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Monday 23 May 2016

Why #NotAtMyTable is Not About Bullying

The instigators of #NotAtMyTable are claim that they're all about stopping 'bullies' and 'abusers' in the RPG hobby. Of course, we all know that's a lie. All they give a fuck about is their little group manipulating people's sense of fundamental discipline to be able to get power over the hobby, in order to enact censorship and blacklisting.  We know this because they've done it dozens of times before now; it's so endemic that I can link you to an earlier blog post of mine about a totally different "outrage" in the hobby and you'll see how it applies in exactly the same way; once again, Totalitarians are trying to use emotional appeals to the mushy middle's sense of decency against them, to take control.

One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games. Now let's assess how this is absolute bullshit and what they really want is to use claims of sexism (or racism, or homophobia) to go after games they don't like.

I mean, it should be as simple as asking: "which of the sides in the controversy are have significant numbers in favor of censorship"? That should be enough. But let's say you want some more proof that they're not just totalitarians, but HYPOCRITICAL totalitarians....

The proof is in the Maid RPG.

Maid is a game where you can literally play a preteen slave/maid dressed in a completely transparent uniform, who is sexually pursued by her master and is identified as a 'lolita'.  And this isn't 'can' as in theoretically in some weird stretch the way you could theoretically do something like that in, say, Call of Cthulhu (weird as that would be).  This is 'can' as in "It is explicitly used in the book"!

If the game had been written by, say, James Desborough, they'd be calling for his arrest. Feminists all across the hobby would be demanding that he and anyone ever remotely associated with him be banned for life from producing RPGs ever again. There'd be demands that we censor the entire RPG hobby. There'd be people going to the UN. There'd be fainting-couch outrage like you've never seen before.

Of course, James Desborough, who has been painted as the great 'smut-peddler' villain of the RPG world by the Regressive Left RPG Division, has never, ever, written anything even remotely as extreme as Maid.

But because Maid was NOT written by Desborough, and was instead translated and published by a beloved leader-figure of the Forge/Storygames movement, the game is 'stunning and brave' instead of sick disgusting misogyny proof-of-rape-culture whatever etc. etc.

It proves what a gang of hypocrites the Regressive Leftists are. Content doesn't matter, all that matters is which team you're on.  Desborough writes games that are regular RPGs, and he's a militant rationalist-atheist type who has dared question the appeals to emotion used by the Outrage Brigade and their constant and singular proposed solution of handing control and censorship powers to a small group of self-determined elites, so he is a sick pervert who must be stopped.  But the sick fucks over at Storygames can feel free to write and/or promote RPGs featuring sexual acts Desborough would never touch, and they are just being Sophisticated Artists, because they're part of the special club of self-determined elites who want a Central Planning Committee to rule the hobby and punish the old-school gamers for their sins against inclusion.  They're on the right team, the team that wants the Outrage Brigade in power; and Desborough is not.

And mind you, for my example, I picked someone that you could legitimately point out makes very slightly racy RPGs (again, nothing anywhere remotely close to the likes the 'child slave in a see-through uniform being violated with a broomstick' example from Maid, just more like a Benny-Hill Sexy-Party type of smut). But the Outrage Brigade just uses him as low-hanging fruit; they don't actually need anything like that to try to drive out their ideological opponents. It's convenient for them when there is that, but if there isn't, they'll just lie.   Remember kiddies: I wrote an RPG about culturally-accurate Indian Mythic History, and put the first ever transgender heroic character on the cover of an RPG, and they STILL spent months claiming I was a racist and a transphobe.

It's all a fucking shell game of empty hypocrisy. And the good news is, the enormous backlash on Twitter against the stupid fucking hashtag is a sign that the Mushy Middle finally isn't falling for it. They've figured out the trick, and they know that these claims that it's just about making people be nice are really a shallow power grab, and the accusations (often repeated over the recent history of the #NotAtMyTable hashtag by increasingly desperate Regressive Leftists) that if you dare question their campaign it must mean you are a pro-bullying racist sexist bigot yourself has finally been seen through as a pathetic scare tactic.

