Here's a news tip about a foreigner who has done more to push us towards dystopia than all the Russian trolls combined. He's an Aussie and owns Newscorp. He's has a 24/7 propaganda channel that has some kind of devious hold over a lot of Americans, especially older ones.

Damn! Good piece of work.

As far as response, I'm not at all sure that "we don't care" will be effective. I think the lonely guys have to have something to belong to, that isn't toxic.

In a different domain, of lonely Nice Guys who want formulas for picking up girls, Dr. Nerdlove is an interesting phenomenon. He's meeting them right where they are, and while the comment sections aren't problem-free, jesus they're a sight better than what would form otherwise. Of course the hook there is the lonely guys want something. Don't know how to generalize that to the lonely scifi fans.

@4 "This is how you could tell they were fake, they could have been describing the original trilogy."

My main issue with the new Stars Wars especially the Force Awakens is that it essentially was the exact same movie as A New Hope:
-Hero found on a desert planet
-Big bad Death Machine
-An old Good Guy gets killed
-Good Guy has to fly spaceship through tight quarters to stop big bad death machine

No one loves remakes like this. Ocean's 11 was good, but 12&13 were meh.

Also I think a lot of people didn't like the Black Stormtrooper because they thought all of the stormtroopers were clones of Bubba Fett's father, which isn't the case.

What an outstanding read.
Delving into the insecurities of fandom nerds (and I am one), this article is insightful in it's honest and sobering manner. I don't know if the 'de-platforming' movement will take hold but it's a promising weapon in this age of mass disinformation and fake news.

Wow, that was long.

This reminds me of the Republican red scare, and now watching fellow lefties devolve into a Democratic red scare.

We're being recycled fear, and outrage people, wake the hell up. Who am I kidding...

Force Awakens was boring but at least competent, Last Jedi was a horrible mess with too many characters and too little for them to do. No one wants to see a movie with a bunch of pointless B plots.

What? It wasn't the innumerable plot holes, go nowhere B plotlines, backfiring jokiness, or dull characters … the reason people complained about this trainwreck of a movie was a Russian disinformation campaign!

Are we even serious, here? Actually watch this movie. Carefully.

The idea that critical public reception should be tied to performative wokeness is not only stupid, but destructive. The Stranger actually used to have culture critics who knew their ass from a hole in the ground. Do better.

@2: Rupert Murdoch became a US citizen a long time ago. 1985, to be exact.

Once upon a time, in a land curiously named "Slash-Dot", the Trolls were creatures devoted largely to puncturing the narcissism and overblown sense of persecution pervading what was only beginning to be referred to as "geek culture."

My, how times change.

Censorship didn't work back then, but maybe it was just a branding problem? "Deplatforming" sounds a lot more reasonable, and it follows Carlin's Law of Increasing Syllables, too.

If there is a problem with the women in the new-new Star Wars, it's that we're a couple decades into the 21st century now but the men running Hollywood still seem to think "strong female character" means "cast a young pretty face and hire a fight choreographer." We get this over and over again now, and what's missing from these characters is, you know, character, and women (and the rest of the audience) deserve and should expect better than this.

"...it's that we're a couple decades into the 21st century now but the men running Hollywood still seem to think "strong female character" means "cast a young pretty face and hire a fight choreographer.""

@11 WTF are you talking about.

GI Jane
Kill Bill Vol. I & II
Death Proof
Set It Off
Voyager
Dr. Who
Orange Is The New Black

This is the top of my head while making dinner. There is a long list of females over the past 40 years; this isn't even the tip.

@12

I don't know what to tell you. If you really don't want to see it, you probably won't.

This reminds me a lot of two pieces by Lindy West (one was something about feeding trolls until they blow up, and the other was about how Gamergate was election 2016 training wheels). The Vlog Brothers, particularly Hank, have been champions of keeping dumb, half-formed, regurgitated and unnecessary opinions to oneself too ("No opinion!"). Basically, I'm really glad to see an uptick in the popularity of this sentiment.

Well written, thank you! Hilarious that the comments have become yet another very important discussion about the space wizard flicks.

Star Wars is shit, and it has nothing to do with casting.

eBob?

It's strange, really.

I don't have a twitter account, I respect consent 100% of the time(up to and including asking permission for any physical contact), I've marched for women's rights(recently), and I prioritize voices other than my own(or people like me).

And yet, I still feel deeply called out by this and miserable about 90% of the time. I've gotten precious little love or understanding.

It's almost as if most people are interested in their own power and well being or something.

Spoiler alert: Most people are interested in their own power and well being.