I mean yeah, but there are a LOT of other actions that would be 'good.' We shouldn't just take actions because they're good, we should take them because they:
1) Prevent something bad from happening
2) Specifically fit into a plan we have for the future
3) Produce really big profits.
Results: Factory made and production has begun. Self-flying planes will largely replace traditional piloted planes for commercial and private flights in about two years time. Ferris Aerospace earns itself acclaim in several scientific and business journals. Lots of money made. Cooperation score between Carol and Lex increased by + 0.2.
And here is part 3 of the characters you have encountered. Man this list keeps getting bigger and bigger. And we still haven't gotten to the point where heroes and villains start coming out of the woodwork.
Known Relationships with other known characters
Hudson greatly enjoyed working with Oswald Loomis and is eager to do so again
Hudson is good friends with Daphne Dean and managed to convince her to participate in the Mask of Zorro remake
Hudson is amiable with Lisa Snart
Hudson thinks poorly of Intergang
Hudson likes working with LexCorp but doesn't know how he feels about the companies continued investment in the weapons buisness
Doesn't think much of Anthony Romulus
Known Relationships with other known characters
Greatly enjoyed working with LexCorp and would gladly do it again
Found Oswald agreeable and entertaining
Gets along decently with Lisa Snart
Likes Rebecca Carstairs
Is good friends with Hudson Pyle and had a lot of fun working with him
Daphne thinks the Lex Luthor is the model of what a rich business man should be and is willing to endorse his products and any political campaign he might engage in.
Is not a fan of Anthony Romulus
Is friends with Mari McCabe
Known Relationships with other known characters
Is attracted to Daphne Dean but finds her personality snooty
Is a bit dismissive of Hudson but can get along with him
Literally has no idea who Lisa Snart is
Enjoyed working with Oswald but thinks he is foppish
Thinks of Luthor as an egghead but acknowledges that he is a genius
Known Relationships with other encountered character
Is on Intergang's payroll
Attempted to assassinate Lois Lane
Is probably the person trying to break into LexCorp but failing due to the wards
Traits
Invisible Imperceptible and All Around Hard to Find: Blindspot nullifies any intrigue checks dependent on sight, light, heat and/or sound
Sneaking Specialist: On any task that requires sneaking around undetected Blindspot's intrigue stat doubles.
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is allied to Count Vertigo but doesn't like him and attempted to double cross him. In turn Count Vertigo backstabbed him first and is now his enemy
Was working with Whisper A'Daire and was evidently frightened of her contingency plans
Had General Karnz working with him and viewed him as a useful subordinate
Is hated by Bito Wladon
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is the underling of Baron Delamb who he greatly respects
Fears Count Vertigo
Is hated by Bito Wladon
Was killed by Lex Luthor
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Was working with Baron Delamb and is not fond of him. Count Vertigo successfully double crossed him without Delamb being wise to his betrayal. With Count Vertigo openly declaring war on Markovia the two of them are now firmly entrenched as enemies
Is rather disgusted of the idea of associating with Whisper A'Daire and only agreed to do so to ensure that Delamb owes him. Ended up killing Whisper to curry favor with Ra's
Is hated by Bito Wladon
Is now the regent of Vlatava and has killed off all opposition to his rule in a semi-deniable way
Is working closely with LexCorp and is in an impromptu alliance with them
Oswald Loomis dislikes him while Vertigo cares little for Oswald's opinion
Greatly respects Lex Luthor who has recently delivered him the Bone Growth formula as an impromptu way of making super-soldiers
Is interested in grooming his niece into what he believes a "proper ruler" should be
Traits
Send Their Head Spinning: Count Vertigo can temporarily decrease an individuals martial by up to 15 for a single round of combat so long as he has a line of vision on them.
