Post ASeFQ2NYMsq3GeA9ey by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
(DIR) More posts by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
(DIR) Post #ASZH6Xa1shtKMY1u1A by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T01:59:32Z
1 likes, 4 repeats
I wish people were more aware of how little those outside Twitter are aware of JK Rowling's views or the issues surrounding Hogwarts Legacy. I've seen people literally bullying random gamers, including a friend of mine who is one of the kindest people ever, just for talking about the game. Accusing someone of being antisemitic or transphobic for playing a nostalgic video game is really not it. I have a lot of experience with the alt-right and can tell you they absolutely love this kind of thing. You end up with a bunch of people who've been made to feel like absolute garbage and aren't really sure what they did wrong. It makes for really easy recruitment messaging because most people will agree that this behavior is not ok (and because few people are speaking out against it, it's easy for them to convince people all of the left is like this). Most of the players aren't even aware of the issues. Why not explain to them the problems and use it as an event to raise awareness and money for the cause, rather then assuming the worst of intent and make people feel like shit?
(DIR) Post #ASZj1zl6U4F11epYC8 by april@macaw.social
2023-02-11T14:56:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech I mean, her views have had over a dozen articles in both the NYTimes and Washington Post. I’ve heard about them on NPR.It has spiked as a Google search on multiple occasions. It’s a common topic in any Harry Potter community. My local newspaper has had op-eds about it.Laws about trans people are happening in almost everywhere, and Rowling is frequently acknowledged.What makes you think it has a narrow recognition, confined to the terminally online of Twitter?
(DIR) Post #ASZj20BgtDVaM7GmdU by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T16:07:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@april The anecdotal answer: I had no idea about her views, or even remembered her name until her posts started getting quote tweeted into my feed. Even to this day the only mentions of her I've come across is on here and Twitter. The statistical answer: I have huge followings across several social platforms where I have talked about her problematic views and been met with confusion or disbelief, where I've been forced to link to her tweets to show people. Even on Twitter, outside of the US segment of my audience it seems like awareness is pretty lacking.Please don't take this as me belittling the issue, this is not my intent at all. I'm just trying to offer my perspective and experience based on a largish sample size, plus having lived in multiple countries for extended periods of time.
(DIR) Post #ASZj20muepHaDYgVea by gabriel@mastodon.samfira.com
2023-02-11T16:21:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech @april same here. I recently (4-5 months ago, before removing my Twitter account) saw someone quote tweet her and I had to double check it was the same person. I was pretty much oblivious to it before that. Mostly because I don't care much about the franchise (even though I saw the movies) or her.
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ1H8TG6vqS9W1A by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T13:24:32Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech 🤔 [Edited after feedback from Marcus]But why does a friend of yours, not know this in 2023?
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ1vC4K9ZqgtVSK by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-13T17:49:12Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mekkaokereke Let’s boil any nuance take down into some rediculous straw man caricature and make everyone who doesn’t agree with my every word sound like some unhinged supporter of fascism. I’m sure this will convince people to engage with me in good faith and see things from my view.
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ2NYMsq3GeA9ey by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T17:55:40Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech OK, how might I have replied to your post with more nuance?I think you can read from my replies how I feel about what you said. I don't think you're upset at nuance collapse, as much as you don't like that I disagree with your post, but I could be wrong. I'm very open to admitting I was wrong when that's the case.So how might I have replied indicating that I think your post is harmful, without collapsing nuance?
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ2yQ9oKT6zPb7o by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-13T18:23:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mekkaokereke No, I'm upset with you because your first reply was a conscious decision to insult my intelligence by taking the most disingenuous reading of my post possible and assuming "someone was mean to me, so now I'm a Nazi" is how I think the alt-right pipeline and alt-right messaging works. You are accusing me of being ignorant, others of ignorance for not knowing about the game controversy, but yet you think you're making a good case for seeing things your way. If you had a genuine misunderstanding of the point I was trying to make, you could have asked. I would have happily explained near a decade of researching alt-right messaging and how they convince impressionable youths to join their side. Your post actually serves as a good example of just that. Say I'm a kid not familiar with trans rights and this is my first encounter. Right out the gate you've insulted me, but I'm sure you are expecting me to respectfully hear you out. Call it tone policing, call it whatever, but this shit literally makes even other leftists not want to engage with you (you in the individual sense not collective, in case you try to take that out of context too).Your second and 3rd replies actually made fairly good points and would have done well on their own. They however still would have lead to me having to clarify that I never pointed the finger at trans people, in fact I strongly believe a lot of the bullying is coming from misguided allies (which I think is my bad for not explicitly stating that). These allies are in a good position to us this to recruit more allies and spread the messaging, but instead they're bulling random people, and even other allies.
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ3PMXdscSY177Q by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T19:59:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech I've re-read this several times and re-read what I wrote several times, and I agree with some of your points. My first reply was different from the other two. I'll edit it, but leave it up to not hide it.Although I disagree on the "You're only hurting your allies" argument. There's nothing mean that any child with leukaemia could say to me to make me become pro-leukemia, or make me stop engaging with child cancer treatment charities. Because my support is not conditional.
