#I don’t think ‘everyone gets treated with basic decency and rights’ is a controversial opinion.

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

I don’t understand how politicians can live in a country and just. Be so removed from important issues. Be so removed from what people want.

[rudystree]

before i say anything i just wanna issue a little disclaimer and say that i fully respect you, your opinions and your blog. i am in no way trying to start drama or offend anyone but there’s something i have to say:

if you’re active in the obx fandom, chances are you know who elaine is and you are also probably aware of her controversial past. do i support her? honestly no. i feel like her apology should have been handled far better than it was and as someone who has experienced discrimination and oppression my whole life i cannot see myself ever liking someone like her. however, do i believe this has all gotten out of hand? absolutely. i know for a fact that a large majority of people who hate on elaine hate on her because she’s dating rudy. you guys find all this dirt on her because you want to humiliate her or back her into a corner thar she can’t get out of. and that’s fine- except for the fact that you’re doing it for the wrong fucking reasons. you don’t care about bipoc. you don’t care about the lgbtq+ community. you care about diminishing and degrading someone that you don’t like, someone who you don’t like also for the wrong reasons. you hate her because she dates rudy and/or because she is friends with the cast. and while disliking her is completely valid (again, if it’s for the right reasons), the slut shaming? the suicide jokes? you are not fighting for social justice. you are hiding behind that motive, when in reality all you care about is humiliating elaine. and that takes away from the fight that is being fought all over the world for equality and civil rights.

i’ll be the first to admit that i used to be loud about how much i disliked her, and i used to be one of those people that was overly rude about it. but now? i mind my business. i spread awareness about global issues, go to protests and donate. because that means a hell of a lot more than whatever it is you think you’re doing.

because the truth is she’s irrelevant. i mean this in the nicest way possible, i know it sounds rude and it may be a poor choice of words but please just wait for me to get my sentiment across. who is she, to you? unless she’s hurt you or someone you love by the things she’s done and said- i doubt she has a large influence on your every day life. if she is racist and homophobic, it is true that she doesn’t deserve her platform. but her past has been brought to light. you can’t force people to hate her. let it go, and focus on actually making a difference.

and the other truth is, we don’t know her. we don’t know if she’s performative or not. we don’t know if she really has changed or if it’s an act. which is why, as i said before, I DO NOT SUPPORT HER. but i do it in the right way, and for the right reasons. i respect her privacy and her relationship with rudy. i don’t come for her physical appearance, her photography or her family. and no one should. if you don’t support elaine, great. but being so vocal about your hate for someone who truly has changed is worse than silently disliking someone who hasn’t. it’s that simple.

with that being said, i do wanna say this to you and a lot of her supporters: we’re not all like that. i have interacted with some of elaine’s fans and they have been openly racist towards me. but i’m here, addressing you and all of your followers with nothing but love and respect in my heart. i don’t look at all of you as evil bigots. so please, don’t think that everyone that dislikes elaine are little jealous kids that have nothing better to do. i just want you to know that a lot of people who talk about what just happened are extremely hurt. imagine what it must feel like as a member of the lgbtq+ community to see that someone who “advocates” for their rights has previously used an incredibly offensive slur. stuff like that fucking hurts. it’s not easy to get over, and it’s not easy to ignore that the person who used those slurs still is being looked up to and still has a platform. it’s not easy to think that she may have grew as a person, and changed for the better. it’s really fucking hard. we are not all hateful, ignorant people. i’m sure you didn’t mean it like that, but your responses to those asks made it seem like you believed we are, and again, we certainly are not. some of us are the types of people who have to work twice as hard to get half as far, compared to a white woman like elaine. some of us have been struggling our whole lives to process instances of racism and homophobia and become something in a world where they are so incredibly prevalent. and elaine is not entitled to our respect if we feel as though she does not wholeheartedly respect us.

thank you for sharing ❤️ i appreciate you writing all of this and sharing your point of view

i want to, again, make it crystal clear that i do not think any less of those who don’t like or support elaine. that’s 100% fair. i’m truly sorry about your past experiences and it sucks that so many people, like elaine, grew up in a bigoted environment. i have never dismissed that what she did back then is fucked up.

however, once again, when i tell people to move on and get a life, it’s not directed to someone like you. it’s directed to exactly those people who make it their mission to ruin her life, who make hate pages and perpetually bully and harass her and her loved ones. who are so invasive and rude and disrespectful to rudy and elaine’s relationship and circulate disturbing rumors about things and bait others to believe those lies under the guise of a social justice agenda. it’s actually sickening and it needs to stop. she does, in fact, deserve to be treated with basic human decency.