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Hates Baron Delamb
Hates Count Vertigo
Hated General Karnz
Is working with Ubu
Is amenable to working with Roxanne Sutton and finds her offers enticing even if he doesn't fully trust her or her mysterious boss
Is unaware that Luthor is Roxanne's boss
Traits
Single Minded Madness of Revolution: If Bito is dealing with a Target who he believes is getting in the way of or is an enemy of his revolution his Diplomacy stat drops to zero and he gains +3 Martial
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is dismissive of working for LexCorp in full
Dislikes Edward Nygma and is hated by Nygma in turn who secretly arranged for Russel to lose a finger in an accident. Russel is unaware that Edward orchestrated the accident
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Amber Joyce is comfortable working with LexCorp for a paycheck but is very reclusive and prefers to stay out of the spotlight whenever possible
Doesn't really reciprocate Oswald's attempts to be friendly beyond being cordial
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Likes working with Roxanne Sutton
Thinks LexCorp is good at their job
Finds Oswald to be better than most directors she has encountered
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is good friends with Hudson Pyle
Is willing to argue with Oswald over how he should act in his role but gets along with him well enough off set
Gets along well with Hector Ramirez
Is surprised Cerise Orielle has no background in acting
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Has had long fights with Oswald over the creative liberties he took when portraying past events
Is not highly regarded amongst academia
Was killed by Kobra
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is new to acting and appreciates Jonathan Lord's showing him some industry tricks
Likes working with Oswald well enough
Is amazed at Cerise's talent and works harder to try and compete with her
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Holds disdain for Vincent Edge and ended up killing him brutally
Is happy to work with General Eiling though not for him
Is willing to work with LexCorp as a deniable asset
Has been brutalizing the country of Santa Prisca
Is collecting Intergang tech and murdering them whenever he can find them
Believes it is his destiny to defeat the Batman and claim dominion over Gotham and is preparing for that moment
Sold Venom's formula to LexCorp. He has since gone on to heavily distribute the formula to others making the drug more widespread.
Is covertly aided by the US military and has provided Eiling with large amounts of alien tech
Is the richest man in Santa Prisca
Killed Vincent Edge and sent LexCorp the proof as a show of good faith
Traits
Venom Boost: Whenever Bane is facing an opponent in direct combat and they do not have any powers Bane gains and additional +15 to his dice roll
Be Sharp or Be Dead: Whenever Bane takes on a learning task that requires him to memorize information rather than discover something new his learning stat gains +10
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Admired Ivo but holds impressive misconceptions as to his character and attended his funeral
Thinks Lex Luthor is a good and moral man
Incorrectly thinks that Marie Louise Dahl is Lex's adopted daughter
Thinks well of Bruce Wayne
Admires Lois Lane as an admirable person who strives to tell the truth
Is not fond of Intergang but is fascinated by their technology
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Taught a single class on quantum mechanics that Emily Rice attended
Was interested enough in Ivo's work to attend his funeral and thought that his ideas were interesting
Is known throughout the scientific community for being interested in cracking the secret to time travel
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Attended the funeral of Professor Ivo and respected his contributions to science.
Is second in command at the Metropolis branch of STAR labs
Doesn't view LexCorp as a competitor to STAR labs but likewise also doesn't really view the company in a negative light. She has grown to like the company a bit more after having been aided by them during Intergang's attack.
