Tribalism

Here's something I've been bothered with for a bit now: Every now and again, there will be an issue, and that issue will have two 'sides'. The reason we have sides is because we have differing principles as human beings, for example:

Seatbelts, discuss:

Pro: Seatbelts save lives, and parents should make sure their children wear seatbelts in order to save their children's lives.

Anti: People should have the freedom to choose whether or not to wear seatbelts, and it should not be mandated by the state how one should raise their child.

Okay, I think both of those arguments have some merit. Let's even say, hypothetically, that I had an opinion on the matter (I don't) and sided with Pro-Seatbelts. I'd go on the forums and poke fun at Antis, and make twitter posts about them, and perhaps go on a podcast to sleepily make some bad jokes. Maybe I'd also grab a screen cap of an Anti saying something ridiculous, like:

Anti: Children wearing safety belts is basically like the straps across the chest that the Hitler Youth used to wear.

Ohhhh noooooo, HITLER!

Okay, so that's some funny shit, because it's so extravagant in its retardation. But then, someone Pro says something insane as well:

Pro: I hope your child dies in a car wreck, you bumbling jizzwad. (I crossed out that last line because that would actually make it funny, rather than just a horrible thing to say)

So I say to the Pro person, "That's a pretty awful thing to say." and even though I'm on their "side", they're all like, "YOU MUST BE ANTI" and I'm like "Nooooooooooooooooooo"


And scene.


This is a really dumb thing that people do, because I argue based on principle, whereas it would seem that many people are arguing based on scoring points for their side. That means being right, even if it's totally wrong. This also means they will support someone who has devoted their life to being the scourge of humanity, so long as that person shares and reinforces their views and attacks "the enemy".

That's what happened when I was more into hashtag GamerGate; I'm still pro-media-being-honest and I'm very much anti-censorship. My hope and dream was to see Gawker Media burn to ashes, and now that such a wonderful dream has come true, I have retreated back into the shadows, lurking and waiting. Point is - I'm not going to do a "Someone in GG disagreed with me, and that's why I'm out" rant. That would be ludicrous because #GamerGate is a hashtag, not an organization, and because I stuck it out until I was satisfied. What I will say is this: along the way, I was always against personal attacks. My thought was that one of the colored-haired folk would be taken to task for their terrible conduct, not for their looks, not for their weight, not for any of that. Simply put, the merits of their arguments would crumble if challenged. However, rather than challenge their arguments, some people decided it would be much more productive to insult, belittle, and berate them, ironically giving credence to anti-GG's argument that #GamerGate was a vehicle for harassment.

This is not, however, 'censorship', because I have no authority to enforce my views. It is, however, my firm advice to anyone who claims to be on that same 'side' as myself, but it often falls on deaf ears, as they would much rather froth at the mouth. Not that I didn't understand the anger, mind you - there were times when it seemed like the media would never be held accountable for their actions, and if it were not for some glorious bastard selling a VHS tape of a huge man with hotdog skin having sex with the mistress to an unscrupulous media outlet, we would further have to contend with articles about 'white males' are somehow ruining the world.

My most recent qualm may just be water under the bridge, but I do feel as though the issue may come up again, because I do feel strongly about manipulative people, and there are rising stars in the new media who are feeding off of fear, and are deliberately painting propaganda to preach to a choir of ever-growing extreme right-wingers. It is difficult to stand and be honestly anti-leftist when my closest allies are no longer fighting for human decency, or for freedom of speech, or anything noble, but to simply hurt the opposition. If I go, "Hey wait a minute, let's think about this..." and they go "Go back to your mosque, uneducated liberal filth" (Kind of an abridged version) then the only allies I have are enemies. Principle is important, and it's important to step back, think things through, and be able to empathize with other human beings, and I'm just not really seeing much of that lately.