[acatnamedlulu]

My Thoughts on Channel Awesome- Part 1: The Walkers

So, full disclosure, this is going to get dramatic. This isn’t going to be an “objective look” on the whole controversy surrounding Channel Awesome. This is going to be a biased, unfiltered rant. And it’s gonna get loooooooooong. I’ll put a TL;DR at the end of this, and I’ll try and keep the deep anger and frustration to a minimum to prevent any rambling tangents or “CAPZLOCK YELLING BCUZ I AM ANGER, RRAAAAGH!” 

 Ok, I’m sure many of you already know by now the recent shitstorm of events surrounding Channel Awesome over the past couple weeks, but for those of you unaware, how about a little context:

A few weeks ago (at the time of this posting), several former producers/content creators of Channel Awesome compiled a 70+ page google document titled “Not So Awesome”, each detailing their own shitty experiences working at Channel Awesome. Many of these allegations range from minor jabs, to full legitimate complaints regarding Doug and Rob Walker and especially Channel Awesome CEO Mike Michaud’s behavior. So while maybe one or two points brought up in the document could come off as petty, or just throwing shade, I don’t think that’s a reason to discredit the entire thing.This is nearly a dozen or so ex-producers affiliated with the “TGWTG” website as early as 2008, all with their own experiences and grievances. And even though everyone has a different story to tell, they all seem to be tied together by the same goddamn themes: Not just about the shitty behavior/poor business etiquette of Mike Michaud, but also poor behavior by the Walkers. And although Michaud is absolutely the worst out of all the people being named, I wanna talk about Doug Walker first. And by extent Rob Walker. Although, Rob is more of an issue when it comes to the business end of Channel Awesome as opposed to the actual entertainment, so maybe I’ll talk about him more when I go into a rant about Michaud. Granted, I have a feeling that my opinions on the Walkers are going to be met with a more negative response, and believe me, I completely understand why, but just... just here me out. More bullshit context and backstory, oh happy fucking day!

Alright, so when I was a dumb, hormonal young teen exploring her “edgy” side, I came across the Nostalgia Critic circa 2009-10ish? And after finding the character’s harsh judgement, foul colorful language, and humorous approach to critiquing to be right up my alley, I became an extremely loyal fan of TGWTG. Even after the NC reboot in 2013, I still stuck around and tuned in every week. For as much as I hated some of those goddamn skits, and clipless reviews, I still wanted to hear Doug’s opinion on a movie. He helped me understand film on a critical level that I didn’t think I could reach. And while I don’t consider myself a “critic” in any sense of the word, it was cool to have someone help guide me through an entire medium and look at it in a meaningful and thoughtful way. I eventually started watching Doug and Rob out of character, and both of them seemed like passionate, humble people who enjoy what they do. Watching the NC behind the scenes were sometimes more fun than watching an episode because Doug Walker truly looks like a man who’s dedicated to his work. But as I say this now, this also seems to be one of his biggest flaws. I know this is already longer than it has any business being, but the reason I’m going on this lengthy diatribe, is because I need you guys to understand where I’m coming from, and why I have such a strong stance on this. Which is why I’ll finally get to my fucking point: 

I think Doug Walker needs to be held more accountable for his actions. Or at least his actions need to be taken more seriously/into consideration.

As stupid as this sounds, this has been bugging me since the day the “Not so Awesome” google document has been released. Not so much the contents of the document itself, but rather, some of the reactions around it. The general consensus is that Mike Michaud is a terrible person, and something absolutely needs to be done about him... which is absolutely true. But what bothered me is people’s quick need to, maybe not justify, but brush over the shit that Doug has caused too. One of the biggest issues that many of the producers discuss in the document is the absolute production hell of the CA anniversary movies.