It's 2016, bitches, and the hobby isn't falling for your crap anymore. Time to run and hide, your scam is up.  Tell your comrades that the Pundit is coming and his Proxy Army is back in town.


RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Solitario Horn + Argento Latakia

53 comments:

  1. I was just thinking today about how Hentai isn't ever touched by the far left-wingers. It's considered an art to them.

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  2. Shawn, could you present evidence that hentai is considered art by you know a statistically significant portion of the left?

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    1. Clearly it is a creative endevour, so some of it may be art, just as some comics are art, some films are art and some bits of graphic design are art.

      But do you have evidence that people on the left consider Hentai as a whole art.

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  4. "One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games." Who said this? When when did they say this? Where did they say it? what was the context? Why haven't you provided a link to it?

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    1. Presumably, bycause your trying to generalise this to a large and diverse group of people you have Dozens of example of it. Can you provide the evidence that lots of people have said it?

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    2. Here you go.
      https://gomakemeasandwich.wordpress.com/2015/09/10/rape-is-not-edgy-creative-or-original-twcw/

      http://www.sarahdarkmagic.com/content/sunlight-best-disinfectant-nsfw

      http://jessicalprice.tumblr.com/post/127951942358/games-sure-are-classy

      Here are several examples of prominent voices in what the pundit would call the outrage brigade. They call for boycotting onebookshelf unless they get their way, discuss the censoring of material so that no mention of rape ever reaches the eyes of impressionable... adults? Do you need more? This took me about 45 seconds.

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    3. Okay first up, even what your describing those blogs as saying is not the same as

      "One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games."

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    4. Are you not on Twitter? Follow the hashtag. Not to mention that apparently the hashtag itself was started as a result to a bullshit post some tumblr moron posted about how traumatized they were by having their character hit on in the game (note: not in real life, in the game).

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    5. Pundit, burden of proof is on you. That means quotes. That means links.

      People who oppose you cannot prove that what your claiming hasn't been said, so it is up to you to provide evidence that it has.

      Because right now your expecting people to believe in Russell's Teapot.

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    6. Efie

      Go make me a sandwich does not appear to to even be making the point your suggesting it makes, let alone the one that Pundit was claiming.
      What they are saying is "Creatives,the way you handle rape is pretty shit. Please stop because you can't do it well."

      Sarah Darkmagic isn't saying tournament should be banned, she is saying that ignoring the writer's work will not make it go away. That the best way fight against works like tournament is to talk about them publically.

      But that isn't even close to "One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games."

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    7. Question, is Erik Mona one of the outrage brigade.

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    9. Why do you want to fight against works like tournament? What do you care about what other people buy or play? The fact that you wrote that tells me that no amount of evidence is enough for you. Wundergeek clearly writes "So from now on, JUST DON’T FUCKING WRITE ABOUT RAPE." But that just means maybe sometimes write about rape." What do you think that means? "Don't write about".... Is a call to censor. Even though if we followed her "advice" we wouldn't have works like "the kite runner" a clockwork orange", "a streetcar name desire" just to name a few. all better works than anything wundergeek has made.

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    10. You demand proof totally disingenuously as if you know nothing of the recent history of the hobby, but you obsessively read this blog so I know you do.
      You want proof? I'M your fucking proof. Go google "Consultantgate". Go look at the OBS censorship policy the Pseudo-activists demanded be put in place and complained wasn't enough! Ask James Desborough!

      So go fuck yourself with your stupid weasely Pretending You Don't Know.

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    11. reading your blog, and being informed about anything gaming related are not synonymous. I also do not obsessively read it. The blog posts I have not read here in the last year or so, vastly out number the ones you have posted.

      I am asking you to evidence your claim, because I am fairly certain it is a straw man argument. It is fairly in keeping with your approach.

      You are, I suspect, aware that people are not making statements that can reasonably be summed up as "One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games."

      I suspect you are unwilling to provide examples to back up you position because it would then be trivial to show that your making a straw man argument. So instead you are relying on the impossiblity of proving a negative.

