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Message: <blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9831668" data-attributes="member: 6790260">You don't see how painting everyone you disagree with as demanding that they be an heir to an empire might be extreme? How it might present your opposition as demanding, I dunno, unearned power, respect, and influence? How it might portray the player as being petty, demanding, and wanting you to kowtow to their childish whims, particularly given your presentation?Because there is a WORLD of difference between "One player demands to be the son of the emperor of the halfling empire" and "A player asked if they could take the Noble background as a halfling". Like...can you not see how the first is kind of...an enormous ask? And the second sounds so mild, so milquetoast, as to be shocking why someone would find it objectionable in the first place?What you say is not the only thing that matters. How you say it, also matters. Presenting the exact same things in a gentle vs horrible light can make things sound unobjectionable or outright terrifying.Consider, for example, the bloodthirsty cult which uses symbols of torture and execution, derives joy from recognizing the suffering of others, and celebrates the bond with their god by consuming symbolic representations of his flesh and blood. Then contrast that with the world's largest organized religion, which honors the suffering of both their divine prophet figure and those who have suffered for their faith, and celebrates their bond with their god by eating bread and wine as said figure instructed before his death. Both descriptions of Christianity, which I used in this case because I am Christian myself and have made no bones about that. One description makes it sound like a horrific danger that needs to be exterminated, the other sounds like a benevolent group that honors those who take on suffering for others. What you say is enormously affected by how you say it.See how small this becomes when we don't cloak it in extremizing language?Very truly I tell you, the mountain was already made out of the molehill when you spoke of it as players demanding to be the heirs to empires, rather than "Can I take the Noble background?"</blockquote>

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