an excuse to make and post an assortment of new, Star-Wars-centric racist memes.
https://twitter.com/RealDoctorWhite/status/656260309993177088
https://twitter.com/awyattman88/status/656178020546383872
https://twitter.com/MemeMurderer/status/656192384867377152
https://twitter.com/DanielGenseric/status/656176982644928513
Others used the boycott as an excuse to post some old favorites:
https://twitter.com/leftisright4now/status/656268012891320322
https://twitter.com/leftisright4now/status/656262856145551360
https://twitter.com/leftisright4now/status/656239300770668544
https://twitter.com/awyattman88/status/656169620433469440
Do any of these putative Star Wars boycotters actually give two shits about Star Wars? Do they know how many suns rise and set on Tatooine? Could they tell a sarlacc from a hole in the ground?
Nah. Most of these guys are fake geeks trying to use the phony “boycott” as a way to spread some of their favorite white supremacist catchphrases into mainstream discourse — notably their daffy contention that “diversity = white genocide.”
https://twitter.com/officialCritDis/status/656268371407826944
https://twitter.com/KatieFromLudlow/status/656238508130996225
Apparently they don’t know, or care, that most of those who’ve even noticed the “boycott” are laughing at them — noting how fragile their “whiteness” must be if the very thought of a black guy playing a stormtrooper causes them to screech about “white genocide?’
As one of the mockers put it:
https://twitter.com/ashleylynch/status/656207477394964481
But the boycotters aren’t the only opportunists here.
Everyone’s favorite internet garbage “journalist” Chuck C. Johnson has also jumped onto the Star Wars boycott in an attempt, presumably, to capture some of its notoriety (and traffic-driving potential) for himself. In a post on his garbage site, Johnson offers a tortuous explanation for his alleged outrage over the muticultural cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
“[T]here’s a disturbance in the force,” he writes, because he’s the kind of hack who thinks a reference to “a disturbance in the force” in a post about Star Wars is clever.
[A] group of white nerds are rightly upset that Star Wars is painting white people as the enemy.
Is the very white Star Wars being culturally appropriated by the Jewish J. J. Abrams? …
Star Trek is a productive of a white America whether or not we want to accept it. The action figures that made George Lucas a billionaire were purchased by suburban white families.
By “productive” he apparently means “a product of.”
It was white and Jewish-American nerds that put us into space and yet it’s Guatemalan-born (Oscar Isaac), Mexico-born Kenyan (Lupita Nyong’o), and the British-born white girl (Daisy Ridley) and the British-born Nigerian (John Boyega) who get to fight for the Rebel Alliance.
None of these countries even have a space program.
Wait, what?
I’m pretty sure muppets don’t have a space program either, but they’ve played a rather important role in the Star Wars saga.
Space belongs to the people smart enough to invent rockets and indoor plumbing. It belongs to a frontier people, thank you very much. And now the frontier is flooded with the Third World, drowning out the ambitions of those white nerds. … young white boys (yes, they’re boys) … won’t be much interested in a version of the future where they are cast as the villain.
On a small planet named “Earth” in the Milky Way galaxy, James Earl Jones looks upon Twitter and laughs.
It sounds like this:
@ Katz
I understand that if I raise an issue that’s novel then the onus is on me to put forward evidence to support that.
In this case my thesis is that there are very few acts that are always bad, regardless of circumstances.
I think I’ve put forward some evidence to support that contention. I totally appreciate no one is under any obligation to enter the debate. I’m just genuinely curious as to whether there are any other examples of acts that can never be justified.
I just think it’s an interesting topic and there may be other people here also interested; especially as such considerations are often relevant to progressive politics.
Alan, it’s a movie. I know lawyers like to twist even the most basic black-and-white narratives into some grey-and-grey or orange-and-blue bullshit, but you don’t have to here. You’re not defending the Empire at their inevitable war crimes trial. Put down the bong and take a nap.
@ SFHC
Ah, I wish. 🙂 Been pretty good in that regard lately (mainly a supply issue to be fair)
Fair enough I’ll save my points for when the rebels have their victors’ show trial 😉
In order to restore harmony to the thread please accept as diplomatic offering a hamster in a sweater
http://images.m-magazine.com/uploads/posts/image/19479/hamster-in-a-sweater.jpg
Also, apologise to Luzbelitx.
