From KiA's own u/Dwarvenhobble. While I'm more of a pragmatic optimist, or at least anti-nihilist, it's still worth reading.
For those looking for a TL;DR:
The whole thing and the whole push to me just reeks of trying to force the issue on a number of subjects and not allowing people to just be neutral or disconnect for a moment. The neutrals are people they either want one side or to be allowed to fight them. They see people being neutral as a problem.
For some people there apparently is no disengaging allowed. No breaks allowed. Except in reality when they themselves disengage and don't think about the politics of everyday life and or the suffering of others. Adopting the mindset of perpetually caring about everything means even going to the toilet should have you thinking about those in other countries not lucky enough to have running water and proper sanitation. You can almost bet people who demand people perpetually care honestly only care for their pet issue, they entirely ignore any other issue from any other groups quite often even if they would likely agree with the issue. The reason is perpetually caring about issues others suffer constantly on top of your own issues is very much the road to madness. Humanity has to compartmentalise sometimes and forget how bad things may be in other areas of the world. It doesn't mean you don't care about said issues just because you're not perpetually thinking of those issues and pretending otherwise just makes you seem like a sanctimonious smeg head who is just using this as an excuse to try and prove yourself better than everyone else or an excuse to take shots at others. Or in the case of others you're just trying to settle old score, possibly even old scores between nations.*blows raspberry in the direction of France*
For those who don't want to check the archive, here's the TL;DR provided by Saved You a Click Video Games:
They were asked in an interview if the Recent BLM protests influenced the game at all. And the interviewees answer was a long "well no, we've been wrapping up development for a while"
Or as the devs themselves put it:
"The important point is that we already have a recorded game at this stage, actually for a long time," said [Quest Designer] Sasko. "This is the last stage in which we do not change anything in the story we are telling, add nothing, or remove anything. These events, as you noticed yourself, took place very recently."
"The second point is, for us, Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher are games that show our philosophy as a studio. The game we are working on is an entertainment medium to a large extent, but for us, it is also an art - a work that shows our vision. It is difficult for me to imagine the events that would have to happen for us to suddenly find that we are changing or moving something in order not to touch any specific elements. Anyway, I think you saw elements in the game that touch it, so you could find out for yourself. For me, the most important thing is that our game is not a political statement, a political thesis. For me and my team, Cyberpunk 2077 is a work of art and I always stick to it, I always say it to my designers. I don't feel like I'm producing something, I feel more like I'm painting a picture or making music, stories, movies. This is art for me, and art is the stories we tell the player, and this is the most important thing for us. As a studio, we are such an amalgam of different people who have different approaches to political, religious, spiritual, and internal life, also when it comes to sexual orientations or political sympathies. As a studio, we always try to cultivate openness and approach it in such a way that everyone can have a say and that each of these shades can be represented, as long as it is, of course, within the law and reason - so that each player can find here something for everyone and find answers to your own questions."
For added context, Walker is an Anglican clergyman in the Diocese of London, with him remarking Netflix's double standards of grandstanding about trans rights while simultaneously kowtowing to Erdogan's government by cancelling a Turkish series (for simply having a gay character in the script).
Technically, it's from a few days ago. Either way, this brief thread from writer and comic illustrator Billy Tucci (creator of Shi), had this to say regarding the attempts to push cancel culture on him:
I told the Comics Code Authority to go to hell back in ‘94 and today I say the same to the cancerous NEO CODE SJWs. They are ticks upon our industry who have doxed me and threatened my family. So much so the FBI took it serious enough to come to our house. And over what?
You will never find me saying a bad thing about anyone in comics. I will NEVER bend a knee to your cancel culture fascism or attempted gatekeeping. I'm an Indy comics creator & you don’t matter enough to ever cancel me. I am #shistrong & #furystrong
I told the the Comics Code Authority to go fuck themselves in ‘94 and now I say it to these cancerous NEO CODE SJWs. I'm Billy Fuckin' Tucci and I'm here to entertain. If you agree, please follow me.
