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GOING VIRAL THREATENED MY TIT-ISH PRINCIPLES - by Mr Biffo 

6/2/2017

52 Comments

 
Picture
As some of you might be aware, I went a bit viral over the weekend. No, no - not in that way. I'm not infected. Not yet anyway. I mean I went, y'know, sort of viral online.

The above picture, of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon as Krang from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is closing in on four thousand retweets and seven thousand likes, has made the front page of Imgur, and been seen by 20,000+ people on Facebook.

It also pushed my Twitter followers over 5,000 - which is small potatoes compared to some of my peers, and ultimately rather meaningless... but nevertheless some sort of milestone, I suppose (watch them flee this week, as they realise they're not going to get stuff like Trump-Krang every day...). 

It's virtually impossible to find out the names - or Twitter account names - of everyone who retweeted it, though somebody did tell me it had been shared by Guillermo del Toro, which is nice (and almost as exciting as the time Colin Baker retweeted me).

I've had a few things go viral before (though this is the first time it has been artwork I've done with my own fair hand), and it's a boost to have created something which lots of people think is worth sharing. I'm not above admitting that a bit of positive reinforcement goes a long way.

Of course, it also brings with it a certain degree of frustration, given that my brain can't always think up stuff like that on cue. It seems that the magic formula is grafting something with pop culturally nostalgic significance onto some sort of witty topical observation.

Unfortunately, that sort of inspiration can't be forced... though at the same time, you can't do it if there's not at least some part of your mind dangling a rod in the river. So to speak. But get this: I realised something else from the whole nonsense... being liked, or loved, is nothing short of seductive.
LOVE TO BE LOVED
I'm a tit, apparently. I found this out, because I went looking on Twitter for people who'd been sharing the Krang pic without crediting me.

Unfortunately, this meant that I stumbled upon a couple of people calling me "a tit" for weighing into the Nazi-punching furore in recent weeks. Suffice to say, I know that my stance on the issue doesn't seem to chime with the majority of people in my social media bubble, or even those who read Digi2000 (our hits last week were way down - potentially because I won't shut up about this).

For my part, I do feel that where I stand gets wildly misrepresented and misinterpreted. I mean, I'm all for Nazi-punching. Punch them in the head, the neck, the nips... heck; kick them in the scrotum... I just think there's a time and a place when it'll help... and a time and a place when it backfires. Furthermore, others would rather I - Mr Biffo, of the funny video games magazine Digitiser - stayed away from politics altogether. Well, I do try, but I'm going to have to accept that it probably isn't going to happen, so long as this site is part-blog.

But anyway...

Over the weekend there I was being held up by the anti-Trump lobby as their newest hero, for nailing Trump as a robotic golem controlled by his extremist advisor Steve Bannon. A lot of these people, suffice to say, were very much pro-Nazi-punching, and would no doubt be demanding that I myself be punched-up good for refusing to share memes of the white supremacist Richard Spencer getting lamped on the news. 

And yet... despite knowing that we might be at odds on certain issues - while fundamentally on the same 'side' - I found myself wanting to please my new admirers.

I felt accepted and celebrated, and - for a brief flicker of a moment - I wanted to forget all my profoundly unpopular convictions, and give them what they wanted. Heck... I even considered drawing something which showed a Nazi getting smacked in the face. Like... a cartoon of Richard Spencer as, I dunno, Skeletor or something, with that balaclava-wearing liberal protestor as He-Man. I dunno. But that sort of thing.

Being on the receiving end of any degree of affection, or applause, or being put on a pedestal of any kind, is not only nice and seductive: it's addictive.

Now brace yourself for another hard lesson; it's also why the Nazis exist.
Picture
NAZI PEOPLE
Imagine you're a bit of a racist. Imagine you're a bit of a misogynist. You're not too sure about gay people either.

Now imagine that a load of people tell you repeatedly that you're a bad person for having those feelings. They call you names. They say you're a monster.

Now imagine that there are a bunch of other people who tell you that those feelings are not only normal and understandable, but you can join a cool club with loads of other people who feel the same way as you. Heck, they've even got a special wave that they can teach you. And as for the uniforms... hubba-hubba!

