Sometimes the Internet is Good, Actually

It has been observed many times that while the internet may not have actually increased the number of stupid things that are said in the world each day, it has definitely made those things louder. This has had many terrible effects, but still, every now and then there is the joy of seeing someone do something so stupid that everyone in the world goes '... you what?' at the same time. In the last couple of days, that person has been Tory MP Nick Fletcher, claiming that young men are being driven to crime because there were some female Ghostbusters in 2016 and Jodie Whittaker is playing Doctor Who. The only role models left for boys are the Kray twins, apparently.

Twitter and beyond have produced many delightful responses to this - I think the last time I saw so many good news memes involved thirty to fifty feral hogs. Many of these have taken the form of sarcastic pictures of Marvel superhero posters, and it's not hard to see why. However, if Iron Man and Captain America and Hawkeye and Spider-Man and Doctor Strange and ... well, let me stop there or we'll be here all night ... aren't heroic enough and/or we're determined to confine ourselves to British television programs, there seems to be plenty of male characters in those as well. Everything from Good Omens to It's A Sin to The North Water, not to mention what seems to be an extremely steady supply of crime dramas with male leads. There's even a new version of Around the World in 80 Days coming out next year starring David Tennant!

More than ever, I am hoping that RTD does not cast another white bloke as the next Doctor. (I would happily accept a Black or Asian man, if only for the comedy value of being able to say 'see? the Doctor is a man again! You got what you wanted!' while all the same awful people continue to whine. Because you just know that Black Panther and Shang-Chi and any character played by Idris Elba mysteriously do not count on their list of good examples for young boys ...)