EPTAnyone who was there or who was watching it on the livestream probably saw this segment from George 'Corpsegrinder' Fisher, from the death-metal band Cannibal Corpse, just before he made an appearance on stage as a guest performer:
*having trouble embedding video in the post, so links will have to do*
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And here is the uncensored version, which has apparently been floating around the interwebs since 2008 (it even made an appearance on TL: (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=64926)
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So when I saw it, what he was saying really went one ear and out the other. They censored the crap out of him, I don't play WoW anymore, was never big on faction pride anyway, and furthermore I don't listen to metal so I didn't know who this guy was. All I know is that he showed up during L90ETC's concert to make a cameo performance. That was last Saturday.
Fast forward to today, when I found multiple posts on Facebook concerning Fisher's anti-Alliance rant. Some of my super-academic friends (two university professors concerned with history and gender studies, respectively) took some huge offense to this and were blaming Blizzard for basically promoting and condoning this guy (by letting him perform) who was using anti-gay slurs in this video they featured.
Apparently they weren't alone:
http://vorpalbunnyranch.wordpress.com/2011/10/27/this-gaymers-story/
http://gaygamer.net/2011/10/antigay_speech_at_blizzcon_201.html
And it's made a big splash on the WoW Battle.net forums:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/3424466243
Interesting that I can't find anything on TL about it, maybe everyone's real chill or just didn't notice the situation. I'm unsure where I stand on this, and I'm wondering what everyone else thinks about this too, particularly our gay community (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=147829)
Are my friends right, and Blizzard should be ashamed/apologize for allowing this guy to "represent" them during the concert at Blizzcon?
Or was Blizzard without blame here, censoring his "speech" and using it only to incite some WoW faction passion for their concert?
Key posts:
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"using the worse language he could think of to insult his mortal enemies":
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Low-hanging fruit:
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Sticks and stones:
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Not just a word:
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The meaning of the word has changed:
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On October 28 2011 11:54 ChiffonAngel wrote:
When the posters in this thread can't make the connection that "using the worse language he could think of to insult his mortal enemies" means using socially accepted homophobic and anti-gay slurs, I'm at a loss. You're too privileged and sheltered and you'll never understand the impact they have. It's bad enough that these slurs are accepted in the gamer and internet cultures, but now you're trying to tell real life people how they should feel about these slurs. This is simply impossible. You haven't lived it, you lack the empathy or compassion to try to understand it and most of all, you don't want to. There's no point in continuing.
When the posters in this thread can't make the connection that "using the worse language he could think of to insult his mortal enemies" means using socially accepted homophobic and anti-gay slurs, I'm at a loss. You're too privileged and sheltered and you'll never understand the impact they have. It's bad enough that these slurs are accepted in the gamer and internet cultures, but now you're trying to tell real life people how they should feel about these slurs. This is simply impossible. You haven't lived it, you lack the empathy or compassion to try to understand it and most of all, you don't want to. There's no point in continuing.
Low-hanging fruit:
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On October 28 2011 13:12 blah_blah wrote:
This is kind of low-hanging fruit. I mean, it's objectively wrong, but it's also relatively innocuous and basically pointless to get outraged over the actions of the singer of a band whose schtick is being offensive. Kids getting bullied every day in just about every school in America for being gay, or even the widespread, careless use of the word 'faggot' in 'gaming culture', are things that actually deserve attention and examination.
I mean, maybe there are some gay people out there who are way too emotionally invested in video games, and this particular (relatively minor) instance of homophobia in their favorite MMORPG is just too much to bear. I guess that I can understand that, and Blizzard should apologize. But in a society filled with injustices against gays, making a big issue out of insignificant things like this trivializes real, important problems.
This is kind of low-hanging fruit. I mean, it's objectively wrong, but it's also relatively innocuous and basically pointless to get outraged over the actions of the singer of a band whose schtick is being offensive. Kids getting bullied every day in just about every school in America for being gay, or even the widespread, careless use of the word 'faggot' in 'gaming culture', are things that actually deserve attention and examination.