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Admired Anthony Ives but viewed him as ultimately misguided and only attended his funeral as an attempt to gather more information
Despises Lex Luthor and is afraid of the man commercializing his work
Is not fond of the American Government at all
Is regarded as a crackpot in the greater scientific community
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Attended Ivo's funeral but found the whole thing distasteful
Respects Lex Luthor as a scientist but is highly against him as a businessman as he believes that LexCorp is attempting to gather monopoly's and will maximize profit over progress as soon as they don't have to compete with anyone else. Garrison will do everything in his power to ensure that Lex Luthor always has competition and wants to keep STAR labs out of his hands
Helped found STAR labs and is one of the largest shareholders in the company
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Went to Lexpo thanks to a scholastic competition
Is interested in technology and has agreed to a LexCorp internship
Looks up to Felicity Smoak and generally sees her as a mentor
Is the daughter of Jim Gordon and is close with her father
Liked watching Clockblockers and asked Lisa Snart for her autograph
Not a huge fan of Bruce Wayne
Finds Lex Luthor very impressive and slightly intimidating
Likes the Batman a lot and is inspired by him
Thinks well of Oswald Loomis
Generally dislikes criminals
Traits
Handy Computer Whiz Kid: Barbara gains on the relevant stat if she takes an action related to computers
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is the father of Natasha Irons and gets along well with her
Thinks of Mick as a decent enough guy
Thinks relatively positively about LexCorp although he personally wants nothing to do with the weapons industry
Finds Jinx more precocious than anything else
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is the daughter of John Henry Irons and likes and respects her father
Doesn't communicate well with other children her age
Is disliked by Jinx for being rude and dislikes her in turn for being too quick to assume things
Very interested in LexCorp tech
Won a ticket to the first Lexpo thanks to a scholastic competition Oswald set up
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Malcom Duncan attended the first Lexpo because he won a scholastic competition set up by Oswald Loomis
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Is the daughter of a senator whom Eiling is relatively fond of
Attended the first Lexpo due to winning a scholastic competition set up by Oswald Loomis
Is thought of semi-positively by Cassandra Luthor and views her as worth befriending
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Used to meet with Ferris Aircraft relatively regularly when they were not under the LexCorp umbrella and looks forward to seeing what they can do even if he makes Carol nervous
Cares little for the machinations of Eiling and Lane
Is fairly supportive of both ARGUS and the DOMA
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Samuel is the father of both Lucy and Lois Lane. Lucy wants her father to be proud of her but he finds her every attempt at doing so pathetic and dislikes how she is desperately trying to mould herself according to what she thinks others want rather than be her own person. Samuel likes Lois but Lois can't stand him and would try to more actively cut him out of her life if she didn't already know that he would undo any such efforts. Lois and Samuel cannot spend any length of time together without ultimately entering a shouting match
Is allied with Eiling but doesn't trust the other general as he sees the man as too ambitious
Likes Lex better than his father and currently views him as a nominal ally so long as his interests remain aligned to that of the government
Dislikes Luminous and is currently keeping him imprisoned for trying to kill Lois
Is intensely hated by Marie Louise Dahl
Traits
Guns of the Patriots: Whenever Sam Lane is acting in the manner that he believes best benefits the US government and isn't direct combat, he receives +5 to his martial and intrigue stat and +10 to the final roll result
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Attacked the first Lexpo for currently unknown reasons.
Was able to put people into comas and killed two police officers
Was after Lex Luthor for some reason
Displayed a history of fluctuating personality and competence
Was killed by Rose Wilson where numerous witnesses could see him
Traits
Voices in My Head: Whenever Sinclair is performing an action that aligns with what the voice in his head wants him to do he can instead use the stats of the entity planting the voice there.
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Attended Lexpo to see what was there
Is impressed with LexCorp
Thinks of Lex Luthor as somewhat pompous and showy but still brilliant and very worth working with and generally respects his achievements
Admires Nygma's game design and thinks Mockridge was stupid and shortsighted for poisoning the man against him
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Not fond of Bruce Wayne for the complications he has given him
Dislikes the Gotham crime families for the complications they forced on him
Is frightened by Lex Luthor but is still willing to hold his ground against him on certain points and Lex Luthor is not overly fond of him for seemingly wasting his time when they met
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Was Ignition's commander
Dislikes Russia and engineered the current situation that country is in. Russia wants him dead if they could get away with it without getting caught
Dislikes the US
Generally wants to be isolationist
Thinks little of LexCorp but sees no reason to fight them
Refused overt cooperation during Brainiac's invasion and actively sabotaged attempts at collaboration
Hates Superman and seeks to prove himself as greater than him, Superman is unaware of Avruskin's feelings towards him
Played a key role in defeating Brainiac and as such a narrative has developed that he saved the world
Is developing technology specifically to counter and defeat Superman who he seems to despise
Known Relationships with other encountered characters
Has agreed to take over as Jinx's tutor and is interested in the paycheck. He does enjoy workign with children but he doesn't think it will be too different from how he is used to teaching
Holds little opinion on LexCorp at all and views them as just another company
I mean yeah, but there are a LOT of other actions that would be 'good.' We shouldn't just take actions because they're good, we should take them because they:
1) Prevent something bad from happening
2) Specifically fit into a plan we have for the future
3) Produce really big profits.
