Sorry, Truman defeated Dewey in '48. It was the 1950 midterm elections that brought in the extreme conservatives, and it was then that McCarthy went on his witch-hunt (aided and abetted by the journalists of the day)
Funny that they coincide with the beginning and end of the Cold War, periods in US history when weāre attempting to reorient ourselvesā¦
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No coincidence. Weāre all searching for meaning within a nihilistic shell. The old illusions of American grandeur have been stripped away, and the conservatives cling to that (look at the issues in education right now). The church has no more sway in intellectual circles, hence the rise of fundamentalism. The only meaning right now in America is expediency and profit, and yet we intellectuals are sometimes surprised that everything reverts back to capitalism.
Weāre searching for identity in a void. Thatās the lot of the modern mind, isnāt it? Most people turn from that struggle and find ideas and little truths to which they can cling, when, really, we have to embrace the only concrete meaning in this universe: the importance of other people and creating valuable relationships with these people.
I find that people who are disrespectful have never been respected. People who canāt love have never been loved before. A simple lesson, which I am further simplifying with the way Iām phrasing it, but one I often forget far too quickly. Iām not sure what good that revelation does in terms of furthering discourse in this country, but I try to hold it close to heart when I start judging other people (which happens with much greater frequency than I would like : P)
From Ms. Laurie Pennyās great article, which we are discussing:
If I sound angry here, itās because I am. Iām angy because Iāve had to listen to these things being said to and about me and many other women creators I admire for too many years now to be polite about it.
ā¦
Gender isnāt a game you can play and win by brutalising and harassing and shaming and hurting the other āside.ā Ultimately, there is no other side. Gender oppression is structural. Everybody loses, in the long term, because everybody has to live in a culture where itās normal to hound women out of their homes for daring to demand fairer treatment, normal to shame girls and queer people into silence for suggesting that there might be other interesting stories to tell.
ā¦
They canāt understand the logic of a world where āSocial Justice Warriorā just doesnāt work as an insult, because a great many people care quite a lot about social justice and are proud to fight for it.
They canāt understand why they look ridiculous.
Emphasis mine.
Now excuse me I need to go make a pin that says āSocial Justice Stalkerā
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or as the quote goes, we are not rational creatures, weāre rationalizing creature. We come up with the end point that we feel is right, and then attempt to justify it using logic.
However, the success rate of changing peopleās belief using logic isnāt zero, so thereās always some incentive to at least try.
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I always thought it was funny that āmodernā economists based their theories on the idea that humans are self-interested and rational.
They totally flubbed half the equation (which is why modern economics is bloody terrible when it comes to predictionā¦ if anyone is interested, Benoit Mandelbrot, father of the famous Mandelbrot set and fractal geometry, wrote a fascinating book in which he basically refutes the views of modern economics. Itās called "The (Mis)Behavior of Markets).
It turns out that humans are actually self-interested and irrationalā¦
Youāre clarified your position. That is good. But ā¦
See, the problem is, you are arguing against a straw man version of the āother sideā.
No one is painting āGamersā with an incredibly broad brush. The only āGamersā the GamerGate opposition are calling out are the entitled douchecanoes who think the title āGamersā belongs to them and that anyone who disagrees is deserving of harassment.
This is the same thing I see when discussing feminism in class - many of the boys feel that the rhetoric is direct at them, simply by virtue of them being males. That is a totally understandable reaction to have, but once they understand what we are actually talking about - social constructs and the patriarchy, they get better at being less defensive.
This #NotAllGamers crap is not something you want to internalise - itās toxic and itās designed to keep folks like yourself out of the fight. Youāre not being āabove it allā by being āneutralā in the debate, youāre being hoodwinked into keeping out of it when you are, most likely, going to fall on the side of empathy and inclusiveness. Because if, at the end of the day, you look at the two sides of the argument and you canāt side with the real, non-straw-edition of the āGamerGate oppositionā that does say something about you.
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It may help to realize that almost all of the feminists who are weighing in in a big way are also gamers, which is why many of us take āpresent company exceptedā as implicit. When, say, Bill Cosby complains about black culture being vulgar, itās a very different thing than when David Duke makes the same accusation. The strongest (and most reviled) feminist complaints are coming from insiders talking about the world they live in, not outsiders looking down their noses from on high.
Thereās also a problem with people not actually reading the articles that theyāre upset about, and spreading incorrect assumptions based on that. The Gamasutra article that so many people freaked out about is actually titled:
āGamersā donāt have to be your audience. āGamersā are over.
And those quote marks that everyone leaves out are incredibly important, if you read the article. Itās the difference between āNice Guysā (i.e. jerks who think that being nice to a woman means youāre entitled to sex) and actual nice guys.
(BTW, I appreciate that youāre trying to be chill and reasonable about this, even if I disagree with you.)
