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Do I Have To Pick A Side?
- Thread starter SpinierBlakeD
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The fact that you even have the opportunity to be apathetic is in itself a privilege. If you were personally affected by any of these decisions, you'd certainly give a damn.
I'm guessing they're just concepts to you, external noise that just seems irritating and unnecessary. But for those that are directly affected by the outcome of these debates, it can literally come down to life or death.
Apathy is one hell of a drug, but I think you'd do well to give that empathy thing a go. You might just surprise yourself.
I'm guessing they're just concepts to you, external noise that just seems irritating and unnecessary. But for those that are directly affected by the outcome of these debates, it can literally come down to life or death.
Apathy is one hell of a drug, but I think you'd do well to give that empathy thing a go. You might just surprise yourself.
OP
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That may be the case. I also find it unfortunate that
Again, it seems pretty cut and dry. The murder and subsequent cover up is a crime. Whether it be done by an individual or an organization. It should be snuffed out and stopped.
If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion of black police officers? I've been watching True Detective and I've noticed the main character gets criticized by black citizens for being part of an institution that has oppressed them. Is this just TV nonsense or are these sentiments that are held today? Because I think that's unfortunate if so. To willfully enter an institution that has operated against you, in an attempt to change said institution, or just in the name of keeping people safe, I think is a pretty noble thing to do.
The average person is what is used to gauge the standard.
This site does seem to assume that everyone is in the know about things like Gamergate or Boogie or any other random racist youtuber. This isn't really stuff you encounter on a regular basis and it's perfectly normal to not know about this stuff. It certainly isn't trolling to not know why people dislike Boogie or whoever. A lot of us just don't care about these people and only hear about them in passing on the internet. I only know about Boogie's stance based on a gif that everyone posts over and over.
It's wrong to assume that only people you deem less intelligent don't know about gamergate. You can be well read and well educated and still not be up to speed on the drama in the games industry. All I'm saying is to call people who aren't aware of gamergate "wilfully ignorant" is equally "wilfully ignorant" of the reality.
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It doesn't really change my answer, I think it's horrible and should be stopped. I'm not saying you said cops are racist or should be killed.
This is the truth of it when it comes to Left Vs Right.
The Left is more often the side that cares about people seeking rights and progress, the Right is more often the side that marginalizes or oppresses them and calls for regression.
The Left is more often the side that calls to help those less fortunate, the Right is often the side that calls to help the rich first.
The Left is more often the side that calls to heed science and fact, the Right is more often the side that calls to heed tradition and spreads false narratives.
If you actually test this, the vast majority of the time it will be true.
"Both sides" almost always means "why aren't we listening to regressive, harmful, false narratives?".
The Left is more often the side that cares about people seeking rights and progress, the Right is more often the side that marginalizes or oppresses them and calls for regression.
The Left is more often the side that calls to help those less fortunate, the Right is often the side that calls to help the rich first.
The Left is more often the side that calls to heed science and fact, the Right is more often the side that calls to heed tradition and spreads false narratives.
If you actually test this, the vast majority of the time it will be true.
"Both sides" almost always means "why aren't we listening to regressive, harmful, false narratives?".
I can see why Black people consider Black cops sellouts. For me it's i sometimes consider them sellouts but moreso I give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they're trying to make change from within. The problem is racism and the old white dinosaur police officers have a stranglehold on power within the police departments, so change won't happen for many generations. Toxic masculinity is rampant throughout PDs and many officers are in great denial that they even need therapy for PTSD.
I know a Black NYPD cop, knew him before the force. As long as he remains a cop at his current assignment he doesn't have a choice in policing in a racist manner. Whites get off the hook for violations Blacks are targeted and are arrested for. From the top down the quotas are being encouraged to be targeted towards Blacks and Latinos. It makes him sick and it wasn't what he signed up for.
The NYPD uses quotas and Whites arent the targets for them. Thats fact but it doesn't matter how many whistleblowers there are. Whites love police and largely don't care about profiling and racism because they'll never be the targets for it and have been conditioned since birth to see Blacks and Latinos as the criminal class. So many problems with policing come from just the prior sentence.
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We're not talking about Boogie, we're talking about GamerGate.
Which I also mentioned and the same applies to Gamer Gate, which I assume is full of people like Boogie. At least that is the type of youtuber that seemed to support Gamergate.
If you believe it should be snuffed out and stopped then you've chosen a side. The side of police reform. No one expects you to wear a damn merit badge or t-shirt but if you actually believe in something it means actually being open about it and taking steps to correct that brokenness.
