Culture War Update: A Glance into the Mirror as the Blood Splatters

The other day, I wrote an article that I’m regretting. Blood was in the water, targets were exposed, backs were turned, and I found myself driving the knife…

It’s easy to get angry, to let the madness of the day fuel a building desire for revenge, to find excuses to wage war against those we perceive as slighting us. There is ALWAYS an excuse to be a self-righteous douchecanoe. For a great deal of time, many of us chastised the fall of entertainment, of falling standards, of falling ethics, and we claimed things were better before, that if given the chance, we could be better. Are we so sure about this?

We must not become that very spinning wheel that we perceive is grinding against us. We cannot let the actions of the few tarnish how we treat the whole. This whole time, we preached their slings and arrows and otherings were unwarranted, fueling a building and righteous indignation… but what if they were kind of justified?

What if a great many people in this world, for a very long time, were put upon and put down, subversively mocked and put in their place through decades of social engineering, of being told to sit down and shut up, that others deserve to be worshiped in media, have their imperfections stripped as yours are amplified?

Seeing the world as Us vs. Them is what got us to this point in the first place – harping on identity, physical characteristics, tertiary nothings over character, social norms, pushing people into boxes.

We all live our own truth, and I don’t say that to be snarky; it’s absolutely true. We all have our own experiences, and we all try to survive in this mad world in our own way. This is the best shot at survival and meaning these people have found in their lives, they’re ignorant, petty, and closed-minded… just like EVERYONE else, if we’re being honest with ourselves.

I smelled blood in the water. I felt slighted by the ongoing cancellations, the otherings as they celebrate their closed industry, where they seek revenge on those they believe did them wrong.

And I couldn’t help but think… aren’t we just doing the same? Aren’t we now the ones seeking to twist the knife, to put a magnifying glass over the differences in their culture, and shame and cancel? In writing that article, I became the very boogeyman I pretend I’m not.

Let’s reflect on some simple truths here. We’re only human. We’re going to develop social boundaries of “us” and “them” in our mind, and in our quest for survival, we’re going to seek to destroy those we see as impeding our ability to survive and thrive.

I’m not going to apologize for their actions. What they have done to this industry IS a travesty… 

But can we blame them?

​The world is cruel and will always have its judgments and biases. There will always be those maneuvering for influence and power in these silly games of office politics.

Who gave them the armor of social righteousness? Who handed them the dagger of wokeness?

We like to play it off. We like to imagine our side is infallible. But let’s be real here; whoever ends up in power are most often shitty identitarian jerks who create a system of self-fulfillment and glorify ideals pertaining only to themselves. Inclusivity within the nerd sphere hasn’t always been the best; we CAN be better.

Sometimes, you have to take a deep breath. Life is unfair; life is going to come down on us, and it’s going to crush us. Sometimes, you’re part of the winning hordes of madness, and sometimes, you’re going to be on the losing end. Statistically speaking, we’re all going to lose; winners are a minority, a coveted place high on a pedestal above. But part of learning the lessons of life is learning how to lose. 

We all start life full of piss and vinegar. But as we age, things lose a bit of luster. We have to harden up and realize this world isn’t ours anymore, and if prosperity is going to pass down from generation to generation, we have to relinquish that pedestal at some point. Maybe it’s best if people don’t try to mold who gets to enjoy life with requirements that it be in their own image, physical or ideological.

This industry IS in the dumps. Our culture IS in the dumps.

But let’s not swap this toxic woke ideology for the equally toxic culture of neckbeards and chuds

Let’s endeavor to break this cycle of revenge that infects not just geekdom and the culture war but the world in general.

Let’s stop trying to understand “them” because if we really think about it, they’re us. They just have different life experiences; they just have their own assumptions levied upon them they resent, and that puts a chip on their shoulder. They see their own in-groups and out-groups and tribes that will fight for them and against them.

We’re all just trying to survive this damned world and enjoy ourselves as best we can against those intolerant, self-absorbed monkeys whose base nature is to do everything in their power to enrich themselves and destroy the other, just as our base nature shouts in our minds to do the same.

We must understand the nature of our cognitive dissonances. This is the crutch of these mad culture wars.

Every slight we perceive against us, we magnify. Every slight we accost the other with, we justify. THIS is the nature of humanity. THIS is why things invariably go down the tubes, and we find one another at each others’ throats. In the land of an eye for an eye, we’re not just blind; we’ve mutilated each other into dirt.

Some may argue, “But they’re worse, they have less accountability, their dissonance is stronger,” and on and on. It doesn’t help the situation, it doesn’t deescalate things, it doesn’t right the wrongs of anyone. At some point, someone has to break the cycle of abuse and revenge that we levy on ourselves. 