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The problem with many of the activities of āSocial Justice Warriorsā is that many of the subgroups are the ātail wagging the dog.ā Instead of a social movement taking in the hurt and outraged, then giving them a movement to correct and heal society, many subgroups are driven by hurt, outrage, and hate. The potency of the emotions drives recruitment, and doctrine, so instead of harnessing the emotions to the movement, you have groups fueled by hate using a movement as cover. (To be fair, Menās Rights suffers from this phenomenon as well.) Such āHateivismā is characterized by poor logic and sophmoric doctrine that seeks to āotherā and holds the welfare of the othered groups as value-less. One example of this can be found in the use of the āTone Argumentā to abrogate common civility. Even if this were a valid logical fallacy, it would certainly not justify the use of any tone whatsoever in all arguments, as a logical fallacy can only apply to a particular argument. However, it isnāt even a logical fallacy, as it actually deals with the consensual preconditions for such an interaction in the first place. If āSocial Justice Warriorsā were indeed concerned with āSocial Justiceā then none of them would be using superior physical attributes to bully people with inferior social currency. If āSocial Justice Warriorsā were indeed concerned with āSocial Justiceā then they would be practicing nonviolence, also including deliberate emotional violence. To truly be a movement of āSocial Justiceā even those to whom the rhetoric is directed at should be valued and protected.
Are you trying to tell me that that Gamasutra article isnāt dripping with contempt and generalization? ā,people who are okay with an infantilized cultural desert of shitty behavior and people who arenāt?ā āā¦a generation of lonely basement kids,ā āItās young men queuing with plush mushroom hats and backpacks and jutting promo poster rolls. Queuing passionately for hours, at events around the world, to see the things that marketers want them to see. To find out whether they should buy things or not. They donāt know how to dress or behave. Television cameras pan across these listless queues, and often catch the expressions of people who donāt quite know why they themselves are standing there.ā
Iām trying to read it in a way that doesnāt directly insult gamers, and I just canāt see it. Either you read things in a way I canāt understand or youāre being disingenuous when you say itās not insulting.
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I want this to enter the lexicon.
Iām not sure that assuming the misogynists, abusers and harassers are all wounded people who deserve compassion is beneficial to their VICTIMS. People should be dealt with on the basis of their behaviour.
Statistically, girls and women are more likely to be sexually assaulted(1 in 6 in their lifetime) and experience violence in romantic relationships (1in 4) - yet it is girls/women who are the receiving end of targeted harassment/stalking, etcā¦ In theory - it is women who are more āwoundedā, yet who are also on the receiving end of more hostile assaults online that are focussed on gender (ie sexual slurs, threats of sexual violence, attacks on their appearance or sexual history).
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[quote=āThebarton_Gamer, post:213, topic:42342ā]
No one is painting āGamersā with an incredibly broad brush. The only āGamersā the GamerGate opposition are calling out are the entitled douchecanoes who think the title āGamersā belongs to them and that anyone who disagrees is deserving of harassment.
[/quote] This Gamasutra article certainly seems to be painting gamers with a broad brush, and I donāt see anyone trying to distance themselves from it. Indeed, there are a lot of people defending this article and the entire tone of it that reduces an entire subculture down to āa generation of lonely basement kids.ā
I really donāt think Iām strawmanning. Iāve seen a lot of unqualified generalizations about groups Iām associated with going around, and I personally am incapable of just ignoring it like you seem to be. When Iām insulted, I feel insulted, and Iām not disposed to support the people insulting me.
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Realizing that most people who engage in antisocial behaviors are wounded is ultimately beneficial to the whole of society, ultimately including the victims. A more realistic view of what is going on is a prerequisite for solving the pathologies. Likewise, a fantastic viewpoint, where perpetrators are two dimensional dehumanized monsters, can only hurt this endeavor. This is not a call to excuse perpetrators. Indeed, people should be dealt with on the basis of their behavior, not as inhuman monsters but as people. Also, people should be dealt with on the basis of their individual actions, not as a prejudged and stereotyped member of an aggregate.
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But you stand with Gamer culture, no matter how debased, how marginalized, how irrelevant it has become?
Look - I donāt know anyone who is NOT wounded. That is a part of the human experience. Really bad things (accident/disaster/disease, etc.) happen to all kinds of people - few of whom could have anticipated, sidestepped or prevented this.
A lot of energy is spent analyzing the history, psychology and motives of perpetrators. Some perpetrators have horrible personal histories - but many DONāT. Most view their stalking, harassment, etc. as their right. They believe they are entitled to this behaviour and it is their right to āpunishā the people who have a different opinion/experience (see also: homophobia, racism). A few damaged underdogs become bullies - but many bullies are bullies in all aspects of their life, with a complete lack of empathy and remorse from the time they are kids until they die.
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Prove to me that itās not just a small group of people acting like assholes. Gaming has brought me some of my best and most valuable friendships in my life, and I donāt consider that irrelevant just because there are some small portion of people who are associated with the same subculture.
Also, youāre a perfect example of why I donāt want to associate with the GamerGateās opposition.
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Dudes complaining about āSocial Justice Warriorsā sound like theyāre knocking off Skeletor.
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Do you understand the distinction between āGamersā and āpeople who play videogamesā ?
Because that article is about the former.
Is it more important to you to play videogames, or is it more important to you that you are a Gamer?
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