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

[NinjaDeathSlap]

snip

The fact that the people who were let go leaned toward one side of the political spectrum is part of the problem. A homogeneous staff has nothing to contribute to anything outside an echo-chamber. Even so, they were let go for economic reasons. That's the story we were given and considering how many people were let go and how many others were moved from other properties (mainly Gamefront) there is very little reason to believe it wasn't true. I'd wager Tito would cost more to keep than Morse, even if he weren't the EiC of the site-- though I obviously have no reason of knowing that.

So, why exactly is this move fishy? Should new hirings only be on one side of the political spectrum? Wasn't the fact that so many of the old contributors leaned on only one side a problem in and on itself? Hell, if they weren't all politically identical in the first place, would the firings raise any alarms to begin with?

While I don't believe that thins are only fair when you have an exactly equal number of people on both sides contesting an issue, neither am I saying that the previous status quo was particularly healthy either. Again, just because the thought of this guy coming here worries me, does not mean I'm giving anyone who used to be here a free pass. Getting real fucking tired of hammering that nail...

Other than that, it's fishy because of my main point. The point I made very clearly in the previous post. The point I've made about a dozen fucking times now throughout the thread, including in the OP itself. The point, that you don't tend to announce an 'apolitical' direction, right before hiring a figure who is known exclusively for his politics. It cannot be that hard to see what's wrong with this picture! I don't know how much more plainly you'd like me to say it.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

Listen I have no problem with him being a libertarian, or even right-wing. My problem stems from his obvious trans-phobic tweets. Now I'm not saying don't hire him but seeing as how he's a political blogger with no real game or geek culture journalism chops... I'm leaning on the side of pessimism on what sort of things he's gonna post.

Edit: This coming from a trans libertarian centerist, mind you.

Just for clarification, I strongly disagree with his views as well. I probably won't be inviting him to tea either.

I also don't mind the discussion of those views. But I do think it odd to write the future off based on his personal views and his previous, unrelated work-- especially when we don't know what his work here will be related to. Even the previous staff generally didn't post anything heavily political; the problem with their politics manifested in different ways (one-sided arguments, cherry-picking of news-reporting etc.)

Generally, I'm just tired of the doomsaying that has been going on since Tito and Co. left the site. It speaks to low standards and a fascination with e-celebs rather than the collective work of a publication.

 

[Stewie Plisken]

Other than that, it's fishy because of my main point. The point I made very clearly in the previous post. The point I've made about a dozen fucking times now throughout the thread, including in the OP itself. The point, that you don't tend to announce an 'apolitical' direction, right before hiring a figure who is known exclusively for his politics. It cannot be that hard to see what's wrong with this picture! I don't know how much more plainly you'd like me to say it.

Yeah, sorry, I just don't see it. I understand the point you're making, I just don't see it. I can't see it, before I know what he does here and see a sample of his actual work here. I've changed professional directions at least three times in my life and they had been completely unrelated to one-another. What I have been known for isn't what I will be known for. I have little reason, at the moment, to believe it's different for Morse or anyone.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Listen I have no problem with him being a libertarian, or even right-wing. My problem stems from his obvious trans-phobic tweets. Now I'm not saying don't hire him but seeing as how he's a political blogger with no real game or geek culture journalism chops... I'm leaning on the side of pessimism on what sort of things he's gonna post.

Edit: This coming from a trans libertarian centerist, mind you.

Just for clarification, I strongly disagree with his views as well. I probably won't be inviting him to tea either.

I also don't mind the discussion of those views. But I do think it odd to write the future off based on his personal views and his previous, unrelated work-- especially when we don't know what his work here will be related to. Even the previous staff generally didn't post anything heavily political; the problem with their politics manifested in different ways (one-sided arguments, cherry-picking of news-reporting etc.)

Generally, I'm just tired of the doomsaying that has been going on since Tito and Co. left the site. It speaks to low standards and a fascination with e-celebs rather than the collective work of a publication.

