We are a community of members sharing a passion for all things comic book. That passion is a good thing (believe me). It defines us as a community (and ‘yes’, believe it or not, we are a ‘community’). But sometimes that same passion can also get the best of us as we focus solely on our own viewpoints, looking upon opposite viewpoints as personal ‘attacks’. I have been a member of ComicBookMovie.com for almost four years now, and in all that time I have witnessed (and participated) in some rather lengthy (and intense) debates on everything under the comic book sun. Most of these debates have been civil, but some have been… unpleasant (to say the least). Name calling and foul language have peppered comments and turned conversations from an interesting topic dialogs to nasty free-for-alls.
Now I am not completely innocent in this, I have been caught up in the heat of the moment and made my fair share of ‘colorful’ remarks. At the end of the day though, I have been able to step back and at least TRIED to objectively look at the opposing viewpoint. Even if we never do see ‘eye-to-eye’, we can at least ‘agree-to-disagree’ and leave it at that. Case in point – one of the editors (RorMachine – sorry to single you out, buddy) and I had an argument over the Guy Pierce article (I believe I called Pierce ‘the English Keanu Reeves’). My opinion of Pierce has been colored by his performances in the movies ‘The Time Machine’ and ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ (two of my favorite books, which I thought he ruined). Ror reminded me that Pierce has done some other rather excellent films, and even turned me onto one I hadn’t seen (thanks for the tip, Ror!).
CBM is more than just an outlet to express opinion, it is a resource to pool information and share ideas (and occasional gratuitous pictures of body parts). We cannot forget that ALL of us have a right to express our opinion (in a rational, adult manner). Granted, there are some that will come on and deliberately cause trouble (Anyone remember Supermike?), but they don’t last for very long. As long as we remember we’re all here for the same reason and can at the end of the day just ‘agree-to disagree’, we can all learn and share from each other.
And now… BOOBS!