Sometimes, Kiwis, this old Moderator has to let off some sad. Heed my words well, Kiwis, for they may harbor a story you yourselves may learn from.
All I wanted to do is help people, and that brought me directly into opposition with Social Justice, Identity Politics ideologues, and maniacs. I've been called everything from an MRA to a Gamergate Harasser for daring to simply disagree, and the fact of the matter is that really the only thing I ever did was what I always did - what my mom did, and what a lot of people I respect did.
...And I'll do it again in a heartbeat.
It's no small secret that I'm politically, pretty leftist. I have been since I was old enough to make my own decisions. When I was growing up, my mom - a real firebrand of a political activist who had been involved with the civil rights movement - told me that I should never accept anything I'm told at face value, and to do my own research. My mom was also an environmental advocate, multiple times calling the Parks department to task for trying to use one of the beaches as a staging area for road salt and for essentially destroying the local ecology of the place by using half the place as a dumping ground. She was someone who effected real - if minor - change right here in our community and did so by having the balls to stand up when nobody else would.
I still hold close to my heart the lessons I learned there, Kiwis. I was politically active for my entire life through my 20s. I did work for the DNC and I was active at the local level, too. I was a Democrat because I genuinely believe in helping other people, and because I feel that we have a moral imperative to try to leave things better than how we got them, so future generations can have an better time of it than we did.
But over time, there's something else I learned. Something I never would have learned had I simply immersed myself in Democratic activism - and something I learned only because I did my own research. Over time, I realized just how small the differences between parties politically there was. I'm friends with many people who don't agree with me politically. Rather than simply argue, however, like my mom tended to do with my uncles and aunts, I instead decided to keep my ears open and pick up on the underlying causes of their objections. In time, I learned that a lot of them felt the same fucking way I did about things. They disagreed on some things - foreign policy, gay rights, etc - but otherwise, they all felt similarly about issues that actually mattered, like socioeconomic issues. Over time, I learned that the words of the opposition were not to be feared, but to be listened to and analyzed, because even if you don't agree with them, there are facts to be learned and information to be gleaned by carefully looking at their message, and one of the most critical facts one learns from this is that we aren't that different at all.
But the thing is, whilst my idealism was tempered by experience and worldliness, and an understanding of greater issues and the opposition alike, many people I went to school with or associated with went completely off the deep end. They never questioned things, and when things started to go wrong, their solution was to double-down. Within a few years, I watched with no small amount of horror, Kiwis, as otherwise well-meaning and well-intentioned people had, via some exrtremely exploitative people, been turned into the very thing they sought to oppose - extremists.
I can not, in mere words, describe the balls-out terror I felt, the first time I heard, from someone on my own side - the very same "If you're not with us, you're against us" rhetoric I had mocked when Bush did it from my fellow Democrats. For someone like me, who had become a Democrat to help others, who valued personal liberty, this was like a kick in the balls. And so I did the only thing I could - the stupidest thing, perhaps.
I called them on it. I used the big words, even. I called them Antidemocratic.
The blastback was pretty big. I was accused of backsliding and treated as haram by people on my own side. I backed off online, but I never forgot the response to it. And as someone who has a long memory, Kiwis, that stuck with me.
Over time, I kept trying to prod my nose in to try to do... I don't know - some small effort to direct the crazy train that the website that had helped form my political first steps away from the abyss. It's like a missile you see flying towards a Village in the middle distance. You know it's going to hit, and you know that the damage is going to be catastrophic, but you still want to try to go there before the thing hits and maybe save someone. Anyone.
The actual event horizon came around the time of the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Less said about it the better, but the entire thing was a hoax and those on that website were still claiming that they were rapists after being found innocent. I was disgusted. I butted in again, again getting savaged by the locals.
That's when I realized what had happened. And when GG began, I noticed how the pattern had played out. A site I had cut my teeth on now stood in direct opposition to almost everything, as a Democrat, I had held dear, and did so whilst essentially regurgitating talking point from the SJW class. When you can get hide-rated into fucking oblivion for daring to suggest that White People being called Satan is wrong, well... There's not a whole lot of hope left for a community at that point, is there?
For someone like me, GG was a seminal moment. Proof of everything I had learned - that political party didn't matter as much as being willing to stand up for what's right. Libertarians, Conservatives, Democrats, all in one big camp and all because of Video Games.
But you know me, dear Kiwis. Can never leave well enough alone. I never got banned from the site of my origin, so I'd go back there to be a dick. I'd call identity politics ideologues out on their shit, to defend the downtrodden, and to point out that - yes - racism against white people is a thing, and I'd appreciate you stop saying it isn't, asshole. For a long time, the preferred target of my aggression was Margaret Pless, who I later found out was an Anti-GGer.
Color me unsurprised.
Today, however, I found the best example of just how far the site of my origin had fallen, and.... Well, fuck, Kiwis, I'll let you judge:
That is the Admin of that site, clickbaiting that Breitbart was involved with terrorism.
You know, whilst fucking ignoring that they were a fucking DailyKos poster.
Kiwis, it's a dark day when a site officially shits the bed so hard it blasts through to the floorboards, but... Fucking look at that. Within the span of two years, the site went form "More and better democrats" to "How we can demonize anyone who tangentially disagree with us?"
There's no looking objectively at this any longer. The second you make a claim like Kos did in the above, the game's over - you have officially stopped caring about objectivity and care only about your own personal bullshit.
The blade has dropped, and your head is in the basket.
And now we get to the reason for this lengthy lament, my Kiwis: I should have seen this coming, but I didn't. I can't divorce myself of this feeling that if only I had warned people, tried to get the word out about it, we'd have been better prepared for the lunacy that we've seen in recent years.