I want us to reflect on who we just became in the past few weeks as the culture war seemingly shifts, as we smell blood in the water…

Did we smile knowing we had a chance to right wrongs, to make this scene purely meritocratic? Or was it a bloodthirsty smirk, the moral mandate to come in and start racking up our own body count and attack the hordes who did us wrong?

Let’s reaffirm to ourselves the lay of the land here. The VAST majority of people are not terrible. They get caught up in the warring tribes of the day. They buy into these conflicts not because they seek to destroy the world but because they simply want to get by.

All those “Dweebs we derided yesterday at the Game Developers Conference…” Sure, you might look into the crowd and see “cowards” wearing masks. You might see children in adult bodies who are still trapped in silly notions of being children. But who among us aren’t!?

These people have their own experiences. They live in the same cruel, unfair world we do, and the world that formed around them, unfortunately, was one of hate and judgment, and the only way for them to survive was to play to their tribal tunes of ego and empire.

And what are we doing? The very damned same.

I think we need to check ourselves in this moment. We need to decide what future we want to build. What values do we want to stand for?

Are we to try to seize the spinning wheels they used to churn so many others to pulp to satiate their bloodlust and do the very same, and in turn, validate their bloody conquests of the future?

Or do we finally act like the gosh damned adult in the room that this world desperately needs, and in doing so, maybe inspire others to do the very same?

The only way this world starts getting better is when we start being better. If we act cruel and brutal because we got an unfair shake, this cycle never ends.

And maybe some bloodthirsty tribalist ascends the throne in our stead. That’s just the nature of things. But it’s time to pick a side.

For so long, things were bleak. It was hard to imagine the tides would ever turn; many of us were in a position we wouldn’t wish on anyone with the shamings and the otherings. So, it’s time to put an end to that evil.

There is more to this sphere than hate and judgment.

We are entrusted with the One Ring. Why shouldn’t we keep it? Why cast it to the fire now, after its powers were focused against us for so woefully long?

Have we learned nothing from the stories we held so dearly over these years?

It’s time to turn the other cheek. We’re all the same; an attack on the other is an attack on ourselves. Let’s get back to making great movies that celebrate everyone. Let’s get back to making games for all to enjoy. Let’s get back to articles that all can celebrate!

We’re starting to go down the dark path. And there’s no recovery from that. If we spend too much time on Twitter, if we give in to our hate, we will fall to the Dark Side. We will become the next Kathleen Kennedy, the next agenda-driven destroyer of geekdom.

Is fandom about video games? Is it about nerdy stories? Movies? Tabletops? When you distill it to its essence, being a geek is just about having fun and not giving a damn what anyone thinks about that.

And what sort of horrible monster would seek to horde that only for themselves?

Life is short; there’s precious little time for this petty bullshit, whether you’re a writer, an influencer, or a maker of games or film or comics. Maybe now isn’t the time to Strike Back; maybe now is the time for A New Hope, that the fandom can be repaired, that we can forge a more perfect geekdom once again.

Justin Trudeau is famously lampooned for a quote to the effect of “If you destroy your enemies, they win.” When you first hear it, it’s laughable nonsense. But let’s take a moment to ruminate on the deeper meaning here; maybe there are things we do not understand, and that is why we have fared so poorly in the court of public opinion. While many of us took our culture for granted, took great entertainment for granted, took meritocracy for granted, there were those who saw the world through a different lens. For them, a battle still raged while others were at peace. We overlooked the social strife others were experiencing; we saw battle only as the strong being the victor.

But we live in a different age. The strong no longer battle the strong to lord over the weak, and this is a good thing. In this new era, we no longer focus on empowering the capable, for better or worse. Victimhood and vulnerability come to the forefront. When we are not wanting for food and safety, we begin to explore deeper and more complex elements of our psyche and society, and for too long, we have ignored these elements. We’re big, strong nerds who don’t have feelings! And in our hubris, we surrendered the culture to those who were not afraid to wear their hearts on their sleeves.

None of us are without fault for how the world has evolved. Whether we’re cold and self-centered or affronted and self-centered, both pieces of this fandom have created fissure lines and otherings. Both have attracted contentious and monopolistic business elements to exploit notions of good and evil to fuel monetary machines. We’re two sides of the same coin.

The only way out of this mess is to admit fault in ourselves and others. It’s not complicated. When something is good, and the people who made it are talented, it should be praised. And when something is bad, we must provide constructive feedback. We must fight against those dissonances that pull at us, tear us apart, and drive us to think the other is trying to pull one over on us and cause this crazy machine of one-upping past transgressions to spiral out of control.

Anyway! Just some blathers from a random neckbeard on the outskirts of the internet. I appreciate you taking the time to read these rambles and hope you find some clarity and peace through all of this! Times of great change such as these don’t come along very often. Let’s try to take our time and make things as right as possible.