D&D General Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to Be Racist

[BookTenTiger]

Based on the posted excerpts, the article seems to be saying that racism is used by folks with power to maintain power, and so folks in power try to promote a racist interpretation of popular media, such as the examples from Lord of the Rings.

I infer that D&D, now being a much more popular game than ever before, is being targeted by racists as yet another way to spread their hateful ideology and gather influence.

In my opinion, the best way to fight it is to do the opposite, and to continue to use D&D and other nerd culture media as ways to promote tolerance and community!

 

[Reynard]

I personally don't think any good comes from any discussion of such issues in RPGs that originates outside of the industry and fandom. We absolutely do have things we have to reckon with, but letting agitators of any persuasion frame the discussion based on non-gamer perspectives is just playing into nonsense intended to misrepresent the hobby.

Gamers are smart. We know that Howard was a racist and that pulls were based on all kinds of earlier works that relied on Victorian racism and colonialism as a foundation. We are fully equipped to discuss these things and develop theories around them. Some of us are PhDs and other intellectual professionals, even.

That isn't to say outsiders have nothing to offer, but they often come with an anti-gaming agenda. We should listen, but the real work can happen here, among us, especially by listening to our newest community members.

 

[Remathilis]

Based on the posted excerpts, the article seems to be saying that racism is used by folks with power to maintain power, and so folks in power try to promote a racist interpretation of popular media, such as the examples from Lord of the Rings.

I infer that D&D, now being a much more popular game than ever before, is being targeted by racists as yet another way to spread their hateful ideology and gather influence.

In my opinion, the best way to fight it is to do the opposite, and to continue to use D&D and other nerd culture media as ways to promote tolerance and community!

That is my takeaway too. A LOT of nerd culture is currently being used as the battlegrounds for culture wars. It started with video games in Gamergate and quickly spiraled into Sequel Hate in Star Wars (infecting a lot of other franchises along the way). The way you fight it is to break down the gates the gatekeepers try to use. They try to use the "reject modernity, embrace tradition" element of thing like old-school gaming as a wedge to divide the community. They don't care about OS, they care about the idea of using it to turn people against women, PoC, LGBT, and the handicapped who are in our community. They are frauds and charlatans, not real fans, and they exploit divides in the fandom to grift.

We don't need them in our community. We need to expel them with contempt.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

"Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to be Racist" by Adam Serwer from The Atlantic.

Some execerpts:

So, what was the explanation for why Elon Musk "needs DnD to be racist"? Those excerpts don't seem to have anything to do with the premise

I highly doubt that Elon Musk needs DnD to be anything whatsoever, I'm pretty sure he's doing just fine no matter what DnD does

 

[Maxperson]

To be fair, it is behind a paywall, which does make it rather hard to read.

Yep. I went to read it, but I don't do paywalls or account walls.

 

[Maxperson]

So, what was the explanation for why Elon Musk "needs DnD to be racist"? Those excerpts don't seem to have anything to do with the premise

I highly doubt that Elon Musk needs DnD to be anything whatsoever, I'm pretty sure he's doing just fine no matter what DnD does

I wondered the same thing, but since I couldn't read the article...

 

[Horwath]

"Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to be Racist" by Adam Serwer from The Atlantic.

Some execerpts:

when you link article from site that requires registration or even worse as in this case subscription, copy entire article or don't bother.

 

[Hussar]

That is my takeaway too. A LOT of nerd culture is currently being used as the battlegrounds for culture wars. It started with video games in Gamergate and quickly spiraled into Sequel Hate in Star Wars (infecting a lot of other franchises along the way). The way you fight it is to break down the gates the gatekeepers try to use. They try to use the "reject modernity, embrace tradition" element of thing like old-school gaming as a wedge to divide the community. They don't care about OS, they care about the idea of using it to turn people against women, PoC, LGBT, and the handicapped who are in our community. They are frauds and charlatans, not real fans, and they exploit divides in the fandom to grift.

We don't need them in our community. We need to expel them with contempt.

There is another element here as well. So much of the stuff that went on in the hobby for a very long time went very much unexamined. It was accepted without question by a lot of the fandom and dissenting voices that were trying to point out issues were largely ignored. That worm has turned now, so, there's been a LOT of examination of the past forty or fifty years all at once.

Which, I think, has made some fans feel very attacked. A lot of that seems to come from the idea that we're not allowed to criticise things we like. That if we point out some element of some beloved work is a bit... icky ... that must mean that the author is a horrible person and the work must be burned or otherwise censored. Which is, of course, not true, but, that doesn't stop that argument from being recycled over and over again.

And, then, as you say, there are those who are not interested in the hobby at all, but only in feeding the fire.

 

[Dire Bare]

Based on the posted excerpts, the article seems to be saying that racism is used by folks with power to maintain power, and so folks in power try to promote a racist interpretation of popular media, such as the examples from Lord of the Rings.

I infer that D&D, now being a much more popular game than ever before, is being targeted by racists as yet another way to spread their hateful ideology and gather influence.

In my opinion, the best way to fight it is to do the opposite, and to continue to use D&D and other nerd culture media as ways to promote tolerance and community!

Yeah, but . . .

A lot of this is coming from our current generation of oligarchs, who are pretty nerdy. I think their love of Tolkien and other fantasy/sci-fi is genuine, if prone to misinterpretation. There is a lot of ink written about how techbro oligarchs are using their favorite sci-fi stories to justify their actions and beliefs, but suffer severe misunderstandings of the stories themes.

Sometimes, we see what we want to see in art, regardless of the original intent of the authors. And we can use it to justify just about anything.

Ah, I've got more thoughts, but . . . I fear it would stray beyond the no-politics rule here at ENWorld. Ah, well.