Just because he hasn't posted anything here yet, is not justification to give him a free pass in the case he posts pure gold. At least not from me, or any other trans person on this site. Aside from that, posting that they're going to go apolitical, then hiring a political blogger, smacks to me of the worst kind of click-bait hypocrisy. Like I said and have to clarify yet again. I don't think that they shouldn't hire him, or fire him before he can post anything, if he's got something they want. I'm still leaning on the side of pessimism on the kind of content he will post. Assuming he stays off political rants and especially avoids insulting the LGBT community then I'll be pleasantly surprised. Still I'm preparing for the worst.

 

[the phobic]

We have gotten to the point where issues of transgenderism and gay rights are nothing more than religious dogma.

And the insane thing about it is that gender is entirely about stereotypes of behavior and appearance which supposedly the left hates.

A transgender woman wants people to treat him as a regular woman. What does that mean? What does treating someone like something mean? That i am required to consider a guy a girl if he says so requires that I suddenly consider the important distinction between man and woman to be not about DNA or reproductive roles but about stereotypes. This is a philosophical issue not a scientific one. Though it should be an easy choice to rule that dna is important and not fitting a stereotype (sometimes to the extent that one castrates oneself to meet it).

How does one treat a woman differently from a man other than by acting based on stereotypes or referring to reproductive role?

No one on this thread will likely answer that, rather i'll be called a transphobe. Note that at this point all x-phobe means is y disagrees with z about the usefulness of the definition of x.

You never proved that the target of this thread was afraid of trans people. You never even showed any evidence whatsoever for it. As you know, you don't need to. You need merely accuse. Religion is bad mmk?

 

[LetalisK]

Awesome? I figured the culture wars between contributors and posters would end with MovieBob leaving(and to a much lesser extent Jim Sterling) with just minor skirmishes involving Grey Carter. Boy was I wrong. It's just been flipped on its head.

I guess we're just going to burn this ***** down, aren't we?

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

So did we just hire Anti Bob or something? Or who is this guy supposed to be just a new writer for the site?

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

We have gotten to the point where issues of transgenderism and gay rights are nothing more than religious dogma.

And the insane thing about it is that gender is entirely about stereotypes of behavior and appearance which supposedly the left hates.

A transgender woman wants people to treat him as a regular woman. What does that mean? What does treating someone like something mean? That i am required to consider a guy a girl if he says so requires that I suddenly consider the important distinction between man and woman to be not about DNA or reproductive roles but about stereotypes. This is a philosophical issue not a scientific one. Though it should be an easy choice to rule that dna is important and not fitting a stereotype (sometimes to the extent that one castrates oneself to meet it).

How does one treat a woman differently from a man other than by acting based on stereotypes or referring to reproductive role?

No one on this thread will likely answer that, rather i'll be called a transphobe. Note that at this point all x-phobe means is y disagrees with z about the usefulness of the definition of x.

You never proved that the target of this thread was afraid of trans people. You never even showed any evidence whatsoever for it. As you know, you don't need to. You need merely accuse. Religion is bad mmk?

First of all, who are you to say Religion is bad? It helps a whole hell of lot more people than you just helped.

Now wanting to be treated as a member of the opposite gender is kind of a fickle beast. But the simple answer is this... A transwoman would get really pissed off if you called her a him in most cases. It's not that we want to be treated on some gender-specific stereotype it's that we'd rather you use the gender pronouns for the identity we conform to, and have the out gender identities respected. We get stigmatized so much by this ignorant bile and people like you neither respect our wishes, nor us as people...

Also don't tell me it's all DNA. I was born male yet have XX chromosomes. I was born physically male, genetically female, and I project the gender image I want to be treated as (female). Because both genders are different, more than physically, the differences are social, emotional, and on many other mental levels that are not stereotypes.

 

[the phobic]

If you define maleness/femaleness as based on genetics than by definition you are female and were born female. Considering it offensive to refer to people based on their genetics is a bad thing. I assume you had a "male" appearance right? I am for not considering it to be defined based on appearance.

Religion is bad because its not true. So much of what is required dogma these days is not even argued, but just asserted based on that it makes people happy. The argument about truth is not only neglected, anyone engaging in it is persecuted.

EDIT: But also you say you project the image you want to be "treated as". What does that mean to be "treated as" a woman?

EDIT2: How can being "treated as" a woman not be considered acting towards someone based on a stereotype?