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    13. Benjamin, I noticed in your response to me that you conveniently left out jessica price's blog post. I know why, because it didn't fit your spin on the subject, because she clearly speaks out in favor of censorship and how the first amendment doesn't apply here. As if I and others are anti-censorship because it's the law. It's about ethics and being inclusive and having everybody's voice heard. #NotAtMyTable is about silencing those voices. It's about picking on the socially awkward, you know, somebody who makes an inappropriate comment because they aren't socialized. The characters in "The Knights of the Dinner Table" comes to mind for an example They would not be welcome at the outrage brigade's table. They are welcome at mine, I'll smack em around if I have to, and still have an awesome game.

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    14. Efie, I didn't comment on Jessica Price's post, no. Why? Because I hadn't gotten that far. As much as I am sure getting paid to laugh at pundit's on going logical Fallacy creation art project, I am not.

      As such, the examination and likely debunking of the examples you have provided are really something that are going to happen at what ever pace I can be bothered with.

      That said, from the cursery glance I have given the article, she seemed to have a very strong grasp of the nature of free speech. Certainly much better than pundit does.

      She certainly does not speak in support of censorship. What she does say if I am remembering correctly is that social consequences of speech are an example of free speech.

      Do you believe you have the right to voice disagreement?

      Do you believe you have the right to choose what you will and will not buy?

      Do you believe you have the right to choose who you spend time with?

      Would you fire an employee, who in private called you a fucktard?

      As someone who is massively socially awkward, and who has gamed with people who are more so, yeah, no. The #NotAtMyTable crew sound like the kind of people I would really much rather game with. For a start, they don't use terms like "smack em around"(you) or call people cunts just cause they like different types of elf games(pundit).

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    15. Massively socially awkward is the first thing you got right. Congratulations.

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    16. Matt Celis:
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVFK8sVdJNg

      Also, are you suggesting that Bertrand Russell didn't put forward the argument commonly known as either Russell's Teapot or The Celestial Teapot hypothesis, which neatly sums up why the burden of proof is upon those making a positive claim, such as "One of the things they claim is that they want RPGs to be 'safe' from sexually suggestive or 'triggering' games."

      Because I am pretty sure he did. See he said,

      "Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense."

      Is Massively socially awkard really the only thing I got right? Or is your argument not only fallacious, but also factually wrong?

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    17. You show that you have no idea what anyone is actually talking about. Smack em around is a reference to "Knights of the Dinner Table" where every story seemingly ends in a table flip and a fist fight. Yet they all still come back next week to play. I guess they didn't get the not at my table memo. And if you would rather play with #NotAtMyTable what are you doing here? I absolutely have the right choose what I would buy, but not to choose what others would buy.And I may or may not fire somebody calling me a fucktard, especially if I was being one. And I don't always get to choose who I can spend time with. For example #NotAtMyTable people would have already banned you for a troll. if you engaged them like this. You criticize others for their language choices and use fucktard? Go fuck yourself.

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    18. Evidence demanded of assertion.

      Evidence given.

      Evidence dismissed, called fake, or ignored.

      Repeat ad nauseum.

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  6. Oh, Pundit, how dare you impugn affluent Leftist "let me type up my outrage real quick while I wait for my Starbucks order and pat myself on the back" activism. It's at least as important as marching to Selma or Washington, or actually volunteering at a battered women's shelter or rape hotline, and even better it takes zero effort or commitment!

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    1. Armchair activism. It's like Monday Morning Quarterbacking without the beer.

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    2. How do you know that people you are describing as 'Armchair Activists' are not engaging in other forms of Activism?

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    3. Because they would be bragging about it the same way they brag about this crap.

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    4. ORLY? What bragging is that exactly?

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    5. In these comments a link is given to this:

      http://dorkland.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-trouble-with-tabletop-gaming-is.html

      At the end he has to mention that a minor game company instituted a policy change at their cons based on a blog he wrote. That's just one quick example. Read any SJW'so blog or Twitter and they love to point out their "accomplishments".
      Pundit here is just as bad about that but he isn't claiming to be a white knight.

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    6. Since when is congratulating someone for looking after other people, bragging?

