My Thoughts on the Orb-EG Incident

The core of my opinion rests on the foundation of what I believe to be offensive, and racist, and this belief naturally differs from Mr. Garfield's, hence, our disagreement on the issue. Let me first take a look at the formal definition of "racist", as a baseline to compare our opinions:

Racist: a person who believes in racism, the doctrine that a certain human race is superior to any or all others.

Now I read Mr. Garfield's post, and he specifically stated that he does not believe Orb is a racist. That is good, I don't believe he is either. But that's not the point. He is being treated as if what he said was racist, a contradiction in my mind...

So, I tried searching for what Orb said that was so serious it got him fired from such a prestigious organization, and I found this thread, as well as this Reddit post.



Very strong words on ladder, that's for sure. The use of the word "nigger" and "faggot" are quite ostentatious to say the least, and understandably could be extremely offensive to the black, homosexual and generally free thinking communities in our viewer base. There is no doubt that Orb was 100% wrong in his actions here.

Now personally, I cannot say that I can truly understand what it must be like to be called a "nigger," because I'm basically as white as they get. It reminds me of the episode of South Park With Apologies to Jesse Jackson in which Stan tries to understand what its like to be called a nigger, or to hear the word being said, and in the end he finally understands that he can never understand, because he's not black. That's kinda the position I'm in.

So with that position established, I voice my opinion. Mr. Garfield has a fundamental problem with racist words, which is understandable, and I don't claim know more about racism or its history than a college major with a degree in the subject, but I do know this: We all live in a progressive world in which people need to understand that words are just words, and although they can have serious repercussions, leading from psychological trauma to even death, context and meaning are just as important as, if not more important than the blunt and blind interpretation of the word's face value.

When I was around five years old, I used to hear my father curse occasionally, and I remember one time in a game of Monopoly with my family, I said the word "fuck" when an enemy player happened to collect taxes from my piece landing on his owned property. My family was appalled, but its not like they disowned me. My father immediately corrected and scolded me, and that was the last time I cursed with company around me, at least until I was old enough to understand what the word meant and when it can be properly used, at which point I didn't use it anyway, for obvious reasons.

Is the power of a word or phrase truly quantifiable? I'm not sure, but I really don't think it is. Is one curse word more powerful than another? According to popular television, the words "bitch" and "ass" are fair game, whereas "fuck" is reserved for the likes of HBO and a bunch of other assorted channels. How "bad" is "nigger" or "faggot" on that scale? According to Mr. Garfield, its pretty high, probably the highest of the high. But does that give him the right to can a caster for something he did before being hired? Should a CEO's moral compass affect his business decisions?



The point is that I didn't even know what the word "fuck" meant when I said it, and I said it anyway. Is that really so much different than someone saying something profane on ladder? Orb said himself that he was not in the correct state of mind when he said those things on ladder. How different is that Orb from a five year old me?

I pose another example. Consider Medieval Europe. It was a great time of change and "progress," especially religiously. Remember the Crusades? Actually you shouldn't, as that would be quite odd. Remember learning about the Crusades? When believers in the one true religion declared Holy War on another group of people doing religion wrong? Back in those days, if you said "I don't believe in God," I'm willing to bet people would start accusing you of having sex with the Devil and would subsequently burn you at the stake. If you said "I don't believe in God" now, guess what would happen? Nothing, unless I'm in the middle of a bunch of fundamentalists or in a monastery, and even then the very worst that would happen is perhaps a few harsh words, or maybe even a few kind ones, hoping that you can one day find the light, etc. The point is that inappropriate words and phrases are community and culturally defined. We set our own standards.

So do racial slurs follow the same rules? I believe they do, but meaning, as I said before, is just as important of taking the word for its face value. If I said "I don't believe in God," during the Medieval times, people wouldn't know if I meant it or didn't. One way or another, I'm sure to be executed or excommunicated and imprisoned. However, I think most of us believe Orb isn't a racist, even Mr. Garfield said that. So what exactly was the meaning behind his words?

Well simply put, acting along the assumption that Orb is not a racist, there was no meaning. The words were hollow, like hot air balloons. Yes, they were offensive, and unprofessional. But was Orb part of EG when he said these things? No he was not. So professionalism has nothing to do with it, they were just offensive at face value, but I just spent the last... like 10 paragraphs... explaining how although words can be hurtful, we must search for their true meaning and accept them as such. Orb's past was buried and forgotten, only now to be revived due to his interaction with a professional corporation.

Quickly, I would like to return to the accepted definition of racism. It requires that someone believes what they say; we are assuming Orb did not believe what he said. Both myself and Mr. Garfield have come to the same conclusions that Orb is not a racist. So then conduct wise, Mr. Garfield, as he stated, has a problem with those hurtful words. If that is the case, then I have a problem with someone else on EG, and I think we all know who I'm talking about... that leads me to my second fundamental issue with what has occurred to Orb...

Words are words, and calling someone a "nigger" is to some people just as bad as saying "faggot." We can't quantify the strength of curse words and then base meaningful action on it. If you're not a racist and everyone knows it, than how is it right to punish someone who simply stated a few words?

