Open letter to the 25 year-old whose avatar is an explosion flipping the bird
Stop me if you heard this one.
Someone writes about a harmful trend in media, such as, for instance, the misrepresentation of mental illness in video games.
Then, someone posts this nugget of wisdom in the comments:
AAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
FUCK THIS
Except Middle Commenter, I guess. They know what's up.
But seriously, I am so fucking sick and tired of that argument coming up all the time! It's the kind of fundamental misunderstanding of human nature that could only be come from someone whose avatar is an explosion shaped like a hand flipping the bird.
Hey, you, guy whose icon is an explosion flipping the bird! Do you know what I thought when I read your first comment? I thought "I wonder how old this guy is. I'm thinking sixteen". Then in the next comment you claim to be 25? Holy shit, I really hope you're lying! Do you know why I thought you were thirteen?
Because this is the sort of dumb shit I wrote on the internet when I was sixteen.
But then you're probably not, because oh, hello, the specter of Jack Thompson rears his head once more. Ah, remember Jack Thompson? Simpler times. Back when Jack Thompson was the Enemy of Video Games, we didn't have to dig very deep to find reasons to ignore him, mainly because he was a raving lunatic.
But now he's been disbarred, except in some ways, he's still around, providing material for inane little shits like you to build strawmen with. Now, everyone who has the slightest moral concern with video games as a medium is Jack Thompson. Anita Sarkeesian is Jack Thompson. Every gaming blog guest editorialist is Jack Thompson. I'm Jack Thompson.
We want movies, comics, tabletop games, video games and such to have more positive representations of minority characters. This is not because anyone in their right mind thinks anyone in their right mind would start commiting hate crimes based on seeing a black guy stealing a TV in a comic book, or refuse a woman an IT job because they saw a woman be bad with computers on TV. That's not how it works, and everyone knows it.
Watching a single TV show will usually not change your opinion on anything. What might, however, is being constantly bombarded with the same ideas without bothering to examine them critically.
"What! But of course I turn a critical eye to every piece of entertainment I consume!" Ahahaha shut up, no you don't.
Do you know why we tell stories? Why once upon a time, before we got started on researching the wheel and agriculture technology trees, we decided to start telling each other things that weren't even true, about characters that didn't exist? Three reasons:
1- To entertain.
2- To teach.
3- To transmit values.
Some stories are obviously oriented more towards certain goals, but every story does all three. Sometimes, often even, it's not the main goal, nor even intentional. A story meant to be purely entertaining might still color your values, even if it never intended to, simply because the author had an opinion and expressed in a way you were receptive to. It might not change your mind by itself, but it adds up.
People LOVE to think that they're always thinking critically, that they can't be influenced by anything but verifiable data, and that they can't be swayed by emotion or, say, advertising. They think that their subconscious is always guarded against outside influences.
I wish I had anything more articulate to say, but I really can't. All I want to do is flip a table and write
THIS IS A RIDICULOUS WAY OF THINKING. WAKE UP, GET YOUR FACE OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GO LEARN SOME BASIC FUCKING PSYCHOLOGY BEFORE SHITTING UP THE INTERNET WITH YOUR KNEEJERK DHIARREA OPINIONS.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Luckily, I'm probably preaching to the choir, since no one I know what reads this actually has an avatar of an explosion flipping the bird. I guess I'm just venting??
But seriously, I'm sick and tired of seeing people use that particular argument to try and short-circuit interesting discussion. Luckily it almost never works as far as I can see, but it does often lead to a comments thread that's infuriating to read.
Someone writes about a harmful trend in media, such as, for instance, the misrepresentation of mental illness in video games.
Then, someone posts this nugget of wisdom in the comments:
AAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
FUCK THIS
Except Middle Commenter, I guess. They know what's up.
But seriously, I am so fucking sick and tired of that argument coming up all the time! It's the kind of fundamental misunderstanding of human nature that could only be come from someone whose avatar is an explosion shaped like a hand flipping the bird.
Hey, you, guy whose icon is an explosion flipping the bird! Do you know what I thought when I read your first comment? I thought "I wonder how old this guy is. I'm thinking sixteen". Then in the next comment you claim to be 25? Holy shit, I really hope you're lying! Do you know why I thought you were thirteen?
Because this is the sort of dumb shit I wrote on the internet when I was sixteen.
But then you're probably not, because oh, hello, the specter of Jack Thompson rears his head once more. Ah, remember Jack Thompson? Simpler times. Back when Jack Thompson was the Enemy of Video Games, we didn't have to dig very deep to find reasons to ignore him, mainly because he was a raving lunatic.
But now he's been disbarred, except in some ways, he's still around, providing material for inane little shits like you to build strawmen with. Now, everyone who has the slightest moral concern with video games as a medium is Jack Thompson. Anita Sarkeesian is Jack Thompson. Every gaming blog guest editorialist is Jack Thompson. I'm Jack Thompson.
We want movies, comics, tabletop games, video games and such to have more positive representations of minority characters. This is not because anyone in their right mind thinks anyone in their right mind would start commiting hate crimes based on seeing a black guy stealing a TV in a comic book, or refuse a woman an IT job because they saw a woman be bad with computers on TV. That's not how it works, and everyone knows it.
Watching a single TV show will usually not change your opinion on anything. What might, however, is being constantly bombarded with the same ideas without bothering to examine them critically.
"What! But of course I turn a critical eye to every piece of entertainment I consume!" Ahahaha shut up, no you don't.
Do you know why we tell stories? Why once upon a time, before we got started on researching the wheel and agriculture technology trees, we decided to start telling each other things that weren't even true, about characters that didn't exist? Three reasons:
1- To entertain.
2- To teach.
3- To transmit values.
Some stories are obviously oriented more towards certain goals, but every story does all three. Sometimes, often even, it's not the main goal, nor even intentional. A story meant to be purely entertaining might still color your values, even if it never intended to, simply because the author had an opinion and expressed in a way you were receptive to. It might not change your mind by itself, but it adds up.
People LOVE to think that they're always thinking critically, that they can't be influenced by anything but verifiable data, and that they can't be swayed by emotion or, say, advertising. They think that their subconscious is always guarded against outside influences.
I wish I had anything more articulate to say, but I really can't. All I want to do is flip a table and write
THIS IS A RIDICULOUS WAY OF THINKING. WAKE UP, GET YOUR FACE OUT OF YOUR ASS AND GO LEARN SOME BASIC FUCKING PSYCHOLOGY BEFORE SHITTING UP THE INTERNET WITH YOUR KNEEJERK DHIARREA OPINIONS.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Luckily, I'm probably preaching to the choir, since no one I know what reads this actually has an avatar of an explosion flipping the bird. I guess I'm just venting??
But seriously, I'm sick and tired of seeing people use that particular argument to try and short-circuit interesting discussion. Luckily it almost never works as far as I can see, but it does often lead to a comments thread that's infuriating to read.