Something I've been thinking about these past few days is how there can be no equivalent to the "reboot The Last Jedi" movement for people who liked The Last Jedi, even loved it.
Courtney Milan is, from my perspective, loved and respected. I mean, I certainly love and respect her, and appreciate the work she puts in in all areas of life, but my timeline is also regularly filled with people who really seem like they appreciate her, too.
But as much as we talk about telling people you appreciate them and as much as we talk about being enthusiastic fans of people and things and as much as TLJ taught us to fight for what we love and not what we hate...
It would be WEIRD if we loved Courtney the way some hate her.
It would be WEIRD if we loved Courtney the way some hate her.
The kind of intense, bond-forming, identity/community-defining hatred that creates the kind of echo chamber she's describing in that thread... it doesn't have a positive equivalent.
And I'm not saying you can't bond over what you love or find community in support of a person.
And I'm not saying you can't bond over what you love or find community in support of a person.
I'm saying it doesn't happen with the same speed, intensity, or frequency. You don't get the kind of shallow-deep connection (a feeling of deep connection over a shallow thing), the instant click you get with mutual fiery hatred.
So it's very easy for people who hate someone or something to convince themselves that they represent a majority or a plurality of the whole, and to make enough noise to convince others on the sidelines, and even people who shouldn't be on the sidelines.
Loving and respecting someone requires you to see them as a person. Loving is not a work that has an endgame so in community it doesn't give itself towards such frantic abandon.
I don't think anybody who loved Courtney Milan wanted to see that she kept schooling the RWA on ethics and diversity forever and ever, world without end. But anybody who wanted to bring her down had a finite goal.
