Revelations, breakthroughs, Felicia, and Gamergate

Fandoms be crazy. Not biatchs, FANDOMS. Being a fan is actually like having an adiction. You can attribute a lot of joy and loyalty to certain mere mortals, elevating them above personhood, holding them to higher standards.  Unfortunately this puts them on a stupid high pedestal.

When you think about it noone should have that kind of pressure, balancing ontop of a fans expectations, trying not to fall. And yet while they shouldn't have to live up to higher standards, their words and deeds set an example for their followers on how to think and act. If they stereotype an entire group of people as "evil" their followers will most likely listen and believe without question. If they dismiss olive branches as hollow gestures, it sets an anti-diplomatic tone.

That is a buttload of responsibility. No wonder some e-celebs are denying the throne as king/queen of the geeks. I mean good on them on one hand for being humble, but on the other hand they're in denial of the power they wield. And the responsibility that comes with it.

I was a fan of many people pre Gamergate. It wasn't that they "showed their true colours". Actually I think a lot of them are still deep down moral folk trying to do the right thing. My problem is they've been revealed to be out of touch, and don't seem to mind reveling in their ignorance. Where once these people seemed to share my skepticism of the press, it now seems it was only if the press's narrative was not compatible with their own head canon.

These weren't just people i liked, they were my gurus. I can honestly say a few of them helped make me a better person through their art and RL activism. Some in small ways; Wil Weaton got me back into tabletop gaming. Others in profound life changing ways; Joss Whedon through his character Xander helped me a lot through high school, and his show Firefly is the reason I am in a 2 year and change relationship with the woman i intend to marry. Others in just ways that made me laugh, like Tim Schafer's games.

So now that that back (sob) story is out of the way here is the meat of what i wanted to talk about. I was in a massive quandary about these celebrities, both minor and major. I still like their stuff, in a lot of cases i LOVE their stuff. I tune in to Felicia Day's Geek & Sundry religiously almost, really dig Titansgrave and Green Ronin's AGE RPG system along with the imagination of Wil Weaton's storytelling, and love how every show they have is presented. I like the art but for a while i couldn't reconcile the hate these people, who i've never met or talked to, have towards me.

I liken it to someone who hates ALL Muslim peoples due to 911 or fox news. Seeing t he actions of a few troll appropriators going off topic as an indication of the whole. It's an irrational hate, a dehumanisation, a stereotyping, that happens usually the bigger a celebrity gets and the more workload obscures their ability to connect to people as individuals rather than a sea of faces or demographics.

Yesterday I had a tiring day at work volunteering at a local charity op shop and received a free ticket in my email to try out Hoyt's cinemas' Lux Cinema (as in deLUXe). I was like TREAT YO' SELF! I went and saw the latest Mission Impossible as it was the only movie out of the 4 showing that actually looked good. I loved the heck out of it, both the venue AND the movie. As i was watching it a revelation bathed over me, like a warm glow, and all this tension and resentment at people faded away.

Most recently this pertained to Felicia Day in her latest book dismissing heatfelt apologies from the GG community for things we didn't do as "hollow". I had a while ago not only been one of those people that said they felt sorry, but had actually forgiven Wil Weaton's near constant dickery towards myself and my friends as a new years resolution (to which Felicia Day actually "favourited" that twitter post).

So what was this revelation?

I don't like Tom Cruise. I love his work though, big "fan", but i wouldn't want to have dinner conversation with him. Put him in front of a camera though and he works his butt off to entertain. He doesn't phone it in or coast off his name alone. He constantly proves himself time and again. I realized it was foolish to boycott art you enjoy that has a lot of hard work behind it just because you dislike or disagree with the person attached to it (Enders Game is still on my reading list).

Now i get all about boycotting due to the product itself being seen as harmful. I mean that's LITERALLY what Gamergate is about as pertains to Gawker Media and other organizations run off fear rhetoric and sensationalism targeting gaming like Feminist Frequency's crusade to increase gender devision and mistrust of male gamers (and might i say decididely sexist stereotyping of both men AND women). No problems boycotting these types of organizations.

I left the cinema feeling better about life, a huge weight lifted. There are some who feel that being suppportive of Felicia Day and being part of Gamergate are mutually exclusive. I disagree. If being part of such a diverse group of ideas as Gamergate has taught me anything it is that there are no absolutes, not two sides but many. In fact absolutism is the problem we're facing with being dehumanised as a group. It's how our opposition has been acting.

Let's be better, hold ourselves to a higher standard than our former gurus hold themselves to. And let's also enjoy what we want and not hang shit on people for their individuality. Let's also realize something, Gamergate wasn't meant to last forever. No movement is. It's awesome it went the distance and actually changed the industry not just as a consumer backlash but as a cultural backlash. It's inspired other people to think for themselves beyond the restrictions SJWs tend to place ("our way or you're a misogynist"). And in the end isn't that what REALLY matters? Even Batman at the end of Dark Knight didn't give a shit about public opinion, all that mattered was the result. We changed things... forever. There's no going back. Okay maybe that's a bit hyperbolic but you get what i mean. The history books won't  favour us but i don't want to be as they say "on the right side of history". I just want to be on the right side.