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Rant - Dog Whistle Politics and Everything Is Nazi
7 years ago
There's lots of stuff happening right now, some funny, some not so much. The death of Total Biscuit, the Battlefeild 5 trailer, the arrest of Tommy Robinson, FA banning a bunch a people, people wanting to ban Active Shooter, YouTube's Subscription box changes, and even the recent trend of putting the "punk" on the end of a random word and claiming it as a new genre. Instead of my usual rants, I want to talk about a concept that's been on my mind recently, and many of these dramas share.
That being, dog whistle politics, and the idea that everything is nazi.
-Dog Whistle-
For those unfamiliar, dog whistle politics is the idea is that certain words and phrases are code words. To the casual listener, they are innocuous words, but to certain kinds of people they have a second, secret meaning, and that secret meaning is actually the one intended by the speaker. So, if I said "I like ice cream", and "ice cream" was a dog whistle for "kicking puppies", then I can say "I like kicking puppies" in public without backlash. Or at least, that's the theory anyway. Of course, what words are and aren't a dog whistle is usually decided by the accuser.
A real world example is the OK sign. To most people, it means ok, but according to the far-left, it actually means white supremacy. Wether a particular ok sign means ok or white power is decided by the accusers. So if Obama does it, it means ok. If Trump does it, it means white supremacy. This also happens in the UK with everything being branded as "alt-right" or "nazi".
The problems with this line of thinking are numerous. Not least of which is if you buy into the idea of dog whistle politics, you quickly find yourself in a prison of your own making. Let me put it this way. If you start labelling random, innocuous words as having different meanings, suddenly everyone and everything is evil. To go back to the first example, if a friend asks if you want to get ice cream, and you believe ice cream = kick puppies, then your friend has outed himself as a horrible person. Once he's been branded as a bad guy, suddenly every innocuous thing that person says could be twisted into a dog whistle, further proving how evil he is and adding to a constantly expanding list of dog whistle words. When concerned friends and family say you're being paranoid, they are also branded as bad people. Why would they defend a nazi if they weren't a nazi themselves? Soon, every other thing is a dog whistle, and you can't leave your house as everyone from the post man to the prime minister is a secret nazi.
-Total Biscuit's Death-
Game critic and YouTuber Total Biscuit died of cancer recently. In a move that baffles me, various mainstream game journalists and developers decided to insult Total Biscuit, his greiving family, and his fanbase just hours after his death. Even openly celebrated that he's dead. Said journalists and devs got hundreds, if not thousands of angry comments and replies.
Now, I'm going to ask a question, but I don't want you to answer right away. I want you to think about it for 30 seconds or so. Which is more likely?
A- Total Biscuit is an alt-right nazi misogynist gamergater who is siccing his fanbase on women, minorities, and their allies from beyond the grave.
B- People are appauled at the disgusting behaviour and lack of decorum of has-been game journalists and never-was game developers, and aren't afraid to say so.
-Active Shooter-
Likewise, branding everything you don't like or agree with as nazi or evil can lead to an echochamber where dumb ideas are allowed to grow, unchallenged. Again, the recent "Active Shooter" drama makes for a handy example. Long story short, Active Shooter is a crap looking FPS where you can play a school shooter or a cop, and some people want it banned. The argument for censoring it boils down to "We need to censor this game now, so games don't get censored later.". Anyone who points out the obvious flaw in that argument is banned, blocked, etc. Anyone who points to games like Postal or Hatred is banned, blocked, etc. Anyone who points out that lots of games have been accused of turning people into killers, and yet it has never happened is banned, blocked, you get the idea. The only arguments I've heard that have any weight are "it's in bad taste" and "it looks crap". Neither of which really justifies a ban, unless you want to open that can of worms.
Finally, I want to say that fascism hasn't suddenly returned as a mainstream movement. What has happened was the far-lefts favourite insults stopped working. Calling people X, Y, and Z because they didn't like a game trailer doesn't work if they are already X, Y, and Z for not caring about the female ghostbusters reboot, for not liking some crappy walking simulator, for not liking a specific comic, or for whatever else will get you branded as evil. Being called a nazi on the internet was old hat a decade ago, now it's getting old hat in real life as well. And just like those days of the internet, calling people a nazi is usually a sign you've lost the argument. So don't lock yourself in a world where everybody is a nazi talking secret code, and maybe you'll realise things aren't that bad.