From “Kickassia” all the way up to “To Boldly Flee”, it just baffles me how incompetent and incapable Doug Walker is, both at making a film, and caring for his crew at even the bare minimum. Going back and watching TBF, you don’t even have to read the full extension of what it was like working on the set, because you can practically see it on the actors’ faces! You can just feel the exhaustion of everybody involved except Doug, but that’s because the man was so severely wrapped up in this self-serving ego project, that everyone else gets stepped on as a result. Remember what the stupid plot of TBF was anyway? The Nostalgia Critic brings everyone from CA into space to fight an anomaly called a “plot hole”, only for the NC to make his big damn sacrifice and die as the noble hero, killing off the character for good... until the reboot in 2013. With none of the other producers being notified of this until they received their scripts just a few weeks before filming.Yeah, it’s kinda fucking heartbreaking to know that other contributors and producers were treated as such an afterthought, that they were told this information in this short amount of time, in a movie that they were starring in. 

Several people have pointed out the lack of basic necessities needed on a film set such as catering and water. Guys, this isn’t a group of kids dicking around with a camera and a computer for a few hours and making a home movie. This was an actual production supervised by grown adults who needed to be told during filming that “people need food and water”. Across the course of several films. One of which was filmed in the Nevada desert. How difficult would it have really been to stop off at a fucking Walmart, gather up some coolers and ice bags, some of those 24 packs of water in bulk and keep it at a safe location on the damn set? This isn’t something that requires a goddamn film degree to understand, it’s common fucking sense. It’s just baffling to me that these painstaking efforts from the producers were just “voluntary” positions, too. The document itself goes into much more detail of how that shit works, so I’ll be posting it at the end of this rant, you’re welcome. 

And this is where I draw the line of giving Doug a pass. You can’t convince me that this level of negligence is just some kind of mistake that can be easily forgiven. I can’t believe that people can defend Doug on the grounds of “well, he’s just the pawn in this” or “he was just being naive and selfish”. No, this type of naivete and lack of basic human decency has caused people physical harm. Several actors sustained injuries throughout the production of the anniversary films. This usually ended with both Doug and Rob shrugging some of these off, while others had to sign contracts in order for CA to avoid a lawsuit. That is fucking insane!

A couple producers in the document recall how Doug was more involved with the business aspect of CA. He was more than just a puppet for Mike Michaud. Remember, the anniversary movies were written by him and Rob. And while Michaud was most likely the one who had the final say of what went on, Doug was the overseer of these projects. These were his creations, and he should have taken full responsibility for what was going on. And for him to have such a cynical and uncaring approach to the treatment of both the characters within the film, and the producers portraying them is sickening. This man has put on the persona of being this nice, approachable, easy to work/converse with person for years, and to hear how egotistical and negligent he truly is. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was always something a bit self-centered about Doug, but knowing what I know now... like, it’s hard to explain why I feel so guilty about supporting Doug for as long as I did. I know we all can say “oh, well, it’s not like we knew”, but see, the thing is, I kind of did. The incidents with Obscurus Lupa weren’t completely unknown beforehand. Since like, 2015, people have been bringing this shit up, and I willingly chose to ignore it because I was such a huge NC fan. I just blindly kept watching the show and pretending CA was this cool, friendly place and nothing was wrong. Yeah, I’m not gonna act like I’m such a good person for bashing Doug, and I know that I shouldn’t have had such blind support. But the good news is, I don’t now.  I know better, and I hope we all can move on from this, and learn. 

Ok, so going back and reading this overly dramatic tripe, I realize I may have gone off the rails at some points. So before this turns into an “amateur hour smear campaign”, I think I’m going to split this up into two parts. I already said all I want to say about Doug and Rob. But I still have issues with Mike Michaud that are probably the same opinions everyone and their mother has expressed on this insane human being. But I still wanna get some stuff off my chest. Anyway, this is now Part 1 of the “Lunatic ravings of a disgruntled former fangirl” saga, maybe some of you would like to join me for My Thoughts on Channel Awesome Part 2: Electric Boogaloo. 

and now for the TL;DR

I think Doug Walker is an inept, egotistical man who has hurt people both emotionally, and sometimes physically to get what he wants. And people shouldn’t excuse his actions just because he doesn’t run the CA site in the way Mike Michaud does. If he’s going to go through the trouble of making a fucking movie, especially one that’s nearly four hours long, he should make sure the crew is at least hydrated and not exhausted all the goddamn time. Doug is a grown ass man, and he should carry these responsibilities like an adult. Maybe then, the CA anniversary movies would be at least a little less cringey to watch. Rant on Michaud coming soon. Peace out, dickholes. 

