Author Topic: Don't get political (Read 13511 times)

Svevan · « **on:** September 21, 2007, 09:02:32 AM »

I'm hiding this very serious statement in the Funhouse, since I screwed up and moved the tasing thread to General Chat where it got locked.

Everything's political. Movies are political. Religion is political. Games are political. Life is politics - the root word is "Polis" which means city or citizenship. Perhaps we believe that our citizenship is a secondary aspect of our lives, and first and foremost we are "gamers" or "Christians" or "Democrats" or whatever. We are conveniently forgetting (or blindly ignorant) that each of these statements implies citizenship, and that citizenship cannot be "secondary" for it is primary. Our citizenship is what food we eat, what clothes we wear, where we go on Sunday, how we run our government, our cars, our bikes, our video games, our computers. Just ask Song Jong Nam, who is in prison in North Korea for his religion. Or Azadeh Moeveni who was almost imprisoned in Iran for a short time because of her dress.

Perhaps in America we are used to dichotomizing our lives into halves, or chopping them up into many bits. With the age of the Renaissance Man (over 600 years ago, yeah) we believed man should know everything - but now we teach "everything" in little sections and weigh the value of one segment over another, saying knowledge in art is not as valuable as knowledge of business, that entertainment is a distraction from "more important" things, that video games are just a subset of a culture, a tiny bit.

Ever consider that perhaps video gaming defines us? Or that it is at least is a mirror of a greater whole? Perhaps my video game playing is directly tied to my politics, and by association, my religion, and by association, my view of the larger world. Perhaps I am not a seven-part person who has seven interests but one person who is working out many different things because those seven pieces aren't different but the same.

Don't get political on NWR, because getting political might mean we actually talk about something. In the meantime, we can talk about games as if they had no impact or purpose outside of our living rooms. How sad is that?

Pale · « **Reply #1 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:04:50 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
Don't get political on NWR, because getting political might mean everyone will end up looking like a jackass.

Fixed.

Svevan · « **Reply #2 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:07:19 AM »

No debate there. =)

vudu · « **Reply #3 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:07:35 AM »

Cogito, ergo sum.

Pale · « **Reply #4 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:11:18 AM »

But in all seriousness...

I disagree completely. Politics suck. That is why we elect other people to worry about it.

The best politicians are those people that don't think they are politicians.

that Baby guy · « **Reply #5 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:13:48 AM »

This just in: Phoenix Wright banned from NWR!

Yeah, well, it was my mistake to begin with, because I started it out as a somewhat political issue, forgetting the forum's rules.

I always thought the exclusion of politics on the forum was meant to avoid unnecessary arguments that can occur when opposing believes clash. The way it is now, if I believe in such and such, and Vudu hates such and such, it's a non-issue and we can be friends, except when he's always not on my team in mafia.

vudu · « **Reply #6 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:15:45 AM »

I really hate that we have the same avatar. It makes hating you that much harder.

Svevan · « **Reply #7 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:18:27 AM »

I'm not saying we should debate politics (because that does have unnecessary consequences), but admit that the political and the religious are not separate issues, divorced from the rest of human life. If we start talking about someone getting tased, we move into politics. If we start talking about Miyamoto's game design philosophy, we're still talking about politics. Back to the idea of citizenship, purpose, life, etc. Our board is too shaky, and our connections are too frivolous for us to actually push on the buttresses, but I fear life is stifled by censorship (even here).

vudu · « **Reply #8 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:20:51 AM »

But if we start down this road we risk offending each other. And we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, do we?

Can we discuss Jesus Camp?

ShyGuy · « **Reply #9 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:24:11 AM »

To quote Thomas Jefferson verbatim, "SEPER-MARATION OF TEH CHURCH AND TEH STATE AND TEH VIDEOGAMEZ!1!"

Pale · « **Reply #10 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:25:37 AM »

For some reason, political discussions online ALWAYS devolve into someone just playing devil's advocate for their jollies. It's very very easy to disagree with any political view. You know why? Because politics aren't black and white, and any time someone tries to simplify them, they just look silly.

Call it censorship, but the world wouldn't function without censorship. We don't talk about politics here for the same reason you don't tell your 95 year old grandma to piss off when she does something annoying.

Is that really censorship? I call it being polite.

vudu · « **Reply #11 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:27:51 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Pale
Is that really censorship? I call it being polite.

