tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post5371626367837244908..comments2024-01-05T06:18:18.086-05:00Comments on CommentaramaPolitics: The Year That Was -- Winners and LosersAndrewPricehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-5985010197899343302015-01-06T00:33:23.590-05:002015-01-06T00:33:23.590-05:00I'm going to add another winner: dub step viol...I'm going to add another winner: dub step violinist Lindsey Stirling. She released a 2nd album with more great music. Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-30502694059951461432015-01-03T16:37:53.443-05:002015-01-03T16:37:53.443-05:00Kit, Make that Wednesday. Monday will be predict...Kit, Make that Wednesday. Monday will be predictions for 2015.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-33946809956872331132015-01-03T14:43:07.244-05:002015-01-03T14:43:07.244-05:00Rolando, The problem with feminists is that the do...Rolando, The problem with feminists is that the doctrinaire ones went off the rails year ago and they aren't interested in the success of women so much as they are looking purely to get their grievances ensconced in law.<br /><br />They should be thrilled that women today have a vast array of choices and lots more economic security than in the past. But that's not their goal.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-31511697507615443222015-01-03T01:12:03.446-05:002015-01-03T01:12:03.446-05:00Feminists really should be ashamed of themselves. ...Feminists really should be ashamed of themselves. So many strides made by women in politics, commerce, sports, etc. Yet if one of them touts a conservative viewpoint they are branded a traitor. 2014 should have been the year that feminism walked proud with the election and selection of so many women in places of power. What a waste.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10708687244208730542noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-41945006259102837032015-01-02T17:26:52.978-05:002015-01-02T17:26:52.978-05:00Kit, Yep. I'm writing about Cuba on Monday.Kit, Yep. I'm writing about Cuba on Monday.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-26283726816774327482015-01-02T08:41:59.164-05:002015-01-02T08:41:59.164-05:00Any thoughts on Obama loosening the the restrictio...Any thoughts on Obama loosening the the restrictions of the Cuban embargo?Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-7462886006789501312015-01-02T02:51:40.396-05:002015-01-02T02:51:40.396-05:00Anthony,
I think I agree w/ everything much of wh...Anthony,<br /><br />I think I agree w/ everything much of what you are saying. I will note I am not a hardcore gamer.<br /><br />"By way of contrast, mobile has done well in part because it has attracted a bunch of female gamers. That is what has driven developers to try to make their games more appealing to women, not some activist on Youtube."<br />I've heard about mobile doing well among women and I can see that having more to do with developers trying to attract female gamers than an activist on youtube.<br /><br />"A little noticed fact is that there is a negative relationship between how heavily a game promotes its sexual content and how well it sells."<br />There is something similar in films and books. Nowadays, if you heavily promote sex people assume your work is crap. The result is that the games that push sex heavily usually have nothing going for it but nudity. <br /><br />Heck, look at <i>50 Shades of Grey</i>, the book covers were very minimalist featuring silver/grey object such as a mask or a tie on a black background.Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-26320086073219721732015-01-02T01:44:28.650-05:002015-01-02T01:44:28.650-05:00Kit and tryanmax,
I've been a gamer for over ...Kit and tryanmax,<br /><br />I've been a gamer for over three and a half decades and have been reading gaming magazines for almost as long. Game journalism has always been a weird mix between Hollywood coverage (incestuous) and fanzines (adoring). What upsets the Gamergate crowd isn't something that has existed since the dawn of game journalism, but the broadening of the game industry, which they blame on game journalists and Sarkeesian.<br /><br />What they fail to realize is that the change is drive by economics, not Youtubers or game journalists. Game journalism has never been widely read even among core gamers and I doubt the wave of casuals even know that Eurogamer, Gamespot and IGN exist.<br /><br />Core console gaming (yes, I am excluding the Wii) ceased growing last gen, costs rose exponentially and gamers clumped around the most popular games even moreso than they did in the past (in part because online multiplayer is now huge) and mid-tier developers dropped like flies. <br /><br />http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459131<br /><br />By way of contrast, mobile has done well in part because it has attracted a bunch of female gamers. That is what has driven developers to try to make their games more appealing to women, not some activist on Youtube.<br /><br />Last but not least, its worth noting that most gamers are utterly indifferent to sex in games, so companies aren't really risking much by putting more clothes on female characters or what have you. A little noticed fact is that there is a negative relationship between how heavily a game promotes its sexual content and how well it sells.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124128949343301445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-37373547368387050162015-01-02T01:39:06.913-05:002015-01-02T01:39:06.913-05:00Kit and Anthony, As an aside, I find it frustratin...Kit and Anthony, As an aside, I find it frustrating that so many Rush fans still refuse to see that Rush made Fluke famous, and they won't acknowledge the problem of acting the way Rush acted. This is again, people who are blind to human nature.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-54183945389685203702015-01-02T01:36:18.333-05:002015-01-02T01:36:18.333-05:00Rustbelt, That was a really good game, though I ha...Rustbelt, That was a really good game, though I have no dog in that particular fight.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-1594071165973762252015-01-02T01:35:05.367-05:002015-01-02T01:35:05.367-05:00Anthony, You were clear (or at least I thought so)...Anthony, You were clear (or at least I thought so). I think you are right too that this is an instance where the activist were their own worst enemies. I was just chiming in to point out that I doubt this event reached the broader culture.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-87743075269304852992015-01-02T01:18:06.442-05:002015-01-02T01:18:06.442-05:00What I thought was striking was the way a bunch of...What I thought was striking was the way a bunch of clowns (cheered on by The Bigs) made exactly the same mistake Rush made with Fluke, transforming a low profile activist into a high profile victim with a torrent of verbal diarrhea.<br />----------------------------------<br />Again, the Sarkheesian thing was pre-Gamergate but, for the most part, you are right. A bunch of idiots gave her a level of fame she would not otherwise have had. Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-10156597003649972522015-01-02T01:09:45.129-05:002015-01-02T01:09:45.129-05:00Well, THAT was a heck of a New Year's!