The “Not So Awesome” document

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WZFkR__B3Mk9EYQglvislMUx9HWvWhOaBP820UBa4dA/preview#heading=h.smmxroimnosh

[secretsofthemasquerade]

What this all means? WoD prelude issues

Abuse will be mentioned

Disclaimer: I don’t want VtM to become a nest for gamer-gaters asshats, so let it be clear that I stand for feminism, positive representation and progressiveness. And further than that, I stand for meaningful, well written media. This is both beyond offensive, and badly written (and badly coded!).

Alright, now that you may (or may not) have read my spoiler free review of the WoD: Prelude vampire game (we eat blood all our friends are dead), this is the second part of this review. The one that really stirs shit, tackles what this all means, and talks about the problems surrounding the two authors. Good brew incoming!

There are a few issues that need mentioning; Zak’s reputation of being a dick (to say the least), white wolf saying they don’t give a shit, and one trans character in the game.

First, I must say I said what I needed to about Sarah (the second author of the Vampire gale) in a few reblogged discussions I had with her about it; you can read that here. She claims the “problematic trans character” is a reference to someone else, but as the anon in that ask pointed out, the name given to the character totally references someone else (and it’s not like Avery is a common first name, so the “coincidence” excuse is weak, to say the least). It’s probably a little bit of both tbh. White wolf stands behind their choice btw.

This is my random, worthless opinion on the trans character’s subject: I don’t think the trans community deserves to be treated like this, and I’m not going to police whether trans people can talk about their dicks (or lack thereof) or not. Sarah likes her characters bold and unapologetic, which is perfectly “none of my fucking business”, I just find that it gives too much of an excuse for people to actually ask trans people about their dicks (or not) which is a definite no-no when it comes to, you know, basic manners. Why encourage that? Most trans people do not want to talk about it to random strangers they’ve just met, so why have that be the main representation of trans people in the media? Sex workers who brag about their dicks and who are serial killers? I find it tasteless at best, dangerous (again, “hey, if this is what trans people are, i totally can ask about their dicks!” kind of shits) at worst. Not that sex workers who talk about their dicks are wrong in anyway, of course. Note that I have no problem with a character being trans, being a serial killer, or being a loud unapologetic bitch. I have a problem with what it may lead to, and how respectful of/to the community the character is. And it’s simply not written with the respect and the love the trans community deserves. The fact that Sarah herself is trans doesn’t make her a good candidate to write well-made (trans or not) characters. I’m all for more diversity in authors (cuz it’s still a bunch of white old dudes out there), but they still need to be good writers (or at least more decent than the shit that’s being published nowadays). Writer is a job. And this is were Zak and Sarah failed; they just didn’t work with basic decency, respect and research of the characters, and what they are, what they represent and what they mean to the community. The fact that White Wolf Publishing used the “but we have a X friend!” excuse only makes it more profoundly wrong. And you guys can’t even blame that on Europeanism (racism takes very different forms here than in the US, certain things are more blurred, and ethnicity is overall understood differently), even in France we consider the use of a token minority person to excuse controversial stuff to be just plain wrong (and god knows France can be very weird about the treatment of minorities). 

If you’re trans and knowledgeable of trans representation, please tell me off about this. It’s just my thoughts on the matter as someone who cares deeply about characters.

The other trans character, Morgan, exchanges like, four texts with you. So, this character’s existence gave nothing to my run. I need to replay the thing and see if other choices give us more interaction with this one, and I really have no problem with this one so far.

Now, the “unique aesthetic” that was brought to the game, I could find interesting modern artists on tumblr to draw for this game, and actually have their modern art be readable, as in, “really in accord with the game’s content (a quick sketch needs to be a quick sketch)”. I can also guess that it would come out far cheaper than whatever this guy took (I hear he sells his art pieces in the thousands? people, you’ve got too much money on your hands, give it to me instead).

The writing, however, I’m pretty sure (read absolutely certain) there are very knowledgeable wod fans out there who can decently hold a pen (half of the RPers I exchange with can come up both with a decent story and can write it out in a very.. literary and interesting way, and so without having to sort through the bs ramble that brings nothing, and without the “options” branches that lead to just a game over screen...).

