On the Passing Scene X

Grr. So I am in a foul mood, and this may shade off into reality-check mode. But, random thoughts.

• So some idiots at IGN were discussing sexism in video games, and, really, both sides were, as Tycho described a different forum, "an unceasing wall of useless jungle sounds". The dude who's saying video games are sexist just regurgitates the same pre-chewed quasi-Marxist narrative as always. But the one who's concerned to defend them? Yeah, he makes some good points (mentioning, for instance, BL games and otomege as examples of how men ain't the only ones), but then he says, "It's just like movies, it's fantasy." And, therefore, may simply be regarded as ethically irrelevant.
  
  This is where these people become what they accuse those they don't agree with of being: the enemies of science. See, we've proved there are neurological effects of viewing violent and prurient media, and even more of violent and prurient content in video games. Of course, even a moment's thought would point out the flaw in their argument (aside from its deliberate dismissal of inconvenient research): we actually know the evolutionary purpose of play.
  
  Play, biologically speaking, is practice. It functions as dry-fire drill for the abilities an animal needs in its eco-niche. Play, as I believe Aristotle said (so they're, what, 2400 years behind the relevant research?), is how children, and adults, form habits. Thus, only the appropriate habits ought to be formed. I'm sorry if that offends you; I'm sure you're some kind of Platonist who believes all wrongdoing is simply caused by ignorance. But if that were true, why am I such a jerk, and you much less of one?


• I am not here advocating censorship; nor have I tied a lock of your hair to a cloth doll and nailed it to a tree, so you can put your superstitious fears and taboos to rest. I am advocating a rational view of media. It behooves the individual to select media content that will not form, in him, negative reactions and values. I was not aware that the benevolence of our corporate masters was so unquestionable that we can uncritically accept all they shovel out.
  
  Obviously, the idealized female form, plots involving a dramatically-correct interpretation of romance (and sex), and violence within a coherent moral context, are none of them of spiritual peril. Other than that, well, I suppose it's better you play GTA or God of War than burn ants or something.


• Which leads to an interesting point: free speech, in its modern connotation, is literally the enemy of all ideas, fit for the "marketplace" or not. The only possible rationale behind allowing the promulgation of all ideas, is the servile notion that they cannot possibly matter. Free speech is only possible to the diabolically insincere.
  
  Take, for instance, the Handmaid's Tale. If it is not an argument in favor of religious persecution—because Evangelicals will do the things it depicts—then it is simply an argument against free speech. Because, see, the only possible rational purpose of words, is as a spur to actions...and the only rational reaction to the claims that novel makes (implicitly) about Evangelicals, is to systematically remove all trace of their power from society, by force if necessary. Imagine a novel that portrayed Jews as doing that; do you think anyone would pretend it wasn't a cry for pogroms? That, or it is a deliberate, Post-Modern deconstruction of the very concept of allegory, an assertion that anyone or any group can be vilified to any extent, and yet evil consequences not only won't, but can't, follow—which necessarily means that neither can good consequences, so what is the point of speech?
  
  If such works are not a cry for massive discrimination, then their only effect is to bolster the power of the status quo. Remember, the most "enightened" of the "Enlightenment despots" was also the most despotic: Frederick II Hohenzollern, who said, remember, "The people can say what they like, because I can do what I like."


• Whoo, that felt good. Commit the above words to heart; I am on to lighter topics. So, so far this season, Tiger and Bunny is the best anime this season. Did anyone else notice the shout-out to The Incredibles in the second episode? Yeah.
  
  Speaking of, I like Japanese superhero shows far more than American ones. The Incredibles, for instance, is all about special snowflakeness and nonconformity, without a word about what responsibilities inhere in the possession of unique talents. Far better is the thing from Tiger and Bunny, where Kotetsu tells the kid who can animate objects that, yeah, people are jerks if you're different, but the answer is not to lash out: because your power's purpose is to help others. At that point, they'll either accept you, or have an undischarged obligation (no, that last bit's not actually mentioned, but dude, that kid he saves would be a real jerk if he didn't change his tune, and the audience is expected to know that).


• Of the other shows this season, Kami Nomi is, well, Kami Nomi; Astarotte no Omocha is creepy, Nichijou is hilarious, and Hana Saku Iroha is really annoying.
  
  But, uh, Dog Days. What the Hell. So is it made by Square Enix, or what? 'Cause there's a Chocobo, it's actually referred to as such, and the combat rules sorta remind me of FF Tactics Advance.
  
