| Board List | |
|---|---|
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 5:25:48 AM #81 | ssk9716757 posted... Esrac posted...Also, because, as someone pointed out earlier, some people just think saying slurs is fun, even if they don't think of themselves as racist or sexist or whatever. I think that's a baseless supposition. (Well, maybe not entirely baseless. Racist people do use racist slurs, etc.) There are a lot of people who just take humor and enjoyment in audacious behavior. If you think everyone who's ever said an offensive word or slur has some underlying tendency, I think you're taking the issue too seriously. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 5:22:41 AM #80 | ssk9716757 posted... Esrac posted...2. Considering the anonymous nature of online gaming, how do we actually know the demographics of people committing "toxic" behavior? Do we have actual data on what percentage white people vs. black people use the N-Word online? Do we have actual data on what percentage of white men vs latino men call someone a homophobic slur online? It seems like the assumption is online toxicity is a white male problem just because its often white males we encounter online. And, I suspect, because social justice minded people (the ones most likely to be having conversations about this) seem to downplay or overlook the bad behavior of women and minorities. Everyone gets toxicity thrown at them online. I'm not inclined sympathize with the point of view that puts the harassment women and minorities experience on a pedestal over the harassment white men experience. Seems to me that they're really quick to overlook the harassment white men receive and really quick to point the finger at white men as the source of harassment. And it sure seems like they're willing to overlook the harassment committed by women and minorities. They can try to argue that their harassment is worse because structural privilege or whatever, but that kind of rhetoric is going to fall on deaf ears. We literally do have people try to argue that all white people are racist, all men are sexist, etc. That is a thing that happens in some social justice activism circles and I don't think failing to make distinctions helps that kind of mentality. You don't think articles about how toxic white, male gamers are is going to make people at large think less of white, male gamers in general? Also, I think it's weird that you seem to be suggesting a distinction is unnecessary. That really a step too far? --- |
| Topic | What happened to pizzagate and why did Hillary walk away free? |
| Esrac 07/26/18 4:42:32 AM #57 | I don't think we should make any accusations or conclusive statements without actual evidence. That said, I do think it's odd that there are so many who are quick to hand-wave away the suggestion that there could be money laundering, sex trafficking, assassinations, or other illegal dealings as the ramblings of madmen (setting Alex Jones aside). As if those kinds of things don't actually happen in the world. I don't know that any of these claims are true. But I wouldn't be particularly surprised to find out that a corrupt politician or government employee is involved in illicit, illegal activity. It wouldn't be the first time. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 4:34:56 AM #63 | Darmik posted... Howl posted...People are terrible to each other online and in online games because they can be and they don't have to witness firsthand the actual effects their words and actions have on the people their vitriol is lodged at. I think it does explain it. I mean, most of the insults with the biggest punch involve some kind of racist, sexist, homophobic, neuro-atypical, or develomentally delayed slur. What do you think they're going to call someone online if they want to insult them? A jackanape? A rube? A cotton-headed ninny-muggins? No, if they want to be abrasive, they're going to call them a F-word, R-word, C-word, or N-word. Also, because, as someone pointed out earlier, some people just think saying slurs is fun, even if they don't think of themselves as racist or sexist or whatever. I don't know that I believe the claim that women are really targeted more. I suspect everyone has had their share of vitriol hurled at them online, but it's more notable when it happens to a woman because there are fewer women encountered online. Or we're more inclined to notice when a woman is mistreated because it's just background noise to the men. I recall that study a while back regarding harassment online. Men were more likely to encounter most types of harassment (insults, threats, etc), except for sexual harassment and stalking. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 4:25:44 AM #62 | ssk9716757 posted... Esrac posted...Darmik posted...Esrac posted...It really comes seems like a lot of the same (white, straight) male gamers are a problem. Let's all nod in agreement about what a problem they are 1. Fair point. Yes, actual studies typically do include demographic data. Although, I more had in mind the general conversation/culture war that seems to be going on within gaming and nerd culture. In that I suspect a lot of the people who are real quick to shoot off about the so-called toxicity in white male gamers would be quick to talk about how problematic it would be to denigrate black male criminals with as much enthusiasm. 