He also responded to someone smugly trying to claim that he's just following down a tired path because CCA compliance by the 90s was just "voluntary":
They called me me after seeing Shi in Previews. You have to remember I did not know any better and they tried for an hour to bully me into signing up for the CCD. I thought everyone had used it, but after hearing what it was about I literally told them to fuck off.
The video is 12:02 minutes long, but in addition to showing links to the channels covering the campaign:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CIKy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWp64...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzspS...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IAGI...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PF1b...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=...
Arch talks about how the email campaign in question has only grown in size over the past week. By his rough estimate, approximately 100-200k views have been noted, and if 1% of those views took part, that's easily 1-2k emails being sent Games Workshop's way. And mind, that's in spite of censorship and constant smearing.
The later half of the video, meanwhile, is him riffing on how, though GW has been relatively silent (suggesting that the company is mulling over the situation), the campaign is causing enough of a fuss for the ideological cliques that tried to cancel him to whinge. With Arch reading out one tryhard letter addressed to GW sent his way imploring them to ignore him.
For those looking for what's new in the coverage, it's this:
Now GamesIndustry.biz has updated their coverage on the story, reporting that Metacritic’s actions were not motivated be the reception to any recent game releases.
Along with re-iterating the statement given to Engadget, Metacritic told GamesIndustry.biz that (in GamesIndustry.biz’ own words) “the decision was not made based on reactions to any particular game.” Metacritic also confirmed this new change was only applying to their video games section; and not their film, TV, or music sections.
Some on social media have been critical of Metacritic’s actions, accusing them of “protecting” major publishers who wish to maximize the launch-day sales of games. The fact the new user-review system is not being rolled out for other forms of media will likely do little to those theories.
In other words, it's Metacritic trying (badly) to deny any motives.
Just a head's up: she wasn't kidding about the warning.
From the screenshots and preview images presented of the fully funded ValiDate, it's shaping up to be a grand mess. Which isn't helped by how the budget is being spent.
At least Dream Daddy tried to be an entertaining game and was self-aware.
For those looking for a summary, the video (11:27 minutes) not only reviews the anime itself, but also riffs on how moronic and disproportionate the hate is for it.
Which is especially bizarre, given how wholesome the material actually is.
For those unfamiliar, Ginny Di is a Youtuber, cosplayer and singer. And her remarks, if the OP doesn't give it away, are in relation to the (infamous) Gamer Girl trailer, and why the game, for all the pretensions to being "progressive" is anything but. As she continues:
There's a growing problem in the field of online "personalities" (like streamers, youtubers, etc.) with regards to parasocial relationships. The accessibility of the genre means that viewers are made to feel like they have a personal relationship with the entertainer.
In reality, this "relationship" is mostly one-sided. This leads to a disconnect in which viewers can often feel inappropriately entitled to and informed on the streamer's life. Basically, they think they know the streamer more than they actually do. It's very invasive.
This game is founded on the idea that as a moderator, YOU are in control. You "make choices together" with the streamer. You "become part of her life." You "choose the story." It perpetuates this idea that by modding or chatting or being involved, you're forming a relationship.
There are real cases of obsessed fans stalking and even attacking streamers and/or their partners. A not insignificant number of internet celebrities have had fans show up at their houses, thinking they have a relationship with them. This is not theoretical. This is dangerous.
This game claims to be shedding light on issues of harassment in the streaming community, but it does so by building the entire game around the concept of putting all the power over the streamer's life into the hands of a moderator. This entire game concept reinforces this shit.
If you mod for a streamer, you are not her guardian. You are not in charge of deciding whether or not she's in a healthy relationship. This white knight fantasy of rescuing the pretty gamer girl from her abusive boyfriend is DANGEROUS. I pray this game isn't actually released.
A few people are trying to "gotcha" feminist critiques of the game by pointing out that it was co-written by a woman, so I also want to gently remind y'all that being feminist doesn't mean supporting anything any woman says or does. Women can and do perpetuate misogyny.