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ3wgXkXE7tbj3g by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-13T20:18:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mekkaokereke Cancer being bad is a pretty universally accepted position. Everyone isn't starting from a position of being pro-trans. Many aren't even aware trans people exist. I know I personally was not educated on these issues in school and didn't encounter them until my early 20s. Even today I am still not confident I am well informed on all trans issues. I learn because I listen to trans people, I listen to allies, I am open to whatever anyone has to say to me. But now imagine instead my first interaction was being called a fascist transphobe and being told to unalive myself for buying a cool game I really wanted to play. Now my natural defense mechanism is going to be avoid engaging with those people and anyone associated with them. I've now deprived myself of access to knowledge on the issue. I now see a news article about the "woke mob" or whatever shit the alt-right is running with right now. I read the article because it matches my experience of being dogpiled but a similar mob. They lean into my experience and convince me this isn't just a minority of unreasonable people, but the entire left. A right winger is born. I am now firmly inside their echo chamber with no desire to seek opposing views. This works best for impressionable kids, but I've seen it work on adults too.
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ3yoPqEiEUbQNE by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T13:28:31Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech Alternate take:"Lots of people outside of Twitter don't know how transphobic or anti-semitic the game is. Some of my friends are buying the game obliviously, and getting dragged by trans folk. So I hopped in a group chat and explained to all of my friends why this game makes trans folk so upset. A few friends returned the game, and a few others chose not to buy it because of me. And I helped my friend who was dragged by trans folk online feel better."
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ4OKsweXVeXo9o by feld@bikeshed.party
2023-02-13T20:42:26.781881Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
100% it's this crap that will fuel the further empowerment of the right by alienating people who are literally showing up to the polls every election and voting for candidates that vow to protect the LGBTQ+ communityIt doesn't make me want to vote R but it does make me consider not voting at all
(DIR) Post #ASeFQ6XGugzO9wjyMa by mekkaokereke@hachyderm.io
2023-02-13T13:45:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech The way the math works out, if every cis person that cares about rising transphobia has a real conversation with ~5 oblivious cis friends, we educate almost every person on the planet.👍🏿But if we expect trans people to educate our oblivious cis friends for us, then every trans person would need to educate ~20 cis *strangers*. That's... not going to work.I get your frustration, but we shouldn't expect trans people to educate our friends for us."Come get your people."
(DIR) Post #ASeIh8QnQ1NWp8WXvE by sebian@ioc.exchange
2023-02-11T02:03:24Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech i cant even imagine having a problem with playing a game, though. Like how pathetic is your life that THAT is the kind of thing you double down on.
(DIR) Post #ASeIhx2RGLCLmMWJXM by clusterduck@hachyderm.io
2023-02-11T02:17:11Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@sebian @malwaretech along the same lines, skipping a game after learning that it has a serious antisemitism problem and is enriching a notorious transphobe isn't really a big ask either. You're not going to die if you don't play this game. Skipping it is the absolute least you could do. Not doing that is a choice that says a lot about your values.Educating *before* bullying is the effective advocacy move.
(DIR) Post #ASeIhxZ3J5HnPVmMN7 by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T02:19:49Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@clusterduck @sebian I don't think it's unreasonable to ask, but unreasonable to expect they agree. Lego, Universal Studio, The book, etc all pay royalties to here but that I've seen nobody is going after those. With the way rights and shareholding works, I can guarantee money goes towards a bigot for any product you buy. I am sympathetic towards the idea, but it's flying real close to the "yet you participate in society" meme of the right.
(DIR) Post #ASeIiz7yynf0Y5be40 by morattisec@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T02:18:42Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech All of my trans-friend circle (that I've talked to about it, at least) has agreed that the harassment is uncalled for and harmful. Everyone is asking us what our opinions (as transpeople) on it are or basically are asking for a free pass to buy the game guilt-free. However, I'm sick of seeing people boiling down the "problem with JK Rowling" down to "she made insensitive tweets". That's shitty of her to do, but the real problem I have is that she makes political donations that harm transpeople and is cited by even US politicians. She's essentially wielding her massive platform and translating it into political power and legislation. She already has a fuckton of money so her royalty check isn't the issue. She's said publicly that because people still participate and purchase HP-themed stuff it's an endorsement of her beliefs. That's why I do not purchase or engage in that franchise any longer. At this point, the franchise won't die on its own because it's too big.It's cool that the developers added some trans character creation options and some characters too but I wish instead they had just matched whatever her royalty payment is to a UK charity that advocates for transpeople because that has a higher (and necessary) impact. /rant.
(DIR) Post #ASeIizcT9S2y4drzaC by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T02:22:41Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@morattisec Yeah, I really wish they'd done that too. But failing that, I think encouraging streamers to do charity streams would have been a much better outcome than a lot of the hatred and bullying of even other famous leftists.
(DIR) Post #ASeIj8ZbrS6hqNbKsK by fencepost@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T02:36:02Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech Self-righteousness is a powerful drug.
(DIR) Post #ASeIn9SSVvL3kJAdnc by halfcocked@mstdn.social
2023-02-11T02:31:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech I didn't realize you had to be on Twitter to catch that "hook-nosed bankers who want to steal your children" played on nearly every anti-semitic trope.
(DIR) Post #ASeIn9wwgZj1GrQzJo by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-11T02:44:13Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@halfcocked I didn’t even know those sterotypes were associated with a racial group until I joined Twitter.
(DIR) Post #ASeItTC23J7OgsV3cO by holyramenempire@kolektiva.social
2023-02-13T19:56:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@malwaretech If someone is going to join or listen to the alt-right - for any reason, including being "bullied" on the internet - they were never my ally, and never had the capacity to be an ally to any #trans person.
(DIR) Post #ASeItTkPzSckPWaWDQ by malwaretech@infosec.exchange
2023-02-13T20:00:25Z
1 likes, 0 repeats
@holyramenempire I highly recommend talking to some ex-right wingers who fell down the alt-right pipeline as a kid.