I find it really really unfortunate that the #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag is trending right now.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
If someone is a white nationalist, there's probably no point trying to reason with them that even if "whites" really are a minority race...
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
...that doesn't mean that they aren't still privileged; nor is there point to trying to reason that this privilege is undeserved.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
There is no reason one should be upset about more diversity in science fiction unless one already has deep problems with race in general.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
Which is the sad thing, right? Because here you see people who are taking this grievance and imbuing it with some sort of nobility.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
But the "nobility" of racism is a narrow and troubled one, reliant upon superstition and in many cases hatred.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
Even though we don't all agree on what's right/wrong in the world, racism and hatred are some of the very reasons we NEED literature.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
The primary reason I realized my own unwitting participation in the position whiteness was from reading Black fiction authors. It changed me
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
And while we don't all agree on what should change/stay the same, there is danger at the extreme end of both conservatism and liberalism.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
Where instability, criticality and conscience freely mix, the perceived dangers can be outweighed by the right kinds of change:
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
Changes of mentality. That mixture is the realm of deep thought, because without it we migrate to our safe zones. Our conservatisms.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
This is why we need literature--including science fiction--from deep thinkers. Lit can occupy that unstable space and shine runway lights.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
I'm not saying #starwars is some exemplar of this principle (or maybe I am), but I am more and more convinced that it is because 1/2
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
...there is bigotry and hatred and unthinking-ness in the world that the deepest thinkers have written great literature. 2/2
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
The greatest literature--like the greatest scifi--points at us or the world and implicates them somehow. It invites us to criticality.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
And that....is really hard to accomplish.
— Jedd Cole (@ElectricDidact) October 19, 2015
Some viewers of the [poster] material chose to voice their negativity about the film on Twitter, with a select few trying to start the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII trending. Those who began the hashtag were trying to argue that the film wasn't sticking true to the originals, and therefore should not be watched, all because "the lead character is black". Some even went so far as to say the film was "anti-white" and "promotes white genocide".