hashtag gamergate

[davemerrill]

the ironic part is, if not for the irrational hate directed towards Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and Zoe Quinn, I would have never, ever, ever heard of them or what they do. Thanks, haters, for publicizing that which you hate.

The criticism I'm reading about Sarkeesian in particular reminds me of the mindset I encountered while writing anime reviews for Anime Jump: the mindset that not only is a negative review objectively 'wrong', but that a negative review is harmful to the industry as a whole, and that negative reviews Should Not Be Allowed. Period. That if I have an opinion that they don't share, then my opinion should be suppressed.

I had a discussion like this just the other day; that Sarkeesian should "shut up" and she "needs to keep quiet" and a lot of investment in the idea that one person can force another person's silence because weepy sad butthurt gamer sadness tears are the worst thing ever. And that's not how it works here in Free Speech World; she's free to say whatever she wants about video games, and you're free to listen or not listen.

Had an amazing discussion after the "Least Essential Anime" panel with someone who had a really hard time comprehending how I could dare to subjectively, arbitrarily dismiss a video game as "not essential". He had lots of reasons as to why someone concerned with video games may find them essential, and that's great - the thing is, I am not in the least bit concerned with video games, at all, and as such I don't feel his particular fave video game was at all essential to my health or well-being. The concept that Other People Do Not Share His Particular Likes And Dislikes, that His Particular Opinions Are Not Universal Truth, was a new one to him, but I believe I managed to drill it in there.

I don't believe these people set out to be speech-controlling fascists, not all of them; what I think is that they spend too much time alone, controlling little figures on a screen, hollering abuse at strangers through their headsets. The concept of discussion, or debate, or having to share the world with opinions not their own is literally blowing their minds. And that's probably a good thing. These are minds that need to get out of their comfort zone.

Comments

[kidfenris.livejournal.com]

If I heard that Shin Megami Tensei bit in a panel, I'd think it was either a deliberate joke or the work of someone who didn't bother doing any research. I wouldn't bug the presenter afterwards, though.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'll admit to some trollish tendencies in my dismissive attitude in the column. But I honestly don't give a shit about that game, which I had no idea existed before researching some forgotten 27 year old OVA. It's certainly not essential in MY life. Those who feel the need to assert its essential qualities in THEIR lives are welcome to write their own columns. Pretending that it is in any way essential to anyone not interested in video games is ridiculous.

[kidfenris.livejournal.com]

What throws me is the "essential" thing. All of the Least Essential features I've seen, from the Onion's AV Club onwards, deal with completely disposable odd and ends, the sort of faddish, careless, why-was-this-made curiosities that fall off the radar without praise or longevity. That certainly applies to the original Shin Megami Tensei OVA, and I bet it also applies to every other anime you included on your panel. That's the whole point of the piece, right? Stuff that few people remember and fewer people care about?

You can't stick the same label on a media franchise with decades' worth of games, manga, anime, and fans. Well, you can, but you'd sound silly. By invoking the "least essential" rubric, you aren't saying "I don't care about this thing" so much as you're saying "this thing had no lasting impact." And that's easily proven wrong.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

I know it exists. I have zero interest in the franchise. I have never seen it as having the least influence in any anime I enjoy. I consider it not the least bit essential because there are dozens of anime and their attendant stuff that would exactly and precisely fulfill the same role in hashtag 'my interest' if I HAD an interest.

I don't think there's a single thing about it that could be termed revolutionary or a quantum leap in the world of anime.

People who like it, good for you.

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

well, I certainly wouldn't want to sound silly! Talking about cartoons and video games is SERIOUS BUSINESS!

Shin Megami Tensei in all its iterations has had zero impact in my life, apart from being a laser disc I was given and a video I watched. It did not spark any sort of innovation in any field that had anything to do with anything I have read, watched, played, listened to, eaten, drunk, ridden in, ingested, bought, sold, smeared peanut butter on, fixed my bike with, tossed in the recycling bin, or seen dangling from a power line.

I don't even think it had any impact on the video games I HAVE played. Its art style did not affect the cartoons I watch, its creators did not carry their creative spark from Shin Megami Tensei into works I later enjoyed, there isn't a Western work that I've experienced that claims inspiration from Shin Megami Tensei. I mean, you can feel watching Mazinger Z, or Gundam, or Pokemon, or even Final Fantasy, etc., is not essential, while acknowledging that they did inspire other works in many fields.

If Shin Megami Tensei inspired anything other than a series of video games, its defenders have done a piss poor job of informing the general public (and me) of this.

I mean, seriously, I have been paying attention to the Japanese anime/pop culture world for a while now - not an expert, but when things come up I notice. And if Shin Megami Tensei has impacted anything other than the world of Shin Megami Tensei, it hasn't made any headlines. I was honestly surprised to find out that Digital Devil Story had a video game attached to it - that's after spending decades immersed in the trivial, time-wasting world of Japanese popular culture, running an anime con, listening to video gamers yammer on about their video games, etc. People would not shut up about Final Fantasy and that's gotta be the biggest, stupidest, most inane waste of time ever. Shin Megami Tensei gets a blank look and a "what's that?"

So yeah. The shocking, earth-quaking power of the lasting impact of Shin Megami Tensei has yet to be felt. It remains... non-essential.

[kidfenris.livejournal.com]

You don't sound silly so much as you sound like you're trying a little too hard to feel better because some game nerds caught you in a mistake.

But it's okay! You're not out of touch! It's those darned kids and their video games and walk-men radios and malt shoppes and '23 skidouts!

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least I'm not trying a little too hard to convince somebody who doesn't give a crap that they should give a crap about Shin Megami Tensei.

But, fine: I'll bite. Sigh. What is essential about Shim Mugummy Tennis? Why should I regard it as necessary for health and well-being?

And... you may begin!

Use both sides of the paper if necessary.

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

And I wanna know, why 'Shin'? Is that the kanji that means 'True' or 'Real', or the one that means 'new'? Was Old Megami Tensei the non-essential one?

[davemerrill.livejournal.com]

I would also accept "Shamwow Mummy Tentsale"

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

Now that's just plain silly. 'Mummy' isn't even a word.

We'd best be careful lest the Twitterverse explode in TenseiGate!

[tochiro998.livejournal.com]

So 'Gamergate' has been a thing, and it's set the mayfly internets aflame with OPINION and stuff.

Honestly, I have no idea WTF it's about other than butthurt over opinions. I guess because it's terrible manners and horrid grammar over something a woman said it's extra double ungood. OK, but here's my question and here's where I must be showing myself as part of the problem.

Putting aside the completely rancid and just plain wrong hate words the idiots were spewing vis a vis the comments by the ladies in question, did they not know this IS what the internet is in the mayfly Twitter et al world? That if you say something that goes counter to the flow hate comes your way? What's different in this from what goes on daily across the 'net? Is it simply the stupid ignorance of dudes saying stupid stuff at women? I get it, bad form to say "your opinion is wrong because you r woman STFU I rape you", that's knuckle dragging of the worst sort. It's not reasoned discourse.

But how does this nonsense go on and on? And again, this is DAILY stuff all across the spectrum. I'm sure if one has so little life they spend all day on the Twitter and such flamewars can be found over any subject.

So, what do we do? How do we solve the problem? How do we keep a civil tongue? I dunno, maybe stop using twitter and facebook and all that crap? Stop catering to the mayfly public of writing without thinking? Because we surely don't want to be all NewThink, right?