A professional, objective, apolitical future for The Escapist...

[visiblenoise]

I'm preparing a massive bucket of popcorn for me and anyone else who is prepared to sit on the sidelines, not losing their shit.

 

[Mikeybb]

Yes, many of his stories were outright racist or xenophobic, and his poems even more so, to the point that even as a product of an era where such beliefs were more acceptable, he was remarked by his contemporaries as being a very paranoid man with racist beliefs that were notable even for his time period.

He was a strange, isolated man who, if it wasn't for the circumstances of his life probably wouldn't have produced the work he did.
That said, it doesn't excuse such held beliefs.
Goes some way to explain them, but not excuse.

I'm always interested in anything that draws on or relates to lovecrafts mythos, but I can be fairly certain I'd be reluctant to share a conversation with the writer.

Back on topic.

I'll view this guy the same way I viewed Bob.

Give the content a chance and, should the off site behavior get too much to ignore (and it's close already), avoid said content quietly allowing those escapists who do enjoy it to do so in peace.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I'm preparing a massive bucket of popcorn for me and anyone else who is prepared to sit on the sidelines, not losing their shit.

I'm not losing my shit here, but this guy is like a right-wing movie bob from what I've seen. So I kinda wonder what people on the staff are thinking bringing this guy on board....

 

[Foehunter82]

Sorry for the wall of text:

In fairness, we have Gamergaters saying this is bad.

Yeah, I guess we're going to spend this entire year watching the actual truth come out about last year's debacle.

I suppose if you're going to stick your dick in crazy, you better stick it all the way in.

I totally need to add that to a sig at some point and credit you with it, if that's ok.

EDIT: Looking at his Twitter he also seems to be drinking the "ADHD don't real" kool-aid. Add another one to the list.

Oh, ADHD's real. I think it can be overdiagnosed in some instances (I grew up in a town where the school counselor played amateur psychotherapist who convinced a lot of parents that their kid had a learning disorder when they didn't), but it's definitely real. I work with a guy who has it pretty severely. On the plus side, he turns it to his advantage, which is really cool to see.

snip

You're right. Free Speech is a right AND a responsibility. You can say whatever you want, but you are only allowed protection against arrest and prosecution, not from actual consequence. If you're a hateful moron, no employer is required to hire you (I know there are legal protections there as well, but let's be honest, you'd have to prove that they're not hiring you on political grounds), and no other human being is legally required to associate with you (though there are some that act and think like you that will).

snip

I'm both Christian and I believe in evolution. The two are not mutually exclusive. The two extremes (believers AND non-believers) are guilty of the same thing. It results from the fact that both sides believe in the absolute "rightness" of their beliefs to the exclusion of any middle ground. Also, for the record, my beliefs are my own, and I could very easily be wrong about my beliefs, but the assumption by both sides that they're absolutely right without considering other possibilities is a failing.

 

[IceForce]

Maybe we'll get a statement from the staff. But I highly doubt it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the staff came and shouted at us for not tolerating poor victims like that guy. Or maybe they just agree with him and their statement will be some rant about how being gay is a choice and trans people don't deserve respect. I mean that's the kind of people they hire now, they must have jumped for joy when they found this guy.

I'm surprised Archon himself hasn't come along and locked this thread.

Then again, if he did he would reveal himself to be a massive hypocrite. Because GGers are apparently allowed to sit in their megathread all day and rant and rave about what Anita Wu is posting on twitter, but if this thread got closed that would mean we can't point out objectionable tweets by a prospective future Escapist contributor.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Maybe we'll get a statement from the staff. But I highly doubt it.

I wouldn't be surprised if the staff came and shouted at us for not tolerating poor victims like that guy. Or maybe they just agree with him and their statement will be some rant about how being gay is a choice and trans people don't deserve respect. I mean that's the kind of people they hire now, they must have jumped for joy when they found this guy.

