The truth is that the fandom has gotten toxic. Even beyond the bigotry stuff, the discourse in general recently has been far too heated.
In my mind the only way to push back isn’t to get angry when people rightfully point out toxicity, it is to try to make it clear that toxicity should have no place in the fanbase. Star Wars has more fans than possibly any other piece of media. It shouldn’t be hard for all the reasonable ones to push back against the harrasers and elevate the discourse and remember at the end of the day that these are just movies, and not worth getting so angry over (something that goes both ways). Passion is fine, but the outrage on either side could probably stand to take a break for a bit.
I agree. It’s not as simple as being toxic, and non-toxic imo. These extremes are part of a larger group dynamic, which applies to critics and fans alike. Ideally we would all like to have respectful discourse, but the moment emotions run high, things can spin quickly out of control. Personally I see the group mentality where a minority is excluded from the discussion, ignored, or mocked for their opinion as a mild form of toxicity. Similarly, not being part of the majority can devolve to a form of jealosy, where those part of the majority are accused by a minority of a sheep mentality, or being apologists. These are forms of intolerance, that can easily devolve to full blown toxicity.
good points.