I mean, maybe there are some gay people out there who are way too emotionally invested in video games, and this particular (relatively minor) instance of homophobia in their favorite MMORPG is just too much to bear. I guess that I can understand that, and Blizzard should apologize. But in a society filled with injustices against gays, making a big issue out of insignificant things like this trivializes real, important problems.
Sticks and stones:
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On October 28 2011 15:29 SpinmovE wrote:
I find it funny that western society teaches children little rules such as "Stick and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me", and we accept it as children. Then we turn around once we become adults and act like every word that causes any negative emotional change in us is terrible, and the person should have to apologize for saying it. The person may not have meant what they said in an offensive manner but that doesn't matter, he should not be able to say it to me!
Steve Hughes has a pretty damn good rant on why being offended is incredibly stupid. What happens when you're offended? NOTHING. Just forget it and move on, he obviously didn't mean anything negative towards homosexuals, he was using a colliqualism. Grow up people.
Oh, and here's the video.
I find it funny that western society teaches children little rules such as "Stick and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me", and we accept it as children. Then we turn around once we become adults and act like every word that causes any negative emotional change in us is terrible, and the person should have to apologize for saying it. The person may not have meant what they said in an offensive manner but that doesn't matter, he should not be able to say it to me!
Steve Hughes has a pretty damn good rant on why being offended is incredibly stupid. What happens when you're offended? NOTHING. Just forget it and move on, he obviously didn't mean anything negative towards homosexuals, he was using a colliqualism. Grow up people.
Oh, and here's the video.
Not just a word:
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On October 28 2011 19:20 Spessi wrote:
That's like if I said, "well he called them all a bunch of dirty niggers; it was in no way a rant on black people, just referring to a common stereotype we all understand."
The fact that that word continues to remain present in any community makes me sad, even if it is just a word. And it's not even because of it in itself. It's because the community as a generalization sees no problem with it. There's debate over the word nigger now because time has passed and we recognize it for what it was at the time and that it's really non-funtional anymore and shouldn't be offensive because it's not used as such but people shouldn't be afraid of it.
Faggot, and calling someone or referring to anything in that sort of sense..."o well it's just a word". no, it's really not. and what you're doing isn't remotely acceptable. the fact that you (not YOU the person I'm responding to, but the generalized community) don't remotely see that or even attempt to just disappoints me, and is another thing I really don't like about the gaming community.
That's like if I said, "well he called them all a bunch of dirty niggers; it was in no way a rant on black people, just referring to a common stereotype we all understand."
The fact that that word continues to remain present in any community makes me sad, even if it is just a word. And it's not even because of it in itself. It's because the community as a generalization sees no problem with it. There's debate over the word nigger now because time has passed and we recognize it for what it was at the time and that it's really non-funtional anymore and shouldn't be offensive because it's not used as such but people shouldn't be afraid of it.
Faggot, and calling someone or referring to anything in that sort of sense..."o well it's just a word". no, it's really not. and what you're doing isn't remotely acceptable. the fact that you (not YOU the person I'm responding to, but the generalized community) don't remotely see that or even attempt to just disappoints me, and is another thing I really don't like about the gaming community.
The meaning of the word has changed:
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On October 29 2011 00:02 Zero.Tha.Hero wrote:
I think this is clearly an example of overly sensitive homosexuals playing the victim (and reinforcing an otherwise unfair stereotype) and sensationalizing use of a word that in some contexts can be construed as a homosexual slur. The same thing happened here, and does not seem to be an uncommon trend in the gay community. I think the key point we should observe is the changing social and contextual meaning of certain words previously considered to be degradational towards homosexuals, and how the frequent claims of discriminatory use are actually detremental to the efforts to reduce actual prejudice and discrimination in modern culture.
I think this is clearly an example of overly sensitive homosexuals playing the victim (and reinforcing an otherwise unfair stereotype) and sensationalizing use of a word that in some contexts can be construed as a homosexual slur. The same thing happened here, and does not seem to be an uncommon trend in the gay community. I think the key point we should observe is the changing social and contextual meaning of certain words previously considered to be degradational towards homosexuals, and how the frequent claims of discriminatory use are actually detremental to the efforts to reduce actual prejudice and discrimination in modern culture.
*Update*
An apology from Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard
