To be fair to the humans, Earth had been attacked twice if I recall correctly, barely surviving each attack and losing major cities to orbital bombardment. If the Federation figured out how to wipe out the Borg after two separate direct attacks on Earth that were barely thwarted by luck, I’m not going to get too upset about it. And they could actually talk to the Borg Queen.
it was unusual and disturbing in my country. Still does not hurt anyone, but it still was not allowed communities.
Has anyone mentioned gay Sci-Fi author David Gerrold’s reply to Card?
I’m disappointed in Cory’s remarks; they speak from privilege.
It’s called marketing. Virtually all of the huge blockbusters are science fiction or fantasy these days. Do you really think only “sci-fi” fans saw Avatar? Or the Transformer movies? The actual readers of the book are NOT what they’re relying on. The book gives them a base, as well as a story, name recognition and a certain cachet. But for actual viewers, it’s all about marketing and word of mouth.
Bigots and right wingers see movies, too–and they have to decide which from a list of available ones when they do. If the movie is watchable, and well marketed, it would just take a few diatribes by Rush or Hannity to turn it into a “cause”. And the best kind of cause, like in the Chick-fil-a case, is one that is painless to participate in, yet gives a sense of righteousness.
Sorry if I sound pessimistic. I read and loved the book, but won’t see the movie. I certainly think boycotts often work. I just worry this one is more vulnerable to being countered than most is all I’m sayin’.
I can’t believe I’m reading this correctly. You state he’s doing “active harm to some of the most vulnerable people in our society”, but you don’t think this type of person merits a boycott? This is the type of behavior that exactly warrants a boycott. How high is your bar on this one?
I read some of your Reddit AMA and IIRC you were protesting Gulf War I and very active in that. The kind of violence against gays that OSC has supported doesn’t strike me as too far removed from GWI. I’m trying to understand what it would take for you to think a boycott is warranted?
Honestly, if I didn’t respect you so much in the first place I don’t think I’d have such a hard time understanding your thinking here.
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Sure, why not? It’s simple, “never give someone a stick they can use to beat you”.
This is not about circulation. This is about his direct profit from the money each ticket buyer gives him. Do you really think I’m talking about money that I spend somewhere that might then get spent somewhere else?
Well, that’s an interesting statement. I don’t think anyone is proposing a “divided economy”, and good thing too since you’ve stated it as not possible. And if there had been no public outcry and I had seen the movie, then no, I probably wouldn’t have thought about the money ending up in a hate groups hand because not many people are extremist in their views like Card. I can’t know everything, so I have to go on experience. People like Card are a minority from what I’ve seen. I will assume that most large stake-holders in a movie are not funneling their money into hate groups, unless someone presents evidence, like has happened in this case. Conversely, I assume all clothing is made under sweatshop conditions and/or by wage-slave labor. That’s why I check the tag and see where it’s made. Bangladesh? Jordan? China? I assume it’s bad and I don’t buy it. It is not impossible to spend your money on ethical products and services. The people who would convince you otherwise are the same that tell you that your vote will never matter, so why bother? That’s the only way that trick works, is if people fall for it. Stop believing that, and vote (or buy) with your conscience and you will make a difference, however small. The more people that understand and believe in THAT, the more powerful they become. As to how much of my money ends up in the hands of a hate group, that is irrelevant. Card will get a tiny amount of each ticket. Just like the CEO of AT&T gets a tiny amount of a cell phone bill. But both can still be wealthy because they make their money through volume. That’s the same way a boycott works, it is the volume of people who DON’T give that makes the boycott have power.
Pointing out bigots does not create them. They were being bigots and doing bigoted things before they were exposed to the public eye. I’m very liberal and touchy-feely, but even I don’t buy into what you are asking people to believe. Bigots grow where they are not called out. Bigots multiply if we are silent and never speak out against them. It’s how they teach it to the next generation. If you think the freedom and equality we do enjoy in this country today came about through silent mediation, you need to read some history books. Money is power, and “power cedes nothing without demand”.
Daneyul can imagine busses of homophobes stopping at Chik-fil-a on their way to the movie in some kind of backlash, but that doesn’t prove it actually happening on a regular basis, or in any substantial numbers. Regardless of how badly the mayor of Boston handled it, Chik-fil-a will have a far harder time opening new stores above the bible belt/mason-dixon line due to the negative publicity they got.
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