ArchfiendBobbie
First Post
You're kinda reading me right, but kinda wrong, on the comics issue. The reason why I am so focused on it is that I am wanting to make certain I have a pattern of behavior understood for the people who were against diversity in comics. That is why I also link the issue to Ghostbusters; same pattern of behavior cropped up. And it appears to be cropping up with DnD. It doesn't necessarily have to be any organized movement or conspiracy, but it could be a societal movement within a certain group and one that we need to know how to properly counter in order to limit the damage they can do.
I'm really not thinking of the idea of letting them control the conversation. Which is actually why I'm opposed to how Mearls confronted them; he's effectively handing control over the conversation to them, rather than controlling it himself. They can take his tweet in any direction they want, as we've seen limited examples of on this thread. There are other methods of countering them without directly engaging them; focusing on the positives of Kate Welch as a start, for example. Including more diversity-oriented articles on the DnD website. Basically, instead of engaging them on their terms, keep forcing them to attack on WotC's and act to make them irrelevant by not even including them in the official conversations and continuing to celebrate and do the very things they hate. Basically, rather than give in, double-down as a massive middle finger to them, then don't even really give them space to reply to it beyond what they already have.
As for Kate Welch... I haven't addressed what she should do because there are no right answers. Basically, she has to choose between equally-awful options. She can sit back and passively take it, in which case they get a free shot at abusing her. She can engage them head-on, but that risks getting doxxed and both her and any family she has harassed in real life (not to mention the threats and worse). Or she can sit back and let someone else defend her, effectively surrendering her empowerment as a woman for a meeker traditional role... and the possibility that all that will happen is someone else suffers the doxxing and other problems. So, basically... there's no good options for her. I have no advice for her because no matter what I recommend I will be telling her to do something horrible. This is a complex situation where she basically has to choose what sacrifice she is willing to make. She has my empathy, and my remorse I don't have any better answer.
