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So I've been following the "Day of Departure" pretty closely on Al Jazeera blogs today (I really cannot stress following this enough), and (so far) as of 10:30 pm local time things remained relatively peaceful all day, which I have tremendous respect for. When your country is falling apart and your leaders have been stealing billions of dollars from you for 30 years, throwing a brick through a window or burning down a government building must feel pretty good.
I was talking with some colleagues about the whole Dickwolf thing, and why it exploded the way it did, we drew some interesting conclusions. I need to stress conclusions here, because seriously, it's over. Both sides crossed the line, and now people are scrapping the barrel of controversy. I mean, barking at Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day for opinions to keep the debate going? Give it up for serious.
The main thing that I couldn't stop thinking about though is this, why did it happen in the first place? My conclusion? Because we're geeks. Forgive me for stereotyping but bear with me.
Most people turned to geek culture as a source of refuge from the torment that they felt from the 'real world'. Why has science fiction and fantasy always been associated with geekdom? Why were geeks and nerds early adopters of the internet (to say nothing of being early adopters of almost all tech in general)? Because they need escape.
Let's face it, part of being a geek is being made fun of for being a geek. With the advent of the internet, geeks have been connecting like never before; social networking, online gaming, the blogosphere and countless other mediums have given a sense of community to our brave little subgroup.
Remember being one of only 2 or 3 kids who were into anime or gaming in high school, and then being bewildered as that number jumped to 20-30 in college or university (due to a larger student base more connections could be made with the like minded)? Thanks to the internet we were suddenly making even more friends, even if we had never met face to face, and that feeling of being teased or abused for being a geek stopped being such a big deal because you knew there were so many going through the same thing.
And 11 years ago, Penny Arcade was in the right place at the right time, and these two guys who lived together in an apartment loved all the same stuff we did and made fun of the stuff we made fun of. Many of us started reading it on a regular basis, and if you met another gamer, chances are PA would be something you would talk about. Somehow, through an impressive chain of events, Penny Arcade became part of a sort of a figurehead of geek culture.
I think there is no such thing as a person who identifies themselves as a geek who has never been teased, made fun, tormented or abused in varying degrees just for being a geek. When 'geek culture' started forming itself into an active community, it would only make sense that we would be deeply protective of said community. We should protect our own, right? We should make sure that no matter what, we wouldn't engage in the same sort of behavior that made many of us uncomfortable in so called "standard" social circles.
Within this community, we could each be ourselves, free of judgement, and not be subject to the kind of treatment that we had (and still) put up with for so long.
The community grew, and as a community grows, the chances of everyone seeing eye-to-eye on everything diminishes. I can't find stats on their hits (I admittedly didn't look very hard), but it must easily number in the thousands, if not tens of thousands, a day. What are the odds of all those people having the same sense of humour? Pretty fucking slim.
So when the Dickwolf, and the second strip, pushed the envelope of what some people wanted to see, something horrible happened. People felt like their own community betrayed them, they felt tormented by the figureheads of a community where they felt safe. They felt like they were back in high school, having their books knocked out of their hands and tormented once more. The fact that the "trigger" was something as volatile as rape was even worse, and surely, when a group is largely targeted and preyed upon by society in general, I would be willing to bet that the number of geeks who are sexually abused in some way is higher than many other subgroups.
So they lashed out, their haven no longer safe. The other side was just as threatened, these people were causing conflict, and conflict pulls apart a community, a community they wanted to protect. Geekdom tends to be very opinionated, and freedom of speech and the right to speak your mind is greatly valued. For all the stupidity both sides engaged in throughout this spectacle, I think they both had the same goal.
Both sides wanted things to stay the way the were. On the one hand, one group wanted things to stay safe and comfortable. On the other hand, the other group didn't want to deal with anyone making waves. Insanity followed and basically if you were anti-rape you were pro-censorship, and if you supported freedom of speech you were a rape apologist. It's not that black and white and shame on both sides for oversimplifying that badly.
Here's the thing: As a community, we'll have our differences, as the community grows, there will be even more differences. As a community that values and encourages free speech, these differences will likely be debated and discussed to great lengths (we're talking about the same community who can end up in shouting matches over Kirk vs Picard, PS3 vs 360 or the accepted timeline of Dr. Who, how did you think we would react when the argument centered around sexual abuse and censorship?).
How do we learn from this? I think it's simple (although I'm sure it isn't): We all have the right to say whatever we want, and make fun of anything we think might be, and we all equally have the right to say whether or not that makes us feel uncomfortable. Now here's the tricky part, so pay attention. When someone tells that something makes them uncomfortable, both parties now have a responsibility. The first person (let's say the person who made the joke) shouldn't antagonize or aggravate the situation, but the second person (the person who was offended) should not only not antagonize or aggravate the situation, but also, you need to read the intent behind the joke. Did the person intend on offending you? That's important.
If we don't pay attention to the intention someone's actions, we end up in a politically correct hellhole that can be just as damaging to free speech and our right to an opinion as flat out censorship.
So if you're offended, let the person know, but also cut them some slack, they probably weren't trying to offend you (believe me, if they were, it would likely be very obvious) and if you have to start a debate about it, be civil, don't threaten to rape them, or to murder their children. This seems like common sense but somehow, isn't.
In conclusion I will finish by saying that I'm anti-censorship, but also somehow anti-rape. I know it's hard to believe, but that's where I stand.
Image from: http://www.shamelessmag.com/media/content/2007/09/geek-chic-illo.jpg
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