You can read all about it here in the LA Times entertainment section. Milo, for those who don’t know, is an outspoken gay conservative alt-right Brit, who is often out causing trouble around issues of free speech.
Did he deserve to be banned for harassment? Probably.
Although one thing about the internet is that you can always just click people away. So when we choose to engage with someone and then try to claim that our interaction with them is harassment, we’re entering some murky waters. Some personal responsibility is needed on the internet. IRL, we do not have a mouse to just click people away or to block them. Internet harassment enters some gray areas, because you do have the ability to completely disengage. We start to cross a line when we demand someone else be silenced instead of us simply clicking ourselves away and engaging elsewhere.
My interest here however, is not so much in internet harassment, Twitter, or Milo. My interest here is in social engineering, culture, political correctness, the way our thoughts and beliefs are being manipulated by what I call Mediated Reality, so I follow some of these guys and watch what they’re up to. You can call me a stalker if you like. However, I’m a stalker in demand and I do take request. Now if I could just figure out how to get paid for my stalking skills. 🙂
So the current fray is over Ghostbusters, the remake with an all female cast. It’s not the movie itself that interests me, but rather the behind the scenes social engineering around the movie. A great deal of money and time was invested in basically attempting to force people to like this movie, creating an environment of intimidation and political correctness around sexism and racism, so one is compelled to approve of the movie if one wants the accompanying social approval. To not support the remake of Ghostbusters is sexist or so they want people to think.
It’s really quite clever, because the script is not very good, the acting is not all that great, and the story has already been done. Movies cost millions to make and you must get a return on your investment, so enter public relations, advertising, and hype. It’s worked quite well too, the critics on places like Rotten Tomatoes have all given it rave reviews or at least reviews that are somewhat apologetic, as in “how fabulous we’ve now given little girls female role models.” Is the content, entertainment value, of any worth? Irrelvant! To not praise this movie is politically incorrect.
Woven throughout this debate are some concepts that are genuinely demeaning to women. First off there are numerous scripts, stories with strong female characters that could be made into movies. Women are awesome in our own right, we don’t need to rather parasitically capitalize off of another movie by simply regenderdizing the main characters. See, now girls can be Ghostbusters too…. The truth being, that’s a rather low standard for women. Our worth and value is only in our ability to imitate male comedians of long ago? Than we have the idea that women as female Ghostbusters cannot possible hold our own as our own, so positive reviews, critical acclaim, must be manipulated, mandated, and forced. We can call it a form of affirmative action.
newenglandsun said:
unless i support an all-female cast i am a sexist? but what if i think a mixed sex cast is more equal. i say those feminazis are sexist!
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insanitybytes22 said:
Well, I think we can agree a mixed sex cast is certainly more fun. 🙂
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newenglandsun said:
But it is entirely sexist because it ain’t an all-female cast!
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insanitybytes22 said:
I know, right? But if there aren’t any male characters, what are the female characters supposed to do with all the sandwiches we make? 🙂
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newenglandsun said:
We live in 2016. What’s with all the sandwiches? Besides, they were only good to poison all of us men and now no more men! YAY! We can now move on 😀
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insanitybytes22 said:
But I like sandwiches! They’re like, the greatest invention since sliced bread. 🙂 Needless to say, I lean heavily Italian, as in just split the whole loaf longways, add some pesto and salami and you’ve got the start of a good sandwich.
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newenglandsun said:
I’m certain they’ll keep the sandwiches for themselves just without the poison as the poison was solely for the men. IVF will take care of the population problem. If a son is born, they’ll grow him until he’s fertile and then harvest his semen and sacrifice him to the Goddess Lady YHWH.
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SandySays1 said:
Are we getting to the point EVERYTHING is contentious? Maybe so – maybe no. I’m getting to the point I’m seeing agendas in things without them. Just saying.
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insanitybytes22 said:
Well, I’m getting to the point where I am contentious about everything, so that helps. 🙂
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A dad said:
I don’t Twitter , so I don’t know much about it. But did anyone check out who sent the twitters in question ?
Perhaps central casting and marketing came up with a “fool proof” plan!😏
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ah, another person with the good sense not to Twitter. 🙂
Central casting did indeed come up with a foolproof plan. At least it has worked out somewhat. I’m pretty sure Milo also has a central casting plan, since him getting himself kicked off Twitter is now being covered by some major media outlets.
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Julie Sheppard aka Reiko Chinen said:
You make some excellent points
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exanimo7 said:
The Ghostbusters movies of the 80s were fine on their own — we didn’t need a reboot. But Hollywood loves reboots, sequels, and superhero flicks nowadays (the latter of which I’m pretty partial to). Not gonna see this one, at least not on the big screen.
This trekkie will however be seeing Star Trek Beyond. 🙂
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Rebecca LuElla Miller said:
Hollywood doesn’t just love reboots, sequels, and superhero flicks. They are afraid to put out something original that might (***gasp***) not bring in big bucks. The originality, the art, has left the movie industry, I fear. We’re left with less than B-rated remakes and animation. I think I’ll choose the latter.
But the point you made that I think we need to keep front and center, IB, is that this current feminist craze only credits women with being important if they do what men have done or are doing. So, wow, a woman is going to break the “barrier” and pitch in a major league baseball game, making much more news than all the women playing world class softball have ever made. Because, ya know, softball is for giiirrls, and baseball is for important people like men and a girl feminists are excited about.
