This seems like a strange statement to open a rant on, but it's true- the penetrating darkness of the room cut only by the glow off of dozens of CRT's, the cacophony of those dozens of game machines all playing their demos in discord with each other, the feel of a light-gun and the weight of the cable that tied it to the machine- and, especially, the flimsy feeling of the buttons on a fighting game cabinet, and the looseness of the beaten-up control stick. I played a lot of Tekken- my brother and I both did, and I considered him something of a rival- and getting to play it on an actual honest-to-God arcade cabinet was a special treat. Sure, we had it on Playstation- but the two experiences were nothing alike. The controller was different, the feel of the game was different, and if you played an arcade machine, there was a chance- even in the dying throes of the arcade age- that someone you didn't know could simply walk up to you while you were playing, and plunk two more tokens into the machine for the opportunity to pit their skills against yours. Sometimes they were better. Sometimes you were. Either way, neither competitor would talk trash to their opponent while the match was going on.
One, because that was poor sportsmanship and you just don't do that. Two, because the staff or mall security could 'encourage' them to leave if things escalated. But three- and I think this is most important: because this setup placed you in prime position to beat the hell out of your opponent if they dared say anything untoward about your mother, raised questions about your sexuality, or slung racial slurs in your direction. We treated each other with respect.
We don't get that anymore, in the age of online-only multiplayer. There's a reason I lament the loss of split-screen gaming; there's nothing quite like sitting on the same couch as your buddy, not only for the bonding experience but also for placing you in range for physical retribution if they pull some janky shit to cheat you out of an honorable win. Anybody from anywhere can scream anything into your ear and there's not a single thing you can do about it because they're miles (or even a complete hemisphere) away from you. Now, sciencey types have called this the "Online Disinhibition Effect", but if truth be told, I like the name that Penny Arcade coined for this kind of unchecked asshattery a whole lot better.
 |
| It's the GIFT that keeps on giving. |
I try to stay out of politics, partly because I feel that there's enough screaming about that from both sides of the line, partly because both sides disgust me equally. Conservatives scream about commie libtard snowflakes who are too lazy to get jobs and are sucking the taxpayers dry by leeching off of welfare and letting illegal immigrants get away with everything, Obama was a terrorist and Hillary was a criminal, liberalism is a mental disorder and all democrats are completely shit-flinging insane, Trump is a superhero who is going to fix every last thing wrong with modern America- oh, and anybody who gets an abortion or declares themselves homosexual Is Going To Burn In Hell. Then they go to church and sing about how that Jesus guy really knew what he was doing by taking care of the poor and the helpless, and preaching tolerance for all, even those you don't agree with.
Liberals, on the other hand, are content to grumble quietly to each other about how America is now run by a Cheeto with a toupee, our president is the worst president in history and he's going to start World War 3 and blow the country all to hell, and anybody who isn't in support of impeaching the racist sexist president must be a white supremacist neo-nazi sociopath. They're backed up by the social justice crowd, which champions causes I can get behind at the surface level- they're leading the charge against racism and sexism, sticking up for gay rights and standing in defense of the trans community, pushing for a free internet and against rampant student debt. Where I take a step back and wonder what the hell they're thinking however, is in regards to how in their eyes everybody is equal and deserves respect... except if you happen to be a cisgender white heterosexual male. In which case: fuck you, check your privilege, you have no right to even open your mouth in defense of someone less fortunate, because you have no idea how good you've had it all your life. Go crawl back into your scum-hole and don't come out until either you have dyed your hair bright green, shaved half your head, and put on a single earring, or you're wearing a dress and ready to declare yourself a pretty pretty princess. And take that hula girl off your car dashboard, that's cultural misappropriation! Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You utter bastard.
(So much for equality.)
Now of course, all that said, this is the vocal minority of both sides. It's just alarming to me how many people make up said minority, and how vocal they are, and how giddy they seem to be at the idea of burning the other party at the stake for their sins (actual or imagined). Everybody on both sides of the equation has become a cartoon caricature in the other's eyes, even if they're on the same side of the equation: if you're slightly left of Right, you are straightjacket-and-padded-room crazy and should be kept away from voting booths, and if you are slightly right of Left, then you probably think Hitler running the country sounds pretty swell.