 

[Zealous]

Jesus this site really is a fucking train-wreck. Loosing Lisa Foiles, getting rid of the actual Escapist Magazine (you know, the title of the site), the disgusting treatment of Extra Credits, the cancellation of all those great shows like Doraleous and Doomsday, LRR's shift away from the site to YouTube and Twitch doing their own thing, all that March Mayhem nonsense a few years back, and finally all the shit that happened in the last sixth months. All that shit. All of it. Allowing this website to be the platform for misogyny and terrorism (which is what a politically motivated school shooting threat is you ignorant fucks), Jim gone, now Bob is out on his ass.

Then this whole :"Hey guys, don't worry. We're going to get back to gaming and just gaming. Forget about all that boring and complicated socio-political stuff. Who even cares about that anyway?"

Yet somehow, they can find it in them to hire this disgusting mess. Someone who is very openly transphobic to the highest degree.

Christ. This is just sad.

I used to really love coming here. Now I'm praying that Yatzee gets over his issues with crowd funding and goes independent with Patreon or hell gets hired on another site and that Critical Miss finds a new home.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they hired Adam Baldwin as a PR man at this point.

 

[the phobic]

Jesus this site really is a fucking train-wreck. Loosing Lisa Foiles, getting rid of the actual Escapist Magazine (you know, the title of the site), the disgusting treatment of Extra Credits, the cancellation of all those great shows like Doraleous and Doomsday, LRR's shift away from the site to YouTube and Twitch doing their own thing, all that March Mayhem nonsense a few years back, and finally all the shit that happened in the last sixth months. All that shit. All of it. Allowing this website to be the platform for misogyny and terrorism (which is what a politically motivated school shooting threat is you ignorant fucks), Jim gone, now Bob is out on his ass.

Then this whole :"Hey guys, don't worry. We're going to get back to gaming and just gaming. Forget about all that boring and complicated socio-political stuff. Who even cares about that anyway?"

Yet somehow, they can find it in them to hire this disgusting mess. Someone who is very openly transphobic to the highest degree.

Christ. This is just sad.

I used to really love coming here. Now I'm praying that Yatzee gets over his issues with crowd funding and goes independent with Patreon or hell gets hired on another site and that Critical Miss finds a new home.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they hired Adam Baldwin as a PR man at this point.

What does transphobic mean? And I mean its precise meaning as you use it?

 

[Colour Scientist]

Jesus this site really is a fucking train-wreck. Loosing Lisa Foiles, getting rid of the actual Escapist Magazine (you know, the title of the site), the disgusting treatment of Extra Credits, the cancellation of all those great shows like Doraleous and Doomsday, LRR's shift away from the site to YouTube and Twitch doing their own thing, all that March Mayhem nonsense a few years back, and finally all the shit that happened in the last sixth months. All that shit. All of it. Allowing this website to be the platform for misogyny and terrorism (which is what a politically motivated school shooting threat is you ignorant fucks), Jim gone, now Bob is out on his ass.

Then this whole :"Hey guys, don't worry. We're going to get back to gaming and just gaming. Forget about all that boring and complicated socio-political stuff. Who even cares about that anyway?"

Yet somehow, they can find it in them to hire this disgusting mess. Someone who is very openly transphobic to the highest degree.

Christ. This is just sad.

I used to really love coming here. Now I'm praying that Yatzee gets over his issues with crowd funding and goes independent with Patreon or hell gets hired on another site and that Critical Miss finds a new home.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they hired Adam Baldwin as a PR man at this point.

CM is a bit out of place here now.

I know The Escapist likely puts food on the table for them but it would be nice if they could find another site or go independent. I feel like CM is wasted here.

 

[Silvanus]

So, why exactly is this move fishy? Should new hirings only be on one side of the political spectrum? Wasn't the fact that so many of the old contributors leaned on only one side a problem in and on itself? Hell, if they weren't all politically identical in the first place, would the firings raise any alarms to begin with?

You know as well as anybody else that his being conservative is not the issue. His being vocally bigoted is. It's perfectly possible to be a conservative and refrain from denying somebody's identity, or mocking them because of it.

 

[Zealous]

What does transphobic mean? And I mean its precise meaning as you use it?

Nice sock. Please admit that this is a second account so the mods are required to ban you.

OT: An individual who fears or discriminates against people who are transsexual.