HOLY ...Well, THAT was a heck of a New Year's! <br /><br />HOLY BUCKEYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br />New Year's Day Triple Crown for the Big Ten! Outback, Cotton, AND Sugar!<br /><br />Go Bucks! Go Badgers! (Nice job, Coach Alvarez!) Go Sparty!<br /><br />(Shame on you, Minnesota.)<br /><br />Also, a shoutout to Kit: bud, your Tide played a terrific game. I tip my hat. Crazy game. I haven't felt Ohio State play a game that intense since the 2009 Rose Bowl against- duh, duh, duh- Oregon! <br />Hm...B1G vs. PAC-12. Does that make this Championship Game a de facto Rose Bowl by way of Dallas? You decide!<br /><br />Anyway, I haven't eaten in 7 or 8 hours and need to catch my breath. Talk to you guys later.Rustbelthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12190297078043033514noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-55843049729368251452015-01-02T00:51:35.766-05:002015-01-02T00:51:35.766-05:00Tryanmax, Kit and Andrew,
I thought my post made ...Tryanmax, Kit and Andrew,<br /><br />I thought my post made it clear that IMHO Gamergate in and of itself doesn't mean anything even within the game industry but clearly it didn't and I apologize for the lack of clarity.<br /><br />What I thought was striking was the way a bunch of clowns (cheered on by The Bigs) made exactly the same mistake Rush made with Fluke, transforming a low profile activist into a high profile victim with a torrent of verbal diarrhea. Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124128949343301445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-1637954807808357512015-01-01T21:58:08.799-05:002015-01-01T21:58:08.799-05:00BTW, Mario Cuomo died today. He was an interesting...BTW, Mario Cuomo died today. He was an interesting character. I was never sure if I liked him or not, but the left was convinced for decades that he could unseat Reagan and then Bush I. I never bought that, but it certain seemed to fire up the Democrats.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-83485410472413429152015-01-01T21:52:55.538-05:002015-01-01T21:52:55.538-05:00Anthony and tryanmax and Kit, Gamergate strikes me...Anthony and tryanmax and Kit, Gamergate strikes me as too obscure and too confusing for the public to care, so I don't see any broad influences.<br />AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-74525597128272250692015-01-01T20:07:28.404-05:002015-01-01T20:07:28.404-05:00re Anita Sarkheesian,
The Anita Sarkheesian thing...re Anita Sarkheesian,<br /><br />The Anita Sarkheesian thing actually began about a year before Gamergate. That debacle can be understood when you realize that a lot of people used disgusting personal attacks against her, but since then she has proven to be her own worst enemy because she is a full-blown socialist Neo-Marxist. In fact, I'd wager if she was walking around in the 1980s she'd have been a Soviet-praising Communist. After all, today a Neo-Marxist is a Communist living in a post-Soviet world.<br /><br />Examples: Sarkheesian said it is impossible for women to be sexist because women do not have power (the modern Radical Left believes that in order to be racist or sexist you must have power over someone) and her partner in making her web-series, Jonathan McIntosh recently tweeted "Indiana Jones is a colonialist looter". So she and her colleague have views well outside the mainstream.Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-22713084196610663622015-01-01T20:06:30.681-05:002015-01-01T20:06:30.681-05:00re Gamergate, you know those legendary family feud...re Gamergate, you know those legendary family feuds you seen depicted in movies and TV shows where they have been fighting for so long that no one even remembers why it started? That is Gamergate, a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma and I don't know where the key is. <br /><br />Depending on who you ask and when you ask them the issue is about either (a) lack of ethics in gaming journalism due to a far-too-cozy relationship between reviewers and developers or (b) a pushback against the Social Justice Warriors (SJWs), such as Anita Sarkheesian, who Gamergaters claim are attempting to defame gamers and force their social justice vision onto video games with the help of an adoring gaming media. <br /><br />I guess it could be summarized as a general pushback against mainstream gaming media, its coziness to developers, and its willingness to promote what some gamers see as anti-gaming views on the Far Left. A mainstream media organization that is too cozy to the producers of the product it covers and promotes far left views; water is wet. <br /><br />But given it also means that it's not really clear what exactly gamergaters want other than platitudes such as "ethics in gaming journalism" (not gonna happen) and it's attracted some unsavory characters; who are described in detail in my earlier blog post on Red-Pillers. Kithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01453591141757808708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-44729956541140517222015-01-01T18:57:38.108-05:002015-01-01T18:57:38.108-05:00Gamergate is utterly worthless as an issue b/c it&...Gamergate is utterly worthless as an issue b/c it's too confusing. To this moment, I'm not even sure what sides pro- or anti-gamergate actually represent. The non-gaming public isn't going care and the gaming community is too close to the issue to be deceived. Further, there are zero policy implications, so... The long and short of it is that the gaming press decided to shit on their audience and are now boohooing to all the rest of the press in front of a public that doesn't know enough to have an opinion. tryanmaxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09881154741574720094noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-24402166346053194052015-01-01T18:19:32.316-05:002015-01-01T18:19:32.316-05:00Andrew,
