About These #dumpstarwars People – Have They Ever Seen “Star Wars”?

Earlier today a man named Jack Posobiec decided to announce his boycott of Rogue One because the writers had called it an “anti-Trump movie”. Within an hour the #dumpstarwars hashtag began trending, leaving actual fans wondering: have these people actually seen Star Wars at all?

Not sure who this “Jack Posobiec” is? You are in good company. He’s just a guy – a guy whose Twitter bio lists him as “special projects director” for Citizens For Trump. Today, his special project is apparently some kind of performance art piece demonstrating absurdity. Posobiec posted on Twitter that he had cancelled his plans to see Rogue One, explaining in a long-winded Periscope (18 minutes!) how upset he is that Star Wars creators are anti-Trump. He made the outrageous claim that the writers of Rogue One changed the movie to include anti-Trump sentiment after the election.

The movie comes out on December 15th – less than a week away now – and there is so much CGI involved…yet this guy thinks scenes were changed since November because of the election? He claims to be a huge movie buff, but his rant demonstrates an utter lack of understanding regarding how movies are made.

Let’s be real here, though: it’s a pretty safe bet that Rogue One will contain some concepts that Mr. Trump will find offensive given that, you know, it’s Star Wars. The series is and always has been inspired by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. That is canon, straight from Lucas himself. According to StarWars.com:

In the Star Wars saga, creator George Lucas showed us how the democratic Republic was slowly manipulated into giving unlimited power to the Sith Lord, Chancellor Palpatine. In Revenge of the Sith, Lucas explored the question, “How do you turn over democracy to a tyrant with applause? Not with a coup, but with applause?” Lucas recalls, “That is the story of Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler.”

Many people have drawn parallels between Mr. Trump’s brand of rhetoric and early speeches from Hitler. Wait, let me go back: there are parallels, but since this blog is about fandom we’re focusing on today’s delightfully ridiculous hashtag.

Using the #dumpstarwars hashtag (which he didn’t even invent; it’s been around since October) Posobiec sent out a dozen increasingly petulant Tweets including this gem:

On his birthday, people! How could they do this specifically to him!

Posobiec did get some sympathy, because there will always be supporters of anything online.

Sure, these people are boycotting Disney in a house with young children. I will believe that when I see pictures of them raiding their children’s toy boxes to trash every last Elsa doll (please leave your kids alone, actually).

The President’s bizarre half-brother even got in on the action:

Uh, Star Wars, Malik. Every time. Literally any character from Star Wars who isn’t an Imperial or a Sith Lord (and a few that are) would get my vote before Donald Trump. President Chewbacca would be epic.

Before you lose faith in humanity, I want to point out that these people are VASTLY outnumbered out by the legions of fans who see this for the ridiculous publicity stunt that it is. For every stupid, hateful tweet there are at least three people laughing at the whole situation:

There’s also this person who hits the nail right square on the head:

Oh Grant, I want to live in that world, too. I hope Olive Garden rewards you with baskets of bread sticks.

Will this pull down Rogue One ticket sales? Not likely. The same call for boycotting happened before The Force Awakens and that went on to become the third highest-grossing movie of all time…so Rogue One is probably going to do just fine.

What do you think of #dumpstarwars ? Share your thoughts in the comment section below, or tag us on Twitter (@TheGeekiary).

Author: Khai

Khai is a writer, anthropologist, and games enthusiast. She is co-editor (alongside Alex DeCampi) of and contributor to “True War Stories”, a comic anthology published by Z2 Comics. When she’s not writing or creating games, Khai likes to run more tabletop RPGs than one person should reasonably juggle.

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