That's how it works. It's that simple. From those conditions, extremist groups swell their numbers, and recruit more moderate individuals - who go all-in with the extremist shit when they realise they're going to be even more accepted for it. It's also why Trump is in power - because he told a huge percentage of the American population that he wasn't going to ignore their fears. That he was going to listen. Their fears, he assured them, were valid and real.

And that was far more powerful than any objection they might've had to him being - potentially - a stooge of the Russian government, who mocks the disabled, associated with mobsters, never paid his taxes, is quite possibly a mentally-ill narcissist, and by his own admission guilty of sexual assault.

I've gone on before about how I spent my wilderness years training to be a psychotherapist, inexplicably. I turned my back on it for a number of reasons, but I also learned a lot about how we function. The way talking therapies work are, at their core, simple; the therapist listens and doesn't judge. In the hands of a good therapist - and I admit that they're few and far between - it is nothing short of profound and life-changing.

Unconditional positive regard - essentially, showing a client "love" - is one of the most effective tools in the therapist's box. A therapist has to learn to be able to apply that to anyone, no matter how objectionable they might find their actions and beliefs. Everyone deserves a chance to change, to grow - to be a better person.

The bottom line is that we all want to be accepted, and acceptance is healing. However, in order to heal and change and become a better person, who is able to accept others, we need to be accepted warts and all.

Once we are, we can see that the things we object to, our prejudices... are just that. Only then can we in turn offer that unconditional acceptance to others.

CHANGE MY MIND
Now... don't get me wrong; I'm not for a second trying to sway you away from your ingrained beliefs. Frankly, it's only getting me grief, and I've given up trying.

I get it: you think you're right, and that I'm a tit. You think I want to sit down and chat with the fascists, and the nationalists, and hug them until they change their minds... Even though that's very hard to do en masse (still... Donald Trump has managed it, essentially).

I don't expect you to care about what I've written here. You'll read into it stuff that isn't there, because it challenges what you believe. I fully expect it to piss off a lot of you, stir up some of you, and make some of you angry. Based upon the reaction to my two recent pieces, my words don't even seem to really be digested before the red mist descends.

And that's okay. I respect your opinions. It's perfectly understandable that you'd object. I mean, the idea that some of the most horrible people on the planet might just want to be accepted and loved - just like you do! - is a hard one to wrap your head around, when their actions are so full of hate. Of course you want to resist that. It goes against everything you've been taught to believe. 

I get that what you fear and feel and think you understand is deeply ingrained; I stopped training to be a therapist because, frankly, I realised that some people cling to all of those fears like a lifesaver. The time it would take to unentangle clients from all of that would be better served, I felt, doing the same for my family - and myself.

I don't have a solution to where we're all at right now, but I believe - and I say this at the risk of sounding arrogant - that I do understand what works and doesn't work, and why certain things are happening in the world. 

I don't think this is based upon any sort of prejudice, but upon years of training. Based upon what I have seen to work - and not least because I was aware of being seduced by acceptance and positive regard this past weekend, as my Trump cartoon went viral. We all have that in us. It never goes away, because it's fundamental to life on this planet.

Love and fear are the two opposing engines of the world; they are the power behind everything. Literally.

So anyway... I might be a tit, but - hey - I can at least say I'm a principled tit.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
​THE SILVER LINING IN EVERYTHING - BY MR BIFFO
​
HALF-LIFE 3 AND THE GULF BETWEEN CREATOR AND FAN - BY MR BIFFO
EVERYTHING WRONG WITH THE NINTENDO SWITCH LAUNCH
52 Comments
Harry Steele
6/2/2017 12:36:43 pm

I know someone who said they follow and read your stuff but disagree with almost everything you say. I have a feeling that it's because they don't want to challenge their deeply held prejudices.

I feel that with these articles you are trying to make sense of the prejudices that you (and indeed all of us) have learned over the years, where some of your critics just want to dismiss racists etc as just being born bad. Which is kinda ironic don't you think?

Anyway, I enjoy all the articles on Digi - it's a very unique space where high silliness mixes with thoughtfulness.

