Double Standards

When I ran a game jam for Open Gaming, I had to remove one and only one posting for hate speech.

It was not against racial minorities.

It was not against woman.

It was not against the LGTBQIAADBDSM+ community.

“Kill the police”. That was the only instance of full hate speech. Though other entries made their contempt towards anyone who was not a communist known.

There are those who would try to excuse this phrase by saying that it is the “voice of the unheard” or some other nonsense.

Also: I have never had a Christian at table shout someone down. I have had a trans-identifying person feel justified in shouting down someone who had the audacity of mentioning JK Rowling. A certain level of aggression is to be expected, so I am told, because of oppression etc.

Convenient excuses.

Both of these incidents were, at the time, minor annoyances. But I am starting to see how deep this cultural pattern of victim-entitlement runs. It’s the tip of a larger iceberg.

Recent comments some people are making in response to a deep tragedy are showing how deep the iceberg runs.

I normally stay away from serious topics on this blog as I don’t know how well I can host a discussion on certain issues next to photoshopped pictures of aliens. A fictional alien newspaper is not an ideal place to honor the names of the real recently deceased, as the context would be denigrating.

Nonetheless, while RPGs may be fun and games, being a leader in these groups has still required me to interact with people. And, as goofy as the context may be, even here I have seen the mentality that “the victimizer” deserves to be bullied. That being a victim grants entitlement.

Thinking about that “Kill the Police” submission, and the victim-entitlement it implied today.

Will let Brett Cooper speak here about the recent events.