People of color are more than allowed to join the force. What I expect from all officers is to actually be invested in protecting citizens and that means actually saying something when the institution is broken. Cops should be able to admit that a system that allows for the existence and protection of cops that abuse citizens is broken and needs fixing. It's noble to try and change it from the inside but that requires actual willingness to speak up. And there are more than enough examples of police who say they want to make a change but keep their mouths shut when it actually counts because they've been swept into the brotherhood and obey only the thin blue line.
The reason there are minorities that get pissed at other minorities joining the force is again all about experiences. It's not something that is born out of thin air. That distrust exists because those communities exist in a place where the police have taught them through either negligence or abuse that they aren't reliable.
Lmao.
Not picking a side in important issues is usually by itself picking a side, the one of status quo.
The tricky thing about being apathetic is that you're not really standing apart from the issue, because oftentimes the "hot button" of hot button issues involves changing the status quo. Apathy is inaction, and inaction retains status quo and in effect supports it, ergo your apathy is still taking the side of the status quo.
That's of course a valid choice to make, but it's important to realize that there really isn't a fence to sit on with certain issues.
That's of course a valid choice to make, but it's important to realize that there really isn't a fence to sit on with certain issues.
You didn't give an answer though. You said something about how innocent people shouldn't be killed and neither should cops but didn't answer my question.
What is horrible and shouldn't be stopped? I'm not sure what you're saying could explain it to me?
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I'm not sure what you want from me? You asked my thoughts on racist killings of innocent black people and I told you my thoughts.
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His answer to your question about if he thinks black lives matter was basically all lives matter.
Edit: Like exceliorlef pointed out
wait if you don't care then why do people need to be tolerant of other views and willing to hold conversations? you're not invested in either position but it's vital that they come together and debate?
That applies to your average dude or dudette on the streets, but I have a hard time imagining anyone who has been a part of NeoGAF and/or ResetEra or any even remotely gaming related online community for more than a few weeks in the past few years has not seen any of the negative headlines pertaining GamerGate. Like, you'd have to actively avoid these threads. Though how one could avoid reading one of the dozens and dozens of "GamerGaters harass a woman or do some other shitty thing" headlines time and time again, when new events occur and old ones keep getting posted in and are often mainstays for quite a while before dropping out of the first page and most discussed topics, I don't know. Like, even if they don't enter a thread about GG, you'd think they'd read a few topic headlines now and then and start foeming some kind of connection of "GG = sexist, bigoted assholes"
And why would you actively avoid them if you didn't know what it is about?
I believe most posters saw the headlines and were able to equate it to something bad. That's a bit different from asking for more information on it though or not being too familiar with it. Personally if someone wanted to debate me on the subject I wouldn't give my opinion on it just because I don't know the details. I think not knowing the details behind this stuff is perfectly normal. I asked for an explanation once back on GAF and people got mad for some reason. I just don't get why that is a red flag for people or it means someone has a hidden agenda.
I mean for some people these choices are between life and death, so yes, there is always a right side.
Well said. That's what I hope I've been getting across. Be apathetic if you want but the reality is marginalized peoples support, defend, vote for and follow certain paths because they don't have the luxury of apathy. Choices need to be made that mean they get a life and a livelihood and a family and just pure humanity. Don't act like you've found some secret everyone else is to ignorant to see by staying neutral. It just means you aren't actually at risk.
I do think most would eventually come to realize that gamergate is something that is negative and like you said involves sexist, bigoted assholes, but that realization could take a while if you're the kind of person that doesn't venture to gaming side much. I didn't really know what it was for probably almost a year because I have my watched/favorited threads and I typically don't post much outside of that or even browse the rest of the site all that often. If you look at my post history on here and Gaf, I rarely ever posted in anything outside of community threads (with the exception of being a junior on gaf and having to frequently post to get out of junior phase).
User Banned (2 Weeks): Inflammatory false equivalencies surrounding hate and harassment movements
I'm actually pretty clueless on Gamergate. I tried to go down that rabbit hole once but its evolution has been way too convoluted for me. I get how the original Gamergate story was harrassment though.
That being said, I wasn't a huge fan of people celebrating Totalbiscuit's death from cancer for "supporting Gamergate" and giving a couple of mediocre Bioware games lukewarm reviews. That kind of gave me the impression that certain "anti-Gamergate" people were scum too.
Their have been various examples of this since the election of trump especially when it comes to healthcare.
I assumed as much, but I've seen a lot of people conflating Gamergate with any and all criticism of game journalism, so I've never been interested in trying to untangle it all.
Harrassment is obviously bad, but criticism of game journalism can be legitimate. I've always been more interested in the actual content of the criticism rather than the labels/ branding.
