I'm sure you all have heard some variation of that or the accusation that we live in echo chambers and don't like hearing opposing views. I recently got into a debate in a comic book group on facebook I used to belong to (yes, I know I was naive to think that they would actually be a group of fans). A lady gave a long winded post on diversity and the usual talking points that we hear about today and to top it off she added some tweet from Tanahesi (not sure if I spelled his name right and don't care) Coates where he said something along the lines of wanting his comic books to make people feel uncomfortable.
I should've just unsubbed from the group then and there but I couldn't resist the urge to give some pushback. She gave me all the usual talking points and then said one of the most overused phrase.... "comic books have always been political". All I had said was that the hyperfocus on diversity is killing comic books and that when your job is to entertain it is pretty stupid to purposely alienate half the fanbase and attack white males for no reason when they make up a good chunk of readers.
It turned into a longer discussion than I intended and then she prattled on about race and stopped talking to me when I told her that racism is not a major issue today contrary to what the media says. I did tell her that the main race issues today are that we have a massive demand but low supply (hence all the race hoaxes), and that we constantly talk about racism as a society, but openly cheer it on if it is against white people. She then said that she couldn't believe a black man could be so brainwashed and ended the conversation and blocked me.
It just cracks me up when I hear either I don't like my views to be challenged or that I am in an echo chamber. They act as if we don't hear opposing viewpoints. It is kind of difficult now especially if you watch any modern day entertainment. Most of what I watch now is older stuff (2014 and prior) but even so much of the news has a clear agenda and for young people it has always been cool to be on the left. As I mentioned before, I'm black so outside of my immediate family who all leans to the right pretty much all of my extended family is all on the left so I have heard all about the greatness of "free stuff", how horrible and racist America is (usually said by a cousin with a six figure salary that lives in a nice suburban home), or the evils of the republican party.
One cousin stopped talking to me for almost a year during the "summer of love" for saying that I care much more about David Dorn and his family as well as the white mother who was killed for saying All Lives Matter and that I really wasn't concerned too much about Floyd or Jacob Blake. He gave me the usual insults and stated that I may have brown skin but I inherited my personality from my white ancestors.
I honestly don't understand how they can say with a straight face that we don't hear opposing viewpoints.
No one who participates in this community in good faith hates having their views challenged. It's one of the worst placed on the internet for someone who just wants an echo chamber, and there are plenty of sites that cater to people who do want an echo chamber.
I think the difference is we expect the challenging to go both ways and we expect the conversation be be on equal footing and intellectually honest. That's why most of us have given up on talking to leftists. The conversation always has to be on their terms under their rules and using the baseline assumption that their worldview is the correct one. They want to preach to us, not have a conversation with us. Since they're only interested in discussing things with people who recognize their moral superiority from the get go we just tell them to take their abusive tactics and go fuck themselves. That's when they bitch and moan that we don't like having our views challenged. Just look at Faggit to see the end result of that mentality.
I would just love for entertainment to be neutral. I don't need my views regurgitated back at me but it does make for lousy entertainment when you know the plot because the same storylines are endlessly recycled.
For sure. I think that's how most of us got here. I was a leftist for a long time, even after I joined this community back in the Faggit days. I just like edgy and transgressive stuff, especially in comedy. Somehow the right went from stuffy killjoys who wanted the Church to dictate everything to rebels defending the right to make good content that pushed boundaries, which the left used to be. As we all know the left became the boundary setters, and if you're not pushing boundaries your content is probably soulless and preachy with tons of fellow kid stuff.
It's kind of funny in a way. The 90's right was on a crusade against online porn, which by and large was very vanilla. Now the left takes issue with it from the complete opposite side. For the old right it was too degenerate, and for the new left it's not degenerate enough. Vanilla porn where the man is on top? That's misogynistic. We're gonna show your kids AGP shit and try to turn them into trannies. Meanwhile you have the TERF's who just took the old right's place and just want to ban it all for the crime of misogyny. We live in strange times.
I am a Christian, but I would never impose my beliefs on anyone which cracks me up since the radical lgbt people get mad at me for not celebrating their lifestyle or teaching about sexuality in kindergarten. I do remember growing up in the 80s/90s it was the religious right that complained that everything was offensive and now it is the left.
You make great points all around.
My best friend's mom is a born again christian.
The week she became a born again christian, she took his xbox 360 games and threw them in the trash because they were the influence of the devil. He quite literally had to hide that he was playing Black Ops 2 with us from his own mother.
My mother is christian and never did any of that crap (aside from grounding me for playing GTAIV since she was worried I would become a hoodlum)
These people exist, even if they are rare.
I was wondering if Rockstar would keep their edgy reputation. I used to want another Bully game, but definitely not in this environment.
Even when they try to argue in good faith, they are under so many layers of programming and so far behind on knowledge that it's exhausting to have the discussion. It's like trying to explain for the 10th time to someone the basic facts of the Rittenhouse case that most of us knew the day after the shooting. I just can't do it.