 

[JoJo]

If you define maleness/femaleness as based on genetics than by definition you are female and were born female. Considering it offensive to refer to people based on their genetics is a bad thing. I assume you had a "male" appearance right? I am for not considering it to be defined based on appearance.

Religion is bad because its not true. So much of what is required dogma these days is not even argued, but just asserted based on that it makes people happy. The argument about truth is not only neglected, anyone engaging in it is persecuted.

EDIT: But also you say you project the image you want to be "treated as". What does that mean to be "treated as" a woman?

The thing is, the genetics aren't as black and white as a lot of people think. There are in-fact rare cases of women with XY chromosomes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome], as a result of their cells failing to react to androgens in the womb, and rarer cases of men with XX chromosomes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XX_men], where the male-determining SRY gene has by chance ended up being grafted onto the wrong chromosome. That's not even touching the more common XXY, XYY and X0 combinations, biological sex is not as clear cut as it might appear at first glance.

Ultimately if someone appears to be a woman and self-identifies as a woman, then that's a lot more important for all practical purposes than a few scraps of DNA in their cells. I mean, if you took a karotype test tomorrow and found out you have the opposite XY/XX as you expected, which has happened to people before, would you suddenly start identifying as the opposite gender to the one you have lived for the whole of your life so far?

 

[the phobic]

What does transphobic mean? And I mean its precise meaning as you use it?

Nice sock. Please admit that this is a second account so the mods are required to ban you.

OT: An individual who fears or discriminates against people who are transsexual.

Uh, no. And you have no reason or evidence for this being a sock. It is a new account though. I'm sure I'm the only person who has ever posted somewhere for the first time.

EDIT: The target of this thread did not express fear or discriminate against transgenders.

 

[the phobic]

The thing is, the genetics aren't as black and white as a lot of people think. There are in-fact rare cases of women with XY chromosomes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androgen_insensitivity_syndrome], as a result of their cells failing to react to androgens in the womb, and rarer cases of men with XX chromosomes [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XX_men], where the male-determining SRY gene has by chance ended up being grafted onto the wrong chromosome. That's not even touching the more common XXY, XYY and X0 combinations, biological sex is not as clear cut as it might appear at first glance.

Ultimately if someone appears to be a woman and self-identifies as a woman, then that's a lot more important for all practical purposes than a few scraps of DNA in their cells. I mean, if you took a karotype test tomorrow and found out you have the opposite XY/XX as you expected, which has happened to people before, would you suddenly start identifying as the opposite gender to the one you have lived for the whole of your life so far?

That is your opinion. Why should we consider appearance important at all let alone more important than DNA? I know about those genetic issues and I would like to move in the direction of embracing diversity rather than dogma and stereotypes.

 

[Zealous]

What does transphobic mean? And I mean its precise meaning as you use it?

Nice sock. Please admit that this is a second account so the mods are required to ban you.

OT: An individual who fears or discriminates against people who are transsexual.

Uh, no. And you have no reason or evidence for this being a sock. It is a new account though. I'm sure I'm the only person who has ever posted somewhere for the first time.

EDIT: The target of this thread did not express fear or discriminate against transgenders.

Oh, I see. So they're not really Russian soldiers then? I mean, I have no way to disprove that they're Russian soldiers so I can't say for sure that they are Russian soldiers. So for right now I'll just assume that they're not Russian soldiers.

Got it.

 

[Lovely Mixture]

this thread will actually be the primary source of salt for the next 400 years.

To me the best part is people finally admitting that acting like an asshole on twitter is not ok, but only once it comes from someone they don't like.

Allowing this website to be the platform for misogyny and terrorism (which is what a politically motivated school shooting threat is you ignorant fucks)

the award for most hyperbole goes to....

 

[the phobic]

Oh, I see. So they're not really Russian soldiers then? I mean, I have no way to disprove that they're Russian soldiers so I can't say for sure that they are Russian soldiers. So for right now I'll just assume that they're not Russian soldiers.

Got it.

Uh, evidence? Are you saying because there is a lot of evidence that Russian soldiers are in Ukraine that that is comparable to saying someone has fear or is discriminating because they disagree with you?

What you are lacking is any evidence that there is fear or discrimination.