Sorry. Getting my rant on! 😉
Becky
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL! I’m laughing about softball being perceived as girly. First, what’s wrong with being girly? But second, some of those 9 year old girls playing fast pitch can scare the heck out of me. Yowsers, all that arm winding and balls that fly so fast you can’t even see them.
I do really enjoy a good softball game 🙂
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Mike said:
I always thought Ghostbusters was just a comedic take on Charlies Angel’s. It seems to me that there is no shortage of Female Role Models. What lacks is the Left’s approval of those models. And considering the Left is perpetually dissatisfied and feels entitled to the use of force… we get to where we are today. While I feel their pain… sadly the vast majority of Male Role Models do not meet my approval. I do not subscribe to force. Instead I subscribe to freedom. My response to those who are too ignorant to agree with me is – “Such is life…” (I wrote that.)
#FreeNero
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insanitybytes22 said:
LOL, really good points, Mike.
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Mike said:
Crap… If I made more than one good point I’ve exceeded my limit for the month. Please don’t let my wife know.
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The V Pub said:
IB, have you seen this one before? It’s old and dated, but it seems prophetic and a bit related to your post today:
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insanitybytes22 said:
Oh yes, thanks for the link, V-pub. That is often exactly what is going through my mind when I speak of social engineering, the dangers of games played on a much larger scale.
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irtfyblog said:
Have you read this?: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/18/online-reviews-of-the-new-ghostbusters-are-totally-out-of-whack-thanks-to-men/
Or this?: http://fusion.net/story/326404/negative-ghostbusters-reviews-are-basically-sexist/
Or this?: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2016/07/13/despite-not-being-released-us-males-internet-already-hate-ghostbusters/87027756/
Genderist or not, it’s amazing how Hollywood forgot that men actually have a voice…and a pretty strong one at that.
Also, I prefer the term “genderist”…not sexist. The reason is because I love sex, but sometimes the female gender makes me want to punch a unicorn. 😀
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insanitybytes22 said:
I hadn’t read them all, but thanks for the links, much appreciated. Yep, that’s it precisely, those articles capture the issue well.
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dawnlizjones said:
“The truth being, that’s a rather low standard for women.” Good thought. This is the second time I’ve read your term “Mediated reality”. Great concept. And worth contemplating!
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Ash said:
I support free speech, but some people really do use it as an excuse to be insufferable pieces of crap, which is a shame. Some of these extreme free speechers expect to behave this way and suffer no consequences. Milo is pretty lucky that all he is getting is banned online…so that’s all I will say in regards to that.
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insanitybytes22 said:
I hear you, I’ve read some of these people’s words and witnessed their behavior. It can be pretty appalling and there’s no doubt in my mind that they cross some lines. Also a bit funny, you fight back against some of these keyboard warriors, they tend to collapse into hysterics. Like many bullies, they can dish it out but they sure can’t take it. Just the same, I think there are some larger issues here that they help to bring attention to. Milo does push the envelope and I can’t say I feel bad for him, but he has started a conversation.
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KIA said:
Sorry, you couldn’t pay me to see the movie
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Fromscratchmom said:
Maybe I shouldn’t comment since I dont do Twitter, I’ve never heard of Milo and I haven’t paid even the smallest attention to even realize a ghost busters remake was being made with an all female cast. But you still gave me a good laugh, IB.
Because, seriously, this is what feminists have to champion as a cause now? Girls can be Ghost Busters too?
I’m needed a good laugh today. Thank-you for that. Um, I think that if I was genuinely concerned that some element of society was being marginalized I might pick something other than a fairly campy science-fiction/paranormal/comedy flick from the 80s to show that people are people and they can all get slimed. But hey, when your fight against the oppressed is mostly made up out of unjustified personal angst, I guess that’s as good as anything else. ROFL
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insanitybytes22 said:
Glad I gave you a chuckle today, scratchmom. It is all rather silly, isn’t? 🙂
I like women, we are amazing and the challenges we face and often manage to walk through can be just incredible. So watching womanhood be reduced to “girls can be Ghostbusters too,” leaves me unsure whether to laugh or cry. Those of us who laugh, last, so I’ll go with that one.:)
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Paul said:
Reverse prejudice has been authorized by the Supreme Court – it never sits right with me,but minds greater than mine have decreed it to be fair and just.
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SLIMJIM said:
PC…not as shiny and nice as people think it is.
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1539days said:
I called Milo a pervert in a blog a while back. Because he is gay and conservative, he gets more of a pass than he probably should. Too many people are confusing being politically incorrect with being rude and crude. A certain presidential candidate comes to mind. The last thing he did on Twitter shouldn’t have gotten him banned, but he was on thin ice for a while.
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insanitybytes22 said:
I agree. There’s a big difference between being political correct and just being downright boorish and rude.
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CC said:
I agree, there are sooo many great movies with amazing female roles now. So many more can and will be made. This was as ridiculous as wanting a female James Bond.
I do adore Milo. His review of Ghostbusters was spot on and hysterical.
Great post. Though I suspect you are right, he revels in it, just for fun..#FreeMilo
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adamjasonp said:
Using PC conditioning to promote a movie? Nah… 😉
…You do make a good ‘stalker,’ though. In my opinion. 🙂
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insanitybytes22 said:
Ha! Thanks for the stalking vote of confidence, much appreciated. Thanks for reading, too.
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adamjasonp said:
Lol. Yes, you have my vote. 😉
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