killing a goldfish

Magic players suck. Don't interact with them.

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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

if you're an MRA, don't play magic

Magic players pride themselves on being an opening, welcoming community. Anyone can enter a Magic tournament at a store they’ve never been to and make a dozen new friends. This is good, until the people the community is being opening and welcoming toward are awful. Then, because Magic players are so nice and kind, they’re unwilling to ever tell people to get out.

A rare exception happened this week. Alex Hinkley wrote a review of a Duels of the Planeswalkers expansion for StarCityGames. Some people, notably Erin Campbell, found out that he happened to be a horrible misogynist who would rant at feminists on twitter and loosely use words like “faggot” in his tweets. I found her research and crossposted it as an article comment to Hinkley’s review. Half an hour later, he’d been fired from SCG.

He’d like to think that the only reason he got fired is that he called one of his friends a faggot. I hope this isn’t the only reason this happened. Personally, I’m happy he’s gone because Men’s Rights Advocates like him are horrible, hateful people that have no place in the Magic community.

There have been some thoughtful long-form pieces about this awful group of likeminded dudes. This is not one of them.

I have no interest in starting a dialogue with MRAs, debating them, or comparing our ideologies in rational discourse. I want them to get out of my community.

If you identify as a Men’s Rights Advocate, don’t play Magic.

If you support the #gamergate “movement,” don’t play Magic.

If you harass feminists over their ideologies, don’t play Magic.

If you search for MRA-related terms and try to argue with women, don’t play Magic.

If you try to argue with anti-racist minority activists about who the real racists are, don’t play Magic.

If you unironically tell people to take the “red pill” when it comes to gender issues, don’t play Magic.

If you defend your right as a straight person to call people a faggot, don’t play Magic.

If you defend your right as a white person to call someone a nigger, don’t play Magic.

If you complain on a regular basis about “Social Justice Warriors,” don’t play Magic.

If you write screeds about how “cultural Marxism” is doing whatever, don’t play Magic.

If you identify as a “pickup artist,” don’t play Magic.

If you are in any way bigoted against minorities, women, trans people, whoever, don’t play Magic.

If your response to the above is that maybe these people agitating about feminism and minority rights are the real bigots, don’t play Magic.

This is not the opening salvo in a long campaign. This is not intended to change the minds of these awful people. This is setting the boundaries of who I want in my game store, in my cube drafts, in my Twitter feed, in my group of friends who play Magic.

It is our duty, as longtime Magic players, to throw out people who don’t belong. If I go to a PTQ and my first round opponent is a known hateful piece of shit, I don’t have to grace them with my presence and treat them like a human being playing a game. I’m standing up and walking out, because they have no business playing a game with me.

There is plenty of room for political diversity in Magic. There are conservatives, liberals, libertarians, socialists, whatever. That’s fine. But MRAs are bigots, and bigotry has no place near a game I play.

Men’s Rights Advocates, upon reading this, might take it not as a call to leave, but as an enormous “fuck you.”

Good. MRAs: fuck you. I might catch more flies with honey, but I’m not trying to catch them. I’m trying to force them out.

Questions, comments, and concerns should be directed to @KillGoldfish

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10 comments:

Sirkickyass said...: Thank you! I had to have a conversation with the only level 2 judge in Phoenix today about why it wasn't appropriate for him to be posting on his public facebook page about why we need to stop "feminist bullying."; November 18, 2014 at 7:24 PM
Newman said...: And what was the long and short of that conversation? Why was it inappropriate for an L2 to post anti-feminist bullying information on his public Facebook page?; November 18, 2014 at 7:37 PM
Nathan McMinn said...: If you think MTG is a feminist/MRA issue, perhaps you need to readjust your priorities.; November 18, 2014 at 8:08 PM
Jamison said...: Huh, was looking forward to getting into magic. Was talking to two buddies about it this past weekend, the draft-style weekly competitions look really cool and there's a shop right around the corner of my place in Cambridge.

But you kind of sound like a close minded tool. I support Gamergate, and that's fine. Also honestly I'm not too comfortable with the rise of "SJWs" and increasing prevalence in the PC police on social media. I'm not comfortable with you telling people what they can say, who they can be, and what they can support.

I doubt I'll take your views into account over whether I decide to play Magic or not. You sound like a jerk.; November 18, 2014 at 8:14 PM
M said...: "If you think MTG is a feminist/MRA issue, perhaps you need to readjust your priorities."

Obviously, MTG is not a feminist/MRA issue, nor is KG saying it is. He's saying: let's not socially tolerate MRAs. If KG proposed not socially tolerating the extremely flatulent, that wouldn't mean he was proposing MTG was an IRL murder "issue," just that he doesn't like interacting with the extremely flatulent.

Or maybe you mean that the problem is prioritizing feminism over MTG? That seems a little strange. I mean, I implicitly prioritize MTG over politics every Friday night that I go to FNM over an organizing meeting, but having some sort of obligation to that effect strikes me as more than a little bizarre.; November 18, 2014 at 8:38 PM
Amarsir said...: Taking a "don't be an ass" stance is fine; I think we're all behind it. But you're throwing the kitchen sink in here. I think your list clumps together people who don't deserve to be treated that way.

For example, if Adam Baldwin showed up to play Magic, should he be thrown out? I have yet to seen any offensive quotes from him about women, but he's well behind "Gamergate" and therefore included in your list alongside someone calling people "faggot", "nigger, or "bitch". I hope that's not what you mean, but that's the line you drew.

Nor is your list inclusive. There are any number of ways to be rude or bullying, directly or indirectly. None should be welcome. And I suspect you agree, but you didn't take a stance against hostile social behavior. You took a stance against your profile of a misogynist. But as with most profiles, you're going to fire wide.

I'm glad you're speaking out to improve the community. I don't know anything about Hinkley but it sounds like you did good work in exposing him. However, I think it's perfectly valid to criticize some SJWs in much the same way as you would MRAs. I also think it's valid to point out racism regardless of source or target without declaring any group as "always wrong" or "beyond reproach". And I don't think any community benefits from excluding those with different points of view, provided the conversation is civil.; November 18, 2014 at 8:44 PM
keratacon said...: Fuck yes. Nerdy men are beginning to get down right paranoid about preserving their privilege within their tiny little worlds. We should have none of it.; November 18, 2014 at 9:27 PM
J. Fabricio Vargas said...: Can I just get my Shadowmoor Review?; November 19, 2014 at 6:28 AM
A James said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; November 19, 2014 at 11:01 AM
Jonnymagic said...: I'm a pretty progressive guy. I probably agree with you on almost everything politically. I think gamergate is awful, am a big fan of social justice, and think racism is one of the great problems of our time. And I completely disagree with you on this article.

I despise the fact that Israel is committing atrocities against a captive people. Should I advocate that everyone who supports Israel leave the magic community?

Or let's say I was a "pro-lifer' and I honestly believed abortion to be murder. Should I advocate that everyone who supports baby murder leave the magic community?

What about people who work for oil companies? Tobacco companies? Defense Contractors?

Many of these people who profoundly disagree with you actually believe that they are arguing from the ethical position. Some of them might be persuadable, some of them not. But this is a game we all play and love, and a way to connect with people we might disagree with a lot. Do we really remove everyone who doesnt fit our narrow definition of what's right? Because if so 36 year old Jon might have to give 20 year old Jon who was against affirmative action, pro Israel, and believed that US interventionism was a force for good in the world the boot from the magic community.; November 19, 2014 at 1:04 PM