why it’s not “just a game”
Because, like I have said before, now more than once, we are dealing not only w/ words and their meanings, which are big and heavy all on their own merits, but b/c we are dealing w/ actual people. Real fucking human beings.
I am sick and fanfuckingtastically tired of the “it’s just a game”, “lighten up”, or “it’s all in fun” being arguments for why the shit like I talked about yesterday is acceptable as a form of entertainment. I am more than tempted to just say “hey, asshat, your privilege is showing” to people who think that as long as it’s just a game and they personally are not causing anyone harm (a fact which i believe is still up for debate), but this time it is coming from people whom I respect, and some of them I love, and w/ some of them I have forged bonds.
And that makes it harder to just point at brilliant posts by incredible writers better than me and tell them to educate themselves. It also makes me realize that the people I know IRL may not have all of the background and enlightenment that I have found via my online community of friends (as I experienced w/ a friend of mine on Myspace yesterday. For some reason it still surprises me when people are unwittingly blind to sexism and misogyny). I will give these people one free pass, and I will point to the wealth of knowledge on Al Gore’s internet *throws poppy petals*.
The reason why Friends For Sale isn’t amusing is because it is affecting real people all over the world, and in our very own backyards who don’t have the privilege of seeing it as “just a game”. For some people there isn’t the amusement of pretending to buy and sell people or the sheer thrill of seeing how much people are willing to spend to make them their “pets”. They already know how much someone is willing to pay to force them into sex, or to have them torn away from their families and sold into farm labor or slavery in the US or Canada or Western Europe or anywhere else. They already know what the value of their lives is in dollars.
And they can’t just log out or “ignore” the application. They are stuck. And maybe it seemed like it was a better option than starving in their home country, but it sure as hell isn’t amusing now.
And no one here is laughing.
The many many organizations dedicated to stopping human trafficking aren’t there b/c it’s funny or amusing, and I am sure that they would have a similar reaction to mine in regards to this “game”. Or maybe being so angry you could cry and spit isn’t as common as I thought.
For the link challenged or number people, I have some numbers for you:
It is estimated that 600,000-820,000 people are trafficked every year.
Of that number, about 70% are women and girls, and at least 50% are minors.
What’s really funny is that it seems that the funniest things are those that only disproportionately impact women and children. I am seriously LOL right now. Cuz it’s just a game! See? It’s not hurting anyone!
They are forcibly taken, lied to, and otherwise not according to their own free will removed from their homes w/ a promise of a better life, sometimes sold by their own families. They are taken for many reasons, including forced prostitution, farm and domestic labor, or (one I didn’t even know) for the forcible taking and selling of their internal organs.
It just gets funnier.
According to the Wiki gods, 2/3 of women trafficked are from Eastern European and former Soviet Union countries.
14,000 people are trafficked directly into the US each year.
600-800 are trafficked into Canada, an additional 1,500-2,200 are trafficked through Canada into the United States.
And I could go on.
But I don’t really think I have to. At this point if you can’t see why it isn’t funny, amusing, or just a game, then I have lost you and you have missed the point. And you are reading the wrong blog.
The fact that you can turn off the application or can find it so amusing screams of privilege and reeks of ignorance. I can’t stress enough that by regarding it as just fun is simply normalizing the horrors that hundreds of thousands of people live through each day. Every minute. Every painful second. I guess that if you just pretend that it’s a game and that you aren’t hurting anyone then you are free to ignore those people and not even have to deal w/ what that means. That these are actual people, not just online personas that we buy sell and trade. Sure, I suppose in some way it is fun to buy your friends and make your new pets dance or show off for your amusement.
But I don’t get it.
And it’s not “just a game”.
New Royal Decree: Anytime someone uses the phrases:
Lighten up
It’s just a game
Don’t you have a sense of humor
They will be required to wear an actual asshat for a sum of not less than 10 days or until they get that they are dickwads. Whichever comes later.
i don’t want to picture an actual “asshat”.
thanks for that visual.
;)
i concur with the red queen.
you know my simple philosophy (well one of them) is if I can get it than it cant be that hard a fracking concept!
But other peoples MMV I guess.
I am an educated male W.A.S.P. and I don’t like being the victim of bias, racism, or discrimination same as the next guy, and due to a freak of birth I’ve gotten less than my fair share… but there is no “fair share” when it comes to such crimes against humanity.
I agree, Craig. I agree wholeheartedly.
And I love that you come here and share your thoughts on my humble babbling. It really makes my shriveled heart swell to see people identify their own privilege acknowledge that they won the privilege lottery at birth.
As a researcher who examines video games, it would seem that you have a highly biased view of them. It has been long established that there are positive and negative aspects to all games. For example, the Mob Wars game on Facebook can be considered negative given the nature of the game (i.e., endorsing crime) but it can also be highly illuminating in terms of 21st century literacy skills. If you have a knee-jerk reaction to all content, then I would presume you would easily overlook the positive aspects (there are many, and this blog response is too short to list all of them).
Remember, James D. Watson was one of the worlds preeminent scientists and scholars. He was also a known misogynist. If you reacted to him the same way you reacted to the games, you might not understand what DNA is.
Oh yes, Mr. Researcher w/ no links or credentials, I am so one sided and biased about video games.
I am certain that there are positive aspects to some video games, but you are going to have a hard time convincing me that GTA has good points. Sure, maybe I am unwilling to look past the atrocious violence against prostitutes, but if I have to look past that to see the good then I am in a fucked up forest.
You hit the nail on the head w/ “presume”. You presume far too much. And it is obvious to me that you haven’t read this whole series on this topic.
There is a difference b/t mindless violence and offensive humor in something that tries to normalize something as horrific as modern slavery (your privilege is showing) and groundbreaking scientific breakthroughs that benefit human kind. There is no way you can convince me that Mob Wars is going benefit humanity to that capacity. I mean, Margaret Sanger was a proponent of genocide, not something hunky dory in my book, but the right to choice is something I will fiercely protect. You can easily appreciate the work someone has done w/o condoning the horrible things they do. Look at Bobby Fisher (to give a more “game” oriented example), a genius at chess to say the least, but a pretty miserable fucking human being.
Before you go accusing me of being anti video game try reading some of the posts around here b/f you bring your presumed credentials and pretend to know jack shit about what I know or think about video games.
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