A moderator on Reddit’s /r/movies subforum admitted to repeatedly removing a video from Red Letter Media, a popular YouTube film criticism channel, because it was too harsh to defenders of Paul Feig’s feminist-friendly Ghostbusters reboot.
The video, which drew attention to the creators’ attempts to leverage a tiny percentage of “chidlish, misogynistic comments” on the internet in order to “market their terrible film” also criticized the shaming of the film’s detractors.
“An environment has been artificially created in order to make you look like a sexist for thinking the film is a big pile of s***. It also has empowered others to pay to see the film in order to spite you, man-child. They will also lie about having enjoyed the film, also to spite you.”
Red Letter Media is one of the most popular sources of film criticism on the web. They attracted considerable fame in 2009 after publishing a 70-minute review of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Among other things, the review was noted for the clever way in which it called attention to the prequel’s bland characters.
“Scienstist Man Analyzes Ghostbusters” has already attracted over 300,000 views. Their earlier video reviewing the Ghostbusters reboot, which described the movie as a “theatrical disaster, horribly unfunny, juvenile, tasteless, dumb, forced, disgusting, pathetic and desperate” has accumulated more than 600,000 views.
Despite the video’s popularity, moderators on the /r/movies subforum of Reddit, a platform increasingly known for power-crazed moderators and political censorship, don’t want it on their sub.
After the repeated deletion of links to the video was noted on /r/censorship, a subforum that tracks deletions across Reddit, a moderator from /r/movies arrived in the discussion thread to explain himself. He seemed a little upset.
Guess I’ll jump in front of the bullet here. I pulled this video and I pulled it many times. No despite what you think it’s not because it’s a negative ghostbusters video. We’ve had tons of those including the RLM one frontpage. Hell their Ghostbusters review was even more popular on our sub than their Force Awakens one. Our discussion thread is still up, still free for anyone to say how much they hate the new film. Hell for what’s worth, I hate the new film. I think it’s a completely awful waste of time with almost nothing funny in it.
That said this isn’t a review. It’s simply not one, plain and simple. This is an attack on people who defended the film. It’s another pile on from one side to disgrace and shame the other. We’ve been pulling crap from both sides of this stupid debate because this entire thing has been so ugly and disgraceful from both angles. Just because RLM is a bigger site doesn’t mean they didn’t pull the same shameful pandering tactics to get their point across. Sure you can say it’s a joke all you want but any video that frontpages with the line “anyone who likes the new ghostbusters is scientifically lying” creates a hostile environment that invites brigading and vitriolic attacks on people’s opinions.
Look if they want to make a commentary track on how much they hate Ghostbuster[s] 2016 we’ll allow it. They want to make 10 reviews about how much it sucks we’ll allow it. But this isn’t a review, it’s a mean op-ed that adds no discussion, only bitterness and anger. The mods are tired of this sub being a platform for vitriolic attacks on everyone else involved in this dumb stupid garbage movie that should have been forgotten 2 fucking weeks ago as the forgettable trash that it is. But no, we just can’t let it go. We just have to keep reminding everyone over and over and over and over and it will never end.
Well I’m cutting it off here. Go to /r/ghostbusters. Go to /r/redlettermedia. I’m done. Talk about how the film is a pile of shit in a proper context. But if you want to make a video about how everyone who loves it is a lying SJW idiot or everyone who hates it is a MRA manchild baby then quite frankly you can fuck off to somewhere else.
In other words, the moderator is sick of the Ghostbusters debate and wants it to end. With politicians now being wheeled out to defend the financially beleaguered movie, it’s hard not to sympathize.
You can follow Allum Bokhari on Twitter, add him on Facebook. Email tips and suggestions to abokhari@breitbart.com.
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