TL;DR: Night Trap was far more progressive than whatever Gamer Girl is shaping up to be.
For those wanting proof, here's the Famitsu review(s) being referenced.
As Oliver continued:
For context, the other two Western games that received 40/40 scores were Skyrim and GTAV. Famitsu has been in print since 1986, and only 22 games in total have ever gotten 40/40s. In general, Japanese publications are not as generous with perfect scores like Western ones.
It should be said that Japanese and Western audiences have different tastes, such as Dragon Quest IX and 428: Shibuya Scramble receiving perfect Famitsu scores. So for Ghost of Tsushima, a Western game set in ancient Japan, to achieve this is truly a remarkable accomplishment.
Time and time again we see that a lot of Western-made media set in Japan can go on to receive surprisingly positive coverage by Japanese audiences. Remember that Western journalists don't represent Japan.
The linked thread on the positive Japanese reception to The Last Samurai (mocked by Western reviewers as cultural appropriation and White Man Savior BS) is also worth a read.
Just a quick post, but for those looking for a TL;DR, in addition to linking to Arch's video:
He continued, “Within hours of launching the campaign, we managed to make the GW customer support page go belly up. Yes, indeed we crashed that little bastard. We made it go the way of the dodo. That is impressive.”He added, “And it shows you that there are a lot of people out there that do indeed agree that Warhammer is for everyone. And no, we don’t want your nonsense politics in this. Keep your real life nonsense out of our hobby. There are a lot of people that agree with that sentiment and it is awesome to see.”
Despite setbacks like how his campaign "has been removed from Facebook groups and other forums":
He continued, “We are fighting against people right now who think censorship is just fine. They don’t mind censoring people. They don’t mind shutting them down. They don’t mind deleting them. They are pro these things. It appears to be a fundamental cornerstone of their political beliefs. If you don’t agree with them it is entirely okay to attack you. It’s entirely to censor you. It’s entirely okay to delete you. It’s entirely okay to yell at you because as far as they are concerned you are barely even human essential.”
However, he sees these attacks as a good thing. Arch details, “But this is just more evidence that we are having an effect. They are scared. They know that we have the moral superiority. We have the moral high ground. We are the ones who are actually for everyone.”
He continued, “And the people who aren’t for everyone, their hypocrisy, their bigotry is straight up revealed. Because they latch on to the message not because it says Warhammer is for Everyone. They latched on to it because it says Warhammer is for everyone but. They latched on to it because of the exemption. They latched on to it because it’s an excuse to attack people that they disagree with.”
EDIT: Apologies for the typo in the title, as it's John F. Trent.
**
A quick post, but for context, the OP quote is from a thread that starts out as him musing over the untapped talent of American artists, which is either ignored, downplayed or outright slammed by the mainstream comics establishment. Which is worth quoting in full:
This morning's warmup prompt: Design a 90's-style American comic hero
Doodling this I thought, "y'know, this would make a decent cover!" Then I remembered there are TONS of artists on TW & IG, some who command unbelievable levels of talent. Why can't they find work? (Cont. >)
My theory: Publisher mismanagement, nepotism, Weinstein shit, overwhelming political bias, creative inbreeding, and talent searches conducted in bad faith.
Meanwhile Manga is outselling US comics exponentially, IN OUR OWN COUNTRY. Readers know why. Publishers seem blind to it.
The American comics industry has been on life support for 25 years, even while Hollywood superhero flicks are raking in billions. If American Suits continue to ignore new talent raised on Manga, telling US what/how to write and draw, they deserve to go out of business.
So many indie creators (the non-hacks and grifters, anyway) are working overtime to climb this mountain the Japanese have already climbed.
There's no highway up to where we're going here. If we want careers out of this, Americans will have to hike the hard way.
The way things have gone since my catastrophe of a "debut," in 2006, I don't think my generation is going to make it to the peak. My generation of creators will be handing the baton over to the next, I think. I hope I'm wrong.