That statement fills me with concern over what's going to happen to other current staff. Yahtzee more often than not abstains from politics unless he's gonna make a joke, and he's hit both sides. So it makes me worry about Yahtzee's job security here, if they do let him go, they better give him ZP as part of his severance, so he can monetize it on his own. Assuming he wants to continue doing it at all if they do kick him to the curb, but since it reliably pays the bills and it's been his routine for over half a decade... Anything's possible I guess.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Okay, after actually looking through some of his twitter, I don't really see all that much reason for people to panic. He seems interesting in "geek community" stuff, and while I don't agree with many of the things he says, even on twitter he doesn't really seem obnoxious. He doesn't really seem like all that much of a zealot, so I feel that even if he does have a slight right-wing spin on things, it would probably still be beneficial over a left-wing echo chamber.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Okay, after actually looking through some of his twitter, I don't really see all that much reason for people to panic. He seems interesting in "geek community" stuff, and while I don't agree with many of the things he says, even on twitter he doesn't really seem obnoxious. He doesn't really seem like all that much of a zealot, so I feel that even if he does have a slight right-wing spin on things, it would probably still be beneficial over a left-wing echo chamber.

Thank you for having the patience and willingness to do that for those of us who would have been too irritated over some of his statements, or couldn't be arsed. That gives me some hope on all fronts, if that guy is pretty balanced most of the time then I think he could be forgiven for the occasional out burst. I mean heck we generally did the same for MovieBob and he actually lasted for quite a while on this site.

 

[runic knight]

Yes. Just yesterday a trans kid only 13 years of age, Damien, attempted suicide because the world is filled with his kind of vile hate. We don't even know if he survived or not, though the most optimistic rumour is that he's on advanced life support - not exactly optimistic. Another just killed themselves five days ago, his name was Zander - age 15. Or somebody I personally knew, Leelah, who committed suicide on December 28th, was only 17. Suicide attempt rate for trans youth is over half, and of hate crime murders against LGBT people, over three-quarters of them happened to transgender people. So yes, I do believe its fair to say that transphobia is quite harmful.

So you would leverage those events as his responsibility? I would argue that is entirely dishonest, since he is guilty of belief but not action himself. Unless, of course, you have example of him encouraging suicides or attacking a person.

Yes it does, to transgender people, who are arguably the most marginalized group in developed nations (I personally rank sex workers, the physically and mentally disabled, and the mentally ill similarly marginalized as well) and are statistically more likely to be a victim of abuse or violence before the age of twenty than Morse ever will be.

Them being victims means that it is NOT belief on its own, but is coupled with some form of action against them. If you have evidence of such action he has done, then please, share it and I will stop playing devil's advocate. But if all he has is a belief then it is unfair to lay the blame for the actions of others at his feet. Yes they are statistically more likely to be victims, it is true, but that does not mean it is accurate to present people with a belief relating to them as they are attackers just because of that belief.

Its not the first time he's been called out. He wrote an entire article, which was posted in the OP, which comes down to "Waaah, they're persecuting us poor Christians for calling homosexuals immoral deviants who damage society, waaah." I'm quite tired of bigots who make life hell for others playing the victim.

Mhmm, he has a belief. And? Has the article called for attacks against trans as people? Has it called for the dehumanizing of them or removal of their basic rights as people. Or was it just a political reaction piece based entirely on a false perception of transpeople? Because as stupid as the latter option is, that is NOT causing harm.

Its wrong, and people pointed it out to him. He holds his position. Additionally, he's denying the right for a people group to self-identify. I mean, how else can you interpret this?

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/TheBrandonMorse/status/569245391243202560]

That he grants respect to individuals, not to groups? My interpretation is it is a response to the idea that a person who is part of a group intrinsically deserve respect for being part of that group. In that I could even agree, no one deserves respect because the group they belong to inherently commands it.