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Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 12:44:41 pm

Hah! Well... at least your friend still reads me! I get it though. It's hard to have stuff challenged. I mean, it's hard for me to hear that - and to read all the various comments from people who disagree with me... some quite aggressively. Y'know - I want to be liked and accepted. It would be easy to just cave, and join in with it all, but that would mean having to bury everything I know and have learned, and I can't do that.

When I started my training years ago, they told us that it would change us forever, and that there's no way of switching it off. Unfortunately, they were right - but it can be quite a lonely place.

I'm not smart enough to have a solution to the whole Rise of the Nazis stuff going on at the moment, but I think I do understand why they exist - and why they appear to be gaining in strength and legitimacy.

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An entire snake coiled up and used as a pie lid
6/2/2017 02:17:09 pm

This is where you may roll your eyes, but not validating their desperate bids for attention would be a start. In fact, it would be the end too.

These are not scary goose-stepping Nazi supermen, these are fat lonely stupid lonely lonely men with little to no social skills, and it's important they are recognized as such:

You point out above that such fellows can take solace in belonging to a little club, and they do, but this isn't where smelly Nazis form; otherwise they could join the club on the other side, and find validation in sharing instagram pictures of bowls of hummus with a leaf on top, below signs that humorously declare their owners love of wine.

So why not take this path of least resistance? Because to 'them', it present a shitload of resistance: this group also includes the girls that won't sleep with them, and the people that snigger at them as they walk past on the street for having unkempt hair. It took most of them a while to realize they don't belong there, yet by dint of their being-a-smelly-Nazi, realize they did.

Thus, when these people deride them, or write scary headlines about them, or write think-pieces about them or indeed acknowledge them in any regard, it tells them this: 'You are correct and we are scared: you are becoming the threat we always feared! You had it in you all along! You were correct, and your club is correct!' It basically validates all their angst and self-aggrandizing. Any criticism, literally anything, will be taken as a source of validation. This is their main source of fuel. Not the support, the derision.


I don't think for a second that your pieces are written as a cynical cash-in or an attempt to garner more readers via fear, or appearing like an important 'newsosite' (which is the level I've seen literally every media outlet sink too), but I absolutely blame the press and the media for the current upsurge in vocal arseholes, once again playing on the self-made or non-existent-until-willed-into-being fears of cretins. But the ever-swelling mouthbreathing-left was also very much to blame this time, and it was hugely dispiriting to see them play into the hands of the trolls (the left: 'Hey, look at me! I'm typing something like how Trump might type it in a tweet! That's a joke, isn't it! Should I be worried that it's memorable and easy to type like this and quite fun actually? No, because I'm mocking him! Haha! I'm sure all my free publicity goes into a pile that separates it from SINCERE free publicity!').

I could go on and on but I think it's time we start taking responsibility. Sometimes that means living with discomfort and sorting out our mental states outside of public discourse

Dr Budd Buttocks, MD
6/2/2017 11:32:30 pm

What I've said all along, ever since GG begat the alt right, is that we shouldn't be legitimising these people and their beliefs. We shouldn't be giving them the oxygen of publicity. But they got exactly what they wanted - attention.

These guys are authoritarians through and through. They sycophantically idolise strong leader figures. When they got one in the unignorable form of Trump and to a lesser extent, media-friendly slimeballs like Milo and Richard Spencer, and swivel eyed loons like Alex Jones, it gave them the cohesion they needed to reach critical mass. We can't fight them by ignoring them any more, that ship has sailed.

However, I simply don't know what it would take to convince some of these people to reconsider. I'm ashamed to say that I was taken in by the initial flurry of activity of GG. I participated in numerous hateful discussions about how feminism was ruining everything. But any legitimate argument was soon being swamped by this incoherent, impotent anger; it soon became obvious that most of these people didn't have much going on in their lives and didn't have much in the way of self awareness. They just latched on to this vicarious existence in online circle jerks and echo chambers, where they comfort each other with the same memes and in-jokes, because the cognitive dissonance of thinking for yourself and forming your own opinions is too uncomfortable.