Than you missed how farms would be useful to setup raw materials needed for magic and medicine. Also as a test bed for growth serum and similar tech. And owing our supply chain is a great way to both 1) reduce costs and 2) make it harder for other companies to mess with our supply chain. Not to mention being the source of product makes it possible to control what other companies do with rare plant materials (which our growth serum would be good for making more of).
The thing is, we do magic on a relatively small scale, we don't have a lot of pharmaceuticals derived from exotic plants, and we are fucking rich. We don't need special tech options to just buy whatever plants we need that are cultivated somewhere in the world. If we wanted something that nobody normally grows, like giant plantations of screaming trees or Gingo fruit, it'd be useful. But that is not the situation we are in.
I mean, yes it's profitable, but this isn't likely to be transformational the way that, say, rolling out 3D printing factories and nanotech and the L-phone were.
Just repeating over and over that "this is beneficial" isn't really the issue. The point is, it's an option, but these options aren't so amazing that they override all the other stuff we could be doing- like having Carol expand our aerospace arm, or expanding our 3D printing factories, or getting that search engine up and running, or becoming Facebook or Amazon, or a thousand other things we could do.
It's like, which company is the bigger deal in the modern world, Google or Monsanto? I think if I had to pick, I'd rather be Google.
I'm not averse to taking one or two of the 'green/botany' actions, but I don't want to monofocus on it. LexCorp has bigger dreams than that.
So now comes my musings on politics and their role in this quest. Somehow this ended up being easier to write then my own thoughts on sex, sexuality and sexual violence (there is a post with my thoughts on that coming it just might take a while as phrasing with those topics is very important). Anyways enjoy
On Politics and their Role in this Quest
So politics are an immensely polarizing subject. People can feel quite strongly about things one way or another. As such there is a constant desire to leave politics out, to claim that a work is entirely neutral. That is both cowardly and impossible. Every work is political in nature to some extent. It might not be my own personal politics but a quest in which you play as a billionaire involved with the military-industrial complex whose worst enemy is an illegal alien given unnatural amounts of power can be read politically (Granted I don't think that is a very valid reading of the text since it oversimplifies things but you could do it). Especially with you getting involved with senators and generals and so on this quest will undoubtedly have political elements. They likely will not be my politics (at least not 1 to 1 although some author bleedthrough might occur) but their will be politics and you can interpret elements in a political manner if you wanted to. My objective is not to create a political statement but even far simpler games like monopoly (which can be read as a critique of the capitalist system) can be interpreted that way. As such it doesn't matter what I intend, what I read can be interpreted that way. So how do I deal with this possible time bomb.
The first element is to avoid being offensive. Characters that are racist or classist or sexist are not portrayed in a good light at all. Characters that have these obviously negative traits should be portrayed in a negative light. The second way to avoid being offensive is to give a wide spectrum of political beliefs for characters and have no one character or type of character represent a political group. Due to race being closely tied to politics (especially in the US where I live) race also falls under this spectrum. Generally I want to try and give multiple different representations of each major group creating distinctions between the types of characters available to the audience.
The second element is incredibly simple and that is to do my best to keep my own political opinions out of the work and prevent any overt declarations about things. I hope that my readers will be unable to discern my political opinions (beyond the basics of human decency like racism is bad). Furthermore I do not intend to provide any political filibuster out of character. Political statements that do come from characters are motivated by the character. They are not designed to push an agenda out of universe and flaws with every characters worldview can be found. There is no perfect character who is "right" per se and you could play devils advocate for and against most of them.
The third element is to admit that the DC universe is not the real world and to keep it that way. I will not bring real people into the story (if they haven't been dead for a while like Hitler, Turing, Nixon etc.) nor will I have any character become an explicit allegory for a specific individual. That is a path to starting an argument and to potentially get banned. On top of that I'd like to consider all political discussions in character. As you play a supervillain you are not limited in morality. Politics in this quest should not be restricted to what is good or bad but rather to what you think benefits Lex Luthor the most. Dictatorship is just as valid a rule of government as democracy in this quest even though most would argue they are not at all morally equivalent. Furthermore the DC universe has to deal with tons of things our world does not so the political landscape is not at all equivalent. Comparing the two one to one just does everyone involved a disservice.
