Divisions

It's depressing how everything becomes a battlefield now, a 'them' vs 'us' war, a 'pro' versus 'anti' thing. It might be somewhat palatable if there were two even sides that each had their own merits, but usually we get one side that's utter shit, and then there's everyone else, if we're lucky.

Politics is kind of a given, what with two party systems, but increasingly what we get is not an even match between competing ideologies, it's... well, here in New Zealand, the best I can say is it's a race to the bottom, one side is selling out as fast as they can while the other side is just fractured and incoherent, last I looked. I could be wrong, I don't usually pay attention to politics... mostly because that's the impression I get.

And America is worse, where one side is just increasingly... well, evil... but the other side has it's own bad track record, even as they try to pretend they're the good guys.

Gaming? We have Gamergate, which claims to be about journalistic integrity but is, I think, at best mostly about whining about political correctness. At worst it's about harassing women and making death threats and all that completely unwonderful stuff. If Gamergate has actually achieved any substantative gains in journalistic integrity I would love to know, because all I see is a bunch of assholes and a bunch of people who claim not to be WITH those assholes but still gather under the same banner. And then there are the people who claim to be avoiding taking sides... but honestly, seem really sympathetic to the bullshit Gamergate spins.

Then there's a group currently aggravating sci-fi fandom. Two groups actually, the Sad Puppies and the spin off, Rabid Puppies. It's unclear to pretty much everyone where the divider between the two is... and I think even for the Puppies it's not clear. It's a bit like Gamergate in that the Sad Puppies claim to be about noble things like bringing under-valued authors to public attention, etc., but all they really seem interested in is whining about 'social justice warriors' and political correctness. One of their leaders especially has a persecution complex big enough to be seen from space, having on several occasions spouted bile about how conservatives like him are oppressed by the nasty liberals, and how he and his fellow travellers live in fear of being rounded up and incarcerated... it almost makes you wonder if it's projection and that's what THEY would do to people they don't like.

As for the Rabid Puppies, they also complain about social justice warriors and all, but they just seem to want to cause havoc. Their main leader and one of their major figures each have a track record of saying some pretty horrible things.

And even World of Warcraft isn't safe. Recently Blizzard, the company that produces the game, decided that they would not be allowing flying in the current content. Ostensibly it's to make it so that players engage more with the world rather than flying over obstacles. This caused a lot of protests with some people complaining because they like flying in game and others saying it's a great idea because they like running around the map, and others who can't care less. Recently Blizzard announced that they WOULD put flying in, but as a compromise you basically have to do several activities that require exploring the world... such as doing all the quests in each zone and discovering all the major areas of the map. This does not seem to have changed the protests much, as people claim to have left the game because they can't fly (or because they reckon it's the latest in a line of issues they have with Blizzard's decisions), and there's still vitriol being flung about towards 'you anti-flying people' or 'you pro-flying people'. Thank god they don't have catchy nicknames like Sad Puppies and Gamergate...

Seriously, tonight I read a comment where a guy claimed in all apparent seriousness that Blizzard got a shock to their 'huge egos' when they realised they were wrong about flying, but because they refuse to back down they're punishing the player base by making them jump through hoops. Or something. Basically, Blizzard as a whole are assholes who hate their players.

What kind of sense does that even make? It's like some of the playerbase think they're actually at war with the company. It boggles the mind to think that they claim to love the game and yet actively hate the people that make it.

Which is not to say that I agree with everything Blizzard does, but geez, it's just a game.

But this is the world we live in, this is the path we're travelling. My way or the highway, if you're not with me then you're scum. Let's not even start on the wingnuts that twist their religion into an edifice of hate...

I can't even.

Unfriending - some thoughts

Whoa, been a while since I posted.

Earlier today I unfriended a guy on Facebook. I have mixed feelings about it, and I thought I'd unpack. Because if there's anything I can do, it's talk at length about inane shit. I'm like the Doctor, but considerably less awesome. Only one heart, not about to test whether I can regenerate, and my sonic screwdriver doesn't even change the TV channel...

Aaaanyways.

Mostly I keep my Facebook list to people I actually know. In more recent times I've expanded it out a bit to people I've met online, generally sci-fi fans who have been involved in discussions I've been part of, who have for some reason decided it was worth sending me a friend request. (I hardly ever send out requests myself, I don't want to bother people). But apart from that, mostly family or people I know from offline.

This particular guy is someone I knew from high school, so not exactly a fleeting online acquaintance. Still, we've never been friendly. Probably met twice offline since leaving high school, and sure, those encounters were relatively cordial, but... not much more. And we've not exactly clashed and had any horribly acrimonious arguments online... mostly.

I hate to say it, but my issues with him stem from his religion. We went to a Catholic high school, and while I didn't actually end up all that religious myself, he seems to have become a bit... zealous. Frankly, some of the views he's espoused would be at home with the religious right in America.

A few years ago, New Zealand went through its own ructions over marriage equality. First we had civil unions, then it became fully legal a couple of years ago. At this time, the dude had a Facebook thread about it. He was against it, of course. I got involved, tried to argue... didn't go so well. Before I gave up and... well, ok, I flounced. In my defense, he was arguing that giving equal marriage rights to gay people was the same as giving your cat the right to speak to fairies.

I still don't know what that means!

He seemed to think it meant giving them the right was pointless. For reasons. Like I said, I don't get it.

Lately, he's shared a couple of articles relating to the Planned Parenthood debacle going on in the States. Predictably, he's in the camp that believes Planned Parenthood is dissecting unborn babies for profit. I had one relatively low key discussion with one of his, shall we say, fellow travellers, which went considerably less low key when the second guy asserted that Planned Parenthood... you know what, I'm just gonna say PP from here on. So, PP were, in his words, hiding behind the mantle of 'women's health' so they could 'brutally dissect babies in the womb to maximise profits'.

I'm sorry, but when people start evangelising their conspracy theories, I tune out. Turned off notifications for that thread rather than see any more idiocy from him.

The guy from high school, though.... today, Facebook put in my feed a comment he made on someone's thread. In it, he asserted that because the PP employees had been matter-of-fact in the videos, and didn't use the usual euphemisms like 'products of conception' or 'fetal tissue', it somehow proves the point. Because, ZOMG, they talked about harvesting eyes and livers!

And I'm thinking... well, DUH. As far as tone? They thought they were talking to legitimate PROFESSIONALS involved in MEDICAL RESEARCH. How else are they supposed to talk? They were talking business with their peers (they thought). Just not the kind of business done for profit.

And as for being specific about organs and stuff... again, DUH. You can't test for brain chemistry in a foot. Scientists are gonna want to be specific about what they're doing. Then again, having no clue what they're talking about is pretty much par for the discourse.

But it was at that point I realised... there's no reasoning with that level of lunacy. No talking to people who sincerely want to believe that anyone would and could 'brutally dissect babies in the womb'. That kind of world view is just beyond fucked up.

And I'm better off without it.

Like I said on Facebook, I don't mind differing opinions, but I can do without regurgitations of hateful nonsense.

Of course, if a PROPER and THOROUGH investigation by LEGAL authorities reveals that PP are as bad as accused, I will be very contrite. I can admit when I'm wrong.

But I still wouldn't friend that guy again.