That's why when you try to challenge these people, they're more often than not just going to double down on what they want to believe. Because you're undermining their identity, and that's all that they have. It's actually pretty much the same story on the far fringes of the left, but not even in the same league of toxicity. But debate with any extremist of any ideology is pointless. They're so paranoid and delusional that if you're not on their side then obviously you must be one of *them*.

I have to say I think the whole situation is pretty hopeless, and it's just one tumour of an enormous cancer that also brought us the likes of Brexit. Nothing short of a war, or Trump turning up at their house and raping their pets is going to change anyone's mind.

Dr Kank
7/2/2017 10:40:07 am

To be fair, I've yet to see a Gamergate riot where people get punched in the face or pepper sprayed on camera. I haven't even seen a Gamergater knock a bin over. Declaring war on them seems somewhat premature.

Kendall9000
8/2/2017 01:10:31 am

I really hate those right wing authoritarians. Good thing there are some brave anti-authoritarian lefties ready to start riots, destroy property, assault and pepper spray people, and stop those angry authoritarians from speaking.

Dr Budd Buttocks, MD
8/2/2017 09:21:02 am

Yes, for all their vile words, the hard right are a peaceful movement.

You'd never see them, say, physically assaulting black people at political rallies, shooting and stabbing a pro-immigration MP to death, or burning down a mosque, or posing as a policeman in order to murder some lefty teenagers on holiday.

Let me be clear: if someone identifies as being part of a movement that tries to be an apologist for these sort of horrible pricks, they have absolutely no fucking right to be crying foul about a few lame rioters or some arsehole getting chinned.

snek
8/2/2017 09:48:02 am

Dr Buttocks is a measured voice of reason

Dr. Budd Buttocks, MD
8/2/2017 11:08:10 am

You can't reason with sociopaths.

Kendall9000
8/2/2017 06:11:10 pm

By the same logic Islamic terrorism excuses abuse of Muslims - some of the people who share some of their beliefs murdered people, so mob violence against them is justified.

Hey, yelling abuse at some woman and ripping off her hijab, leaving bacon outside a mosque, or even beating up the occasional immigrant, is all pretty lame compared with the average terrorist attack, so they've got no right to moan.

Think that's an unfair comparison? Most of the right wingers being labelled Nazis to justify violence against them aren't really anything of the kind.

For example, Milo, for all his general obnoxiousness and trolling, has repeatedly spoken out against white supremacism. He’s been attacked by the genuine Nazi types on the alt-right for doing so.

See this video of one of his talks for an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywmd8kR-AmI

“You shouldn’t give a shit about skin colour, you shouldn’t give a shit about sexuality, you shouldn’t give a shit about gender, and you should be deeply suspicious of the people who do.”

Wow, what a sociopathic Nazi - let's beat up and pepper spray people just for wanting to hear him speak!

Dr Budd Buttocks, MD
9/2/2017 10:37:16 am

You're missing the point.

So Milo isn't a literal Nazi. So what? I know he isn't, I've watched some of his interviews. I was pro-GG, remember? I was offering him as just one example of the types of people who helped usher in the alt-right as a seemingly legitimate movement. Here's the thing - despite taking on a more clearly defined form, the alt-right is still quite a broad church. You have professional trolls like Milo as one of its foremost figures. You also have groups and individuals that would happily see civil rights turned back to the 1950s. Then there's people openly calling for deportation or even genocide, and a few who have actually carried out real life violence, all of it in the name of the alt right.

So it's interesting that some of them attack Milo for only being a bigot and not a horrifically racist bigot. It's also interesting that Milo has failed to unequivocally condemn that contingent (that mealy-mouthed closing thought in your video stops far, far short). If you dip your head into the sewer of alt-right twitter, or nutjob strongholds like /pol/ on 4chan, the general consensus about feminists, non-whites, muslims etc is clear. You tend to find that people's true colours come out under the cover of anonymity.

Yes, your comparison is unfair and deeply flawed. Who exactly is advocating indiscriminate prejudice and violence against the right in the same manner that many innocent muslims face? Not me. I'm not in favour of violence against anyone if it can be helped.
Averse to violence I may be, but I'm not shedding any tears over (actual literal Nazi) Richard Spencer getting punched, which was the original point being discussed. These people go out of their way to upset, and invite a violent reaction. It's exactly what they want, because then they get to play the victim.
So that's some nice false equivalence there.