  All that is, however, irrelevant. Aside from that it has Koyasu Takehito, always a plus, I'm 90% sure the protagonist is Takuto from Star Driver. I guess he's becoming their go-to guy for "sweet young guys who can kick ass when the situation calls for it", a role for which he may well be more suited than Kugimiya Rie is for tsundere pettankos. Also, the princess reveals something interesting: the catgirl was an evolutionary dead-end. The future belongs to shiba-inu girls, since they have the exact same cute ears, plus the adorable "feathered" tail that curls up.


• Mention of God of War reminds me, I really want to make a video game based on Hindu mythology, just so I can have an ad where a guy who isn't Kratos at all (if you know what I mean) get vaporized in the first three seconds, by Indra. Or Rudra. Or Shiva, depending on which stage of Hindu myth one uses.
  
  I'd also like to make a shirt with an Elite Zealot holding aloft Kratos' severed head, with the words, "Wrong Spartan". Do you get the impression I dislike those games?


• Speaking of Shiva, so he was originally an aspect of Rudra (or, if one is a Shaivista Hindu, I believe, Rudra was his better-known avatar). What's interesting is, Rudra is invoked, I think in the Mitanni treaty, in parallel to the Hittite god Appaliunas—both are plague-gods with bows, often concerned with oath-taking.
  
  What's interesting about that is, Appaliunas is the original of Apollo (his plague-powers probably involved sun-stroke a lot, considering where Anatolia is). And I once heard an atheist, trying to imply that Ha-Shem will someday be consigned to the dustbin of history, say "Nobody believes in Apollo anymore." Let us leave to one side that "belief" was not really a factor in Ancient Greek religion (it was not a Creed), and notice: considering Shiva was originally the Indic equivalent of Apollo, no, actually, something like 197 million people worship Apollo (albeit in identification with the Ground of Being).


• Which reminds me, you know how people try to deny that everything likeable about this society comes from Christianity, and say no, a lot of it came from the Greeks and Romans? Well, huh, go tell your father-in-law he has the right to kill your wife, for any reason, till the day he dies: that was the law in Greece and Rome, thanks for playing.
  
  But seriously, you're always denouncing various abuses in India (but not the Islamic world, which has even worse ones). Well, India is the exact same civilization as Greece and Rome, only with a far higher moral development. Notice the women's clothes: ever see how a Roman matron dressed? Anything—absolutely anything—that you consider preferable about Western culture to that of India, was invented by Christianity, because there is not a single regard in which Hindus are not better than the Romans, let alone the Germans. Hinduism is pretty much about as good as that worldview gets.


• So on this now defunct forum I used to go to, for learners of Korean, this idiot (from New York, what a surprise) said, quote, "International milk tastes better than American milk." Sigh. It's just a syllabus of errors, isn't it?
  
  First off, the word is "foreign", you PC idiot. Aside from how "international milk" sounds like some conspiracy theory about twelve Kosher dairymen in Zurich, international can only be used (if you must have a euphemism for "foreign", and it makes no sense that you would) in certain contexts, otherwise it sounds incredibly stilted, the kind of thing you get when one language adopts another's terminology (that "Let's noun!" thing in Japanese).
  
  Second, no, jackass, it just tastes better than the crappy milk you can get in New York from the Kraft monopoly that controls pretty much all dairy east of the Rockies. I dare you to say any milk tastes better than the stuff we got here in Arizona (well, 'cept when the feed's marigolds or something and it's weirdly bitter).


• So I'm seeing if maybe I can convert 3E D&D to an SF setting; GURPS and Alternity (which I realize now is partly a GURPS knockoff) may be more realistic, but 3E had some of the most elegant rules I've ever seen.
  
  'Course, some things need a-changin'. Fighters and Rogues can stay, but Rogues' Use Magic Device becomes Use Hacking Program—think about it, a future rogue would probably know quite a bit about programs for disabling bank security, but he'd have little idea why it worked. Bards are retained as a thing I'm forced to call Speaker (because "Media Thing" seems impolite), minus one or two of their crazy powers—and their others aren't magic-based, anymore. I'm not sure about rangers, though maybe the 3.5 version archery-specialist version. Other than that, I'm also gonna add psions (once I get the 3E ΨHB), again with a modified list—no teleportation, and the flying-type powers go in telekinesis.
  
  I'm replacing wizards with technicians, in a blatant Alternity ripoff; I'm gonna swap out their magic item creation feats for tech ones, and replace their spells with programs—again, probably knocked off from Alternity. Remember, "originality" is just knowing who to steal good stuff from.