Personalities in the Gaming Industry and Politics

[Son_of_Thunder]

I find it depressing that so many people want to equate the personal opinions of the artist with the art itself.

I find Orson Scott Card to be a religious nutjob. Doesn't prevent me from really liking the "Alvin Maker" books.

Harlan Elllison is a grade-A jerk. Writes brilliantly, though.

Bono has some seriously inflated opinions on his relevance on the stage of world affairs, but that doesn't change the fact that I like U2, and continue to buy their music.

Earnest Hemingway was a misogynistic, macho kook with a ton of personal issues....and I love his work.

Christopher Marlowe was a bisexual (possibly homosexual) who betrayed and spied against his friends on behalf of the government. Doesn't change the fact that I consider him to be the greatest writer of the Elizabethan era. (edit: just to clarify, it's the betrayal I have the problem with, not the bisexuality.)

In short....if you only allow yourself to enjoy art produced by people you agree with, you're going to have a very boring life.


"I won't see movies by X, because they hold political opinions I don't believe in" --- never mind that X is one of 400-odd people who worked on the film, and X made their money before the cameras rolled, so your little boycott doesn't effect them in the slightest. It's slacktivism at its finest....a meaningless act which isn't hard to undertake, and serves no purpose other than to make you feel righteous. Knock yerself out, I guess.

You're of course entitled to this view. I don't live a boring life, in my opinion. And I will knock myself out, cause I chose with my dollar.

Thanks for reminding me why I don't buy any Adamant product.

 

[John Morrow]

Eric makes a good point - by the time we are adults, we RARELY make large swings in our political or religious beliefs, and when we do it's usually because of a dramatic emotional event (usually tragedy).

I disagree with this observation. I know of plenty of people who changed their political and religious views fairly substantially after they became adults, sometimes much later in life. Sometimes it is because they were mugged by a reality that conflicted with their opinions but it's also often an evolution in opinions over time. For example, the title of Harry Stein's How I Accidentally Joined the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy (and Found Inner Peace) reflects this sort of transition, as do Dennis Miller's essays about his similar transformation of opinion. And, yes, some people go from right to left later in life, too, so I'm not trying to suggest that this is a one way street. But I don't think the cause of the change needs to be dramatic or tragic and it is not, in my experience (judging by my own relatives, friends, and others) all that uncommon.

 

[EricNoah]

Maybe Henry meant "sudden" swings as opposed to "wide but slow (over time)" swings. My dad swung from moderate liberal to moderate conservative over the course of years, but not all of the sudden. Heck, we're all changing all the time and we do it so slowly we hardly notice it...

 

[Wisdom Penalty]

Knowing when to separate the private from the public is part of "professionalism". Folks who mix them willy-nilly aren't behaving in a professional manner, and will be judged accordingly.

It surely isn't difficult to segregate blogs into professional and personal subsets. It isn't like I'm suggesting some onorous burden.

that is how it's done, ladies and gentlemen. not too wordy, not too extreme, not too clever. just plain. common. sense.

in a thread filled with numerous posts, on both sides of the issue, that truly are some of the best we've seen around here in some time, Umbran's above quote takes the proverbial cake.

how can anyone argue with that?

W.P.

 

[John Morrow]

(Accidental Duplicate)

 

[billd91]

I've never really been clear on *why* industry people talk about politics. I rarely, if ever, bring it up on my journal simply because I doubt I have anything truly interesting to say about the topic. There are highly paid analysts and political scientists out there who have far more compelling things to say than I do. I think I have a much better chance of saying something interesting and thought provoking about games.

As a political scientist, I have to ask you: Do you really want to leave running the country or even controlling the terms of debate, to highly paid analysts and political scientists? I'd argue that a large part of the problem is not enough participation by the masses. I'd encourage anyone who feels passionate about what they believe to do some due diligence in looking at the problems they feel are important and then get up on that soapbox and make their opinions known. And then put those opinions to work with other people who feel the same way. Gotta keep the government by, for, and of the people actually by, for and of the people.

I assume that the reason some people in the gaming industry (and other industries) post their politics is because they feel strongly about it. Good for them. As long as it's not in their apolitical professional publications, fine. Blogs are fair game.

 

[Jeff Wilder]

I posit that people, in actual practice, do the opposite -- they form their opinions early, then seek out facts or other evidence to reinforce their world view; and they cling very hard to their position/opinion despite opposing evidence. In effect: no one wants their opinions changed, which makes a lot of political debate kind of pointless.

This is doubtless at least somewhat true, but it my experience the extent of the ossification is highly negatively correlated with the extent and quality of the individual's education. That is, highly educated people are more open to examining all viewpoints (including their own) critically and logically. (Not to mention more capable of doing so.)

 

[John Morrow]

Maybe Henry meant "sudden" swings as opposed to "wide but slow (over time)" swings. My dad swung from moderate liberal to moderate conservative over the course of years, but not all of the sudden. Heck, we're all changing all the time and we do it so slowly we hardly notice it...

One of the things that causes seemingly sudden swings seems to be when one person does a wide but slow swing in one direction and their friends do a wide but slow swing in the other direction and they realize that they just don't have a lot in common with what their friends think anymore, which causes them to consider why. That's pretty much what happened to Harry Stein.

 

[GMSkarka]

Thanks for reminding me why I don't buy any Adamant product.

Because I disagree with you???

Um.....OK.....

 

[mearls]

As a political scientist, I have to ask you: Do you really want to leave running the country or even controlling the terms of debate, to highly paid analysts and political scientists?

You've never heard any of the epic political debates that occured around the dinner table at the Mearls family home. I am more than happy to discuss politics in the right context.

I have yet to see the Internet provide the proper context for intelligent, enlightening political debate. It's like talk radio, but even worse.

I have posted about donating money to tsunami victims. I may have posted something about the genocide in Darfur - I can't remember off the top of my head. But I know that my audience comes to my journal to find talk about games, not politics.