Kendall9000
9/2/2017 11:56:22 am

I've seen people argue that just being opposed to the violence means that someone's a Nazi sympathiser who deserves a beating.

To me the lefty "protesters" beating up and pepper spraying people who simply want to hear Milo speak, and the people who support or excuse their behaviour because of the political views of the victims, are showing just the same mentality as righty thugs who think they're justified in abusing Muslims.

Are you sure that's a false equivalence, and not your double standard?

There are plenty of figures in Islam with highly conservative views on issues like women's rights and homosexuality, including some blatant provocateurs. Dig around online and you can find bigotry from their fringes to match anything spewed out by the alt-right. In fact, one common criticism from the right is that not enough Muslims unequivocally condemn those views. Personally I don't think that'd justify e.g. the EDL throwing a riot and assaulting people who want to hear a conservative Muslim speak.

KissMeHardy
6/2/2017 12:45:42 pm

If it helps I pretty much agree with everything you say.

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Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 12:48:58 pm

It does. Thank you.

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Ste Pickford
6/2/2017 12:51:17 pm

Well I feel a right idiot now. I thought it was He-Man.

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Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 12:52:44 pm

Hahahahahahahahaa.

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Clive Peppard
6/2/2017 01:01:53 pm

Teh power of social media is not to be underestimated, because the BIffster retweeted a pic i posted of trump made out of luncheon meat it went nuts (for me) and hit around 40 retweets, my normal level is about 2.

I retweeted this pic cos it was bloody brilliant, but not a repost as there's no signature or other identifier on the image. I will repost an image if it is suitably famous or the originator has signed or otherwise marked it as their own.

credit where it is due.

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Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 01:12:02 pm

Indeed - stupid of me not to sign the pic!

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Darcy
6/2/2017 01:16:12 pm

Reminds me of when you briefly became patron saint of "Gopher" Gate, because you "stuck it" to those snobby es-jay-dubyas. Or didn't, but, you know, alternative facts!

Always had a suspicion that a lot of the things people say on Social Media are exaggerated to win kudos, though. It seems the best way to make a name for yourself these days is by appealing to/riling up the echo chambers. Tell people what they want to hear. "He's one if us! One if us!!" etcetera. And, as time goes on, people have to use increasingly absurd claims to get attention, as the previous wave of claims become normalused, thus driving things to greater and greater extremes. I mean, look at the mess we're in now!

I have no idea if the above makes sense, or has any basis in genuine psychology.

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Guru Larry link
6/2/2017 01:23:44 pm

Ooh, giving a political opinion on the internet? You're playing with fire there Paul! :D

But it's the problem when something becomes popular on the internet, people will inevitably twist it to conform with their own agendas.

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Euphemia
6/2/2017 01:30:04 pm

Ugh. I agree with you. I think that the popular validation of unsavoury views, coupled with the disconnect between the political class and normal people, and widespread western fascism slipping out of living memory have all played a part in creating this perfect shitstorm. Watching long term friends suddenly normalizing racist or dodgy right wing views that have been kept quietly under wraps as if we're all suddenly accepting this as the new truth is frankly, horrifying.

It's not really as simple as that, these things run in cycles and modern communication makes the whole thing hurtle much quicker than it used to, but I reckon we've got about another decade of this before it shifts back the other way. So strap in.

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David W
6/2/2017 01:46:55 pm

I like your approach, but I'll still be sending you another tedious political letter this Friday.

Keep writing and drawing what you think is right, rather than what seems most advantageous.

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DEAN
6/2/2017 01:54:18 pm

I was thinking about a recent comment where I said that it'd be preferable to me if you laid off the drizzle (politics) and laid on the sunshine (funny business). You are influential and have a unique or at least interesting way of looking at things - no doubt from thinking as a comedy writer. I don't HAVE to read your political pieces (I always do, though).
I don't ever find you to be sanctimonious like.... Bono, for example, but rather reasonable, good natured and sincere.

