Don't be sad, sometimes the people on the internet can't actually back up what they say and just want to argue. You're still basically right.

Yes.

Yes, totally. It applies to all arguments made by thin-skinned people who have trouble tolerating a diversity of opinion.

Ha! To be clear, I don't think free speech is dead, I think it's under ineffectual attack by people who can't handle anyone thinking differently than they do.

Just as long as you stop casually dismissing complaints that people are opposed to freedom of speech by pretending that nobody is trying to shut people up. That's either really disingenuous or really naive.

It must be convenient for you that only people you disagree with engage in rhetorical misbehavior. In my world, all sides of most arguments contain actors of varying levels of erudition, credibility, and reasonableness.

People think it's sincere in the same way that people think they believe that knowledge is subjective but never jump out windows in case they can fly.

I'll answer! People like attention, like to feel self-righteous, and like to gang up on and bully other people. You get a little emotional kick from accusing someone of being "offensive" and then it's fun when other commenters pile on. That's why.

Ok, but then how can anyone ever have sex in a book if we're going to complain about an author's coercive power over his or her characters?

True, but in this case specifically, I see no argument that the woman has had her agency taken away. She's not even a one-dimensional character; she's in that prison for being independent and morally strong. Where is the problem?

It does seem a little different because of the age gap and because he only ASKED for a kiss. She kind of took over the situation.

But the concepts of male wish-fulfillment and female sexual agency are not contradictory.

Would it have been offensive if she'd had lesbian sex with Eggsy's female partner (who is refreshingly not a love interest), instead?

I'm increasingly unimpressed with this cliched counter-argument. Nobody is preventing Vaughan from making this art or speaking…because they don't have the power to do so. What if they did?

Huh. I had the exact opposite reaction to First Class - I thought they did a really nice job of building up Mystique to the point where she really was independent of the men in the movie. I guess the Emma Frost character struck me as kind of a trope, but she seemed kind of disgusted with the men who objectified her…

Boy, really? What is it about a woman saying she wants to have sex with a guy and then having sex with him that sends a bad message about women? It *would* have been sexist if he'd refused to let her out without having sex with him, or if she'd acted like she was obligated in some way to do it, but the way the scene…

…a passing grade…scary…

Ouch. Yeah, you should really get one of those Mad Men jobs where you just talk bs and drink all day.

Shows with female characters cooler than the ones on The Newsroom include:

Just out of curiosity: I like the show, liked this episode, and don't find it condescending, sexist, or any of the other things critics keep hammering it with. Does that make me condescending and sexist? Or just ignorant? Because honestly I cannot connect with this reading of the show. It makes no sense to me.