Gamergate never had noble intentions. It looked that way on the surface, but it was used as a tool to harass a female game developer, and subsequently, women.
If anything, Gamergate made it incredibly hard to talk about actual ethics in journalism without looking like a shitheel who hates women. Somebody wrote an article about that, I think.
I guess not. Just be aware if you find yourself slipping into a "people who do care about these things and/or are affected by them enough to take a stance are stupid and ruining our society, and I watched something about skull shapes with some very interesting statistics on youtube recently..." rabbit hole.
Apathy has a funny way of turning into hostility after a while of hearing people say you shouldn't be apathetic or that it's a privilege to not care.
Don't mistake always being neutral because you are capable of comprehending the thinking of both sides of an issue as wisdom.
Apathy has a funny way of turning into hostility after a while of hearing people say you shouldn't be apathetic or that it's a privilege to not care.
Don't mistake always being neutral because you are capable of comprehending the thinking of both sides of an issue as wisdom.
This is a good time to repost these videos since Gamergate keeps coming up:
The definitive videos on GG:
Dan Olson's:
And Ian Danskin's:
You've got to understand that there have been sooooooooo many people asking that in bad faith that a lot of people who participate in these discussions more regularly understandably are not as unwilling to give people the benefit of the doubt when parroting dishonest GG talking points (unknowingly or "unknowingly")
If you were anymore transparent I'd have to assume you're a ghost
Say hi to Casper for me.
Good. There are many opinions you SHOULD be intolerant of because those opinions - the ones which are baseless and/or contrary to fact - are things on which people end up basing their votes for the people who will ultimately make or won't make laws which will affect you and others in negative and tangible ways.
With all due respect you just sound like someone who doesn't really care. That's your prerogative but in my opinion, on most hot-button issues, you should absolutely have picked a side because most of those issues either have supporting evidence or don't.
On a somewhat related note: I absolutely can't stand the "respect everyone's opinion" bullshit. That's not how we live our lives, so it's disingenuous to begin with but also the notion that merely having an opinion is somehow respectable is fucking absurd. People can form an opinion on and believe anything for any reason. If that reason isn't supported by anything then it's worthless and people who hold worthless opinions should be called out.
That's fair, I can understand that. I guess I don't interact through the internet as much so I'm just not used to people always trying to troll while hiding behind a computer screen, but I know that happens often enough.
Some things are quite simple and yeah you definitely should pick a side on some things. With some things I think it's fair to stay out because lack of knowledge/expertise on the subject, just because someone in the internet might tell you "trust me, this is how it is and you should think so too" doesn't make it so. You should come to your own conclusions and not just take someone's word for anything (so don't just believe me either). And for many things, there's more than just two sides even when some people might claim there's just two. And because you don't agree with someone 100% they will put you on the "wrong side" for it. And some things are unimportant and meaningless but still get some people worked up, like pineapple on a pizza and pissing in the shower. No you don't have to pick a side on those.
And if this thread was inspired by the Uncharted fan art thread on gaming, that should be very easy side to pick. It's not some moral conundrum. Your side should be with those who don't take an issue with Druckman retweeting fan art. As there isn't even one legitimate complaint to be made about that.
And if this thread was inspired by the Uncharted fan art thread on gaming, that should be very easy side to pick. It's not some moral conundrum. Your side should be with those who don't take an issue with Druckman retweeting fan art. As there isn't even one legitimate complaint to be made about that.
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I just wish those children in cages would stop being so dramatic and listen to the other side for once.
SpinierBlakeD Are you a straight white guy? Do you believe the Republican party is evil? Do you believe fascists should be deplatformed? Do you believe "SJW's" and "Outrage Culture" are a thing? I think with enough context we can get to the heart of where you stand on things.
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Yes I am a straight white guy. No I don't think the Republican party is 'evil'. They do plenty of things I don't like, but that doesn't mean I think every Republican is a vile person. I don't think fascist should be allowed to spread their hate. I do think people seem to get pissed off pretty easily, but that doesn't seem like anything new. It's been like that for a while.
OP, you do actually seem to be mostly ignorant rather than malicious, so I suggest you educate yourself rather than just accepting apathy and 'both sides' shit. It sounds like you get a lot of your information from right leaning individuals based on your posts, so I would suggest watching some leftist videos and reading leftist articles to see the difference.
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Are you just going to ignore the rest of my post? I don't think an entire political party is 'evil'. That's just a weird choice of words. There are things the party does that I don't like, but at the same time, some of the nicest people I've met are Republicans. Same goes for the Democratic party.
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