At worst, he is not even saying they can't self-identify, he is saying he wont treat them as they self identify. A dick move, but a far cry from what is accused and a world apart from being the cause of the suicides or violence against trans you brought up previously.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Okay, after actually looking through some of his twitter, I don't really see all that much reason for people to panic. He seems interesting in "geek community" stuff, and while I don't agree with many of the things he says, even on twitter he doesn't really seem obnoxious. He doesn't really seem like all that much of a zealot, so I feel that even if he does have a slight right-wing spin on things, it would probably still be beneficial over a left-wing echo chamber.

Thank you for having the patience and willingness to do that for those of us who would have been too irritated over some of his statements, or couldn't be arsed. That gives me some hope on all fronts, if that guy is pretty balanced most of the time then I think he could be forgiven for the occasional out burst. I mean heck we generally did the same for MovieBob and he actually lasted for quite a while on this site.

I don't really want to over sell him, but the idea of some right-wing journalist who has no experience in geek culture conjured up images of some bible thumping conservative. But it seems untrue. Overall he seems to lean far more libertarian and most of the posts seem to be about things that would be considered relevant to the interests of this site. While I don't agree on his stance on homosexuality or transsexual/transgenderism, I more or less retract my doubt that he would be able to resist turning the position into a soap-box. Especially since I enjoyed Movie Bob's content, and his twitter seems to be almost entirely politics.

Overall, I'm neither excited nor bothered by his new position, and will wait until we know what kind of content he will be producing to cast judgement.

so I feel that even if he does have a slight right-wing spin on things, it would probably still be beneficial over a left-wing echo chamber.

There's not enough contributions left to constitute an "echo chamber". I mean, there's Critical Miss and... well, I don't watch Feed Dump or Unskippable, but I've never heard anybody describe either of those programs in that manner. A party of one is no party at all. They just axed off MovieBob and three editors, including the Editor in Chief, and they lost Jim and several other contributors in the final quarter of 2014. If this happened then, yes you could say that its offsetting a relatively political echo chamber, but given the context, which includes the other hires, it looks like a hackjob to turn the site into an explicitly right-wing outlet despite the new "apolitical" direction. A classic tactic of conservative groups is to claim that their positions are inherently apolitical and anything further is a needless disruption of the status quo. Hence, its not hard to see why people are calling a spade, a spade.

True, there is no longer enough contributors to call this anything more than a silent chamber. So I can see why it seems like the site is moving to a different political alignment.

Either way, I feel the hysteria in this thread is unfounded.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

I don't really want to over sell him, but the idea of some right-wing journalist who has no experience in geek culture conjured up images of some bible thumping conservative. But it seems untrue. Overall he seems to lean far more libertarian and most of the posts seem to be about things that would be considered relevant to the interests of this site. While I don't agree on his stance on homosexuality or transsexual/transgenderism, I more or less retract my doubt that he would be able to resist turning the position into a soap-box. Especially since I enjoyed Movie Bob's content, and his twitter seems to be almost entirely politics.

Overall, I'm neither excited nor bothered by his new position, and will wait until we know what kind of content he will be producing to cast judgement.

[snip the rest]

Either way, I feel the hysteria in this thread is unfounded.

Well if he's a libertarian even a more right-wing one than if he does was political it'll be really interesting to see what he says as a more centrist libertarian myself.

I hope I didn't come off as hysterical over him, his views on homosexuality and transsexual/transgenderism are what really just irritated me to the core.

 

[Skatologist]

Snip

Based on these tweets of his we can not only consider him a shameless bigot, we can conclude that he's a small child whose personal creed seems to be "no one tells me what to do!" Apparently, that rebellious phase isn't so much a phase as a predominant part of their life for some people, a lot of whom seem to be unapologetically bigoted.

So, hooray for our new, apolitical, happy Escapist! No one will denigrate you for your hobbies, but they will most certainly denigrate you for not being born cisgendered and heterosexual like a good person.