Pale wins the Internet.

stevey · « **Reply #12 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:28:19 AM »

Don't blame Politic, blame Karma.....

You locked the HAWTNESS thread after it was moved
And the tasing thread you moved got locked

The only way to get Karma back on your side is to unlock both threads

Svevan · « **Reply #13 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:29:12 AM »

Sounds like bribery.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #14 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:36:19 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
Sounds like Hinduism.

fixed for extra controversial flava!

that Baby guy · « **Reply #15 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:37:22 AM »

Nope, Hare Krishna's are the big cult around here. They like to sing, dance, and cook food in tin cans.

wandering · « **Reply #16 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:46:33 AM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Svevan
I'm not saying we should debate politics (because that does have unnecessary consequences), but admit that the political and the religious are not separate issues, divorced from the rest of human life.

How could we possibly talk about politics without debating them?

Svevan · « **Reply #17 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:53:01 AM »

Specific debates about political issues are bad, let's admit - if we had a Bush v. whoever thread here, it would be terrible.

However, "politics" are not just Bush v. whoever. Politics aren't just governmental issues or questions of nationalism. Politics are everyday life, and we quickly move from small questions (about games, tasing, art, the ethics of WWII shooters) into bigger ones. What's happening is that our smaller questions are being stifled because of their inevitable conclusion.

I don't think there's an actual solution, other than maybe a set aside "do whatever, sans porn" forum. I just think we've gotten really really political in past threads without ever recognizing it; we all live in "the city" in one form or another. We all embrace certain "cities" over others. Those presuppositions lead us to our tastes in games, among many many other things.

So I propose nothing, just wanted to throw out there the limitation of a "don't talk politics" rule.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #18 on:** September 21, 2007, 09:53:39 AM »

I think there is a difference in intent. One could make a post talking about how Bioshock relates to Ayn Rand and Objectivism, and that's removed from simply posting "I hate Objectivism"

edit: but hey, if we all played nice, there would be no need for rules, right?

King of Twitch · « **Reply #19 on:** September 21, 2007, 10:00:30 AM »

Eye only seen vidyagames and pollatics rah lated when that Jack Thompson shows up 'n sez funny thangs

wandering · « **Reply #20 on:** September 21, 2007, 10:48:26 AM »

For what it's worth svevan, I agree with you. Politics and videogames are interrelated. The "don't discuss politics" rule is silly. It causes us to break the rules often, without realizing it. Sometimes, it prevents us from saying things we should say.

Quote
I don't think there's an actual solution, other than maybe a set aside "do whatever, sans porn" forum.

I proposed something like that a while back....

http://nintendoworldreport.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=14&threadid=16375&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

Quote
Originally posted by: ShyGuy
I think there is a difference in intent. One could make a post talking about how Bioshock relates to Ayn Rand and Objectivism, and that's removed from simply posting "I hate Objectivism"

If you say "I hate Objectivism" you aren't debating, you're flaming.

Quote
Eye only seen vidyagames and pollatics rah lated when that Jack Thompson shows up 'n sez funny thangs

Take a look at this thread.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #21 on:** September 21, 2007, 10:59:47 AM »

The foum rules make perfect sense, avoid straight out political topics. As we've seen in these boards "politics" are fine as long as they are in the context of a game as long as it doesn't get too off topic. To allow straight political and religious discussions into the board, means we will have something like gamefaqs where people throw out their own political beliefs just for the heck of it, when it may not even be related or needed for the discussion.

Mashiro · « **Reply #22 on:** September 21, 2007, 11:56:37 AM »

Nothing got more political than the GP vs Mashiro debates over PS2 and SSBM.

GoldenPhoenix · « **Reply #23 on:** September 21, 2007, 01:04:01 PM »

Quote
Originally posted by: Mashiro
Nothing got more political than the GP vs Mashiro debates over PS2 and SSBM.

PS2 represents democracy and SSBM represents communism ,which means it MUST die.

ShyGuy · « **Reply #24 on:** September 21, 2007, 01:11:26 PM »

The message board rules are overreaching and vague so that enforcement and interpretation is left up to the moderators. The problem with this is the NWR staff could ban almost any one of us at any time and be justified according to the rule book.

News:

Author Topic: Don't get political (Read 13511 times)