3drinks wrote: ↑4 years ago
I really don't like the connotation of that tweet. It reeks of cancel culture. ban everything because it offends someone, somewhere, on the internet.
I think, now that I've slept on it, that's my main objection.
Everything is problematic in degrees.
Invoke Prejudice is pretty egregious, drawn by a white supremacist, having game mechanics that reference a real world ideology along with the title, and then given the least appropriate multiverse ID possible,
But, there's more. HP Lovecraft was a profound racist and antisemite. Don't google his cat's name. Or do, I don't care. One of his most celebrated works, the Shadow over Innsmouth seems like a real great read on body/existential horror, until you realize that Lovecraft's inspiration comes almost entirely from the fear that in the depths of time, he may have had a non-white ancestor and that it would impugn the purity of his race. Miscegenation was, apparently, a huge problem for him.
But wait, there's more stuff we almost all enjoy that I can ruin! Did you know that
Tolkien's Orcs are actually depictions of warlike Asians and that they are in fact an allegory for the "Yellow Peril" and Mongol hordes, right down to the description of their facial features?
Don't worry, I have a backpack full of these. If you're not African-American and have the temerity to enjoy a summer afternoon grill, you're
treading on practices of slaves and appropriating their culture for your enjoyment.
And on. And on.
And on.
I'm not butthurt over Invoke Prejudice, I'm really not. Jihad and Crusade, yeah, kind of. My problem with these sorts of things is that when you look closely enough
everything is racist or something-ist. Cancel culture demands that we cease our enjoyment of these things when they are identified to be problematic, and
everything is problematic.
At some point, if you're especially conscientious, strongly believe that only the oppressed can be the arbiter of what is oppressive, and you steadfastly refuse to partake in the fruits of racist policies or art, you will find yourself permitted to enjoy nothing, and frankly, life is too short. You cannot demand to breathe air when you're submerged in an ocean.