I'm just using your comment as a bouncing point for another series of points on my part because I hate making original posts, but I guess I'll slightly respond. I'm still not going to entirely burn Mr. Morse at the stake for these comments or even attempt to disrespect him and will indeed puzzle about how good his content will be and what exactly it might entail, but at the current moment, I have no respect for this person beyond that amount that should be declared to all human beings. BTW, this isn't a jab or anything at you personally, but are you now regretting your premium membership or have you been doing so for a while?

Now my points:

Why these political comments matter whether or not he writes politically- Yes, indeed, good work can be divorced from the author's personal, political, or social views. However, with such alienating comments, this site will be viewed as being not trans inclusive and thus trans people, whether they be developers or posters, will have a tough time supporting a site that hosts this man regardless of whether or not he voices his opinion here. In fact, quite a few trans developers when hearing about Morse's comments had immediately declared that boycotts would be necessary for the site, but had also said they would never want to be featured here in terms of coverage.

I believe a good comparison would be if a person like myself were an aspiring developer and instead of Mr. Morse discussing transphobic remarks he instead used "mutt" "******" "spook" or any other racial epithet and declared he ought to hold such an opinion on the grounds of "well I can" which he does with LGBT people. I would most certainly not want to be interviewed by the site regardless of whether or not he is the one to interview me or if he even does not have such opinions be apart of on the basis that I would find his statements/opinions too abhorrent outside the site for me to even tangentially promote such bigotry.

Somewhat related is former staff roseofbattle voicing her opposition to Morse's viewpoint to the point of no longer visiting the site:

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/roseofbattle/status/569158815733714944]

On something I found from Mr. Morse- He had written this and it is safe to say, he seems to be one of the many people who loathe "political correctness" along with speaking of Saul Alinsky, the Frankfurt School, and many other talking points from social conservatives I find and it is safe for me to say I am in complete opposition to this viewpoint of Mr. Morse.

Surprisingly I found a video of a person who quite frankly explains why I don't treat the fear of political correctness as something serious of discussion and wholeheartedly believe Mr. Morse should take note from such a video and person.


[We should so totally get this guy making content on the site! He describes Mr. Morse actions and why they are not okay perfectly, bolded ones below are really relevant to Morse and his work so far]

>Term is used as a shield for jerks to defend themselves from being called jerks.
>"Say something bigoted and hurtful and if someone calls you on it, no worries, just accuse them of enforcing "political correctness" and suddenly they're the bad guys and you're a mighty warrior for free speech"
>Political correctness is a tool to broaden the inclusiveness language for those that are not straight white males
>PC is a make believe underdog con for conservatives and is used by political operatives as a mythology to create such things as "agendas" against progressive ideals
>Most things slagged as political correctness is just being nice
>Most of the righteous complainers are simply jerkwads that think certain people or groups don't deserve their niceness
>We must call out Anti PC posturing as cowardly defense mechanism used by bullies who lack courage in their own conviction

As for "wait to see what he's going to do- Okay I will. But I unfortunately have no reference to what exactly he will be doing for content. So Morse fans, GGers and people who wish to defend him, here is my goalpost that I will not move in any direction. I would like an entertaining piece of work by Morse that does not hint at his political views as either a social conservative or libertarian, if someone were to provide this, I will welcome him aboard as worthy staff, but of course, none of his viewpoints.

 

[Skatologist]

If you have evidence of such action he has done, then please, share it and I will stop playing devil's advocate.

You're not "playing devil's advocate", you're defending deliberate, unapologetic transphobia.

Someone said this earlier somewhere else. Don't call it devil's advocate. Call it what it actually is, playing racist's advocate. Playing homophobe's advocate. Playing transphobe's advocate. The devil can't touch any of that that kind of evil or hate, but he sure can fiddle:

That he grants respect to individuals, not to groups?

"I don't hate black people, my best friend is black! Who I really hate are those niggers who just coincidentally make up 99.9% of black people."

