As the guy who broke the story of Justice League’s intense overhaul in May of 2017, few understand what it’s like to be at the center of a “Snyder Fan Hornet’s Nest” better than I do.

I’ve been accused of being a fraud, a bad father, called every name...

I’ve been the subject of countless hateful vlogs and podcast rants. I’ve had things I said in anger, with now-forgotten contexts, thrown back at me for years.
And I’ve been blocked and slandered by people who’ve never actually read or listened to my stuff- pure secondhand hatred.

Heck, even as new information came in and my views on RTSC shifted- along with the tone of my coverage- some STILL cling to things I said 3 years ago out of some weird, tribal need to view me as “the enemy.”

And yet...I have no hard feelings.

Cause I learned some stuff...

Shortly after the release of the theatrical cut of #JusticeLeague- when it was clear how aggressively the studio wanted to cut ties with Snyder- I realized that retaliating and antagonizing his fans was the equivalent of kicking someone when they’re down.

So I did a 180...

In early 2018, I started paying closer to attention to who the ACTUAL hateful actors were in Snyder’s online fandom.

And instead of engaging with the 10-15 of them who were texybook definition of toxic fandom...I blocked or muted them instead.

This was very eye-opening.

Cause that means for the better part of two full years now, I haven’t had ANY heated, hurtful, or angry exchanges with anyone connected to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.

By putting the handful of toxic clowns in my personal “twitter jail,” I was able meet all the WONDERFUL supporters...

This is why I can’t relate to all these articles and talking heads outraged that “the bad guys won.”

As someone who was once Public Enemy #1, and who intently operated a geek blog for a while, I can tell you:

There are very few bad guys in the RTSC movement.

More than anything, I met passionate fans who were very invested in where the DCEU was once going- who had defended Snyder’s vision because they BELIEVED IN it- and who were shocked at the way the studio handled its overhaul of the franchise. Period.

So I’d tell colleagues...

In DM chats with other bloggers, when someone would vent at the way they were being swarmed by Snyder Fans- I’d point out, like a real friend would, that “maybe if you stopped kicking the hornet’s nest and antagonizing them, they’ll leave you alone.”

It worked for me

But people don’t like harsh truths that force them to take a closer look at how their own conduct led to a bump in the road.

So my advice would get ignored or laughed off...while I was busy making friends and allies within the RTSC who were way nicer than most bloggers I know.

So when I hear horror stories about “toxic Snyder fans,” I can speak with authority when I say that those folks are only a small fraction of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign.

And many of the folks irate about this news, are the ones who fought nastiness with nastiness.

This is why I’m glad I became more of a pacifist with an open mind in these last two years.

It’s made my time on twitter much nicer, and it’s opened me up to meeting all kinds of super kind, articulate, passionate DC fans who have different tastes than my own.

And this doesn’t mean I lost my voice. I’ve snapped back- at times- against specific methods used, and I even once asked for Snyder himself to come out and denounce some of the strategies being employed.

But I always knew not to BLANKET BLAME an entire diverse group of fans.

The end result of all this is I have a complicated, sometimes prickly relationship, with both sides of this issue.

I’ve got RTSC folks who’ll never give me a chance, and I’ve got bloggers who hate me cause I learned it takes maturity to turn the other cheek and keep an open ear.

But seriously, this is all great news.

We’re all DC fans. We’re getting a crap ton of DC content next year on both the big and small screens.

Everyone wins.

We should all be high-fiving and planning watch parties.

These are epic times

Remember:

Life is chaos. Be kind!