- Location
- The Frigid North
Absolutely. You're completely on point there, and there's plain old psychological reasons for not exposing oneself to the frothing mob.I think it is nerd toxicity you mention that is to blame for tge lumping since this kind of people tends to leech on any bit of legitimate criticism, exagerrate it in an echo chamber effect of constant repettition among themelves, each time making the claims more outlandish until they turn into bigoted memes divorced really from their oruginal source while said source is being ised to defend this very bigotry and give it an air of legitimacy. For example, Cornel West's legitimate and thoughtfull criticism of Ta-Nehisi Coates has been first sttipped down to memes used to attack the latter's politics by Richard Spencer and Neo Nazis and then has bben adopted by Richard Meyer and comicgate as an excuse to throw now racist slogans at his comics and when called on it use West as their shield and half of the time not even actual thoughts of West but his race, their favorite line of defense being "a black guy called him a race hustler first, so us, white people, calling him that cannot be racist"
But I think any creator, in any field, can and should seek legitimate criticism from anywhere and everywhere they can find it. I could totally be wrong, considering I actively avoid the shittier parts of the internet for my own sanity, but I don't think legitimate criticism, both with an agenda and without, is that hard to find. It definitely colours my perception of Rian Johnson, DC, EL James, Roosterteeth, BioWare and EA, and a lot of other creators negatively.
I have to wonder if this trash fire has even been focus tested, considering the massive backlash. I know I'm definitely unimpressed that the character portrayed by a black actress is being described as "like Wolverine", something with connotations of instability and hair trigger violence. It's the kind of faux pas I just expect from zero effort diversity pandering that should have been caught by writers, directors producers, focus testers, or just about anyone with a modicum of sensitivity and care for the source material.