Magic the gathering, Warhammer, Video Games, even fantasy and scifi fiction, they all have had big I fights with right wingers in the last decade. The only exception I can think of maybe (MAYBE) would be DnD. Thoughts?
Well, geek culture and nerd culture overlap a lot, but they're not the same.
The former is about obsessing over consumption. Over music, videogames, film, anime, etc.
The latter is about pursuing an intellectual hobby that doesn't have a "real world" application, ie: that can't easily be monetized. Memorizing pi, soaking up trivia, etc.
And the overlap comes into play when it's creativity using already existing intellectual property as a jumping off point: say, writing fan fiction, or building elaborate pen and paper RPG campaigns.
We can totally appeal to those who are more nerdy. After all, for a worldview where we want to ideally hunt in the morning, to fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, without ever making any of those things our careers, that we must support ourselves with, there's totally wiggle room to swap in things like cosplaying, trying to make our own board games, etc ...
All social interactions mediated through consumer products and competition, attracting some of the most alienated individuals and only encourages more alienation and frustration so that they are better consumers.
counterpoint: leftism is nerd culture. what's nerdier than reading a bunch of books written by dead guys lmao
it definitely is, at least when you're someone like me who just posts online. nothing wrong with nerd culture though
Capitalism kills community and culture and replaces it with itself. A small town might of had a tool shop, a music store, a dildo store whatever--- now they have WalMart.
People need community and culture, people want to feel like they belong to something worthwhile.
However, White Americans don't belong anywhere except in a capitalist paradigm. Since they only exist in that paradigm, they have no culture of their own. Because Capitalism's nature is that everyone has to participate in capitalism, nothing is truly theirs.
So they bring their lonely weird asses to things that cater to lonely people and try to claim it as "theirs" since they have nothing else to point to as "theirs."
I think so, but at the same time it puts you in an interesting spot where you have say in what that culture can be--- since you have no tradition or community already. It's kind of already happening as American ideologies pit against each other.
I grew up around mexicans and black people, it took me a long time to put a finger on it exactly, mostly because I grew up right wing, but that's what I think it is. You can watch Latino's do the same thing white people do as they "Americanize." It's not unique to white people, it's just what capitalism does.
So they bring their lonely weird asses to things that cater to lonely people and try to claim it as “theirs” since they have nothing else to point to as “theirs.”
This is also true with many on the left, though I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.
I guess I don't understand. Who on the left is getting pissy about WARHAMMER 40000 being inclusive?
Not that specifically, but I think the same sense of alienation that attracts some to the right, also attracts people to the left. The key difference is that the left offers real solutions instead of the return to some imaginary past, though there is still a risk of people treating leftist ideas and imagery as an identity/lifestyle, or in some cases, a sort of revenge fantasy.
Yes, I think we can also agree that alienation affects everyone on the political spectrum. Even apolitical people.
a risk of people treating leftist ideas and imagery as an identity/lifestyle, or in some cases, a sort of revenge fantasy.
Can you expand on that more? Are you talking about Tankies? Revenge fantasy?
I don't think it's exclusive to any tendency, though generally I think it's more prevalent online than in the real world. I see it as taking the form of LARPing or lifestylist behavior, and a focus on aesthetics, performance, and a certain view of class identity.
Also, when I'm talking about those who hold onto a revenge fantasy, I'm talking about people who are primarily motivated by a sense anger towards certain groups or individuals and a desire to harm them. In most cases, there's very good reason to be angry, and I've sometimes let it dominate my own thoughts, but focusing solely on anger probably isn't productive when it comes to the long term goal of replacing capitalism.
I hope none of this sounds preachy or overly critical towards anyone, by the way. I think I've been guilty of these things myself in the past, but it's just something I've been thinking about a lot more lately.
Because those things tend to attract social outcasts, and social outcasts want to feel powerful, so they find fascism attractive. Plus fascists are such fucking losers that many become ostracized by virtue of their bullshit, so the whole thing can work in reverse too.
Yes, but Fascism is Capitalism in crisis. The rank and file join due to the issues with Capitalism and Alienation. The far right acknowledge the issue, they just think the solution is outsourcing the externalities that used to be outsourced to the periphery onto the designated other.
