Chaos, I'm probably not the best person to explain the "Matt Damon fiasco" to you since I've never heard of it until you mentioned it. I did a quick Google search, though, and it certainly seems as though it is yet another example of people looking for things to be offended by. If you really want my insight (and you might have seen this coming), I think it's silly to portray this as an "SJW thing" (which, to be fair, you didn't do in your post). People like to feel like they have the moral high ground over other people. People like to draw lines in the sand with the conviction that they're on the right side. Not SJWs, but people. I have been pretty consistent in saying that the black & white, "with us or against us" false dichotomy that's so popular nowadays isn't doing anybody any favors.
Here's Matt explaining to Ellen Degeneres, who seems to be on his side:
Matt Damon: ?I was just trying to say actors are more effective when they?re a mystery. Right? And somebody picked it up and said I said gay actors should get back in the closet. Which is like I mean it?s stupid, but it is painful when things get said that you don?t believe.
In the blogosphere there?s no real penalty for just taking the ball and running with it. You know what I mean? You?re just trying to click on your thing.?
So Matt Damon makes a seemingly innocuous comment and somebody twists it into what they present as obviously offensive. How do they get away with that? Well, there are lots of people only too eager to buy into that narrative and make a big deal out of it. Sound familiar?
Sarkeesian makes innocuous statements that get twisted into "obviously" offensive stuff all the time. She talks about how exposure to stimuli affects real-world perception and people get their torches and pitchforks out, preaching about how she's trying to censor games. Fuck, the majority of what I say is pretty fucking tame and vanilla, but twisting my stance into something ridiculous that I don't believe is the official sport of Rerolled. Everybody's got a soap box, Chaos, and everybody thinks it's everybody else that's crazy and unreasonable.
I'm sure Lithose would come in with a statement about how the media participated in villainizing Mat Damon, and how the media also supported Sarkeesian. He'd be right. The media are just irresponsible click-hungry opportunists who will back whatever horse generates more controversy and attention. That doesn't change the fact that all these cases involve people using righteous indignation to turn something silly and, frankly, not terribly important into an unwinnable all-or-nothing battle driven by ignorance.
Are you sorry you asked?