I know that it isn't my fault, but I'm Irish and an overdeveloped sense of personal responsibility that I tend to drown in potent alcohol when it pisses me off too much is practically a requirement. Had I actually done so, they'd have demonized me the same way they demonized the others who dared question "the narrative." I merely wish that there was more I could have done before this nonsense hit critical mass.
I still hold close to my heart the lessons I learned there, Kiwis. I was politically active for my entire life through my 20s. I did work for the DNC and I was active at the local level, too. I was a Democrat because I genuinely believe in helping other people, and because I feel that we have a moral imperative to try to leave things better than how we got them, so future generations can have an better time of it than we did.
But over time, there's something else I learned. Something I never would have learned had I simply immersed myself in Democratic activism - and something I learned only because I did my own research. Over time, I realized just how small the differences between parties politically there was. I'm friends with many people who don't agree with me politically. Rather than simply argue, however, like my mom tended to do with my uncles and aunts, I instead decided to keep my ears open and pick up on the underlying causes of their objections. In time, I learned that a lot of them felt the same fucking way I did about things. They disagreed on some things - foreign policy, gay rights, etc - but otherwise, they all felt similarly about issues that actually mattered, like socioeconomic issues. Over time, I learned that the words of the opposition were not to be feared, but to be listened to and analyzed, because even if you don't agree with them, there are facts to be learned and information to be gleaned by carefully looking at their message, and one of the most critical facts one learns from this is that we aren't that different at all.
But the thing is, whilst my idealism was tempered by experience and worldliness, and an understanding of greater issues and the opposition alike, many people I went to school with or associated with went completely off the deep end. They never questioned things, and when things started to go wrong, their solution was to double-down. Within a few years, I watched with no small amount of horror, Kiwis, as otherwise well-meaning and well-intentioned people had, via some exrtremely exploitative people, been turned into the very thing they sought to oppose - extremists.
I can not, in mere words, describe the balls-out terror I felt, the first time I heard, from someone on my own side - the very same "If you're not with us, you're against us" rhetoric I had mocked when Bush did it from my fellow Democrats. For someone like me, who had become a Democrat to help others, who valued personal liberty, this was like a kick in the balls. And so I did the only thing I could - the stupidest thing, perhaps.
I called them on it. I used the big words, even. I called them Antidemocratic.
The blastback was pretty big. I was accused of backsliding and treated as haram by people on my own side. I backed off online, but I never forgot the response to it. And as someone who has a long memory, Kiwis, that stuck with me.
Over time, I kept trying to prod my nose in to try to do... I don't know - some small effort to direct the crazy train that the website that had helped form my political first steps away from the abyss. It's like a missile you see flying towards a Village in the middle distance. You know it's going to hit, and you know that the damage is going to be catastrophic, but you still want to try to go there before the thing hits and maybe save someone. Anyone.
The actual event horizon came around the time of the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Less said about it the better, but the entire thing was a hoax and those on that website were still claiming that they were rapists after being found innocent. I was disgusted. I butted in again, again getting savaged by the locals.
That's when I realized what had happened. And when GG began, I noticed how the pattern had played out. A site I had cut my teeth on now stood in direct opposition to almost everything, as a Democrat, I had held dear, and did so whilst essentially regurgitating talking point from the SJW class. When you can get hide-rated into fucking oblivion for daring to suggest that White People being called Satan is wrong, well... There's not a whole lot of hope left for a community at that point, is there?
For someone like me, GG was a seminal moment. Proof of everything I had learned - that political party didn't matter as much as being willing to stand up for what's right. Libertarians, Conservatives, Democrats, all in one big camp and all because of Video Games.
But you know me, dear Kiwis. Can never leave well enough alone. I never got banned from the site of my origin, so I'd go back there to be a dick. I'd call identity politics ideologues out on their shit, to defend the downtrodden, and to point out that - yes - racism against white people is a thing, and I'd appreciate you stop saying it isn't, asshole. For a long time, the preferred target of my aggression was Margaret Pless, who I later found out was an Anti-GGer.
Color me unsurprised.
Today, however, I found the best example of just how far the site of my origin had fallen, and.... Well, fuck, Kiwis, I'll let you judge:
That is the Admin of that site, clickbaiting that Breitbart was involved with terrorism.
You know, whilst fucking ignoring that they were a fucking DailyKos poster.
Kiwis, it's a dark day when a site officially shits the bed so hard it blasts through to the floorboards, but... Fucking look at that. Within the span of two years, the site went form "More and better democrats" to "How we can demonize anyone who tangentially disagree with us?"
There's no looking objectively at this any longer. The second you make a claim like Kos did in the above, the game's over - you have officially stopped caring about objectivity and care only about your own personal bullshit.
The blade has dropped, and your head is in the basket.
And now we get to the reason for this lengthy lament, my Kiwis: I should have seen this coming, but I didn't. I can't divorce myself of this feeling that if only I had warned people, tried to get the word out about it, we'd have been better prepared for the lunacy that we've seen in recent years.
I know that it isn't my fault, but I'm Irish and an overdeveloped sense of personal responsibility that I tend to drown in potent alcohol when it pisses me off too much is practically a requirement. Had I actually done so, they'd have demonized me the same way they demonized the others who dared question "the narrative." I merely wish that there was more I could have done before this nonsense hit critical mass.
All I wanted to do is help people, and that brought me directly into opposition with Social Justice, Identity Politics ideologues, and maniacs. I've been called everything from an MRA to a Gamergate Harasser for daring to simply disagree, and the fact of the matter is that really the only thing I ever did was what I always did - what my mom did, and what a lot of people I respect did.
...And I'll do it again in a heartbeat.