That being, dog whistle politics, and the idea that everything is nazi.
-Dog Whistle-
For those unfamiliar, dog whistle politics is the idea is that certain words and phrases are code words. To the casual listener, they are innocuous words, but to certain kinds of people they have a second, secret meaning, and that secret meaning is actually the one intended by the speaker. So, if I said "I like ice cream", and "ice cream" was a dog whistle for "kicking puppies", then I can say "I like kicking puppies" in public without backlash. Or at least, that's the theory anyway. Of course, what words are and aren't a dog whistle is usually decided by the accuser.
A real world example is the OK sign. To most people, it means ok, but according to the far-left, it actually means white supremacy. Wether a particular ok sign means ok or white power is decided by the accusers. So if Obama does it, it means ok. If Trump does it, it means white supremacy. This also happens in the UK with everything being branded as "alt-right" or "nazi".
The problems with this line of thinking are numerous. Not least of which is if you buy into the idea of dog whistle politics, you quickly find yourself in a prison of your own making. Let me put it this way. If you start labelling random, innocuous words as having different meanings, suddenly everyone and everything is evil. To go back to the first example, if a friend asks if you want to get ice cream, and you believe ice cream = kick puppies, then your friend has outed himself as a horrible person. Once he's been branded as a bad guy, suddenly every innocuous thing that person says could be twisted into a dog whistle, further proving how evil he is and adding to a constantly expanding list of dog whistle words. When concerned friends and family say you're being paranoid, they are also branded as bad people. Why would they defend a nazi if they weren't a nazi themselves? Soon, every other thing is a dog whistle, and you can't leave your house as everyone from the post man to the prime minister is a secret nazi.
-Total Biscuit's Death-
Game critic and YouTuber Total Biscuit died of cancer recently. In a move that baffles me, various mainstream game journalists and developers decided to insult Total Biscuit, his greiving family, and his fanbase just hours after his death. Even openly celebrated that he's dead. Said journalists and devs got hundreds, if not thousands of angry comments and replies.
Now, I'm going to ask a question, but I don't want you to answer right away. I want you to think about it for 30 seconds or so. Which is more likely?
A- Total Biscuit is an alt-right nazi misogynist gamergater who is siccing his fanbase on women, minorities, and their allies from beyond the grave.
B- People are appauled at the disgusting behaviour and lack of decorum of has-been game journalists and never-was game developers, and aren't afraid to say so.
-Active Shooter-
Likewise, branding everything you don't like or agree with as nazi or evil can lead to an echochamber where dumb ideas are allowed to grow, unchallenged. Again, the recent "Active Shooter" drama makes for a handy example. Long story short, Active Shooter is a crap looking FPS where you can play a school shooter or a cop, and some people want it banned. The argument for censoring it boils down to "We need to censor this game now, so games don't get censored later.". Anyone who points out the obvious flaw in that argument is banned, blocked, etc. Anyone who points to games like Postal or Hatred is banned, blocked, etc. Anyone who points out that lots of games have been accused of turning people into killers, and yet it has never happened is banned, blocked, you get the idea. The only arguments I've heard that have any weight are "it's in bad taste" and "it looks crap". Neither of which really justifies a ban, unless you want to open that can of worms.
Finally, I want to say that fascism hasn't suddenly returned as a mainstream movement. What has happened was the far-lefts favourite insults stopped working. Calling people X, Y, and Z because they didn't like a game trailer doesn't work if they are already X, Y, and Z for not caring about the female ghostbusters reboot, for not liking some crappy walking simulator, for not liking a specific comic, or for whatever else will get you branded as evil. Being called a nazi on the internet was old hat a decade ago, now it's getting old hat in real life as well. And just like those days of the internet, calling people a nazi is usually a sign you've lost the argument. So don't lock yourself in a world where everybody is a nazi talking secret code, and maybe you'll realise things aren't that bad.
