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boosebaster

Name: Jonathan Austin

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A solid enough, if not particularly inspiring start to the DC rebootlaunch, containing little to criticise – and little to…

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boosebaster's Recent Comments
April 7, 2012 3:47 pm The ifanboys have time and time again defended cynical moves on the part of the comics industry. "It's just a business! Grow up and understand the reality of the situation!" they cry. ifanboy.com is a business, is it not? How can the guys plead that they will never sell out while also constantly telling us that is simply how the world is? What makes them immune to the same forces that considerably more influential people fall prey to? As someone who worked in online and print media for over a decade, I can tell you that editorial and advertising are never "separated". There is always tension there. And when there is a clash, the people that make the money ALWAYS win. Marvel's advertisers would have had a massive issue with the mere thought of dressing this whole site up like that and then having a DC book as Pick of the Week the week they launched their Biggest Event Ever. But maybe it was also Conor's favourite comic.
February 25, 2012 12:58 pm OK this is the last thing I'm saying on this subject and quite possibly this site no doubt to the joy of many. "guys, don’t let that be you" See, 90% of males / comic book readers do not need to be told this. Especially on THIS site. The 10%? Fuck em. They aren't going to change anyway. The few that make the occasional mistake? Forgive and forget. Move on. I think it's the fact that iFanboy started publishing these condescending life lessons constantly that spurred me to quit paying my membership. I come here for comics discussion, not to be told repeatedly how to live my life and be a better person by guys and girls that quite clearly seem to think they ARE better and that we're gagging for them to tell us how to be too. The articles aren't "we know comics", they are "we know life better than you". Fed up with it.
February 25, 2012 12:03 pm I appreciate the response and there's little in there I can disagree with except this: "A decent human being takes into account how the words that come out of their mouth effect the person they’re talking to." Sorry. No. Decent human beings say stuff they don't mean, or that are taken the wrong way, or that they hadn't thought through every angle of, all the time. So you dont? You haven't ever, EVER said anything you wish you hadn't said? Then I applaud you, because you are amazing, but you are in a minority. A minority that may well comprise of only one person. A decent human being TRIES to do that. We don't get it right 100% of the time.
February 25, 2012 11:37 am He said something to Molly that spurred on THIS WHOLE THING and you are asking how I jumped to the conclusion that he doesn't know how to talk to women!? And yet you have NO ISSUE with Becca's conclusion that the guy is definitely sexist. Would this situation happen to everyone? If you had read my posts I have said REPEATEDLY that we ALL make these stupid mistakes, ergo have some forgiveness for the guy in question. I give up.
February 25, 2012 8:15 am Everything I've said comes from a logical place. If the guy was Mr. Smooth and confident - if he was, let's say, Conor - this whole thing wouldn't have happened. The fact that it did is evidence of the kind of guy he is which is in many respects like many comic book fans - not all, but most. Me included - when I was younger more so. Guys that don't know how to talk to girls, by completely logical extension, aren't massively popular, because they are socially awkward with at least half of our species, and probably much of the other half as well. Logic. I'm not coming down on the guy, if anything I'm like that, I used to suffer from crippling shyness and say the wrong thing to people, which. is. something. we. all. occasionally. do. Even the best of us. Itsbecca saying awkwardness is not an excuse - she wouldn't say that if she suffered from it. She would sympathise. She's saying the guy IS SEXIST. Definitely. No two ways about it. That's a horrible thing to say based on this interaction. As I said, he might well be. But NOT based on that interaction. Ergo, since she can't sympathise, logically, she doesn't suffer from this. So again, whoopee for her. That's not belittling her, I said I ENVY that and I mean it. Reading and understanding are not the same thing!
February 25, 2012 7:47 am I was predicting I, Vampire to take it this week. Holy cats!
February 25, 2012 7:14 am If you're not going to bother to read or understand my posts, don't bother to engage with them! The sentiment of the article is right. The "attention-getty" dressing of it is weird and unnecessary. The incident that sparked it is a severe overreaction by someone who is dripping with confidence towards someone who struggles with it, but fine, you could say it's the straw that broke the camel's back. And Becca's comment "Awkwardness is not a sufficient excuse for sexism" - saying all instances of this kind of awkward behaviour from people signifies a hatred or lack of respect for women is utterly, utterly ridiculous. As stated, if Molly and Becca are like the guy from Limitless in that they can process every potential reaction to everything they say before they say it, then brilliant for them, they must lead wonderful, perfect lives. I envy that. Most of the rest of us struggle and say the wrong thing regularly. This article doesn't help the situation, if anything it makes it worse. Most of the guys that read comics aren't sexist, believe it or not, so why we need to be spoken down to like this en masse is beyond me. I'm struggling to work out how this makes me the bad guy when my whole stance is coming from one of understanding and compassion and forgiveness. Not for all of the male behaviour described, some of which - SOME OF IT - is appalling. This instance wasn't. It was silly, nothing more.
February 25, 2012 4:57 am I assume this viewpoint changed once you read it, right?
February 25, 2012 4:29 am @Conor I was waiting for that! There's never been a problem with profanity on the site but since I'm talking to a woman and was quite cutting (which she has been all the way through) you feel the need to jump in and protect her by insinuating that I'm being "aggressive"? That's a bit low. You wouldn't have done it for me if she was swearing. Is that sexist? I can cut it out but is that the rule now? How many swears is acceptable, is there a number? I know it's your site and your rules and you can ban me or whatever but it's got to be consistent and fair, no? What about responding to the point made? We're human, we're flawed, we're often useless, we regret things each and every day - well us non-higher beings anyway. Molly and @itsbecca are clearly from their comments better, they're superior - in which case they are lucky. They have no right to judge people's entire worldview based on dumb moments when they slip up - which is all that happened here from the evidence. Yes, social awkwardness doesn't excuse sexism, but it CAN quite clearly give the impression of it when it when it isn't there. Ever heard anyone nervously stutter an insult unless they stutter all the time? You know when people are at their most awkward? It's not when they're talking to someone they believe is inferior in comparison to them, it's when they're talking to someone they think is superior. I'm not talking about pedestals, I'm talking about value judgements about pecking order we subconsciously make about every new person we interact with.
February 24, 2012 8:51 pm I've said "Wow you know your Superheroes" to men, never to a woman. I think we're often surprised to meet PEOPLE who know their stuff. He may well be a sexist, but this act wasn't evidence of that. You may be able to think through every connotation of every word you say before it comes out of your mouth, in which case whoopee doo for you it must be fucking awesome - the rest of us human beings react in the wrong way against our better judgement all the fucking time.