I've come to fear the word 'protests'. I'm not against them or anything- rather the opposite. I feel that peaceful protest is inherently a good thing. It's just.... whenever they come up in the news, it's because they've stopped being peaceful. Maybe rioting broke out. Maybe someone decided to shoot into the crowd and caused a panic. Maybe someone decided to drive a frickin' car into a group of protesters because they didn't agree with their ideology. News stories about protests never end well anymore, because instead of holding discourse to try and meet people in the middle and see from their point of view, we as a society have decided that the best and most proper action to an opposing viewpoint is to shut it down as noisily and dramatically as possible. We're so afraid of being challenged on our stances that we simply refuse to let it happen, whether violently or passively. People advertise on Twitter bios and Facebook profiles that they'll only follow/friend fellow Trump supporters, and anybody who doesn't show support by throwing a tantrum at the Left is instantly blocked- regardless of what they had to say or how nice they were about saying it. Meanwhile, the Left sits at their computers, pitchforks in hand, banging their torches against their computer desks, calling for Trump's impeachment (much like, I must remind them, the Right did for years after Obama was sworn in) and hunting down excuses to have the man thrown out of office (ditto).
Let's get away from political parties for a moment and return to GIFT. I posited to somebody recently that there's a line from Batman Returns that could also be applicable to the Internet at large: I am the light of this city, and I am its mean, twisted soul. The World Wide Web is an anarchic stew of free expression; with very few laws to regulate it, anybody from anywhere can say anything that they want with little chance of consequence. I can think of no greater example of the first amendment... and no more cringe-inducing, either. People flock to their Facebooks and Tumblrs and Twitters, heartily liking and reblogging the people they agree with. As for those they don't? They either block, scream at, or scream at and then block anyone they disagree with, gradually building themselves an echo chamber where they will never ever be challenged by anybody who doesn't share their opinions ever. Fuck discourse, the only way to really handle a sensitive topic is to set the person talking about it on fire, in a public forum. Amirite?
It feels like the echo chamber problem has been a problem for a lot longer than the internet, but boy oh boy did the internet make it worse. Now that the world runs on social media, shutting out any opinion that isn't your own can be done with the push of a button, thereby protecting you from all sorts of harmful scandalous opinions such as I agree with this celebrity's statement and you know, I think that popular movie is only okay. Don't get me wrong, I believe that there's a time and place for blocking off those around me- assholes who just want to piss off the world, people who use religion to justify their bigotry and prejudices, political zealots with a large mouth and a small memory, and scum-suckers who have squandered their chance to prove they're a decent human being. I do not, however, believe in using the means available to me to censor someone just because they have a difference of opinion.
Am I the only one that terrifies? Because it's goddamned terrifying.
Tearing each other apart because They're With The Other Guys is not okay. That we have some maniac gunning down a crowd of innocent people every other day now is not okay. What the fuck is wrong with you, America? Put down your smartphones for twelve misbegotten seconds and really look at the world around you. Did we learn nothing from the Civil War? Abraham Lincoln, 1858, "A house divided against itself cannot stand"?
And here we are, a hundred and fifty nine years later, repeating that same mistake. Not with slaves, but with opinions. Not from inside bunkers and trenches, but from behind our keyboards where nobody knows who we are.
Wake up, guys.
We're better than this.
The Way Things Are doesn't have to be this way. Whatever happened to that bright, shining future we had as children? We were going to be astronauts and soar through space. We were going to be presidents and run the country. We were going to be paleontologists, and dig up dinosaurs. We were gonna be beautiful ballerinas, or mega-spies with lots of cool gadgets, or famous movie stars who lived in a huge mansion with a butler and everything. We weren't going to take any guff from jerks, and we never had to worry about a bad guy with a gun randomly popping in to kill fourteen of us at once. Why should we? Back then, that was unthinkable.
It should still be unthinkable now.
Maybe we never reached space. Maybe we never got that call back from Spielberg. Maybe we never got to perform Swan Lake on stage. And even if we did, we still got sidetracked, pushed down, walked on, and we wound up abandoning The Way Things Should Be and put it aside for The Way Things Are.
Maybe, just maybe, it only fell by the roadside. Maybe with some care and patience, The Way Things Should Be can still become The Way Things Are. That is, of course, if it's not too late.
No comments:
Post a Comment