Ethan Van Sciver was targeted by a SJW impersonating an Atlantic reporter
2 Comments Published by Avi Green on Wednesday, January 31, 2018 at 9:59 AM.
The latest case of screwed up progressive comics workers taking out their anger against Van Sciver because of his politics takes a most eyebrow-raising turn. Jeffrey Goldberg, currently the main editor of the Atlantic, informed Van Sciver that:
Goldberg may be a very crummy liberal himself (he has political positions I find galling), but at least he has the audacity to clarify that, as it turns out, the man in question named Asher Elbein is neither a staff employee nor a freelancer. Otherwise, why would he block Van Sciver on Twitter at one point, let alone inform anybody he was going to do any kind of article about him, which conflicts with certain rules of journalism? For now, I do think the magazine could have valid grounds to sue the imposter for pretending to be an employee, and Van Sciver should do the same against some of the leftist comics writers for making nasty threats.
Anyway, this has gone far enough, and if the leftists in question want to apologize and make amends, they'll have to guarantee that this is the last time Van Sciver or anybody else like him is ever mentioned in conversation again. If they don't, then obviously, they want to devastate the medium they've invaded even more. It's their choice, and for now, what's evident is they caused a lot of embarrassment that could've easily been avoided. One more way they can apologize is to ensure they'd like Chuck Dixon to get assignments anew at the Big Two, and are not opposed to conservative-leaning writers working in the mainstream superhero business.
Update: despite these revelations, Van Sciver has apparently erased his Twitter account. But it's probably for the best, because Twitter is otherwise such garbage, and a poor tool for debates and conversations. Blogs, websites and videos are a better form of conversation, and Van Sciver would do better to set up ideas like those. He certainly does have a video page.
Update 2: in some semi-related news, here's more about an interview Van Sciver did with Jon Malin worth considering:
@EthanVanSciver For your awareness, the writer in question is not an employee of The Atlantic, nor is he on assignment for The Atlantic. Thank you.— Jeffrey Goldberg (@JeffreyGoldberg) January 30, 2018
Goldberg may be a very crummy liberal himself (he has political positions I find galling), but at least he has the audacity to clarify that, as it turns out, the man in question named Asher Elbein is neither a staff employee nor a freelancer. Otherwise, why would he block Van Sciver on Twitter at one point, let alone inform anybody he was going to do any kind of article about him, which conflicts with certain rules of journalism? For now, I do think the magazine could have valid grounds to sue the imposter for pretending to be an employee, and Van Sciver should do the same against some of the leftist comics writers for making nasty threats.
Anyway, this has gone far enough, and if the leftists in question want to apologize and make amends, they'll have to guarantee that this is the last time Van Sciver or anybody else like him is ever mentioned in conversation again. If they don't, then obviously, they want to devastate the medium they've invaded even more. It's their choice, and for now, what's evident is they caused a lot of embarrassment that could've easily been avoided. One more way they can apologize is to ensure they'd like Chuck Dixon to get assignments anew at the Big Two, and are not opposed to conservative-leaning writers working in the mainstream superhero business.
Update: despite these revelations, Van Sciver has apparently erased his Twitter account. But it's probably for the best, because Twitter is otherwise such garbage, and a poor tool for debates and conversations. Blogs, websites and videos are a better form of conversation, and Van Sciver would do better to set up ideas like those. He certainly does have a video page.
Update 2: in some semi-related news, here's more about an interview Van Sciver did with Jon Malin worth considering:
Later on Sunday night, Malin appeared in a Q&A streamed via YouTube with DC Comics artist Ethan Van Sciver, and expressed his belief that the comic industry will begin to reject creators based on political views.This is why I believe some companies have to be avoided by consumers so long as the really bad apples remain/retain control. Better still, we have to demand they be willing to give creators jobs regardless of their politics, so long as they're really interested in entertaining the audience.
“The next guy like me, it’s just going to be even more harder,” Malin said. “These people are getting further and further into control of these companies, and when they find out you’re a Trump supporter, you’re gone.”
Malin also praised the quality of artists at DC Comics, but expressed frustration with the current state of Marvel creative.
“We keep pulling these people from these indie markets that are drawing airplane manuals,” Malin said during the Q&A. “They don’t know what they’re doing, they don’t know anything about comics. The writers… do not understand the intricacies of writing a plot so you can really build a story from panel to panel to panel.”
Labels: msm propaganda, politics, violence
Goldberg did not say that Elbein was not a freelancer. He has written a number of articles on comics for The Atlantic, and was likely thinking about writing one on spec about the controversy over Van Sciver's alleged online trolling and bullying.
There is nothing wrong with a journalist expressing an intention to write an article; it is a courteous thing to do and does not breach any journalistic ethics.
Even so, Goldberg's answer to Van Sciver does suggest they won't be taking more articles from Elbein for quite a while, because they discovered he was engaging in potentially embarrassing conduct on the web. Reporters shouldn't do things that could have a negative impact on their employment companies, and Elbein apparently did just that, so it doesn't take much to guess Goldberg had to step in and put a stop to it.