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    8. Are you kidding? The whole hashtag is just one massive circle-jerk! It's just people getting to show off how 'awareness' they are, while acting like anyone who disagrees with their hipster bullshit must be a sexist racist homophobe, because those are clearly the only two options (TOTAL agreement with the official plan with no questioning of motives or criticism of method, or you're a monster).

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  7. Here's what the dudes at "Something Awful" (normally very reliably pro-SJW) had to say about MAID:

    http://www.somethingawful.com/dungeons-and-dragons/maid-gross-lolita/1/

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    1. Its funny, because SA is full of pedophiles.

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  8. That hashtag IS about bullying... just not the way the folks using it think it is. They're wearing a badge so they feel justified in punching anyone who isn't.
    "You won't wear my badge? You must be for all these things my badge says it's against... racist sexist scum!"

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    1. You, John, and Amy are drinking a beer and chatting about crosswords.

      Sam walks over asks to join you.

      You say yes.

      Every time John speaks, Sam points at him and laughing, calls him a brainless moron.

      Are you, John and Amy bullying Sam when you tell him you would rather not drink beer and talk with him about Crosswords?

      Are you bullying Sam, if before he sits down, you say, "Sure, but so you know, we don't sit, drink beer and talk about crosswords with people who call any of us idiots"?

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    2. That makes no sense in this context. You're trying to paint one side as "good" and the other as "bad".

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    3. Nope. one side as people who arn't hurting harming or wronging anyone, and one side which is hurting, and possibly harming.

      That is what happens when someone is racist, sexist, ect, to a person in your group. it is equivilant.

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    4. Your side IS harming people, you cunt. Your side tried to BLACKLIST me. You engaged in a direct effort to do me HARM. Your side regularly engages in exclusion of anyone with a differing viewpoint of any kind, NOT BULLIES, but Dissenters of any sort from your totalitarian fucking agenda.

      YOU ARE THE BULLIES HERE.

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    5. A, I have never attempted to black list you.

      B. Congratulations, you have been such an enormously horrible person large sections of the roleplaying community don't want you anywhere near stuff they like.

      When you call groups of people cunts, why do you expect them to owe you a living?

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    6. You may have mistaken me for your friend Christopher Helton. I don't think anyone owes me a living. They just don't have a right to silence me. It's funny how when confronted individually, none of the Virtue Signalers want to take credit for the movement they fuel.

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    7. You realise that boycotting your work is not the same as silencing you, right? Or is there some part of this story I am unaware of, where people hacked your blog and removed it from the Interwebz. Or was it that there was a campaign to have you work silenced through physical violence or governmental action.

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    9. There were repeated attempts to ban me from any place I wrote, to have me removed from the D&D project when it started, to have my name removed from the D&D books when it was finished, to try to get WoTC to make some kind of declaration denouncing me for my Thought Crimes, etc etc.

      You can pretend all you like but we all know that if they but had the power, there are tons of people on your side who would make sure I could never talk about RPGs again. Whereas if I had the power, I wouldn't do that to them.

      That's why my side is better.

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  10. Chris Helton responded:

    http://dorkland.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-trouble-with-tabletop-gaming-is.html

    "Written while eating Jelly Belly Superfruit jelly beans, because pipes are gross."

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    1. I saw that! It's hilarious to me that he was too much of a moral coward to refer to me by name. He's become a joke anyways, if he wasn't before, since demanding that gamers owe him a 'living wage'.

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    2. Says the man who is too frightened to post under his own real name and flips out at people who refer to him by his real name. Pot, kettle and all that.

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    3. If Helton operated by a pen name, I would refer to him by his pen name. The cowardice is in talking shit about someone without daring to say who that someone is.

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  11. Say what you will about censorship, but emulating child pornography is not only utterly distasteful, it adds nothing to the hobby. Whoever wrote this tripe should be put in check by the tabletop role-playing game community: http://i.somethingawful.com/u/elpintogrande/maid_rpg/character.gif

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  12. Hypocrite alert: https://www.google.com/amp/s/refereeingandreflection.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/rpgpundit-takes-the-low-road-justifies-every-criticism-ever-made-of-him/amp/

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