I get that an entity can exist and not ha...Andrew,<br /><br />I get that an entity can exist and not have influence, but I don't think that either feminists or race hustlers are done yet. I'd say both are at the stage where success depends on something stupid or evil happening.<br /><br />Feminism didn't win any meaningful victories last year but the Gamergate movement did turn a Youtuber named Sarkeesian into 2014's Sandra Fluke. I don't think that idiocy cost anything since the game industry's decision to try to appeal more to women is driven by economics rather than ideology but that sort of nuttiness could do real damage in other circumstances.Anthonyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16124128949343301445noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-72007497752874748262015-01-01T17:00:51.214-05:002015-01-01T17:00:51.214-05:00tryanmax, That is a great question. I'm not su...tryanmax, That is a great question. I'm not sure they grasp the problem because they are surrounded by butt-kissers who tell them that everyone loves their ideas. So I think they will continue to be ideological and will be satisfied with gaining personal wealth from that.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-46532369863316997112015-01-01T16:58:33.552-05:002015-01-01T16:58:33.552-05:00Kit, As Bruce Lee said, "It is the art of fig...Kit, As Bruce Lee said, "It is the art of fighting without fighting." Only he meant defeating the enemy without fighting. Our method seems to be pretending our troops aren't in combat when they really are.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-41575134900487069832015-01-01T16:56:51.833-05:002015-01-01T16:56:51.833-05:00Jed, That is the problem. The GOP has made great ...Jed, That is the problem. The GOP has made great strides in tossing off its hateful flank, but it still doesn't have a pro-middle class/small business reflex.<br /><br />In terms of the Dems, I'm all in favor of them becoming openly <b>more</b> progressive. The further left they drift, the further they drift away from the public.AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-49135233225492082762015-01-01T16:54:12.847-05:002015-01-01T16:54:12.847-05:00Bev, I agree with that. I think feminists lost wom...Bev, I agree with that. I think feminists lost women in the 1990s with their nasty, rigid demands on how women must learn to act, and the internet gave women a place to find like-minded women, which gave them all the confidence to ignore the pressure being put on them.<br /><br />In fact, if you ever get the chance, check out Pinterest. It will make feminists cry. It's packed with women posting images of things and doing things that run directly counter to everything feminists wanted women to embrace/reject. Basically, it's a world of girly fashion, cooking, homemaking, and lots of complaints about men who won't take control in bed.<br /><br />I imagine Gloria Steinem looking at Pinterest and then crying like that Indian in the 1970s littering commercials.<br />AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6251675227852122352.post-36502788520854195802015-01-01T16:47:56.888-05:002015-01-01T16:47:56.888-05:00BTW, let me add this... and this isn't aimed a...BTW, let me add this... and this isn't aimed at you Anthony, it's just a general observation I run into all the time when discussing issues of influence....<br /><br />It is a mistake to expect the world to be binary in nature: either you win and you get everything you want or you fail and you vanish. Conversely, if you don't get a total obvious victory, then you are losing, or if the enemy still exists, then they have not lost. <b>That's not how life works.</b><br /><br />Take my contention about the feminists and Sharpton. The evidence suggests to me that they have lost their influence over the public and they are finished. That does not mean, however, that they will vanish. To the contrary, they will keep trying. They will even maintain some number of supporters. There will always be leftist journalists who push their ideas and put them on television from time to time, and the Democrats will continue to pay them lip service. <i>What they won't get, however, is any more substantive victories.</i> In other words, they may babble on, but their ideas won't be put into the culture or into the law, and they will no longer be able to shape conventional wisdom.<br /><br />Unfortunately, there seems to be this tendency to say, "Well, Obama is still president... the left hasn't abandoned leftism... the Tea Party people still exist... feminists/enviros/etc. are still out there saying the same things... they didn't close the government permanently... etc. Ergo, nothing has changed." But that is the wrong way to see the world because it elevates form over substance. The real question you must ask to understanding how things will play out is "do they have any power to get what they want?"<br />AndrewPricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11312364467936820986noreply@blogger.com