The Marvel/Sony Superhero Movies Thread

[Grouchy]

I don't think it's an insult. I think it's in bad taste. I think it's juvenile. That it tries to hard. I think, for a joke, it has poor construction. It's bad writing.

But I'm mystified that anyone can claim a general empathy and then turn around and also say it's funny.

I never claimed a general empathy. It's also hard to explain a taste for comedy. It's why I don't find comedians like Cosby, Gervais or Fallon funny even though I realize they're objectively good.

But you don't really believe this, right? Because how does it translate into practice, if ever?

In any social discussion, you take the most extreme, conservative position possible and you defend the status quo regardless of what it is. (Here, you're literally the only person I've seen online who's backed Gunn on the merits of his tweets. Even reddit superfans didn't do that.)

That's not true at all and it's a ridiculous accusation. It would mean a search through my posts similar to what the alt-right guy did to Gunn, but you can find me voicing opinions about US foreign policy, economics, History and even film itself that are far from conservative or defensive of the status quo. If you can't appreciate any stand that's not a dichotomy between conservative and progressive that's not really my fault.

Part of the problem with "everybody should be treated the same," blindly, is that it doesn't address existing imbalances; the people at the bottom stay at the bottom. (One can also twist it, easily, into odious constructs like "separate but equal.")

Adamantly defending the status quo mean the status quo never changes, and in practical terms it means you don't believe in social change. "Everyone should be treated equally" then becomes an empty expression.

You're completely right here. The only reason I said that was because you'd previously accused me of not caring about the rights of people I haven't met personally by blatantly twisting my words.

Of course, by painting me as a constant defender of the status quo you're also lying to make me look bad.

I'm not talking about liking someone on a personal level. I'm talking about the ability to empathize with a given group. I've never met a Somalian but that doesn't prohibit me from empathizing with their plight, either at home or abroad. I don't need to like an individual to feel for them.

So I don't know what you mean by "I think anyone who claims to like others is lying."

I mean that the state of the culture nowadays forces people to express empathy in a compulsive, obviously fake manner. I mean, I'm not any sort of well known artist or public figure, but I run a film club on Tuesdays and I encountered a lot of scrutiny from the owners of the bar about the movies I show. Whether this one could be seen as sexist or offensive, or whether this one's themes are too strong, etc. It's exhausting and it forces people to tip toe around life like it's a minefield.

Oh, collectively we surrendered those rights long ago, before either you or I were born. That doesn't mean they aren't valuable but changing this would require changing American culture from the ground up. It'd mean challenging the status quo.

But it's curious to me that you demand Disney respect its employees but you'd never ask Gunn, as an artist or celebrity, to respect anyone at all.

Because it's humor, Irish. The offence is the point. None could look at the stuff Gunn posted and ask themselves if he's serious, which is why firing him is such a dick move.