In Defense of James Gunn: 2008 was a very different time on the internet

So director James Gunn got fired as director of Guardians of the Galaxy after a series of tweets came out.

I'm not defending James Gunn or this content. He isn't even defending James Gunn, he apologized years ago but we were all different people in 2008. Remember when Bumfights was popular?

Remember the aristocrats?

Everyone was trying to push the limits of decency and sanity to be provocative back then. We were high on the fact we were on the web where there weren't any censors, or anyone to greenlight/approve us and we could make outlandish statements to THOUSANDS even millions we spent more time excited we COULD do or say anything than thinking about if it was something worth saying or doing to begin with.

There's a lot of shitty gags/pranks/jokes/trolling from that time I totally disown, apologize for, absolutely grew into a stronger sense of empathy as an adult and better educated that I would never mock them, their condition, actively work & do charity to try to fix those issues, advocate for them and will never confess to publicly unless a plea bargain is involved and the evidence is insurmountable & they won't settle out-of-court. If someone found one of the few DVDs of that skate video that exists I'd pay $500 a copy just to destroy it.

We weren't living our best lives.

We were writing to audiences that knew us. People that would know in our hearts as people these things were NOT laughing matters. The very joke WAS how extreme/unPC it all was that this was out in the open.

These times aren't as funny as we thought though. It's a "humor" that definitely comes from a place of privilege that these aren't everyday things. They come from a misunderstanding of humor. Not knowing the difference between Johnny Knoxville riding in a shopping cart in jackass vs paying an desperate addict to do so & tattoo your logo on themselves for drinking money.

There has to be some balance between that, and SJW/right wing PC culture performative woke bullshit though.

SJW twitter and maga twitter are having a race to the bottom when it comes to disingenuous concern trolling. I'm not about to pretend this kind of shit is something these 4chan motherfuckers have never seen before and they are clutching their pearls over it. All the right did was copy their tactic and hold left wing twitter to the same standards admittedly. Literally just a few weeks ago someone tried to use 2008 shit to shame me and it was like "no one will ever believe you". Because they don't want to have an honest discussion about these things or are concerned you are doing the shit & want to stop you, they just want to shame you for mistakes.

It's so goddamn disingenuous & bad faith. Because I did something fucked up in 2008 I can't say "hey don't do fucked up things in 2018 from the perspective of someone that's done fucked up things & regret it sincerely"

Or you're just not allowed to participate in society anymore because people disagree with you and at some point you've sinned?

Gunn did a great job with the guardians of the galaxy films, and it's more than clear by their works and what he represents now these aren't his values. It's a shame to see him leave