2. Considering the anonymous nature of online gaming, how do we actually know the demographics of people committing "toxic" behavior? Do we have actual data on what percentage white people vs. black people use the N-Word online? Do we have actual data on what percentage of white men vs latino men call someone a homophobic slur online? It seems like the assumption is online toxicity is a white male problem just because its often white males we encounter online. And, I suspect, because social justice minded people (the ones most likely to be having conversations about this) seem to downplay or overlook the bad behavior of women and minorities. 3. I disagree with that. I don't think the relative levels of prejudice white people vs black people endure in society at large is a relevant factor. If we should make a hard distinction for one, we should for all. If there wasn't a need to make such a distinction, then why is there such a reaction from white males when articles "explaining" toxic white males show up? Unless you think that kind of reaction is going to occur every time anyone talks about toxicity in gaming. Really getting tired of seeing the word "toxic" so often. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:32:19 AM #44 | Doe posted... I will admit that I silently ree at mainstream casuals sometimes, but normally it's because they are demanding that something with a devoted fandom be altered or watered down for their tastes. Eg the "Ooga booga Gronk summon Gemini Elf. Gronk no like the black and white cards" crowd I think that is largely why Sarkeesian got such a negative reaction from gaming nerds. Someone with no connection to the community or subculture shows up and starts shitting on the games they love. Its harmful, its problematic, it needs to grow up, this violence is disturbing, etc. And why so many feel her criticisms are invalidated when it was revealed she wasn't actually a gamer. No one likes it when someone kicks in your door, takes a dumb on your carpet, and blames you when you get pissed about it. --- |
| Topic | How do people allow themselves to get this fat? |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:28:00 AM #26 | The worst part we the family member saying something like "If Kristen doesn't change her eating habits, shes going to lose her mobility." I just want to grab her and say "You dumb bitch. Stop giving her so much fucking food. If she has to actually get up and go out to get more food, she might actually burn a few calories." --- |
| Topic | Trump is developing helicarriers that shoot people before they commit crimes |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:21:20 AM #2 | |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:18:22 AM #41 | Frolex posted... We wouldn't be so toxic if people who only started playing games when it got popular would stop invading our space. oh and btw cultural appropriation don't real I have heard the term "nerd face" before. To describe normies adopting a facade of geekiness for fun. I think it was directed specifically at The Big Bang Theory because it wears the garb of geekdom (and arguably autism), but only to use it as a punchline. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:14:57 AM #40 | Darmik posted... Esrac posted...It really comes seems like a lot of the same (white, straight) male gamers are a problem. Let's all nod in agreement about what a problem they are I don't think these types of critics make enough of a distinction. Especially when they so often like to make note of the white, straight, male gamers that they think are the problem. I mean, not a whole lot of talk about other demographics behaving badly. Are we to assume they're just so much more well-behaved? Do you think they would feel the same way if, when talking about, say, crime, we deliberately added the adjectives "black" and "male" in front of the word "criminals" and had a social justice crusade about how awful black, male criminals are? (I mean we have done that kind of thing as a society and most agree that there is racism there.) After all, there is a difference between black males and criminals who are black males. Yeah, I know, I'm being a bit hyperbolic with that comparison. