#nitwits

A reflection on the utter absurdity of Neil Gorsuch, nitwit justice of the Supreme Court. “Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.” Gorsuch elaborates on the point: “Executive officials across the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale” and “Governors and local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes.” They shuttered businesses and schools, he continues, and “threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions too.” 

Now, there obviously was — and still is — a debate to have about the extent of the state, local and federal response to Covid-19, which killed more than 1.1 million people in the United States between March of 2020 and May of 2023 and remains among the leading causes of death. But do those measures have a chance of representing the “greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country?”

Consider the competition. Were Covid restrictions a greater intrusion on civil liberties than the forced sterilization of more than 70,000 Americans under the eugenic policies of state and local governments across the country from the 1920s through the 1970s? 

The mass surveillance of thousands of Americans involved in liberal and left-wing politics by the federal government during the 1960s? 

The McCarthyite purges of thousands of Americans accused of “un-American activities” in the 1950s? 

The “Palmer Raids” of 1919 and 1920, in which federal agents arrested thousands of Americans on flimsy evidence with plans to deport them from the country? 

That’s just the 20th century. 

But normally people don’t go waaaay out of their way to write unhinged rants and lengthy screeds on how much they hate a character, launch attacks on their fellow fans, and disrupt and upset people by leaving hateful comments on posts created by fellow fans who are just having fun and appreciating their favorite character (like “we can’t stand you being happy, so let’s lob some hate in here”). Normally, people don’t build blogs devoted simply to hating a character (and if you think that’s “normal,” you must have a LOT more free time than most of us, who would prefer to spend our precious free time being positive and having fun...). Normally, fellow fans don’t leave reprehensible comments and outright death threats in inboxes. All over a fictional character.

I know this is probably immature people with no grasp of literature or character development simply trying to parse a character at his most basic level, and then acting out in childish ways under cover of their pseudonyms. (And if it IS adults, you should be ashamed of yourselves -- and please learn to spell...) And the threats (including the one I got today, which prompted this post) don’t bother me at all, because what are you going to do, lol, crawl through my computer? It’s just stupidity; I report you, and hopefully Tumblr will shut you down. (And it’s Tumblr, which means none of this really means anything to the outside world, where Tony Stark continues to be the most popular and beloved MCU character.)  And someday probably haters will look back on this and be regretful that you tried to hurt and insult fellow fans -- who are PEOPLE that you don’t know and you’d probably never insult in person -- over a character.

Note that I’m using the term “fellow fans” a lot because that’s what we’re all supposed to be. The MCU fandom was pretty together until some people fell for the marketing ploy of “Civil War” and decided there were “teams,” and then some were butthurt because Tony Stark was even IN the movie, which, by the way, is “Civil War” and Tony is pretty integral to that plotline. Then THAT started the whole idiotic meme of “RDJ forces his way into movies” and “Marvel kisses RDJ’s ass” and “RDJ eats up everybody else’s screentime” - when in reality RDJ has been onscreen a total of about 27 minutes over the past two years. He’s the Rare Bird of the Galaxy -- you almost NEVER see him on screen. That’s why his fans are so delighted and happy when he finally appears. 

The little clique of haters are so base and ugly and repugnant, and while I can take it and just shake my head, I worry about other fans -- and younger fans -- who are also on the receiving end of this and might take it seriously.  If ANY of you are getting this hateful treatment and it’s annoying or upsetting you, just know that there are many, many of us out here that you can talk to who ARE fans in the most positive way. None of this hate can hurt you and they can’t threaten you -- if they do, REPORT them to Tumblr. Tumblr can find out who they are even if they think they’re anon.

Also, it’s been wonderful to see that the advent of the little group of haters has caused the Tony Stark fandom to unite and become even larger and stronger now than it ever has been. It used to be that there was a huge MCU fandom and then we sort of posted about our favorites now and then. But now the pro-Tonys have united -- and we’re also welcoming a ton of new fans (and those who have finally had their eyes opened...and that’s OK!) to the Tony Stark club because of “Infinity War.”

Does anyone know what happened to Nitwits candy