"When education is not liberating, the dream of the oppressed is to become the oppressor."
If you want to prevent fascists, sneering at the losers is probably not the strategy you want to follow.
This is the most worrisome part of essentialism, where some parts of the modern left become almost Calvinist.
It seems as if in so many left spaces, there's no intent to reach people who've been indoctrinated with false consciousness, only attribute their actions as proof of their core being, and go off trying to build a vanguard of the most pure.
And, while, yes, there has to be a line drawn, excluding the worst, the palpable failchild hate doesn't really doesn't seem like a winning strategy to me, tbh.
Its not a great strategy, and it reeks of self-loathing to me.
Remember that self-hatred is reactionary, and only serves to keep you deflated, unmotivated, and docile
Umberto Eco has 14 points about the aesthetics of fascism. Some of them apply to 40k fashies and the like.
6.] Ur-Fascism derives from individual or social frustration. That is why one of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups. In our time, when the old “proletarians” are becoming petty bourgeois (and the lumpen are largely excluded from the political scene), the fascism of tomorrow will find its audience in this new majority.
11.] In such a perspective everybody is educated to become a hero. In every mythology the hero is an exceptional being, but in Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death. It is not by chance that a motto of the Falangists was Viva la Muerte (in English it should be translated as “Long Live Death!”). In non-fascist societies, the lay public is told that death is unpleasant but must be faced with dignity; believers are told that it is the painful way to reach a supernatural happiness. By contrast, the Ur-Fascist hero craves heroic death, advertised as the best reward for a heroic life. The Ur-Fascist hero is impatient to die. In his impatience, he more frequently sends other people to death.
- ]Since both permanent war and heroism are difficult games to play, the Ur-Fascist transfers his will to power to sexual matters. This is the origin of machismo (which implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality). Since even sex is a difficult game to play, the Ur-Fascist hero tends to play with weapons – doing so becomes an ersatz phallic exercise.
I think these three points generally apply to the "don't put minorities and women into muh vidyagaymes" crowd. As "nerd culture" became more mainstream, they went harder into their niches, feeling they lost control of a subculture that was once overwhelmingly white and male.
A lot of high fantasy ends up being a slippery slope towards fascism. I'm not saying that Tolkien is a fascist (I don't even know), but popular fantasy does tend to draw fascists since romanticization of the past is a symptom of fascism. C.S. Lewis was also an open Christian apologist.
And as for sci-fi, a lot of that gets lost on people. We can only talk about capitalism in public through cyberpunk. We can talk about anti-racism and embracing of sexualities through Star Trek and some Bioware games when they were good. Star Wars was influenced by the Vietnam War.
BuT Im A ChUD. ThAt Ne0n PuRpLe STUFF IZ COOL.
Yeah... only through cyberpunk... slides copies of Iain M. Banks Culture series under the bed
Helps that prog came out of 60s counter culture, and the further you go you just get experimental music which is really hard for reactionaries to like. Plus the Canterbury scene were all lefties. Like there was a pretty good prog band that put out a (facetious) Mao themed record, Little Red Record by Matching Mole.
if you ignore the “prog metal” guys
What's the deal with them? I've dabbled in prog metal (though not extensively), what draws shitheads to that subculture specifically?
Roleplaying games have had some rocky history too, there's a much larger space for non-white non-cishet players and designers these days but that hasn't always been the case. Early dnd was pretty reactionary and echoes of it are still felt (ed greenwood's forgotten realms being the default setting is a part of this). The whole white feudal Europe but also magic, where you take the law into your own hands and theres institutionalized racism really appeals to certain people.
Recently wizards wanted to change racial stat modifiers to be less of a racist dogwhistle and more about culture or individual aptitude and there has been a huge outcry about it (orcs no longer having a negative Int in character creation rubs racists the wrong way for some reason). Its definitely changing a bit with how many lgbtq+ and poc are entering the space/being recognized as having always been here, but there's still lots of weird fascists and bigots hanging around.
WC just said no race is inherently evil and nerds shit out their doodoo ass cause they couldn’t roleplay racism.