I was happy for you that your satire reached so many people - that's quite an achievement and I'm sure it's rewarding and confidence boosting to see your artwork being so well received.
I love the blurry backgrounds, almost gives a 3D quality to the subject. The transparency of Slimer's ecto-plasm was also nicely done. Bravo!
Your artwork is very 'you'; colourful, fun, thoughtful and well observed.

It's interesting that Digi didn't generate the kind of hits that it normally gets. I'm a proper high score freak and something like that would play on my mind. I've given it a lot of thought and have concluded that 'perhaps' you're seeing a stronger core audience now. I mean, looking back at the comments for example, they tend to be seeing higher digits.

Whatever the case may be, keep on truckin', Biffbro.

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Clockwork Fool
6/2/2017 02:02:18 pm

Violence is wrong. It's really as simple as that. Violence motivated by someone's political beliefs isn't less wrong somehow, in fact it's a lot more worrying because you're introducing the idea that people whos ideas you strongly disagree with are acceptable targets for "The Beatings".

And the problem with that, other than the horrifying moral lapse itself, is that it's a double edged sword and cuts both ways. If it's okay to assault people whose ideas you view as dangerous, harmful or bad in some way, then you better hope that your views are universally agreed to be good and correct.

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Nick
6/2/2017 02:23:13 pm

I for one liked "The Beatings" first couple of singles The album after the name change was rubbish but not so bad for it to be used as a weapon against those you disagree with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iE76BN9k3s

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Geebs
6/2/2017 04:00:38 pm

... and if you absolutely must assault somebody over their beliefs, at the very least don't sucker-punch them and then run away. If anything, it makes them look more powerful.

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A little bit of satire...
6/2/2017 04:10:32 pm

It's a good job I agree with Clockwork Fool else I might've called him a Nazi and punched him!

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Clockwork Fool
6/2/2017 08:23:23 pm

Luckily I make it a habit to be good and correct at all times!

A little bit of satire...
7/2/2017 09:56:10 am

I think my fists will be the judge of that, you fascist!

Keith
6/2/2017 04:25:27 pm

I think you're misrepresenting what people who disagree with you actually think, or at least misrepresent what a lot of us think; I don't think you're a tit, and I don't think your instincts around remembering that everyone on all sides of this is a flawed human are misplaced at all, and I also happen to think that I'm capable of analysing and thinking about the flaws in my own argument.
But what I think you are guilty of doing is overestimating the importance of this punching incident, and by extension misunderstanding what people are doing by sharing the meme of it; my take on it (and I haven't shared the meme, because I find it dilutes events to contribute to them as viral trivia) is that people sharing it just think it's a bit funny and appropriate - they mostly would not punch someone themselves unless in physical danger, but they just think that when someone who is spouting hatred gets punched, it's a bit funny.

I think it's important to recognise that in big, ongoing world events like the rise of the far right that we are seeing at the moment, it's inevitable that there will be people at the extremes of each, and that we really can't affford to let the conversation be disproportionately about one powerless, frustrated thug who punches someone, when Steve Bannon is effectively de-facto president of the US.

I agree that the best way to change minds is with compassion and love, but we can only really do that in person, or with people we know when we come against aggressors online, they are often strangers, with a playbook full of strategies to intimidate and to drag debates on, and who (quite possibly through being exposed to far right ideology in their own bubbles) are conditioned to dismiss any attempts to change their minds.
I'm genuinely scared about what is going to happen in the world in the next months and years - I think that (regardless of who is at fault) the time at which the Milos and his devotees, and the Trump cheerleaders who will forgive him anything because he isn't a politician, are gone - people with more power than us have drawn up battle lines, and if we don't pick a side, we ARE siding with those in power, against those who are most vulnerable to the new regime; muslims, gay people, trans people, women.