Anyway, all warmed up! Back to drawing comics
At any rate, he's certainly being more constructive and hopeful rather than giving up and handing said comics establishment the "victory by default" they so crave.
For those looking for an unironic TL;DR, the article condenses the sentiment of just about every smug "mature" writer and gatekeeper out there. All while underscoring not only how plain miserable they are, but also how they want everyone to be just as dull and bitter, under pretensions of "adulthood." As put by the bloke:
Well NOT a game, because we’re adults. Gaming is for fucking children and if you disagree with me, you have an inferior mind. One you probably can’t even scoop into your mouth with a spoon.
A quick post, but given the source (a Disney animator who worked on, among other things, Star vs. the Forces of Evil), I'm not sure if it's entirely ironic or mocking a certain subsection of creators.
Either way, it does sum up the SocJus mindset in Western animation in a nutshell.
EDIT: Archived link here as a precaution.
For those looking for a summary:
In an email sent to the author, Ezra Levant, Amazon claims the book contains information contradicting “official sources” of coronavirus information.
“Due to the rapidly changing nature of information around the COVID-19 virus, we are referring customers to official sources for health information about the virus. As a result, we are not offering your book for sale,” part of the email read.
However, as Levant notes in an entry on the book’s official website, the book does not provide medical advice. He argues that his book is “purely a discussion of Canada-China politics.”
The book cannot be accessed anywhere on Amazon, making the title much more accurate.
Posting this as a screenshot so as to avoid Rule 3, though here's a link to the ANN "reviews" being referenced.
Which further underscore how these supposed "gatekeepers" of anime in the West have rather different ideas for what it and Japanese otakudom ought to be.
As Arch says in the 12:17 minute-long video:
"Don't call it a grave. It's the future you chose"
Though on top of Arch pointing out how the world the author in question wants is now the one cancelling him for wrongthink, as he elaborates further in the replies:
This could also be seen as GW mowing towards de-politicising themselves by taking a stance away from the far left as well, this is good but i still don't want any one to be cancelled over it, it's wrong when it happens to me and it's wrong when it happens to some one else.
Proof, certainly, that Arch is a fascist. /s
From the replies, it's revealed that the animation is from the 2019 film No Safe Spaces, featuring Adam Carrolla and Dennis Prager of all people.
Regardless of the politics, the actual clip does a disturbingly good job summing up (and mocking) the SocJus mindset for the stupid BS that it is, stripped of its pretensions to power.
Mel Brooks would have approved.
In addition to posting a comic demonstrating his point (which can also be found on KnowYourMeme), there's a thread attached, which includes the OP quote above. And continues:
1)I have to thank you for all the reactions to this tweet, it’s been wonderful reading all of them. All this hate and anger that was posted against me helped me confirm what I was trying to say.
It appears that straight white males have no right to try and complain about anything
2)I made one tweet in which I show how people attack a SWM (Straight White Male) just because he’s part of that “group”, and you did exactly the same thing that the people in my drawing.
3)Then you went to my twitter account and you attack me for my work. “It’s horrible”, “You should stop making all this shit”, “I’m sure he likes drawing 7 year old girls.”
Thank you, really… thank you so much.
- Now I have real facts that will help me show that I was right about it all the time, and it’s all thanks to you.
It's worth noting that the KYM post also includes a screenshot providing proof to his claims being attacked in the replies (the majority of which are in support of the artist, coincidentally).
Granted, this is a couple days old, but while it might have slipped under the radar, there's some rather hefty schadenfreude going on. And it gets "better":
This is sad to watch, he's going through the comments getting upset they're badmouthing him
incredible, he's now calling them "crazy and pathetic" "dumb fucking idiots"
5min ago on this very stream, he was literally praising them, was looking like he was about to sob because of his ban saying "they shared my videos there so much, what happened?!"