The fourth element I use with regards to politics is to give every option some validity. Whatever route you take there are merits and demerits to it. Because politics should be decided by functionality rather than morality all options are valid choices.
I realize that by making a post on the nature of politics in this quest I have paradoxically brought it to the forefront. However what I write will inevitably be possible to interpret in a political manner. I am not seeking to make a political statement but if you manage to read one in what I have created then that reading (so long as it doesn't contradict any of the presented information) is valid. Because of this and the fact that any other writer must inevitably deal with this when tackling similar subject matter to what I am working on, I figured that giving my thoughts on how I approach this would be worthwhile and interesting. The goal of this post is to give others encouragement to find their voices when engaging in fiction that is heavily tied to politics and to give a brief outline of my own thoughts on in thread political discourse and how people can discuss the in quest problems and situations better knowing some of my own stances on the subject. I might regret writing this post (so far of all the posts I have written this one feels the touchiest to me and I was very nervous with writing it and even debated not putting it up at all) but I figured it was worthwhile to get the ideas out there.
I'm honestly terrified about how the next apocryphal post where I share my thoughts with you guys will go since it is an immensely difficult one for me to get out and treat the subject matter with the gravitas it deserves while also not being too afraid to commit to things and actually having something to say about the subject as advice/insight for others. Let me know if I should keep doing posts like this or if I should drop them going forward as while I do feel they can be helpful to the community I'd like to get confirmation on if people even want to read it.
. Let me know if I should keep doing posts like this or if I should drop them going forward as while I do feel they can be helpful to the community I'd like to get confirmation on if people even want to read it.
The first element is to avoid being offensive. Characters that are racist or classist or sexist are not portrayed in a good light at all. Characters that have these obviously negative traits should be portrayed in a negative light.
Well, Jared Taylor is considered to be a white supremacist, but he's not "a dick" to anybody. If anything, he comes across as an old-fashioned gentleman with a funny accent. So not all white supremacists are "dicks."
The definition I am using can essentially be boiled down to discrimination against or for others based on factors outside of their control that are intrinsically tied to their state of existence. It can be both passive and active and relies on generalization.
If you want to be sure you can just Google the word and that is the definition I generally use. The nuances of it can be muddled a bit but I think the core gist of it is pretty obvious.
On top of that there is a test I do for these things. If you think someone could get offended by the characters values you are best off casting those values in a somewhat negative light.
To give an example of a character who has their bad traits accentuated as bad Rorschach can be viewed as a hero but his mysogeny and tendency towards brutal violence and murder are not portrayed in a positive light at all and are seen in a negative light. These less than admirable traits are fine for the character as they are not played up as positive elements for the character.
Basically it's a better safe than sorry rule.
To use your own example no he is not acting like a dick but the fact that the individual in question is talking about a "great replacement" of white people by a minority raises huge red flags and is close enough to the definition (discrimination based on an inherent quality that occurs since he argues that something needs to be done to prevent white people from getting replaced. I am uncomfortable listening to some of his arguments and while he isn't outright rude or insulting his rhetoric is immensely concerning and is what I would consider racist due to the call to action basically being to segragate things based on race. You can be polite and racist the two aren't mutually exclusive) that I'd be very careful when writing a character with the same views. I would not portray that trait in a positive light as it can trigger some big concerns.
Again if it can be taken the wrong way, take steps to counteract it. Like if you write a character who is a leader of a country who advocates displacing other countries and kicking them out so his or her people have enough living space, then while you haven't written anything explicitly racist you should still be careful with the character as that is damn close to Hitler's rhetoric for invading other countries.
It does, thank you. However, I fail to see how such discrimination is wrong in any way. Certainly, if you use such generalizations to justify objective mistreatment, that is evil. But I don't see how discrimination in itself to be immoral, even if done on the basis of "factors outside of their control."