Yes, this. He also so happens to have basically agreed that he hasn't found rational or reasonable trans folk, so he in his mind has every reason to treat you with disrespect. And again, one of his tweets I linked had that example and he picked one of the worst options, if it wasn't already the worst.

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/MadScientist212/status/569244522019860480]

 

[Vault101]

OT: wow that guy seems like a bigoted jerk...

uh..who is this guy anyway?

, one of his tweets I linked had that example and he picked one of the worst options, if it wasn't already the worst.

[i/]"well....shit"[/i]
-The Inquisitor

I'm both Christian and I believe in evolution. The two are not mutually exclusive. The two extremes (believers AND non-believers) are guilty of the same thing. It results from the fact that both sides believe in the absolute "rightness" of their beliefs to the exclusion of any middle ground. Also, for the record, my beliefs are my own, and I could very easily be wrong about my beliefs, but the assumption by both sides that they're absolutely right without considering other possibilities is a failing.

I'm going to have to "sort-of" disagree here, there is no "middle-ground" in the debate between Creationism [footnote/]creationism...not christianity[/footnote] and Evolution, the closest was Intelligent Design which was basically pseudo science

 

[chiggerwood]

[HEADING=1]Who, in the jiminy fuck, is this guy?[/HEADING] AND why should I care?

 

[JustAnotherAardvark]

the closest was Intelligent Design which was basically pseudo science

That's not ... actually true. Catholics, for example, have no gripe with evolution by natural selection. It's a "wizard can do whatever the wizard wants" kinda thing ... Creationism sets the top spinning, Evolution says where it ends up. 'Cause, y'know, mysterious ways.
Granted, "intelligent design" gets the clicks.

Although maybe you meant that with your "creationism not christianity" reference.

 

[dragonswarrior]

BTW, this isn't a jab or anything at you personally, but are you now regretting your premium membership or have you been doing so for a while?

I'm regretting it so much that I, in fact, regret canceling my subscription earlier because every new day that goes by makes me want to do it again. Though it would probably seem like it had a bit more of an impact on things if my subscription didn't end in late Fall.

How sad is it that I signed up for this late last Fall as a show of support for Tito and the Escapist in the wake of GamerGate's nonsense? I considered it pretty sad when Jim left, really sad when Tito left, and now I'm just adding swear words to it every time a new thing happens.

Hey!! As a favor to you I'll go cancel my pub club subscription now for both of us! How does that sound!

I never thought I'd be the one saying this... I joined this site because it shared my interests and leaned towards my political views and was goddamn reasonable about it but now... Stay classy Escapist. Stay classy.

*rage quits*

 

[Cecilo]

I will only say this to you lot, the whole lot of you, look exactly like Gamergaters when it first started, digging through people's twitter feed to find something incriminating, accusing them of things. The only difference is, you feel you are morally correct and therefore have no shame in doing so, you feel you are correct so what does it matter if you go down to your oppositions level, hey I'm right, they are wrong fuck em.

If I had any doubts that you are the new moral panic like that of the Christians in the 90s it was erased when there was a Crusade to get that Mozilla founder to step down, it's nice to see you all following the trend though. Have fun being the man you used to fight against.

 

[runic knight]

He contributes to a culture that harms trans people everyday. The were act of making transphobic tweets and retweeting transphobic tweets is a part of that.

Transphobic again... I keep seeing that spring up more and more. Please, show me where he is attacking, calling for attacks, or denying basic rights because someone is trans then.

You're not "playing devil's advocate", you're defending deliberate, unapologetic transphobia.

No, I am calling an attempted ideological purging out for boiling down to being about a difference in political perspective. A sad realization that I have to do so considering I have no love for the guy, but as I said before, I can't condemn a man for ignorance or belief alone. And no, I don't see "I don't take the same stance on the topic of transphobia as you" is the same thing as "transphobic".

