D&D General #orc, #orcs, #orclivesmatter controversy explodes on Twitter!

[VelvetViolet]

Why Orcs Are Problematic in Dungeons & Dragons

A 2016 passage from a Dungeons & Dragons rulesbook has fans once again talking about a longstanding problem with how orcs are depicted in the tabletop game and other pieces of fantasy lore. Earlier today, the term “Orc” started trending on Twitter in the United States, as D&D and fantasy fans...

comicbook.com

Progressive ‘Nerd Culture’ Outlets and Table Top Creators Claim Depictions of Orcs are “Problematic”

A massive online debate was sparked yet again by the assertion that Orcs, the fictional fantasy race, are racist analogues for real world peoples.

boundingintocomics.com

“Lord of the Rings is racist about orcs” is not an important new front in the Culture War

The battle of the Times editorial pages.

www.newstatesman.com

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Also, a friendly content warning: some erotic artists are flooding the hashtags on Twitter with orc-themed erotica.

Anyway, what your thoughts on this controversy?

 

[Morrus]

We’ve had two major “evil races” threads recently IIRC. Didn’t one of them get closed?

 

[PsyzhranV2]

We’ve had two major “evil races” threads recently IIRC. Didn’t one of them get closed?

Twitter flipped its collective lid yesterday, and ended up getting "orcs" onto USA trending. I believe that's the event OP is referencing. A few of YouTubers I follow (Folding Ideas, Shaun) weighed in on the subject, which is how I learned about the whole mess.

It started with a fairly innocuous tweet pointing out a poorly worded line from Volo's Guide to Monsters (screenshot because the Tweet's author has gotten enough harassment online already):

Spoiler

And then everything spiraled out of control from there, as Twitter does. In between all the incoherent screaming and the battle cries of "no racist, you're the racist!", people both within the TTRPG industry and people on the peripheries of the fandom but otherwise interested in literary analysis decided to weigh in on the thematic implications of the use of orcs in fantasy fiction.

Full disclosure: I'm firmly on the side that believes orcs as they are presented in "standard" D&D are a problem, perpetuating racist and colonialist assumptions in fantasy fiction. I don't claim to be "fair and balanced" but I'm also getting burned out on that whole concept, what with angry people yelling past each other and using the above as a shield, drowning out people who actually want to engage in legitimate literary criticism.

This Twitter thread (run through Thread Reader) is a good one IMO:
Thread by @ammourazz: Hey so if you’re stumbling into the D&D orc discourse and are one of the handful of people here with an open-mind and a genuine desire t…

 

[Morrus]

And then spiraled out of control from there. In between all the incoherent screaming and the battle cries of "no racist, you're the racist!",

Yeah, the cries that this thread will turn into in 5...4...3....

I don’t think I’m up for moderating that. My inbox is still full of TED Talks by certain people from the last couple of weeks. I think I’m gonna close this one. Sorry.

 

[ccs]

Anyway, what your thoughts on this controversy?

Bunch of stupid crap.