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Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bill purcell, comic con, ferguson, racism, sdcc, twitter, william purcell
Bill Purcell Vs. The Comic Book Internet Over Ferguson
Bill Purcell is a volunteer at Comic Con: International, working on the committee for San Diego Comic Con.
He's a kindly soul,
He has wise experiences to share,
He's been doing this for a while.
But it's not like he even volunteered this year.
And his opinions are his own, as he says in his twitter ID, "U. S . Navy Vet. Comic Con Regular Committee member. Married to wonderful woman. My tweets are my own. Go to CCI official website for factual information." Which is probably a good thing, as he has a few words to share regarding the Ferguson situation, currently reigniting on the streets. Okay, lots and lots of tweets and retweets making his case.
But just in case anyone thought he was racist.
But he did seem to have a line in baiting of his own. From a rather distant location.
And replying to a few comic creators,
But he really did seem to care, despite this claim. As his hundred tweets seemed to suggest.
He is rather obsessed with the financial cost of things. But then came the physical threats,
Including towards a comic book writer,
The hate speech,
We even get a rape threat…
…an interracial rape threat at that.
Kevin is white, folks. But as Bill says,
But my favourite exchange had to be the back and forth between Bill and Brian Lynch.
Although his address to comic store owner Ryan Higgins was also rather ripe.
As was,
Such exchanges are not entirely new. There was the time when Comic-Con's David Glanzer registered a Twitter account to make a point to him. And he does seem to have been a helpful soul… until things go wrong and he has to delete his posts.
You re, Bill, you really are. And it's something I, as a Brit, am jealous of. We don't have the same freedom of speech laws like the US does, and I wish we did. Part of defending free speech tends to be defending the speech of people you find abhorrent – otherwise what value does it have? I'm reminded of the ridiculous attempt from Lawrence O'Donnell to censor the free speech of Comic-Con organiser Jackie Estrada's husband, Batton Lash.
But what happens with physical threats from an ex-serviceman towards guests of Comic Con might be an issue, if it can't be dismissed as verbal bluster.
It may be that an apology is in order.
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