Attacks against the identity of trans people are attacks against trans people, both in thoery and in practice. In theory because it strips them of the ability to self-identify, perhaps the most basic human right there is, and in practice, because it encourages a society to be unflinching in its transphobic behavior, which ranges from ridicule to rape and murder.

You are stretching far with that one. Dismissing the gender identity someone aligns with is not the same as denying them human rights. You would equate calling someone with an incorrect pronoun in this case, with outright hate and violence. I think that is a reach too far to justify running the guy off.

Yes, he has.

Please, demonstrate then. Because saying "I don't think you are the gender you align with but instead the gender a dichotomy biological view would dictate" is not taking away basic human rights, no matter how stupid the idea is. Life? Liberty? The right to free speech or assembly? Hell, the right to call or consider yourself whatever you want is still there, he just doesn't consider some is anything but the binary. So until you show how opinion on their gender alignment is the same as violence though, I am still going to have to see it as an extended argument that boils back down into "I dislike this opinion" which is your right, but which also is of no more or less value the anyone who does like his opinion, and as such not a fair reason to call for his head least the same excuse be used against those you agree with.

That he grants respect to individuals, not to groups?

"I don't hate black people, my best friend is black! Who I really hate are those niggers who just coincidentally make up 99.9% of black people."

A strawman if I ever saw one. Unless that is quote from him himself. Though I suspect if it was, you'd have brought that up first instead of this dance around we seem to be doing.

The perspective is "a group doesn't deserve respect for being the group". You are instead presenting it as though that is an attack on the group. The sentiment comes off far more as reaching for loaded language instead of arguing the point, and honestly, the conversation deserves better then the be reduced to such a farce as that.

So its justified to act in a bigoted manner towards people who you don't think are treating you kindly, gotcha.

Your misrepresentation does you a disservice, you are better then just blatantly fallacious arguments.

Anyone who demands respect because of the group they belong to, be it gender, race, sexuality, gender identification, religious belief or anything else is a fool. No group inherently deserves respect and no one should act like they do or demand it, as respect is an individual thing, earned and lost by individual action alone.
Because it is individual, if someone is acting like an asshole, then treating them as such is only fair, yes? And it should not matter what group they are a part of when doing so. Or should I treat creationists who call me a hell-bound sinner with reverence and respect because the christian church demands it as a group? Looking at tweet in question, the calling of "neanderthal" before it doesn't suggest the most civil conversation previously, so the reply of "groups don't deserve respect just because" might be more related to that. But hey, this is just me trying to asses a twitter conversation and a guy's opinions in them. You seem to see a lot more malice in them though, which I really can't see there myself. The growing snarkyness of your replies though suggest you are taking this more personal then you should be.

 

[dragonswarrior]

I will only say this to you lot, the whole lot of you, look exactly like Gamergaters when it first started, digging through people's twitter feed to find something incriminating, accusing them of things. The only difference is, you feel you are morally correct and therefore have no shame in doing so, you feel you are correct so what does it matter if you go down to your oppositions level, hey I'm right, they are wrong fuck em.

If I had any doubts that you are the new moral panic like that of the Christians in the 90s it was erased when there was a Crusade to get that Mozilla founder to step down, it's nice to see you all following the trend though. Have fun being the man you used to fight against.

Oh yes! Being upset over someone actively denying a group of people's existence is TOTALLY THE SAME as slut shaming a woman involved with video games! Because she made a comment about misogyny that you didn't like that one time because you aren't a misogynist you just want women to get out of your hobby and stop bothering you with their stupid "acceptance" and "fair treatment" stuff and waaaaaah the feminists wanna steal our games! And it's totally the same to be upset that some white dude thinks you can't tell him to not say the N-word and completely glossing over the fact that male games journalists routinely get invited to parties by publishers that include prostitutes in favor of focusing on one woman's sex life with a reviewer who didn't even review her game!

Yep! All of this is exactly the same.

Except for the goddamn context. Which is pretty much everything.