Apologies to Lux
Here’s a capybara preparing for a demo 😉
Hamster accepted.
Tiny hamster. Tiny sweater. Tiny hamster in tiny sweater!!!!!! *melts down into a puddle of D’AWWWW*
Awwwww cutepology accepted!! ????
And thank you SFHC, much appreciated.
http://www.awesomelycute.com/gallery/2013/12/awesomelycute-com-2725.gif
No worries, Luz. ^^ Cute fluffies for all!
http://i.imgur.com/dnZZuzR.jpg
@Ikeke35: re: laughing
I can’t stop laughing either. It was making me mad though up until I got to the point where upchuck actually confused Star Wars with Star Trek, and then I just lost it.
I know this conversation is supposed to be done, but… They destroyed a populated civilian planet. That’s not the equivalent of bombing targets in Afghanistan, it’s the equivalent of bombing Afghanistan until it’s an uninhabitable ruin with nothing living in it. There is no justification, no situation when it would be acceptable.
Genocide is never acceptable.
And all your comments have left me literally shaking and on the edge of tears. Feel free to defend genocide. I won’t look at this thread again.
And I mean literally. I do know the the actual meaning of the word literally.
The funny thing is, I’ve actually argued that side. I’ve argued that the rebels were terrorists, etc. But I always lost in the end because there is no defence for the destruction of Alderaan. That you can just dismiss the whole incident, hand wave it aside…
Your hamster is not accepted.
I’m going to shut my browser now before I say something I’ll regret in the morning.
@sbel
I’m sorry you felt that way and I hope you’re feeling better now! I too was upset by more of that conversation than I could manage to call out.
I couldn’t put my finger on The genocide stuff until you mentioned it, and I agree it is never acceptable, even a fictional genocide against fictional people has no way whatsoever to be the right choice.
I hope you get to read this, because you are most definitely not alone.
So, for Alan’s list of never-acceptable actions:
– sexual abuse (any type of abuse, really)
– genocide / slavery / colonization
– any form of torture (sort of includes all above)
And I’m confident you will be more careful and compassionate next time we discuss such sensitive topics, even in fiction.
In other words: I’m watching you, Gringo!
Also it’s really disturbing to defend people who are deliberately supposed to be space Nazis. Even if they really didn’t do anything bad ever during the movies, there’s still a connection there.
Boycotting Star Wars?
Well, that’s a good idea, cuz it’s not like a Star Wars movie will make a lot of money just on name alone. So when “The Force Awakens” bombs, it’ll definitely send a message.
Wait till these guys hear about Lando…
Oh, and the actress who plays Amidala in the prequels is Israeli…
Alan has gone full on r/EmpireDidNothingWrong, this discussion is entertaining to me.
OT: Can I take a moment to be pissed off that the manuresphere appropriated a beautifully poetic-sounding name (Dark Enlightenment) for one of their branches? I can’t be the only one who wanted to use that until they got their misogynistic, bigoted mitts on it.
@(((VioletBeauregarde))): Crooked Nasty Social Justice Necromancer
Don’t let me stop you. I kind of wanted to use that at first unironically as a young edgelord, then later on I used that term for uncomfortable truths. The fact that the Dork Enlightenment decided to make their neofeudalism their desires is kind of hilarious.
That aside, you certainly are living up to your job description.
@Oogly: Thanks, hehe, I try. I especially necro when I’m bored. As for the “dark enlightenment” thing, that might be a good idea to use that to describe uncomfortable truths (when I’m not afraid of being considered pretentious) or just ironically. It just sounds so poetic and mysterious to me and I have a goth side which I am nurturing under these current circumstances (by wearing almost exclusively black)
“None of these countries even have a space program.”
Does that mean the e-mails I used to get trying to raise money for the Nigerian cosmonaut stranded aboard the Russian Mir space station were (lip trembles)….fake?
@Steven Dutch
For the love of Madoka can you please just knock it off with the necro-posting?