Self-proclaimed left-wing feminist Devin Faraci, whose life and career are currently being dismantled over a sexual assault accusation (he does not deny), was, as I wrote earlier, the most unforgiving, self-righteous PC bully I have ever come across; a proud Stalinist whose Reign of Terror in the world of Geekdom sought to destroy lives, suppress thought, suppress expression, and suppress conscience.
According to his accuser, about ten years ago, Faraci repeatedly shoved his hand down her pants. She is a lesbian who had no interest in him. He knew this. Nonetheless, he shoved his meat hook down there more than once and then asked his friends to smell said meat hook. Faraci was not a dumbass teen at the time. He was a grown man in this thirties.
Despite all of this, because he now “thinks correctly,” feminist movie-blogger Sasha Stone is asking for a measure of forgiveness:
[T]he press has continually left out one major aspect of this story. Maybe it doesn’t matter to you, but it certainly matters to me, and that is Faraci’s advocacy for women online, specifically women at the center of the 2014 Gamergate controversy, the Ghostbusters controversy and the need for more representative depictions of women in film. Why it matters is that there is no one in fanboy film culture to take Faraci’s place, to take on that fight because it’s too hard. So perhaps there is some kind of justice on one end, but it comes with a price.
It’s ironic that the one former fanboy blogger who spent many recent years a transformed person will no longer be contributing to the ongoing debate about women’s representation in video games and superhero/fanboy film culture because of sexual assault allegations online. (It does not sound as if there will be charges, rather a discussion and hopefully treatment.) Surrounding himself with brave and outspoken writers like MTV’s Amy Nicholson and Daily Beast’s Jen Yamato, there was much progress made in how we talk about women in film. It matters because fanboy culture is not exactly known for embracing feminism. That attitude needed to be challenged and destroyed. Faraci was on the way to doing that. Only someone of Devin’s stature could have. He was one of them. He stopped being one of them, even if eventually his past caught up with him.
Let me break down everything that is wrong and terrifying with Stone’s profoundly immoral pretzel logic.
1. Faraci might now think the way Stone wants him to think, but he never became a New Man. In the mercenary pursuit of a career, he merely transferred the entitled contempt and aggression he once had for women, to others. The vicious, mean-spirited Destroyer lived on, flourished, enjoyed a measure of fame, and wielded hypocrisy like a lightning bolt.
Those of who have made moral mistakes in their lives, and I am certainly a member of that group, do not come out the other end of repentance a self-righteous monster. Quite the opposite. With a clearer understanding of our own moral failings and weaknesses, you come out the other end more forgiving and gracious.
Faraci is a monster.
We cannot survive as a country or culture if CorrectThink is a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
2. I’m no way accusing Stone of intentionally doing this, I can’t read her heart, but her value system is nothing more than a new form of Hollywood McCarthyism. We cannot survive as a country or culture if CorrectThink is a Get Out Of Jail Free card. We’re either a nation of people and laws, or we are not. We either hold people to a principled standard of behavior, or we do not.
If those who hold some element of Cultural Power (like Stone) begin to dole out punishment based on CorrectThink, that is nothing more than its own Reign of Terror, and one that through cultural intimidation will suppress expression, thought, ideas, honest debate, and conscience.
Is there no forgiveness in Stone’s heart for those, who in good conscience, disagree with her noxious form of feminism, who sees her and Faraci’s idea of feminism and nothing more than fascistic ThoughtControl?
3. Do we really want to send a message that certain behavior, like shoving your hands down a woman’s pants, is less of a crime if you share the CorrectThink? I fail to see how doing the same for Bill Clinton 20 years ago in any way helped women, brought people together under a common flag of justice, or did anything other than make a laughingstock of feminism. The same is true of a gay rights movement that gives pass after pass to serial-homophobe Alec Baldwin.
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Let me close by saying that Faraci is not irredeemable. As someone who has needed and believes in second chances, I am not opposed to Faraci benefiting from one. But until he believes others, even those who he disagrees with politically, deserve the same, for the good of our culture, this Radioactive Bully is best left buried.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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