http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/joss-whedon-on-leaving-twitter#.oyMW8XdJg
Joss Whedon Calls “Horsesh*t” On Reports He Left Twitter Because Of Militant Feminists
When filmmaker Joss Whedon decided to delete his Twitter account on Monday, the day after his film Avengers: Age of Ultron scored the second-highest domestic opening weekend ever, it prompted a flurry of speculation about what, or who, might have driven him away. Whedon found one theory — that he left Twitter due to militant feminists angered over his depiction of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in the film — particularly galling, so much so that he decided to break his silence.
“That is horseshit,” he told BuzzFeed News by phone on Tuesday. “Believe me, I have been attacked by militant feminists since I got on Twitter. That’s something I’m used to. Every breed of feminism is attacking every other breed, and every sub-section of liberalism is always busy attacking another sub-section of liberalism, because god forbid they should all band together and actually fight for the cause.
“I saw a lot of people say, ‘Well, the social justice warriors destroyed one of their own!’ It’s like, Nope. That didn’t happen,” he continued. “I saw someone tweet it’s because Feminist Frequency pissed on Avengers 2, which for all I know they may have. But literally the second person to write me to ask if I was OK when I dropped out was [Feminist Frequency founder] Anita [Sarkeesian].”
What did happen, Whedon said, is that he chose to embrace his longstanding desire post–Age of Ultron to reclaim his personal life and creative spark — and that meant saying goodbye to Twitter. “I just thought, Wait a minute, if I’m going to start writing again, I have to go to the quiet place,” he said. “And this is the least quiet place I’ve ever been in my life. … It’s like taking the bar exam at Coachella. It’s like, Um, I really need to concentrate on this! Guys! Can you all just… I have to… It’s super important for my law!”
(...)
“I’ve said before, when you declare yourself politically, you destroy yourself artistically,” he said. “Because suddenly that’s the litmus test for everything you do — for example, in my case, feminism. If you don’t live up to the litmus test of feminism in this one instance, then you’re a misogynist. It circles directly back upon you.”
(...)
Ultimately, Whedon said he took stock of everything positive Twitter was providing for him (access to stories he found interesting, people he admired, and jokes he found funny), and everything bad it was throwing at him (the troll-y hate and surfeit of praise) — and realized that the problem actually wasn’t Twitter at all.
“The real issue is me,” he said. “Twitter is an addictive little thing, and if it’s there, I gotta check it. When you keep doing something after it stops giving you pleasure, that’s kind of rock bottom for an addict. … I just had a little moment of clarity where I’m like, You know what? If I want to get stuff done, I need to not constantly hit this thing for a news item or a joke or some praise, and then be suddenly sad when there’s hate and then hate and then hate.”
When asked if he would ever consider coming back to Twitter, Whedon at first gave an almost reflexive never-say-never answer: “I’m sure I’d consider it at some point. It’s a lot of fun. I had a great time.” But the more he talked about it, the less likely that seemed.
Read more on Buzzfeed...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/joss-whedon-on-leaving-twitter#.oyMW8XdJg
Now... who will tell Adam Baldwin? 😉
Joss Whedon Calls “Horsesh*t” On Reports He Left Twitter Because Of Militant Feminists
When filmmaker Joss Whedon decided to delete his Twitter account on Monday, the day after his film Avengers: Age of Ultron scored the second-highest domestic opening weekend ever, it prompted a flurry of speculation about what, or who, might have driven him away. Whedon found one theory — that he left Twitter due to militant feminists angered over his depiction of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in the film — particularly galling, so much so that he decided to break his silence.
“That is horseshit,” he told BuzzFeed News by phone on Tuesday. “Believe me, I have been attacked by militant feminists since I got on Twitter. That’s something I’m used to. Every breed of feminism is attacking every other breed, and every sub-section of liberalism is always busy attacking another sub-section of liberalism, because god forbid they should all band together and actually fight for the cause.
“I saw a lot of people say, ‘Well, the social justice warriors destroyed one of their own!’ It’s like, Nope. That didn’t happen,” he continued. “I saw someone tweet it’s because Feminist Frequency pissed on Avengers 2, which for all I know they may have. But literally the second person to write me to ask if I was OK when I dropped out was [Feminist Frequency founder] Anita [Sarkeesian].”
What did happen, Whedon said, is that he chose to embrace his longstanding desire post–Age of Ultron to reclaim his personal life and creative spark — and that meant saying goodbye to Twitter. “I just thought, Wait a minute, if I’m going to start writing again, I have to go to the quiet place,” he said. “And this is the least quiet place I’ve ever been in my life. … It’s like taking the bar exam at Coachella. It’s like, Um, I really need to concentrate on this! Guys! Can you all just… I have to… It’s super important for my law!”
(...)
“I’ve said before, when you declare yourself politically, you destroy yourself artistically,” he said. “Because suddenly that’s the litmus test for everything you do — for example, in my case, feminism. If you don’t live up to the litmus test of feminism in this one instance, then you’re a misogynist. It circles directly back upon you.”
(...)
Ultimately, Whedon said he took stock of everything positive Twitter was providing for him (access to stories he found interesting, people he admired, and jokes he found funny), and everything bad it was throwing at him (the troll-y hate and surfeit of praise) — and realized that the problem actually wasn’t Twitter at all.
“The real issue is me,” he said. “Twitter is an addictive little thing, and if it’s there, I gotta check it. When you keep doing something after it stops giving you pleasure, that’s kind of rock bottom for an addict. … I just had a little moment of clarity where I’m like, You know what? If I want to get stuff done, I need to not constantly hit this thing for a news item or a joke or some praise, and then be suddenly sad when there’s hate and then hate and then hate.”
When asked if he would ever consider coming back to Twitter, Whedon at first gave an almost reflexive never-say-never answer: “I’m sure I’d consider it at some point. It’s a lot of fun. I had a great time.” But the more he talked about it, the less likely that seemed.
Read more on Buzzfeed...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/joss-whedon-on-leaving-twitter#.oyMW8XdJg
Now... who will tell Adam Baldwin? 😉