But just to close with a clarification much as I disagree with you on this, the thing I found most frustrating about your article is that I genuinely LIKE that you post thoughtfully about this stuff, that you're not scared to post stuff that goes against the grain, and that you often post follow ups that show that this stuff affects you and isn't just clickbait controversy' please don't assume that just cos a few people who can't stand alternative opinions cancel their patreons that we all want you to shut up. You've changed my mind on some things, on other things I've thought about your point and decided that on balance, I think you're wrong. You do a lot of us a disservice with the part of the article that assumes we all react angrily and thoughtlessly to your less popular opinions

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Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 05:16:56 pm

Cheers, Keith. I'm sort of just using the punch thing to explore other stuff, and use it as a convenient metaphor for the broader subject. It wasn't really the focus of this article, even if it came across.

But! It seems that a lot of you do still like me writing stuff like this... which is just as well, because I don't think I can stop writing when something matters to me, and I think I can offer something. It seems too important to me to hide my feelings behind the usual stupid stuff. If being open and sharing what I'm feeling can help even a handful of other people, or even have a small impact on issues which effect us all, then I feel it's wrong of me to hide it away.

I hope I can continue to do it without it ever coming over as preachy or ranty!

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Keith
6/2/2017 05:40:59 pm

Not at all preachy or ranty - I think it's just the nature of the dynamic where it's your platform that means that all reactions are at you, so I guess that what would be a two-way exchange on, say, a personal Facebook page, can feel either like you're being put on a pedestal when everyone agrees, or being piled onto when the "audience" disagrees.
Personally, I love the way digi has evolved - I think it would have got boring if it had been a self conscious narrow revisiting of the past, that stayed within the limits/terms of reference of the old teletext page - I'm glad that digitser has grown up with its readers - agreeing with every word written isn't on my list of expectations, whether about a game score or politics.

paul
6/2/2017 04:38:53 pm

I found that hard to read, and that’s because I have a cold and it’s making my eyes behave in ways that varifocals aren’t designed to. Still, I struggled on.

I saw your Trump action figure picture, and I thought it was pretty good. Funny, but also pretty much on the button methinks. It was that or MasterBlaster from Max Max III.

I don’t mind the political stuff, to be fair. I follow a number of people on Twitter who have very differing points of view to mine, and they wind me up at times, but I do so to balance oath “echo chamber” effect.

The fact that you can somehow articulate your thoughts like this, and express them without getting too ranty is a strength, and if you can flex those muscles, then do so. It’s all part of the Digi2000 vibe, I think - you have more than a few characters per frame to work with - you’re bound to want to explore other avenues.

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Computer games
6/2/2017 06:22:04 pm

TBH I find it as detrimental and wearying as when anyone else talks about politics. If it's really going to decide the content of the site moving forward I doubt I'll click anything like this again - this is not a reflection on your writing skills or anything, I just personally think 'opinion pieces' and stuff like that do more harm than good in general.

I can now count on one finger the sites I (used to) frequent that have nothing to do with politics, and have thus far resisted politicizing. I'm not kidding, there's one left. You and the others seems intent on introducing politics everywhere, in every facet of culture, rushing towards that dystopian society you supposedly fear/deride

Reply
Mr Biffo
6/2/2017 07:20:29 pm

Oh well. Question though: is that a reflection of the times or the cause, as you imply?

Reply
Spiney O'Sullivan
6/2/2017 10:53:03 pm

People writing about politics causes a dystopian society the same way that newspapers writing about murder causes that.

games
7/2/2017 08:10:06 am

Spiney - 'People writing about politics' has been happening forever and is a tiny part of what is described in my post

It's really a 'chicken-egg' thing Biffo, but I would ask what the difference is? Again I'm not saying anything other than 'do exactly what you want', but let's put things in perspective: Here we are writing about the rise of scary nazis, when, as pointed out above, these are not scary nazis, they are confused and weak internet warriors. I would argue treating them as scary nazis will indeed make them scary nazis in the eyes of themselves and others, and will fuel further articles that treat them as a threat, which will have the same effect (only heightened as the threat has gown via the previous article), and so on and so on. Indeed I would argue we have seen this pattern in action over the past 2 years.

In short, you're joining in

Mr Biffo
7/2/2017 08:24:41 am

I don't think I'm joining in, given that I'm arguing against the tone of a lot of the rhetoric online. But I've heard this whole echo chamber argument before, and I do think it's wrong to suggest that the media just clam up. That's exactly what Trump and the alt-right want. "Fake News!" and all that. Being fundamentally very scared people, they're terrified of the media. The whole Gamergate "Ethics in games journalism" bollocks was just the canary in the coalmine.