Zak’s reputation of being a harasser and abuser doesn’t seem too far fetched from where I stand, especially since people who complained have said that White Wolf never contacted them back, even if they said they did. I can’t say deffo what he did or didn’t, but I can certainly assure you that the choice of White Wolf knowingly hiring the guy, then defending him, all while knowing all of this shit, and having one of their writers be one of the victims of the abuse, is not an innocent move from WW/Paradox.

We wanted fresh blood, fresh views, fresh takes, and they willingly hire a veteran known for beyond “problematic” behavior. And excusing all this shit because “but he’s an artist!” doesn’t cut it. Not from White Wolf. Not from a Scandinavian company. Not in the world we live in today. Not with the very talented people who are fans of the WoD and who can come up with something so much better, so much smoother, so much more respectful, and without all this negative publicity. This isn’t just some loud mouth rough corners guy (like I can admit I am!! let’s be honest I’m a harsh bitch lol), this is seriously.. wrong. It leaves a very bitter taste in my mouth, and tbh, Werewolf already has a reputation of being a game played by fascists, and LARPs are known hunting grounds for less-than-polite predators, why fucking continue this fucking shit? This isn’t what we want our hobby to be. This isn’t the kind of people I or anyone around me want to be associated with. Art is political in nature, but that doesn’t mean I am willing to accept the company owning the IP I love most hiring fucking extremist assholes. Everyone has a “problematic opinion” on something, honestly, that’s fine, I mean I get my share of anon hate for many of those, but can you guys straightforward tell me I’m a bad person doing evil and spreading evil into the gaming industry? (If I am tell me now so I can quit!)

TBH, I believe they hired Zak because he was a known “controversial figure”. To have free publicity. To pander to the GG community (EDIT: I failed here, I wanted to say “attract extremes”, Zak is not a gamergater at all). To get everyone angry about “the gay agenda”, “modern art” and more. They’ve succeeded. But it’ll blow up in their faces, and I really want us all to show them this is not acceptable.

What to do now? Be heard. Show your displeasing of such choices. Don’t let them have it their way with an IP you care about. They may own the rights, but ultimately, as Brucato (Mage RPG author), the games belong to us, the fans. Write to white wolf, boycott. Do not harass and insult, but tell them exactly what you think.

There are free visual novels out there, and cheaper princess makers who have more interesting outcomes, badges, achievements, easter eggs, all sorts of different endings if you fail/die, and all sorts of different failure paths that still let you play, and replay, and replay, without feeling frustrated, fucked over, and just plain trying to follow some incoherent druggie’s trail of thoughts.

Here’s a few things I recommend playing, to read how good characterization, art and horror can come around, as well as player agency and choices that mean you continue playing despite failures (linking steam, but gog works too for most of them). So here’s a few games you deffo wanna try out instead of these.

Long live the Queen

Actual “Princess Maker” games :)

Cupid (I can’t recommend @cupidvn enough, it’s  great free game, it has a few flaws considering it’s purely fanmade but overall, it’s very interesting and treats the subject with a good amount of respect)

This war of mine

Choice of vampire (free on web, available as a mobile app)

Vlad the Impaler A very awesome replayable story, you pick one of three characters who has one of two specializations mid game depending on your choices. Just. Get Vlad. It’s great.

I’d also mention an Actual Lone Wolf (by Dever!) video game/visual novel/cyoa. 

Heavy Rain (PS3) So many choices, and the game goes on regardless of what happens. The illusion of choice is so well made. Beyond Two Souls also does this fairly well, but the story is more linear 

The Last of Us (the MC is still a 40 something rough guy, but there’s more to it I promise! there’s no “choice” to be had, but the characterization is great)

And finally, I highly recommend watching like, all of Extra Credits videos about game making, characterization, illusion of choice and so on. They did a playlist. And other one about genres that might come in handy.

I’m very close to angrily make the text/choice/agency/multiple paths adventure we all need and deserve, and publish it for free... But I really don’t have the time, nor the funds, nor the skills, nor the legal knowledge to make it. So if someone wants to, know that I have a hot story that’s worth telling to initiate new players to the WoD :)))

[chrismaverickdotcom]

The Lie of the Anthem and the Flag

James Harrison punching Hitler, one of the most popular comics we ever did at http://cosmichellcats.com

Being an American means I get to bitch and moan. Today I am going to bitch and moan about America.

