Why does John McCain hate D&D players?

[thormagni]

Seriously. Apparently this is a theme they are hitting on, calling out Obama supporters as D&D players. I mean, what the heck is this about? I certainly haven't seen that gamers are particularly liberal, or that in today's day and age that being a game player is somehow bad?!?

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others..."

Check it out here...

 

[BobProbst]

WTF?

To be fair, it's not exactly McCain. It's Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard.

I at least agree with his assessment of the Daily Kos; it's even worse than Huffington Post. I'm glad that there are active voices for the political left but the hyperbole and mudslinging that the neo-liberal blogs are generating do nothing to further honest conversation.

 

[DM_Matt]

Seriously. Apparently this is a theme they are hitting on, calling Obama out supporters as D&D players. I mean, what the heck is this about? I certainly haven't seen that gamers are particularly liberal, or that in today's day and age that being a game player is somehow bad?!?

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others..."

Check it out here...

The Weekly Standard's rival for top dog among rightist journals, National Review, is on the other hand pro-D&D, with a number of former gamers on its staff. I don't know why Goldfarb is calling the Obamans nerds, though. I guess nerds lean left ore than right, but its a very strage thing to say.

 

[thormagni]

WTF?

To be fair, it's not exactly McCain. It's Michael Goldfarb of the Weekly Standard.

To be even more fair, it is Goldfarb on McCain's official campaign blog. It's not like he is unattached to the McCain campaign.

I just don't understand the mentality behind it. They have apparently been hitting on this for a week or so. Did someone, somewhere do some polling that said "ridicule Obama supporters as D&D nerds. That will get our voters riled up?" or "Calling them D&D players will make them seem unAmerican" or what?

I mean, I did a lot of D&D playing in the military. I would say the mess decks of the destroyer I was serving on, or the barracks lounge tables in boot camp, my various schools and my post-destroyer duty assignment were hardly my mom's basement.

And it is not like I ever had a problem finding other players. At least in my field (Navy intelligence) we had a LOT of D&D geeks.

I just don't get it.

(And suffice it to say that I disagree about the inherent nastiness of the liberal blogs compared to the conservative blogs, but I can't think of anything remotely gaming related to say about it.

 

[thormagni]

Another one.

"McCain spokesman Michael Goldfarb recently compared the (NYT's) editors to a blogger, “sitting at home in his mother's basement and ranting into the ether between games of Dungeons & Dragons.”

Seriously. WTF? Maybe it IS just Goldfarb who hates D&D players. But why let him use the McCain blog to vent his spleen about it?

A link (although not the one I pulled the exact quote from above.)

 

[InzeladunMaster]

It is a typically conservative method of attack - attach a label (or negative image) and make it stick. They define their enemy using stereotypes if they can. A lot of people have negative stereotypes of D&D players. It is pretty much the same sort of demonization many super-religious people do to people they disagree with.

Here is an interesting article on why Obama needs to fight back harder against conservative smears, including a look at historical attacks of this nature: http://www.newsweek.com/id/153323

In another article (http://www.newsweek.com/id/154058), the author shows a "smear gap" between Obama and McCain, positing that McCain is much more negative in his campaigning - and doing a lot more straight-lying than Obama in order to define Obama and make it stick.

 

[thormagni]

So Republicans try to win influence with Intimidate and Bluff checks, Democrats with Bluff and Diplomacy checks and the voters are left to Gather Information to find out what the truth is.

 

[Grimhelm]

Indeed. And, let's face it, these things stick. It is kind of the Seinfeld principle. Catch phrases have a way of worming their way into our heads. And people are quick to adopt them without much thought to their true meaning.

I would posit that the recent name attachments have a lot to do with Obama's popular and strong Internet marketing/campaign strategy. It was not a huge leap to associate Obama supporters on the Internet to the Star Wars kid, you know?

Unfortunate this is. Now, matters are worse.

 

[chachi]

agree with Thor. RPGs tend to be popular in the military. It fills long stretches of time, and employs strategy, planning and teamwork, all three skills that the military looks to cultivate. My complete lack of all three is what makes me such an intriguing player!

Ultimately, the post was on McCain’s blog. They weren’t comments by an anonymous user, it was a post. If McCain or his advisors didn’t approve of the content, it would have been edited. In the end, I’m an Obama supporter and a gamer, so maybe the attack isn’t so baseless after all.

Bob is right on the money about mudslinging though. It obviously happens on both sides, but that doesn’t justify it. That ‘shoutist’ mentality that political hacks often have only serves to lessen our country, taking what should be the highest form of public debate and turning it into little more than garbage. Bleh.

Lastly, Agricola sounds like a really cool game. I like open ended gameplay like that, and I’m a sucker for farming simulations. If I ever see you again, Bob, I’d like a demo.

 

[Grimhelm]

Well, Chach, you are always welcome at my house on game days. This Saturday, for instance!