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One of the best posts I've read on this topic. Thanks a lot. =)
What personally annoys me the most about this entire thing is however hidden in your concluison:
Its just business nothing personal
It's not just business anymore. The entire thing developed into a witch hunt on orb for those comments. This is very personal and it seems a lot of people want to see his career destroyed for life. People are brand marking him as racist (it's amusing how many people on other forums used the term "he's a racist faggot") which is neither fair nor accurate.
Personally, I believe that the only reason this entire thing is blown up to the current proportion is that most people who take part in this witch hunt are very aware that they have used similar insults before but now have found a goat they can blame and crucify. Considering the BM that is common on ladders, this is highly likely and a very common human response.
PS: Since you seem to have invested this entire thing better than most, this might be the place to ask. I found comments on reddit which stated that the guy he called nigger and faggot was someone who repeatedly BM'd him with the same vocabulary in those games, just to take the chance and upload orbs comments when he made them. Do you have any info about whether this is true or not?
Edit because I saw it coming up:
Everyone else thinks one thing when they hear nigger or faggot. That's the comparison everyone in the world is drawing when you decide to use these insults. Whatever stupid cop out excuse you make up in your own head does not apply to what everyone else is going to infer. So why use the word unless you mean it?
I'm pretty sure I'm part of a minority here, but I have both used and heard the word "nigger" being used in a positive context as a compliment. Same for the german version of "faggot". If you assume that usage of this word instead of "black person" focuses on racial stereotypes to the max (which it does), it also can be used to described someone who is strong, large, great at basketball or running.
Examples:
"Dude, you're fucking like a nigger..!" ... in a sexual context. "OH MY GAWD YOU THREW THAT BALL LIKE A NIGGER" ... in a basketball context. "Damn, you can dance/rap like a nigger." ... in a club/poetry slam context.
In the last two cases black people were right next to the person saying it turned their head, realized the context and the word being used as a compliment, smiled and responeded with something along the lines of "Damn right!".
Words are tools which have no inherent good or evil meaning. Their meaning is defined by context and intent.
We call someone who says "I believe all afro-americans should be shot." a racist as well for good reasons, no one argues "but he used politically correct language, he can't be racist!" there. Context, people, context.
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I understand that context is important as well, but this is in the context of being used as an insult, so it's not really relevant to this discussion. Also, all three of this examples are racist. Even if you substituted "nigger" with "african american" or "black person"
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@r.Evo, that was meant as more of a funny/bad pun type comment. Just thought I'd throw in a Godfather quote.
Anyway though I see your point. Yes, you're absolutely correct. It had turned into a witch hunt. I put in the just business quote because I felt like it was important to exemplify the fact that Mr. Garfield made the only business decision that was practically available to him. I don't think he holds a personal vendetta against Orb, which is why I wanted to end on that note.
Additionally, no I don't know if the person was bming Orb or not. I didn't catch any of that in my research. It'd be interesting to see Orb post here and tell us personally though :O maybe he'll find this blog and answer it himself
Also thank you for your kind words.
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I am going to preface this with saying that this is one of the best blogs I have read. You really did your homework, you laid everything out right, and over all was a pleasure to read a well structured and formatted blog, but onto my point.
What I have to say is a mixture of point 2/3.
Yes Idra is very famous for saying "fuck you" and calling people trash and what not, but this does not bother us as a community. For me personally, watching Idra play and saying a fuck you is just competition, all sports swear, and sponsors see it as competitive spirit, saying fuck does not offend anyone except for the person it is said to (the opposing player). When Orb said nigger, that is a word that offends people, is tied to rascism, and is just something people should not say generally. So what I'm trying to say, while Idra does swear and what not, that does not reflect poorly on the sponsors because we don't mind it as a community, Orb saying nigger looks bad for the companies because they are sponsoring someone using racial slurs.
Also the thing that makes me the angriest about the Orb situation is the lying. He kept saying how that was not him, then fesses up but never apologized for lying to the community, EG, and just trying to save his ass, and the lying is what really turned this into a witch hunt in my opinion, if he just came out and said "Yes I said that, my stream is known for that content, sorry if you were offended but this was awhile ago also." Then people would probably not care and let it goes, us throwing such a shit storm about it is what got him fired (and the lying) so yea, he lied and that still bugs me.
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Thanks Balgrog. You make good points, I appreciate the comments
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Wow, has this become the Janet Jackson nipple-slip of ESPORTS?
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