If you joined the military to “fight for the flag”… well, I’m sorry that you were lied to. I don’t automatically thank you for your service. I don’t think you automatically deserve my respect… in fact, it’s quite possible that I don’t respect you at all. I’m sorry if that gets under your skin. I will happily live my life complaining about shit that I don’t like and sometimes that might include you. And it sucks that you have to deal with that… I’m just kind of a dick. I mean… I’m not going to stop or anything… I’m not even going to slow down. Because my right to complain and bitch and moan is what you actually fought for. This kind of sucks for you. And it’s not your fault. Because you were lied to.

My grandfather was a WWII veteran and member of the fabled Red Ball Express (a predominantly black military convoy that has the distinction of being an early example of mass whitewashing in Hollywood film, but that’s a story for another day). When I was a kid, there was a big controversy about flag burning as free speech. Whenever my grandfather heard someone say that flag burners should prosecuted because “people fought for the flag” or “people died for that flag” he would say “I didn’t fight for a flag. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. If you fought for a piece of cloth you’re an idiot.” See, he understood that he was fighting to protect the interests of a country. A country that in 1944, quite frankly didn’t give a shit about him. A country that treated him like he was somehow less than human because he was black. But he did it anyway. Why, because he had another saying. Something that I, my mother, my uncles, my brothers and cousins heard quite frequently… “who ever told you life was fair? Point them out to me so I can tell them they lied to you.” And he was right. Life isn’t fair. But in my grandfather’s case he was also fighting for a dream. He was fighting for the hope that one day I would get to have a better life in that county. A life where maybe I wouldn’t be treated as less than human because of the color of my skin. And for the record… for that, he gets my respect. I’m not saying he should have your respect. He wouldn’t want it. You didn’t know the man. I respect him because he was my grandfather and I loved him. He earned it. And part of his earning it, for me, was his understanding what he was fighting for. More on that later.

Lets do a little history lesson.

In 1773, a group of terrorists in the city of Boston got together and rioted against their sovereign government because they felt that their tax structure was unfair and that it wasn’t right that they weren’t allowed to complain about it. There were protests, bitching and moaning, civic disobedience and a fair amount of breaking the law. This would eventually lead to them illegally openly revolting against that government three years later. After a bloody seven-year war, they won and formed their own country. One of the founding principles of this new country being the idea being that everyone was equal and had the right to bitch about whatever the fuck they wanted to.

Of course, “everyone” was kind of limited to white men who owned land. The land owning thing was dropped through people protesting a couple years later, but it would take about 80 more years for the white part to be dropped. And it didn’t happen easily. Getting there involved a lot of protests, bitching and moaning, civic disobedience and a fair amount of breaking the law. On both sides. In fact, the people who wanted to maintain the status quo of NOT treating black men as human beings actually revolted and separated from the country. There was a war over it and everything. And in the end, the side that was fighting for more rights for more people won.

Well, not all people. It still didn’t include women. That took another 50 years. Somehow this happened without a war. But it did take a lot of protests, bitching and moaning, civic disobedience and a fair amount of breaking the law.

And that’s not all, even with the right to vote technically guaranteed by the 15th amendment, Jim Crow laws effectively shut down this right (among others) for black people in many cases until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. And it wasn’t until the Civil Rights Act of 1991 that black people got the right to protection from work discrimination. And these anti-discrimination acts didn’t apply to sex, sexual orientation or gender identity until TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO. And each and every one of these things required a lot of protests, bitching and moaning, civic disobedience and a fair amount of breaking the law to happen. It also required a lot of people being killed before anyone paid enough attention. And these are just big popular ones. I could go on and on.

Why do I bring that up? You see, it’s simple. In each and every one of these cases, the country… that is, the government… was on the wrong side of what we, for the most part, now consider basic human decency. That means every time someone, including my grandfather, fought a war to protect the sanctity of the United States, they were defending something that at the time was wrong and inhumane by our standards today. Why did things change? Because people, not the government, not the armed forces, and in many cases not even citizens yet, protested, bitched and moaned, engaged in civic disobedience and broke a fair amount of laws. They did this until enough people paid attention and changed their mind… and then waited for the people who refused to change their minds to fucking die. Because cultural change is hard. I could go into a lot of the reasons why. I could explain hegemony and cultural shift and backlash… but the details don’t matter for what is already going to be a very long post. The point is, change happens… people gain rights… the world gets better… because a lot of people bitch moan and piss off the people who would attempt to maintain the status quo and deny those rights. That’s how it works.

