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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 9587983" data-attributes="member: 57112">Hard as it is to say, but this really is what it comes down to. D&amp;D, hell all RPGs, like all media, are a reflection of the popular culture, and there are many people, on all possible sides of all possible issues, that have a vested interest in seeing that popular culture steered in one or another direction.And this forum, despite explicitly being apolitical, does also take an explicit stance in favor of one of those particular directions, and it is, quite frankly, the right direction to take. Much of popular culture has been lurching in that same direction, including the TTRPG hobby, and D&amp;D itself, albeit in fits and starts. And while yes, it is easy to insist that those changes don't apply to one's own table, it is a lot harder to accept that this direction is impacting this thing that they (used to) love.The thing is, we're living in a bit of a mini-era of popular backlash to that particular direction, and there is definite evidence of that direction turning backwards in a variety of areas within the popular culture. For our purposes, this has had two significant impacts:1) It has emboldened those who wish to said direction turned around even further to advocate for that.2) Those of us in support of said direction now get to experience the existential* dread of watching a culture moving in the &quot;wrong&quot; direction.There are, obviously, opportunities for greater empathy and understanding, if not outright agreement, that are the result. The barrier to that has always been, of course, that existential dread. Will we ever overcome that? Or will we continue to argue about evil orcs and &quot;race&quot; until the end of our days?You know what the answer to that question is, unfortunately.*It is worth noting that in this particular instance, for many of us, said dread is rather less &quot;existential&quot; and more &quot;actual danger&quot;, but diving too deeply into that would be verboten in these parts.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 9587983, member: 57112"] Hard as it is to say, but this really is what it comes down to. D&D, hell all RPGs, like all media, are a reflection of the popular culture, and there are many people, on all possible sides of all possible issues, that have a vested interest in seeing that popular culture steered in one or another direction. And this forum, despite explicitly being apolitical, [I]does also [/I]take an explicit stance in favor of one of those particular directions, and it is, quite frankly, the right direction to take. Much of popular culture has been lurching in that same direction, including the TTRPG hobby, and D&D itself, albeit in fits and starts. And while yes, it is easy to insist that those changes don't apply to one's own table, it is a [I]lot harder [/I]to accept that this direction is impacting this thing that they (used to) love. The thing is, we're living in a bit of a mini-era of popular backlash to that particular direction, and there is definite evidence of that direction turning backwards in a variety of areas within the popular culture. For our purposes, this has had two significant impacts: 1) It has emboldened those who wish to said direction turned around even further to advocate for that. 2) Those of us in support of said direction now get to experience the existential* dread of watching a culture moving in the "wrong" direction. There are, obviously, opportunities for greater empathy and understanding, if not outright agreement, that are the result. The barrier to that has always been, of course, that existential dread. Will we ever overcome that? Or will we continue to argue about evil orcs and "race" until the end of our days? You know what the answer to that question is, unfortunately. *It is worth noting that in this particular instance, for many of us, said dread is rather less "existential" and more "actual danger", but diving too deeply into that would be verboten in these parts. [/QUOTE]

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