So in any event, I think we all know who I was talking about, and that is the player we know as the Gracken, Greg Fields, aka IdrA. He has been part of EG for a long time and is often considered the team ace. He is also considered by many to be the best player on EG, and at one point, the best foreigner in the world. There is no debating that he is an outstanding player, but with that assertion comes another. He is by far one of the most bad mannered and fundamentally angry players out there. Idra is not afraid to speak his mind, and the things on his mind after getting 6 gated or bunker rushed are certainly not pleasant. I would post a plethora of pictures and links here (I actually have a few below), but honestly, if you google "Idra" you'll get such a large number of results on bm alone that I think it should sufficient.

If that's not enough, we all remember how Idra was banned from TL for 90 days for unprofessional conduct...

Now although I have never heard Idra say anything along the likes of "nigger," his collection of bad manner in and out of tournaments, and in and out of the game is certainly enough to be comparable to Orb's bad manner on ladder.



I want to point out two differences between Idra and Orb. Idra is indispensable. He is a lynchpin of EG's player roster and EG needs talent like that in order to be successful. Orb, as we have seen, was dispensable, and so exceptions were made on a management level. This alone is completely understandable, "do as I say not as I do," kind of mentality, and its not like this is a new phenomenon. Parents have been saying it to their kids since the dawn of time, and management in business lives by this creed.

The real exemplifiying issue and second difference comes from where the misconduct took place. Idra has BMed constantly while on Evil Geniuses. He has cursed at and made fun of other players, and has shown consistent misconduct at professional tournaments (ie: F4 key incident, cursing off MLG's President, saying "fuck off" to HuK in a tournament despite it being warranted). So while carrying the EG banner, he has misrepresented the organization, but has not received what I believe is fair punishment for his actions. I suppose this sort of thing is nothing new. NFL players get pardons when committing crimes in order to return to play earlier. Actors/actresses get the same treatment if I'm not mistaken, but regardless, thats just as wrong.

Now, Orb had not been part of Evil Geniuses when he said "nigger" and "faggot" on ladder, and yet, these few isolated incidents have gotten Orb fired, and potentially blacklisted, a terrible fate for an up and coming caster. I think from here we can draw our own conclusions, since frankly, there's not much more to say...

Except for this:

Whereas Idra has always been up front with his manner (nobody claims that he denies bming, cursing, being a general esports bad boy, etc), it has been brought to my attention that Orb has denied accusations of bming on ladder. This shows us something of his character that before I had obviously not considered enough. Clearly, EG wouldn't want a liar on their roster, but still, is that enough to compete with Idra's collection of bm posts and actions? Come to your own conclusions on this one!
Thanks to Battleaxe for bringing this to my attention

Idra's collective bm while representing EG has been far worse than Orb's bm while not representing anything or anyone but himself. Its wrong on an ethical level to, at the very least, punish them differently.

I said from the very beginning that this was not a hate on EG post, its simply an analysis combined with my personal opinion. That said, I feel like people don't really understand how complicated the issue with EG's sponsors is with regards to this incident. Basically, EG's sponsors were getting heat from fans angered by Orb's words, and this of course, cascaded out of the sponsors' reception desks and into the EG Lair.

Now naturally, what would an organization like EG protect out of two choices? A caster or the institution? Obviously, the collective whole is more important than just one individual. The company needs sponsors to survive, get energy drinks, pay its players, pay off the mortgage on the team house, etc. Therefore, if EG's sponsors were under attack, this was the only reasonable plan of action....

Except for this:

I feel like this issue was not thought through enough by the EG administration. Consider Orb himself. He is a decent up and coming caster who is very good at what he does and would've added quite a few fans to the viewership of the EG Masters Cup. This keeps money flowing. Since Idra is still on EG, I have come to realize that EG has not seen the same potential in Orb as I do, which is fine, but keeping him while getting sponsors off their back and calming the masses would be a win - win - win. Apparently, EG didn't think that was possible. I personally do think it would've been possible.

Mr. Garfield's post was full of emotion and hate for racism, and he channeled this hate into making his decision regarding Orb's actions and hence, no more Orb. But what if he had channeled that emotion into the opposite side of the argument. For example, consider if Mr. Garfield had said this instead and not fired Orb:



I believe this would accomplish all of the directives I had mentioned. First and foremost, it would explain to the people and sponsors that EG does not tolerate racist comments or racism in any form. It does not absolve Orb from his earlier comments, but acknowledges that the past is the past, and that the future is what matters, and if Orb could change his ways, EG would oblige. This would convince the sponsors that EG does not support a racist, because clearly there was no racist to begin with. Hence, the fan's comments to the sponsors would fall on deaf ears, since the sponsors are now satisfied. Secondly, this ultimatum would act as a deterrent for any future bm from any player on EG, as the punishment for representing the team badly would now be fully realized, and the severity of such actions recognized. Orb isn't the only one I've seen bm. EG's iNcontroL has been caught doing it occasionally, and as I said, Idra is notorious for it. Although done in good fun, DeMuslim has hilariously ridiculed cursed off players on his stream. As said, this was done for comedic effect, but where do we draw the line, right?

I understand that it seems like EG was backed into a corner, and that my above solution, although having a high probability of working, is not guaranteed, and EG took the only course of action that would definitely secure the safety of the collective.

Mr. Garfield might have made the wrong decision regarding fairness, but he certainly made the correct decision regarding the security of the company. He did what he needed to do. As Mr. Garfield said, getting sponsors into esports is hard enough. He did what was best for his company and esports alike.