One of the big civil rights things going on right now is #BlackLivesMatter. Because in 2017, some 152 years after the end of the civil war, it turns out we still have a problem with police randomly killing black people. I don’t want to argue this point. I’ve done it before. It’s not what this post is really about. If you don’t think that happens … just… fuck you… really… Fuck you!

Anyway, a couple years ago, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, started silently protesting in favor of #BlackLivesMatter by refusing to stand for the national anthem during a preseason game. He’d actually been sitting for a couple games before anyone noticed, because it turns out no one really gave a shit about the 2nd string quarterback for the worst team in the NFC West during preseason. But once people noticed, this became a big story because it pissed off a lot of people because … uh… “how dare he protest something by disparaging the soldiers who died for that flag?” See, told you I’d get back to this. Several other players joined him. And some complained that he was being disrespectful. But really, the big deal was the random people across America that it pissed off.

This weekend, Marshawn Lynch did the same thing. Once again the controversy flared up. Oddly enough, some people were actually more pissed about this than they were the tragedy in Charlottesville this weekend. An irony that was not lost on the internet which helpfully made a lot of memes explaining how stupid it was for people to be more upset about player protests than they were about a fucking Nazi riot. I prefer to not make the equivocation. They aren’t the same thing. That said, if you do actually think that Marshawn Lynch not standing was the most important thing that happened this weekend, again… fuck you.

Anyway, something interesting happened to me yesterday. I spent the better part of the day arguing on Facebook with someone (who I won’t name here, but is welcome to out himself) because they posted a link to an article claiming that James Harrison of the Pittsburgh Steelers said in an interview Sunday morning on KPLX radio that “Anyone on my teams sits for the national anthem, they better be in a wheelchair.” This immediately rang false to me… for one thing, I know who James Harrison is. I’m a big fan, in fact. But he’s not particularly known for being patriotic. In fact, this is the guy who told THE LAST TWO US PRESIDENTS to fuck off when they invited him to the White House after his Super Bowl victories. It didn’t seem like something he’d do. So I did about two seconds of research and found that there was another claim that Harrison had said something similar last year. That also turned out to be fake. And then I thought it through and remembered that I live in Pittsburgh… and there is no station named KPLX here. See, KPLX is a country radio station in Dallas… which is… uh…. not Pittsburgh. And their Sunday morning programming is a local news show followed by a nationally syndicated country music countdown show. There was literally no place for Harrison to have even done this interview. It was clearly a fake news article (so fake that in less than 24 hours, Lockerdome, the website where it was posted, has taken it down).

I informed the person who posted it that it was fake and how I knew and that he’d been trolled.

This set off a big argument. See, the guy who forwarded the article was very much of the opinion that it “doesn’t matter whether he said it or not. Because he should have said it.” I pointed out that the problem was that he’d likely not like Harrison’s actual politics and that there are plenty athletes who actually ARE against the protests. Harrison just apparently isn’t one of them. By posting an obviously fake news article he actually weakens his point. It makes him look like he’s not very smart. This was apparently unimportant to the guy. See, this person is a big armed forces supporter… very much of the “you owe veterans respect. You owe it to them to stand for the national anthem. And if you don’t like it get out of the country or just die.” This devolved into me kind of making fun of him, including making a reference to him being Col. Jessep from A Few Good Men, which he apparently took as a compliment because he seems to not realize that Jack Nicholson plays the villain in that movie.

It also involved me trying to explain logic to him (yeah, yeah, I know… losing battle… and I’ve pointed that out before… but still). He claimed he didn’t care whether it was true or not because it doesn’t matter what the image is, it’s the message that is important. I asked him if he’d feel the same way for any image. Would he have still forwarded the post if it had been attached to an image of Hillary Clinton? He said of course he would, and in fact it would be even better but that he would never live long enough for “her to say something that made that much sense.” I pointed out that he hasn’t lived long enough for Harrison to say something like that either. He reiterated that if he had photoshop he would have added a pic of Hilary to the quote right then and there. Because it’s the message that counts not the image. So I posted the most recent tweet from @PresVillain, a great Twitter feed that simply adds actual quotes from Trump to comics featuring the Red Skull.

