And frankly, neither are we.

Earlier today, the good folks at the Star Wars Report alerted me to some rather lousy behavior by WPLG Local 10. Suggesting that someone dressed up in Jedi robes has their schedule built around Dungeons and Dragons. Really clever.* Sadly, I think as fans we’re all used to this kind of dismissive treatment. Even though I wrote about how baffling the disconnect between sports fandom (socially acceptable) and geek fandom (shun the weird people), this sort of behavior is something I just come to expect. That’s wrong of me, of course.

*And so what? Dungeons and Dragons is fun. 

Edit: This story has gotten long and crazy, so continue under the cut.

Thankfully, Ashley Eckstein isn’t having any of this garbage.

I have been on a high ever since Star Wars Celebration VI ended. We are still sharing our photos, stories and happy memories. The event was such a positive experience all around and I’ve honestly been counting my blessings that I have the priviledge to be a part of such a loving, caring and supportive universe of people.

My heart sunk this morning when I went to my Facebook page and found a message from one of my fellow fangirls telling me about this post on Local10.com. I immediately went through all of the natural emotions; disgust, anger, outrage, confusion, sadness, panic, ect. In today’s society where bullying is such a sensitive topic and anti-bullying efforts are being made by most, I am shocked that a post as disgraceful as this would be approved, allowed and posted to a professional website. This is the EPITOME of bullying and it’s being done by adults, even at the expense of children! Kids have it rough now a days, especially due to social media, and bullying is at an all time high. However, how do we ever expect our kids to learn that bullying is wrong when many adults around them, especially those posting stories like these, are setting such poor examples?

I have never been more proud to be a Star Wars fan and to be a part of such an amazing group of people. Sometimes the best way to handle a bully is to stand up to them, so that’s what we should do. Star Wars fans, please join me in writing Local10.com and ask that this post be taken down immediately! It sounds like there are other affiliates that might have picked this up. If you find other websites where this has been posted, please let me know and please help spread the word. We need to continue to set the standard that the Star Wars Universe is a bully free zone and that any sort of bullying is not tolerated what so ever!

May The Force Be With Us!

Ashley

Occasionally I get complacent and tolerate behavior I shouldn’t. Thanks for the reminder to stand up for my fellow fans, Ashley. I’ll be writing Local10 shortly.

UPDATE 1:53 Pacific

Good news, Local10 took the slideshow down. Bad news, they put up a half-baked, insincere, somewhat offensive apology up instead.

GOOD NEWS (or BAD NEWS… depending on where you sided). The infamous STAR WARS slideshow has been taken down.

For those offended (and let us know), sorry.

For those who enjoyed it (and let us know), sorry.

Remember… the force will be with you… always.

Try again, Local10.

Edit: It now appears that Local10 is deleting critical comments off of that Facebook post. For a news outlet, you would hope they would be better at PR than this.

Update 2:07PM – They’ve now removed the “apology.”