It does, thank you. However, I fail to see how such discrimination is wrong in any way. Certainly, if you use such generalizations to justify objective mistreatment, that is evil. But I don't see how discrimination in itself to be immoral, even if done on the basis of "factors outside of their control."
That is an argument of morality which I do not want to go to in depth in on the thread. If you want a break down on my opinions of that specifically you can PM me but that is an argument of philosophy that I really do not want to engage in on the internet as I am intensely uncomfortable with people misinterpreting things in a text only medium.
The main point is that I as a QM might not find something offensive or immoral but I should respect others opinions on the matter and treat things with care. As such my advice to other QM's is to do the same themselves.
For example there was a bit where I debated making Jinx's real name Rachel Berkowitz. I did not see any problems with it despite the kind of uncomfortable origin of the original character but Kkutlord did. As such I respected his opinion and changed my stance on the matter and did not include that element to the character.
Another example ties into my past. In my freshmen year of high school I thought the word "oriental" was just an archiac term for people from eastern Asia. Someone in my class told me that the word has racist connotations and since then I have attempted not to say it in public. I don't see anything inherently wrong with the word but I still respect other people enough to not want to offend them and take their thoughts into consideration and as such I don't use the word. I don't necessarily understand the exact cultural significance of why it is offensive to them (although I believe it has to do with discrimination during the industrial revolution) but I can still respect someone else's perspective enough to put in a tiny amount of effort not to offend them.
Those are my thoughts on the matter without getting too deep into definition work and morality arguments.
Another example ties into my past. In my freshmen year of high school I thought the word "oriental" was just an archaic term for people from eastern Asia. Someone in my class told me that the word has racist connotations
All I say here is that I guess I have a different view on this than you on this. I will concede that you don't want to be an asshole for no reason, but in our day and age, pretty much anything can be construed as offensive by someone. Modern society is pluralistic; people have very different values and moral standards. What I find offensive and what you find offensive may be two very different things, so constructing a standard of non-offense is impossible.
I'd be happy to have a philosophical discussion with you sometime via PM. But would you be comfortable with such a discussion, especially given how you seem to have a gentler disposition than I?
I'd be happy to have a philosophical discussion with you sometime via PM. But would you be comfortable with such a discussion, especially given how you seem to have a gentler disposition than I?
I can discuss the subject more in depth with you although my responses might be a bit slow. I may occasionally get a bit uncomfortable but if you cross a line I will let you know. I can handle some discomfort.
isnt oriental only racist when refering to people ? Oriental cultures, Far Orient, arent racist terms but using Oriental as to refer to people is racist. So depends on how Anno 1404 used it.
The term "Oriental" is pretty much useless anyway since it covers everything east of Europe. Really unfortunate that dining industry still uses the term to describe their dish.
It does, thank you. However, I fail to see how such discrimination is wrong in any way. Certainly, if you use such generalizations to justify objective mistreatment, that is evil. But I don't see how discrimination in itself to be immoral, even if done on the basis of "factors outside of their control."
So far as I know, never, upon all the Earth for all of history, has discrimination of humanity into segregated breeds ever NOT been used to justify objective mistreatment. The idea that there can be discrimination without mistreatment is a chimera, a fanciful excuse cynically created so that whichever group is presently at the top of the heap can justify stepping on the hands of everyone else.
Another example ties into my past. In my freshmen year of high school I thought the word "oriental" was just an archiac term for people from eastern Asia. Someone in my class told me that the word has racist connotations and since then I have attempted not to say it in public. I don't see anything inherently wrong with the word but I still respect other people enough to not want to offend them and take their thoughts into consideration and as such I don't use the word. I don't necessarily understand the exact cultural significance of why it is offensive to them (although I believe it has to do with discrimination during the industrial revolution) but I can still respect someone else's perspective enough to put in a tiny amount of effort not to offend them.
Much like "Negro," "Oriental" was used by racists, and used heavily. Used by people who in practice actually did hold East Asians in contempt and want to hurt them. As a result, while it is not directly derogatory in itself (much as 'negro' is from the Spanish word for the color black), the association makes it insulting.