…ON MANY SIDES–!#PresidentSupervillain pic.twitter.com/nXhVTNexEm

— President Supervillain (@PresVillain) August 12, 2017

He didn’t seem to like that at all!

So he called me an asshole (I am) and then once again complained that I deserved to die because I don’t respect the tradition of standing at NFL football games. You know, that age old tradition that dates all the way back to 2009. Oh, you didn’t know that? Yeah, 2009 is when the NFL started having players stand for the national anthem. Before that the players weren’t even on the field until after the anthem, and for the most part everyone in the crowd just ignored it. They mostly didn’t play it on TV, except in big games like the Super Bowl. It was just a thing that people vaguely knew happened and nobody cared about. So if you care about it now, it’s not really tradition… unless of course you’re really married to an idea that happened “a little while ago”. No, what you care about is disparaging the black guy who is basically doing nothing except annoying you because he won’t step in line to your expectations just to point out the hypocrisy of the fact that you think your non-tradition is more important than his right to NOT DIE.

And that is kind of the point. That is why the flag protest matters. The specific thing that he is fighting for is to NOT fucking die. To show people that what he deserves is basic human decency… and to NOT DIE. A lot has been made of “well, then he should protest some other way.” But see, that’s the key to a good protest. The entire point of the protest is that it bothers people that you don’t agree with. Sure, Kaepernick could protest in a way that doesn’t offend people who don’t agree with him, but that’s not much of a protest. See, there’s one kind of protest where people go and march somewhere… and that’s all well and good. But the most useful protest isn’t the one that energizes the people who agree with you. It’s the one that pisses off the people who don’t. That’s where change happens. Why? Because at the end of the day, all Kaepernick is doing is… nothing… He’s literally just doing nothing. It’s not very notable. Where all the press comes from is people who disagree with him complaining. They’re the ones doing all the work! The brilliance of Kaepernick’s protest is that his press is generated almost entirely by people who don’t agree with him.

When my grandfather returned from WWII he came back to a world that still didn’t give a shit about black people. Because veterans don’t automatically get respect. When veterans came home from Viet Nam, people literally spit on them. Again. No respect. And the flag? Well, the Supreme Court ruled that the flag was so not sacred that it’s completely ok to burn it just to piss people off way back in 1989… you know, two whole years before the country decided that as a black man I had an actual right to a job. And all of these things are because the actual foundation of this country… the actual ideology behind us existing in the first place, the very thing that soldiers are actually going to war for and dying for, is defending is the right to complain about things you don’t like. Specifically, you are defending Kaepernick’s, Lynch’s and even my right to complain, bitch and moan, and generally not respect you! You are defending our right to engage in civil disobedience just to make things better for ourselves whether you like it or not. That’s why it’s called service. Because you serve.

And for that part, I actually am thankful. Thank you for spreading the message inadvertently with your poorly conceived complaints. Every time you do, other people… people we cannot reach, see your complaints and think “wow, that guy sounds really, really stupid. Maybe I don’t want to think like him” and cultural change happens. I am thankful… but I’m also sorry.

I’m sorry that you were lied to. I’m sorry that you were made to believe that you were fighting for a piece of cloth. I’m sorry you were made to believe that serving entitled you to some level of respect. See, because if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t think Kaepernick should be allowed to kneel… if you’re the kind of person that is offended by it… well, then frankly, you were tricked. You shouldn’t have served to protect the rights of a country and an ideology that you don’t believe in. You were tricked into serving a country that you don’t actually understand. You were tricked by being sold a bill of goods wrapped up in some pretty colors and a catchy tune. You tell me who told you this so I can go and tell them they lied to you. It kind of sucks and it wasn’t fair. And life isn’t fair.  Sort of like being born black in America. And so I’ll make you a deal. And I’m betting Colin Kaepernick will agree with me… I’ll start respecting you and the flag and standing for the national anthem… as soon as cops stop killing black men.

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The Lie of the Anthem and the Flag was originally published on ChrisMaverick dotcom