All This “Star Wars” Hate is Getting Old

This is a rant, but it is not just a rant.  From the “Star Wars” is racist publicity stunt of stupidity to a recent “feminist” blogger with a few thousand followers wanton claim that “Star Wars is Sexist” to cash in on a fad without actually caring about the content or affects of their words (no links provided on purpose, these fools don’t deserve your visits), all the wrongful anger Star Wars is receiving is unfounded.  The mainstream media is in on it too with that extraordinary display of ignorance displayed by the crew of that one show on Fox news, especially that one lady (again, no links and no specifics, because these fools don’t deserve the traffic).  All these people who aren’t fans want to get in on the current popularity of Star Wars by bashing it.  That is sooooooooo weak.  Be original, come up with a valid argument, or DON’T SAY ANYTHING.  No one is making you comment on this thing you don’t know about and don’t care about – stop acting like it isn’t important or cool, if it weren’t important it wouldn’t be such a big part of our society since 1977 and if it weren’t cool/popular then you wouldn’t see it EVERYWHERE.  And it isn’t just now that it is popular – it’s been popular since its debut.  I’d say “deal with it” but you don’t need to deal with it – you can continue to ignore it, those of us who are fans don’t care what you think; except now you are misrepresenting, misinforming, and flat-out lying to people because of some agenda you have.  STOP IT.

There are a lot of “fans” that aren’t any better though, fans fall into three groups of haters (in order of least annoying to most):
1.  Casual Fans
2.  Disney Haters
3.  OT Only Diehards

Casual Fans are only frustrating when they have a bad attitude.  I’ll tell you a story to illustrate my point.  I had a friend who once complained (probably after seeing a certain Mythbusters episode) about the “laser guns” in Star Wars (not a constant beam, colored, audible, slow, can be deflected by a lightsaber, etc).  I corrected him, there aren’t “lasers” like we think of them in Star Wars (not for the guns he was talking about at least) – the standard Star Wars blaster (blaster is the name, not laser gun, it is blaster on purpose for this very reason) uses a power cell and gas to generate an energized particle beam that has been compressed at the atomic level.  All that to say, Han and Storm Troopers (and even ships) are not shooting beams of light at each other, they are shooting “pieces” of energized gas at each other – sound, color, speed, these are all side effects of that fact.  He got upset and proceeded to explain how he didn’t actually care because it is just a stupid fantasy world – well dude, you brought it up, don’t get all butt-hurt because you were wrong.  Most people are casual fans, I’m a casual fan of many things (Indiana Jones, James Bond, motor vehicles, Twinkies (I prefer HoHos or Ding Dongs – but even those I’m only a casual fan of)…); there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a casual fan, there is a problem with having a bad attitude.
But bad attitudes are not exclusive to casual fans.

Disney Haters appeared as soon as the Lucasfilm purchase was announced.  These are (often) people that (justly) do not want to see something they love sanitized (like the removal of the Princess Leia Slave Outfit), diluted (the lack of death in Star Wars: Rebels), or otherwise destroyed (lens flares!).  I think the biggest thing to keep in mind here is that Lucasfilm is still in charge – they are owned by Disney, but so is Marvel, how terrible have those movies been?  Right, they weren’t.  To address my examples specifically, the Slave Leia Outfit issue is a matter of political correctness in an age where we are afraid to offend anyone – not solely a “Disney problem”.  I am enjoying Star Wars Rebels, much more than I did The Clone Wars to start with (getting to watch TCW in chronological order on Netflix was a major improvement); I think that you need to keep in mind it is a “kids show” and while adults can enjoy it, the target audience is ages 6 – 16.  And as for J.J. Abrams, I don’t think he’ll get carried away, he’s done plenty of good work (including Star Trek) and we should judge his work on this movie after it is released; and I have enjoyed how “under wraps” he has kept everything.

OT (Original Trilogy) Only Diehards are usually older people, but not always.  These are people that are confused by the Expanded Universe (EU), hate on the Prequel Trilogy (PT) for multiple reasons (some valid), and I even saw one guy refer to everything outside of Episodes 4-6 as “Fan Fiction” (he specifically called Kylo Ren fan fiction!).  Guys and gals who think this way, the PT, ST (Sequel Trilogy), comic books, and other official materials are the opposite of fan fiction, they are canon!  It is okay to not like something (though I think you’re letting your bad attitude prevent you from enjoying some legitimately good material), it’s okay to prefer one movie or one set of media over another, it’s okay if you don’t want to watch Rebels or go see The Force Awakens (though you probably will), but don’t spout out ignorant hatred, it’s a real jerk move.

So that’s the message I’m trying to convey here: it’s okay to not like something new as much as something old (or vice-versa), it’s okay to dislike something entirely; it’s even okay to complain about something – but if you do don’t do it from a point of willful ignorance, and be ready for an intelligent conversation where you substantiate your claims (good advice for many parts of life), because your drive-by douchebaggery is beyond annoying now.