It's sort of like how if, as a child, I had red hair and was constantly pushed around and bullied on the playground by boys who called me "Red," I would probably object to being called "Red" even though the term is not 'objectively' insulting and other redheads might have no problem with it.
isnt oriental only racist when refering to people ? Oriental cultures, Far Orient, arent racist terms but using Oriental as to refer to people is racist. So depends on how Anno 1404 used it.
It sounds a bit borderline in that they were using 'Occident' and 'Orient' to refer to halves of the world and 'Occidentals' and 'Orientals' as the people who lived there. Having not played the game either, I'm not going to judge. It's not inherently wrong to have a game like the Caesar game series where you play strictly from one viewpoint (Roman) and other people are wonky foreigners, as long as they're not handled in a dishonorable manner or portrayed as just a bunch of dumb orcs or something.
Rule 2: "Don't Be Hateful" - Assertions that Racism and Discriminatory policies of collective punishment against minorities can be justified have no place on this forum.
So far as I know, never, upon all the Earth for all of history, has discrimination of humanity into segregated breeds ever NOT been used to justify objective mistreatment. The idea that there can be discrimination without mistreatment is a chimera, a fanciful excuse cynically created so that whichever group is presently at the top of the heap can justify stepping on the hands of everyone else.
If black people in a given area commit a disproportionate amount of crime, discriminating against them is not mistreatment but just rational. To say this stereotype is "cynically created so that whichever group is presently at the top of the heap can justify stepping on the hands of everyone else" is actually based on controversial ideological premises found in Critical Theory (aka "Cultural Marxism") which neither I nor most people accept.
Given the effects of discriminatory treatment on poverty and social alienation, and the effects of those on crime, this is itself a self-serving and circular justification.
If we singled out some random ethnic group (say, Italians) and started shunning and stereotyping them, systematically refusing to sell them homes in richer parts of the region, treating their schools as afterthoughts and neglecting the education of their children while expecting them to labor long hours... Well, poor people and kids who grow up with less parenting are more likely to become criminals, shockingly. The ensuing generation of latchkey Italian children, brought up on a diet of alienation and contempt from society at large, would tend to commit rather more crime.
Which Italy-haters could easily use to justify continued discrimination.
Elevated crime rates in an ethnic group are a consequence of discrimination against that group, not a cause.
To say this stereotype is "cynically created so that whichever group is presently at the top of the heap can justify stepping on the hands of everyone else" is actually based on controversial ideological premises found in Critical Theory (aka "Cultural Marxism") which neither I nor most people accept.
"Cultural Marxism" is a conspiracy theory originally created by literal Nazis to justify conflating their two main groups of enemy-targets: Jews and communists. It attributes to Marxism many things that have nothing to do with Marxism.
The idea that a handful of college English and philosophy professors somehow shepherded this sinister Marxist conspiracy into the modern era and are attempting to take over the world with their scarily permissive ideas about race relations and gender roles is fucking hilarious.
"Cultural Marxism" is a conspiracy theory originally created by literal Nazis to justify conflating their two main groups of enemy-targets: Jews and communists. It attributes to Marxism many things that have nothing to do with Marxism.
The idea that a handful of college English and philosophy professors somehow shepherded this sinister Marxist conspiracy into the modern era and are attempting to take over the world with their scarily permissive ideas about race relations and gender roles is fucking hilarious.
We can see that you believe that I believe "there's a conspiracy theory by a handful of English and philosophy professors to take over the world" on the basis that I used the term "Cultural Marxist." You probably got this from this Wikipedia article, one of the many sources cited within it, or even from a group like the ADL or SPLC.
If black people in a given area commit a disproportionate amount of crime, discriminating against them is not mistreatment but just rational. To say this stereotype is "cynically created so that whichever group is presently at the top of the heap can justify stepping on the hands of everyone else" is actually based on controversial ideological premises found in Critical Theory (aka "Cultural Marxism") which neither I nor most people accept.