It's technically not breaking news, but it's nonetheless telling how even while grandstanding about how Fortnite was doing something "good" for the industry by subjecting players to BLM propaganda and woke virtue-signaling, Patrick Klepek still slams the devs for not going far enough:
In a Twitter DM, Carter told me they were disappointed the developers didn’t turn off weapons or find other ways to restrict player behavior for “a subject as serious as this.”
“Both times I went, people were just dicking around, which on some level I expected,” said Carter, “but I think it was the lack of foresight in that regard that makes something like this come across as hollow.”
Carter also pointed out how there was no such promotion for Black Lives Matter—just the video. In-game promotions in Fortnite happen in a variety of ways, and often include licensed “skins” players can purchase, such as with Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars.
This comes on the back of Fortnite’s already fraught relationship with the Black creative community, given how regularly the game has appropriated dance moves by Black artists without paying for the right to do so. The argument over whether it’s legal is different than whether it’s ethical, and the developers have so far refused to engage with this question.
Just a quick post, but it seems like various people in the industry (including Stephanie Joosten) and those outside it (like James Gunn) are standing in solidarity with and/or defense of Laura Bailey after she revealed the death threats levied against her.
All throughout however, I can't help but wonder, whether or not the people within the industry and beyond rallying by her are complicit or duped, this is some attempt by Neil Druckmann and co. to make TLOU2 immune from any criticism. While pulling off a "divide and conquer" between devs, VAs, etc. and gamers, or making "Gamers don't have to be your audience" an acceptable notion.
Druckmann's remarks do suggest so:
Naughty Dog Vice President and The Last of Us II creative director Neil Druckmann also offered his thoughts on the situation, stating that he hopes “these gamers get the mental help they so clearly need.”
On July 5th, Druckmann would similarly share examples of hateful messages he had received from disgruntled individuals, many of which featured anti-Semitic rhetoric, and observe that “too many of the messages I’ve been getting are vile, hateful, & violent.”
For added context, here's the archived letter (hosted by Harper's) being referenced by Shadi Hamid (a Brookings Institute fellow and "Senior Contributor" to The Atlantic).
In addition to said letter having signatories that's all over the place politically (including Atwood, Chomsky and Cathy Young in the same list), Hamid continues:
This has been the golden age of furtive text messages and private group chats. Over the past month, I've gotten hundreds of messages from people (PoC and white alike) about how they're quite consciously suppressing their opinions and ideas in public
If you're unimpeachably woke, then by definition you won't see "cancel culture" as a big deal, because, in this particular instance, you're on the right side of cultural power. As my woke friends will often point out, this has always at least partly been about power
Of course, the catch is that no one is—or can be—unimpeachably woke. The creed is always changing and "progressing," so by definition it needs to eat its own at regular intervals. That's also how you maintain and enforce in-group solidarity
It's the less financially and professionally secure who will be affected most by this chill on speech. If you're a young, aspiring journalist or academic, you—especially if you're white—have no incentive to say things that would've been considered normal and boring two years ago
I suspect that this is precisely the point though: From a wokeist perspective, the chill on speech isn't a bug but a feature
From what I could glean, Hamid himself (along with Harper's) has been targeted by those same mobs, and has realized that those pushing "cancel culture" or "woke" BS are a threat to themselves and everyone else.
At minimum, it's a very clear case of self-awareness, especially among those from the Leftist intelligentsia, that they too would pay the price for "woke" BS, and that stifling free speech would also backfire on them.
EDIT: Polishing
The video in question (12:45 mins.) is Arch going all-in at GW. As he explains off the bat, corporations aren't by definition or default, "moral", as they exist to produce/publish products and make money. GW, though, goes well past that and into virtue-signaling and moral arbiter territory.
With Arch proceeding to highlight not just the hypocrisy of "Warhammer is for everyone." But also the myriad cases of GW itself falling far short of its own grandstanding. Especially involving its dealings with the PRC.
He also continues, giving an insight as to how the "woke" drama is perceived within Japan: