We need to talk about the treatment of new fans

I imagine many of you have heard about a woman on Twitter who goes by Mar, who is a recent convert to the fandom after having seen a GIF of Kylo and Rey touching hands, and this intrigued her enough to go back and watch the saga for the first time. She became a die hard fanatic within days, and her joyful enthusiasm was noticed by some of the official folks involved in Lucasfilm, among them Pablo Hidalgo, Matt Martin and Rian Johnson, and she's been warmly embraced by the Reylo community in particular.Are you aware though, that within a week, Mar had to deal with a bombardment of harassment from fans jealous that she was getting so much notice, and resentful that her gateway into Star Wars was through TLJ and Reylo in particular? She has received death threats, accused of being a plant by Lucasfilm, had entire YouTube videos made trying to discredit her passion for the series, and now is having to lawyer up to protect herself against threats to doxx her personal information.This has got to stop.This fandom has turned into something loathsome and terrifying and pathetic, to the point that even a newcomer can't become a fan in peace without the pus-oozing ogres forming a hit mob against them. The lack of accountability by Star Wars fans has to end. Our immature bullshit dick-measuring and possessiveness over what's just a bunch of silly fantasy movies for kids has to end.They are MOVIES. They are FICTION. If you are legitimately angry and threatened by someone new entering your special little clubhouse, you are literal garbage that doesn't deserve the air you are breathing.We drove George Lucas into retirement. We bullied Jake Lloyd into insanity. We bullied Ahmed Best into becoming suicidal. We sent a tidal wave of racism/sexism towards John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran and Laura Dern. What will it take? When will we finally wake up and re-evaluate our collective humanity in light of such intense hatred? What are YOU going to do, to stop this cycle of evil? via /r/StarWars https://ift.tt/2UCX8el