And let's refer to the Stanford Encyclopedia article on Critical theory that I cited. A cursory glance will indicate that what you said about it "attributing to Marxism many things that have nothing to do with Marxism" is flat out contradicted in the first paragraph. We can also see that such a theory has a normative function, namely "decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms." In light of this, your invocation of Godwin's Law is comes across as you trying to obfuscate the truth. Sorry, but I don't get my hackles up just because someone invoked the name of the modern day Emmanuel Goldstein.
That said, this isn't the forum to discuss these things. If you wish to dissuade me of these "lies," then come and DM me. We can have a civil discussion there, but I suggest you leave behind the accusations.
As I understand it, when it comes to rules compliance, you're better off in a thread where far right viewpoints are aired and then debated, than in a thread where they are aired and then normalized and nobody argues with them. In the latter case you get the kind of shitshow that necessitated this thread.
Because in that quest you got shit like this from the QM, and the players were cheering it on.
@Simon_Jester No, I think you are making a lot of unproven assertions on the basis nothing but sheer bigotry.
Take this statement, for instance.
We can see that you believe that I believe "there's a conspiracy theory by a handful of English and philosophy professors to take over the world" on the basis that I used the term "Cultural Marxist." You probably got this from this Wikipedia article, one of the many sources cited within it, or even from a group like the ADL or SPLC.
I tend to judge political group by their enemies. Since the ADL's most longrunning enemies are Nazis and the SPLC's most longrunning enemies are the Ku Klux Klan, I think I'd rather trust them than, well, people who cuddle up to the Nazis or the Ku Klux Klan.
It's not bigotry, it's a time-honored practice. If someone's worst enemies are baddies, they're probably, probably, not so bad themselves. If someone's worst enemies are innocent people or good guys, they're probably one of the baddies.
And let's refer to the Stanford Encyclopedia article on Critical theory that I cited. A cursory glance will indicate that what you said about it "attributing to Marxism many things that have nothing to do with Marxism" is flat out contradicted in the first paragraph.
And yet you yourself were the one who first uttered 'Marxism' and 'Critical Theory' in the same sentence. The core underlying reality is that the far right has been screaming for roughly 100 years about the culture-corrupting conspiratorial combination of various members of the set:
{liberals, socialists, communists, intellectuals, media, sexual libertines, gays, feminists, Jews}
The conspiracy theory is basically "those effete [members of set] could never overcome our righteous hard-bodied clean-living manly Civilization by brute force, so they've instead resolved to corrupt, sap, and impurify us from within, and when they need muscle they just use a bunch of less-white-than-us people, who as we all know are members of an inferior race that makes great dumb muscle!"
As I said, this conspiracy theory is not a new phenomenon. The Nazis called big chunks of said conspiracy theory "cultural Bolshevism" or "cultural Marxism." In their day, the role of 'muscle' was filled by Slavs, who were officially less white than Germans. Nowadays, it gets called a number of things; "cultural Marxism" is one of them. The role of 'muscle' is (in American proto-fascism) filled mostly by Latinos but occasionally by Arabs.
Now, from what you're saying, it sounds like a bunch of your friends are familiar with the term and use it themselves. If so, then it is probably because you have a lot of friends who have been listening to warmed-over Nazi propaganda points.
...
The reality is that no academic theory or belief system has anywhere near the scope and influence you and others on the far right attribute to either the real academic school of "Critical Theory" or imaginary boogeymen like "cultural Marxism." There is no intellectual-homobortionist-feminazi plot to sap and impurify the precious bodily fluids of the white race.
We can also see that such a theory has a normative function, namely "decreasing domination and increasing freedom in all their forms." In light of this, your invocation of Godwin's Law is comes across as you trying to obfuscate the truth. Sorry, but I don't get my hackles up just because someone invoked the name of the modern day Emmanuel Goldstein.
...Did you just compare Josef Goebbels to the persecuted intellectual from 1984?
Perhaps I am confused by hwat you meant by the 'Goldstein' comparison.
In any case, I have little interest in a private discussion of your conspiracy theories regarding nefarious plots to destroy Western civilization with the menace of "the gay" or "equal rights for women" or "there being a lot of brown people around."