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 3:03:14 AM #33 | Polycosm posted... I always thought it had more to do with gaming starting out (or re-emerging after the crash) with a relatively narrow audience of males. Video games were, at one point, primarily a refuge for socially awkward / scorned boys. The industry has exploded into the mainstream over the past 20 - 25 years, but there's this underlying culture, held over from the early days. Those boys (who are now adult men) feel a certain ownership over the domain of games because they bought into it early, were teased about it during their formative years and now it's become a hardened part of their identity. I've heard something similar described once. Basically, those scorned and bullied nerdy boys and young men were the early adopters of geek culture. Comics, gaming, etc. They, as the primary consumers and creators (though I think we are probably talking mostly about the consumers here), built the industry through their spending and development. Yes, at least partly as a refuge from normal society that shit on them. But at some point, geek culture became more socially acceptable and the normal people who didn't nourish the culture in its infancy started to push in and try to set new rules and ostracize those nerds in their own subculture. Basically, as they may see it, those nerds who built geek culture had their refuge from the normies who shit on them. Those normies eventually realized that the geek stuff could be pretty fun, so they muscled their way in and started shitting on those nerds in their own space. --- |
| Topic | Polygon: Gaming's toxic men, explained |
| Esrac 07/26/18 2:44:46 AM #23 | Boy, they sure like to use the word "toxic". Also, after reading your copies excerpts, I don't see any interesting points or perspectives. Nothing that hasn't already been parroted by other social justice activist types many times before. It really comes seems like a lot of the same (white, straight) male gamers are a problem. Let's all nod in agreement about what a problem they are. Did they have any point of view that wasn't part of that chorus? That, coming from Polygon, would be more interesting. --- |
| Topic | Do you think racism is still a huge problem in america? |
| Esrac 07/25/18 3:11:03 PM #6 | ArchiePeck posted... Yes, it is still ingrained in a lot of systems through legacy. You only need to look at poverty rates and education rates and prison sentence rates to see that African Americans are still proportionally often having things harder. I've no doubt that active systemic racism still exists against blacks in various sectors. But I also wonder how much of their stalled prosperity is from current, active racist discrimination and how much is from how far down they were pushed by historic racist discrimination. --- |
| Topic | More Hollywood Celebrities' Tweets Surface Involving Pedophilia and Child Rape |
| Esrac 07/25/18 4:19:18 AM #24 | They're probably just jokes. But, then again, its not like child sex abuse in Hollywood is a new concept. --- |
| Topic | Wendy's destroyed Steak 'n Shake on Twitter |
| Esrac 07/25/18 1:11:06 AM #52 | |
| Topic | Student suspended for wearing Trump shirt to receive $25,000 and an apology. |
| Esrac 07/24/18 10:27:54 PM #46 | Pretty much fair, next. darkjedilink posted... cjsdowg posted...Funny Republicans don't like dumb law suits, until one of their own is getting money. That isn't true. They correctly celebrate lawsuits that involve religious violations of the first amendment in schools. --- |
| Topic | Texas waiter made up racist note |
| Esrac 07/24/18 8:58:04 AM #12 | gmanthebest posted... ASithLord7 posted...Welp guess racism doesnt exist then. Medz solves another one! He's salty because he thinks pointing out false claims of racism is equivalent to denying that racism still exists. If I had to guess. --- |
| Topic | The problem with James Gunn's jokes imo are |
| Esrac 07/24/18 8:55:38 AM #45 | Over what time frame were the tweets made and how many were there? Some people talk like ot was just a few jokes made once a long time ago, but I had heard it was a large number of tweets over several years and that some of the messages were to a convicted pedophile. If so, that does make it a lot creepier. Granted, I heard that second hand and haven't had the time to verify the claim. --- |
| Topic | Texas waiter made up racist note |
| Esrac 07/24/18 8:48:07 AM #6 | Were_Wyrm posted... To the surprise of absolutely no one... I guess he was taking notes from that lesbian waitress that tried to pull the same scam a while back. --- |
| Topic | Is your mattress on a box-spring or just on the floor? |
| Esrac 07/24/18 2:57:49 AM #36 | |
| Topic | This 21 y/o Girl will be the First TRANSGENDER SUPERHERO!! Is She Hot?? |
| Esrac 07/24/18 2:49:20 AM #25 | Monolith1676 posted... What I don't understand is why feminists aren't mad about transgender people taking things from women. You figure that would be a huge sticking point for them, men becoming women and taking movie/television roles, awards, sports championships away from biological women. Some of them are. --- |
| Topic | Which celebrity death affected you the most? |
| Esrac 07/23/18 8:09:29 PM #97 | If you're willing to count him as a minor celebrity: John Bain, TotalBiscuit. Because I actually watched a log of his content often. If you mean bigger celebrities only, I was probably most bummed about Robin Williams. --- |
| Topic | Right wing outlets continue to piss their pants over Ocasio-Cortez |
| Esrac 07/23/18 8:06:14 PM #29 | Antifar posted... D-Lo_BrownTown posted...They want you to run her cause they think she can't win. How many people actually showed up to vote though? --- |
| Board List |