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Okay, first of all, go to Jezebel and read the whole damn article. It is good and does not just apply to the gaming sub-culture, it works everywhere for the most part and is useful to have in the back of your mind as you see stuff go down around you. The excerpt deals with the online gaming community, but can easily be applied to meatspace and the silly douchy “objections” are in the same vein.
- Now I’m going to address some objections from the very juvenile delinquents I’ve been talking about -– if any of them have read this far.
- “What’s the big deal? It’s harmless banter. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the game.” To start with, it’s our game, not yours, and we get to decide what’s acceptable behavior. You meet our standards or you get out. Apart from that, nothing that is done with intent to cause hurt is harmless. The online abuse I have seen goes way beyond banter. Threats are not harmless, they are criminal acts.
- “But this is part of gamer culture! It’s always been like this!” No, it is not. I’ve been gaming for over 40 years, and it has not always been like this. Yours is a nasty little subculture that arrived with anonymous online gaming, and we’re going to wipe it out.
- “This is just political correctness.” Invoking “political correctness” is nothing but code for “I wanna be an asshole and get away with it.” I’ll give you a politically-incorrect response, if you like: fuck that. It’s time to man up. You don’t get to be an asshole and get away with it.
- “You’re just being a White Knight and trying to suck up to women.” I don’t need to suck up to women, thanks; unlike you, I don’t have a problem with them, because I’m a grown man.
- “Women are always getting special privileges.” Freedom from bullying is a right, not a privilege, and anyway, that’s bullshit. Males are the dominant sex in almost every single activity on the planet. The only areas that we do not rule are dirty, underpaid jobs like nursing and teaching. Do you want to swap? I didn’t think so.
- “It’s hypocrisy. How come they get women-only clubs and we don’t get men-only clubs?” Because they’re set up for different reasons, that’s why. Male-only spaces are about excluding women from power, and making little boys whose balls evidently haven’t dropped feel special. Female-only spaces are about creating a place where they are safe from vermin.
- “But there’s misandry too!” Oh, and that entitles you to be a running sore on the ass of the game community? Two wrongs don’t make a right.. I’ll worry about misandry when large numbers of male players are being hounded out of games with abuse and threats of violence. If a few women are bigoted against men, you only have to look in the mirror to find out why.
- “Free speech!” The oldest and worst excuse for being a jerk there is. First, you have no right to free speech in privately-owned spaces. Zero. Our house, our rules. Second, with freedom comes the responsibility not to abuse it. People who won’t use their freedoms responsibly get them taken away. And if you don’t clean up your act, that will be you.
- OK, back to the real men for a few final words.This is not about “protecting women.” It’s about cleaning out the sewers that our games have become. This will not be easy and it will not be fun. Standing up to these little jerks will require the same courage from us that women like Anita Sarkeesian have already shown. We will become objects of hatred, ridicule, and contempt. Our manhood will be questioned. But if we remember who we are and stand strong together, we can beat them. In any case we won’t be threatened with sexual violence the way women are. We have it easier than they do.
It’s time to stand up. If you’re a writer, blogger, or forum moderator, please write your own piece spreading the message, or at least link to this one. I also encourage you to visit Gamers Against Bigotry, sign the pledge, and share it.
Use your heavy man’s hand in the online spaces where you go –- and especially the ones you control –- to demand courtesy and punish abuse. Don’t just mute them. Report them, block them, ban them, use every weapon you have. (They may try to report us in return. That won’t work. If you always behave with integrity, it will be clear who’s in the right.)Let’s stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the women we love, and work with, and game with, and say, “We’re with you. And we’re going to win.”
Who would have thunk?
For a concise rundown of all the religious based stupidity going on in the Middle East please follow this link to the CBC where they have set up an interactive time line of all the idiocy that has, and continues to unfold, over a really bad film.
People are going nut-butter crazy over this. This?
I had to skip through it, and I like bad movies.
“Arbourist,” they ask me, “Why oh why do you attack religion so much?” Do I really need to answer that (again) now? Being the pedant that I am, of course I will answer that.
Religion is the methodology/mind set that allows nominally rational people to believe in and thus partake in pants-on-head stupid things.
Let’s sit back and let that soak in.
Good.
Is adhering to a secular rational mindset the cure-all for problems of religion. No, but it would be a great start. Allow me to illustrate:
Person #1: OMG did you see that American Film it makes fun of our religion and Mohammad!!
Person #2: Our godhead cannot be bismirched with such bally-ho, the unbelievers shall pay for this, lets burn their shit down.
~or~
Person #1:OMG did you see that American Film it makes fun of our religion and Mohammad!!
Person#2: A collection of bronze age mythology cannon by definition be offended by anything, much less by a risible film made by rejects from the Soylent Green factory.
Person#1: But the offence, the Blasphemy!!
Person#2: Err…if this god existed and was all powerful, this film would not exist. If nothing is being done by said godhead, then it must be okay by her. Oh and BTW, usually when you hear calls of blasphemy it corresponds to really crumby ideas being called out for being crummy ideas – this is a good thing and society will advance when we put outdated and useless beliefs behind us.
Person#1: Oh…well maybe I should write a letter to the editor or blog article then defending why I’m so offended….
Person#2: You could, but then you could be held up for ridicule because you’re attempting to get bent out of shape over perceived slights to your imaginary friend.
Person#1: I never thought of it like that, maybe I’ll just focus on reality and try and make my small part of the world a better place for everyone by caring for and respecting others.
