Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Houses Divided

Please pardon the following rant, I was recently blindfolded and taken against my will to Guatemala.  Nothing against Guatemala, but it can be a little disorienting.  Huge shout out to my legions of readers from Guatemala!!!!

In this entry, let's talk about other people behind their backs.  I'm talking about fanboys who take their craft vey, very seriously.  "Hey Steve, what the heck are you talking about?"

Examples:

"Marvel is better than DC."
"DC is better than Marvel."
"Star Wars rules!!"
"Nu uh!!  Star Trek is WAY better!"

You get the idea.  This is obviously most prevalent in sports, where rivalries have existed for a long time.  It is also prevalent with Israel and the Palestinians.  Also, it was pretty common among the Grunnbgh and Chootahhhhh tribes who were at war with each other in the Paleolithic era.  Basically, the ability to act stupid has been present for a very long time.

We know that is not going to change any time soon as social media has given us a platform to engage in new levels of idiocy under the blanket of anonymity.  Whether we like it or not, social media has an influence.  Why?  Because there people out there who are willing to let their opinions be formed by others without forming an opinion for themselves.  One example that you have probably never heard of: politics.

So what can creators do about this?  They can stop listening to vocal minorities, for starters.  When I see a Rotten Tomatoes critic score of 28% but an audience score of 69%, chances are, I'll take the audience's word for it.  When I see ANY comments on YouTube, I know I am reading the worst of what humanity has to offer. 

We all have opinions, and that is awesome.  How we convey those messages is another thing entirely.  When I say that I think Salma Hayek is unbelievably attractive, others may think differently.  That is okay.  Who am I kidding?  That's crazy talk.  But you get my drift.  How we communicate with each other is important, and it's an art form that is all but lost.

I am as guilty of this as anyone, particularly in my Spawn/WildC.A.T.S. review.  While I try to bring an absurdist view to my ramblings, there are real people who put real effort behind it.  I don't have to like it.  And I didn't.  Maybe we should stop being so hateful.

Except for the Batman & Robin movie, then it's ok.

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