Chuck Wendig Fired from Star Wars Books/Comics Because He Was Too "Uncivil" About Politics

[h=1]Chuck Wendig, James Gunn, Chelsea Cain and the Silencing of Creatives[/h]

RedRajah said:

[h=1]Chuck Wendig, James Gunn, Chelsea Cain and the Silencing of Creatives[/h]

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Good article. This paragraph is particularly frightening, because it is happening now. And Disney/Marvel have decided to capitulate, because they obviously think their bottom line depends more on the alt right than it does on people with more progressive tastes in entertainment.

Because the truth is that the far right wants to silence everybody who disagrees with them. And indeed, authoritarian regimes of any political stripe always target journalists, teachers and academics as well as artists, writers and other creatives first before they go after everybody else deemed not in line with the regime. We’ve seen this in Nazi Germany, we’ve seen it in Mussolini’s Italy and Franco’s Spain, we’ve seen it in the Soviet Union and the various Communist states of Eastern Europe, we’ve seen it in other dictatorships around the world. Right now, we’re seeing it happening in Russia, in Turkey, in the Philippines as well as in Hungary and Poland, as they drift further to the right. And we’re also seeing more and more silencing attempts of this sort happening in otherwise democratic countries.

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There has been a concerted attack on academia and teaching as professions over the past few decades too. I've seen a change in my colleagues over the past ten years or so. They're no less progressive than they were before as a group, but there is an attitude of exhaustion and bowing to the inevitable (even if we don't all like it) that has become the new norm. This hasn't resulted from open and obvious attempts to silence us, but from a steady and slow shift towards a business model in administration and from a steady decay in public interest in and support for public education and academia. I doubt they will do much to protect teachers and professors when the public starts targeting them for attacks like this.

Entertainment has always been run as a business, of course, and art and entertainment have long been front and center in people's minds (in a way education hasn't). People tend to be very vocal in their opinions about the artistic direction taken by their favorite entertainment franchises. Writers and entertainers aren't protected by tenure, and their employment is always based on perceived popularity and on what the producers think their fans want to see. As far as I know, though, the new Star Wars has been bringing in a lot of money, so the inclusion of LGBT, PoC and female characters in central roles hasn't exactly been unpopular overall.

Which makes me think their recent decisions are responding to where they think the pendulum is swinging in the US mainstream. They are capitulating because they don't want to be censored or otherwise targeted by our increasingly conservative government and courts.

I hope they are wrong and this surge to the Right will prove to be a brief hiccup in our march towards a more just and sustainable world. I fear that it isn't, though.

Roxxsmom said:

I hope they are wrong and this surge to the Right will prove to be a brief hiccup in our march towards a more just and sustainable world. I fear that it isn't, though.

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That's my fear, too...

FACEBOOK COMMENT: "Well, thank goodness that bully's gone!"

ME: "How? How's he the bully in this?"

FACEBOOK COMMENT RESPONSE: *crickets*

BenPanced said:

FACEBOOK COMMENT: "Well, thank goodness that bully's gone!"

ME: "How? How's he the bully in this?"

FACEBOOK COMMENT RESPONSE: *crickets*

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Not surprising. You really should know by now that they don't feel any need to back up their assertions; they just shout and run on to the next topic to shout about, and any efforts made to rebut or call them out are therefore wasted (because they've already decided they won't listen anyway, they just want to shout.)

BenPanced said:

FACEBOOK COMMENT: "Well, thank goodness that bully's gone!"

ME: "How? How's he the bully in this?"

FACEBOOK COMMENT RESPONSE: *crickets*

Click to expand...

Brightdreamer said:

Not surprising. You really should know by now that they don't feel any need to back up their assertions; they just shout and run on to the next topic to shout about, and any efforts made to rebut or call them out are therefore wasted (because they've already decided they won't listen anyway, they just want to shout.)

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Long but hella relevant quote by Sartre, replace anti-Semite with x as needed.

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

Kjbartolotta said:

Long but hella relevant quote by Sartre, replace anti-Semite with x as needed.

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

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That sums it up very well.

They are doing a good job of keeping us distracted and upset and (sometimes) even arguing among ourselves.

The problem is, we can't ignore then either, because that's another goal they have--shutting us down and getting us so demoralized we stop fighting.

I guess we should focus on the effects of bigotry, not the people who support it.

BenPanced said:

FACEBOOK COMMENT: "Well, thank goodness that bully's gone!"

ME: "How? How's he the bully in this?"

FACEBOOK COMMENT RESPONSE: *crickets*

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He's the bully, because expressing the belief that our country should (also) value people who aren't white or cis or male or rich is MEAN. MEAN, I tell you. /s

I never liked the term "snowflakes," but goodness, what a pack of hothouse flowers the right wing has turned out to be.

Kjbartolotta said:

Long but hella relevant quote by Sartre, replace anti-Semite with x as needed.

“Never believe that anti-Semites are completely unaware of the absurdity of their replies. They know that their remarks are frivolous, open to challenge. But they are amusing themselves, for it is their adversary who is obliged to use words responsibly, since he believes in words. The anti-Semites have the right to play. They even like to play with discourse for, by giving ridiculous reasons, they discredit the seriousness of their interlocutors. They delight in acting in bad faith, since they seek not to persuade by sound argument but to intimidate and disconcert. If you press them too closely, they will abruptly fall silent, loftily indicating by some phrase that the time for argument is past.”

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The more things change... sigh...

The Star Wars community is rabid, they lost their minds over the Rey character and her story line. They have this idea of what Star Wars is in their minds and it drives them nutts when anyone deviates from it.

He's like the third artist type I can think of who lost their job over a tweet.

Fortz said:

The Star Wars community is rabid, they lost their minds over the Rey character and her story line. They have this idea of what Star Wars is in their minds and it drives them nutts when anyone deviates from it.

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I don't care that much about SW, think the inclusion of characters like Rey, Finn, Rose, & etc sounds great, and CANNOT BELIEVE people are reacting to these characters the way they are, what with the dog whistles, online harassment, and so on. Beyond the simple bigotry and nastiness, there's the weird tendency to believe creators owe their fans what they *think* they want, usually tied into some misplaced sense of nostalgia. Even said half-jokingly, any time I hear 'You ruined my childhood!' I feel queasy.

Time-tested, old-school logic:

Want to get to the heart of a matter?

Ignore the rhetoric--all of it; then, follow the money.

Altruism rarely trumps economics.