*victory for freethought and rationality – humanity thrives forever et cetera*
I know which conversation I’d prefer…
Woo! It is lock out time for the NHL and not a moment to soon. The great showdown between millionaires is about to begin supported by the gullible hockey fan. Just take in the love they have for fans as they gouge you for parking, beverages and food. Oh and ever higher ticket prices, let us not forget that.
“Damage from another lockout will occur almost immediately, and there is no telling how jilted fans and sponsors will react to another shutdown, especially if it stretches through the fall and into the winter.
Management’s latest offer has a short shelf life. Once the lockout begins, Bettman says the economic damage would cause owners to offer players a less beneficial deal.
Players currently receive 57 per cent of hockey-related revenue, and the owners want to bring that number down as far as perhaps 47 per cent — which is an increase from their original offer of 43 percent.
“The fact is, we believe that 57 per cent of HRR is too much,” Bettman said.
The union offered a deal based on actual dollars, seeking a guarantee of the $1.8 billion US players received last season. Annual industry revenue has grown from $2.1 billion to $3.3 billion under the expiring deal.
Players are concerned management hasn’t addressed the league’s financial problems by re-examining the teams’ revenue-sharing formula. Having made several big concessions to reach a deal in 2005, the union doesn’t think it should have to make more this time after record financial growth.”
It is you, the fan, paying for all these rubber disk chasers and yes you might be pissed off now, but you’ll come crawling back and they *KNOW* that. Maybe this time they won’t spread rice on floor before you prostate yourself once again to the hockey gods, and you’ll be happy.
Unlike The Arbourist, I have very little musical talent. I cannot play any instrument, keep time, or even step in rhythm (my dancing has been described as “dangerous”, and not in a good way). On occasion I fantasize about how awesome it would be were I actually a classic guitar virtuoso, percussion prodigy, or mad-skilled pianist. Once the dream fades, I am left wondering what instrument would actually befit a person like me.
Today I happened upon this delightful little article on the CBC music blog and thought it would be fun to share it. It seems that, depending on my mood on a given day, I ought to take up the Viola, the Timpani, or the Cello.
Perhaps you’d like to start playing a musical instrument, or your five-year-old is begging for lessons. But you’re wondering: With so many musical instruments out there, how do I choose?
It’s simple really. Ask anyone in the music business and they’ll tell you that musicians have personalities matched to the instruments they play. So we’ve come up with a little way to figure out the instrument that’s right for you. (Click the image below to enlarge it.)
CBC article here
Islam, religion of Peace burns down American Embassy illustrating dedication to rational non-violent ways of resolving disputes.
This just in the from insano-delusional land (credit CBC.ca):
“Many Muslims find it offensive to depict the Prophet Muhammad in any fashion, much less in an insulting way.
This week’s attacks on U.S. diplomatic outposts in Egypt and Libya, the latter of which claimed the lives of U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three others on Tuesday, erupted after a 14-minute trailer of an obscure movie by a California real-estate developer. The film was posted on YouTube in English and later in Egyptian Arabic.
Ultraconservative Islamists were suspected of being behind the attack in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi. Advocating a strict interpretation of Islam, they have bulldozed Sufi shrines and mosques that house tombs in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and other cities, including ancient sites dating back to 5,000 years ago.”
So, like the danish cartoons, the publishing of this film somehow gives people the right to flip out the buttered insane fuck-crumpets and burn shit up and kill people? This is part of the trailer that has incensed the reality challenged.
Wow. This film ranks below Poolboy:Drowning out the Fury on my list of awful movies.
So, full marks for beating out PoolBoy, but not really a honour one should be striving toward. Let’s recap so far, some dude makes a crumby, ass-pustule of a flick and because it makes fun of your godhead of choice *you* get to kill people.
“The movie trailer depicts Muhammad as a fraud, a womanizer and a madman in an overtly ridiculing way, showing him having sex and calling for massacres. An amateur cast performs a wooden dialogue of insults disguised as revelations about Muhammad, whose obedient followers are presented as a cadre of goons. The film was being promoted by an extreme anti-Muslim Egyptian Christian campaigner in the United States, and was financed with the help of more than 100 Jewish donors according to Sam Bacile, who wrote and directed it.”
Yep. I can totally see how shedding innocent blood is called for in cases like this. Chris Stevens and three others were destined to give their lives to fanatics hepped up on righteous god-juice over a D-list movie.
Let me reiterate, religion is harmful to people and society if it is not kept in check by a strong secular state the kind of irrational bullshite that our muslim friends demonstrated in Libya happens. Believing in magic and mythology for the nth time, has no place in the modern world. We commit plenty of atrocities without the help of those who lose their shit when you depict their ooga-booga of choice.
Indeed, religion does poison everything it touches and creates the nightmare world which we striving to leave behind us.
Thanks for pointing that out Sociological Images.
“[…][A]nother over-the-top example of the objectification of female athletes. The commercial is for RoadID, a company that sells “identification gear.” Autumn saw it while watching the Tour de France; she found this shortened version online, which she says actually features less objectification than the original did.
The main focus of the ad is a slow investigation of various aspects of cyclist Jenny Fletcher’s body. The camera travels slowly up her leg, then shows her full profile before zooming in on her breasts as she zips up her shirt:
Jenny Fletcher has no dialogue. She exists as a body to be broken down into eroticized parts for the consumption of the viewer. As Autumn put it, it’s frustrating that, a fan of the “the male-centric Tour de France,” that “when they do FINALLY feature a female cyclist, it is as a sexual object.”
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
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