Anyhow... sorry you feel there's too much of that sort of thing on here. I've only written one "political" piece a week for the last couple of weeks,, and don't think I'd ever do more than that. Indeed, I don't even see them as political - just me exploring whatever is affecting me at the time. Usually, I'm sort of discovering stuff as I go with those pieces.

gamey
7/2/2017 10:47:30 am

They can't cry 'fake news!' if there's no news to declare fake, and then they can't rally around the fake news claim. As far as I can see they're not scared of the media at all, what makes you say that? The peepee thing, which didn't matter past a few cheap yuks and has already been forgotten about? All press is good press for them, that's the way this thing works. It's absolutely their biggest asset, they don't want rid of it at all

Spiney O'Sullivan
7/2/2017 12:56:33 pm

I'm genuinely not sure if that first line a joke or not. If not:

So the best solution is just to not talk about it and hope it goes away?

Surely not. The news media needs to be reporting on what world leaders are up to. We need more higher-quality news, not none. As for blogs, people are free to write what they like, but again, they need to be more discerning about facts to avoid the fake news accusations.

The answer is surely to write smarter, not less.

gameo
7/2/2017 01:23:36 pm

In cases like 'TRUMP SAID SOMETHING OUTRAGEOUS!' it would be better to not report this at all, yes. So, so much better. I know it's scary thinking of living without 'news', but you'll see your life improve immeasurably when you don't have a daily dose of fear and some reporter writing at you like you're 10. The idea that you have to read the news to remain informed is laughably outdated in the internet age. Worse than outdated, it's detrimental

Spiney O'Sullivan
7/2/2017 06:32:11 pm

I agree with filtering a lot of the sensationalist junk out, but if you cut out news, how do you stay informed? The bastion of reasonable thought and well-informed that is social media?

Matt W
6/2/2017 07:23:45 pm

I have just seen that picture. It is absolutely magnificent. I cancelled my patreon a few months ago as I wanted to patreon an independant news programme (and I'm tight and only do one at a time) but got bored before Christmas. I'm resubscribing to Digi!

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Kingsturg
6/2/2017 08:02:38 pm

I thought it was that thing out of Total Recall.

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Kara Van Park
6/2/2017 08:26:07 pm

If there's one bright side to the Trump administration; if it all ends in nuclear war, at least all the sanctimonious pillocks who can't handle an opposing opinion without resorting to childish name calling will get turned to dust with the rest of us.

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DEAN
6/2/2017 08:57:03 pm

There's always a bright side, Kara, but it's best not to look straight at it. You'll go blind doing that.

I was joking with my mate the other night about AE Day. I said to him, you know what, if there was an asteroid or a Satan II on its way there'd be people live blogging the whole thing. That kind of sums it all up.
Not me, though, nope, come the apocalypse I'll be out looting for a nice new telly to watch it all on.

Sometimes, not always but just sometimes, and even though the sometimes out weigh the not always, I swear to you, it's like Jeremy Kyle for pseudo-intellectuals.

Reply
Dacanesta
7/2/2017 10:56:05 pm

Howdy mammy, just reminding you that when you did the Jeffrey/Bungle thing, you said at the time you should have popped a Digitiser logo on it to get some advertising/attention/credit.....so how comes ya didnt! Why, I OUGHTA! etc.

Reply
Paulvw
8/2/2017 07:59:54 am

Sorry I'm late to the party. Good thoughtful article. Thank you.

Reply
Zootle
12/2/2017 06:49:15 pm


If--




IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Reply
Zootle
12/2/2017 07:53:31 pm

Dear Mr. Biffo,


STFU - your political thoughts are why digitiser was more than a mere games media site/page. There is nothing to change, but maybe stop being so needy!


What I've learnt in all my years observing people and politics, is that most don't really care for any values they proclaim, they are hypocritical tribalists: If a vulgar right-winger does something, they'll howl in protest, If a left-winger does exactly the same thing, and as an example just look at our Blair years or the Democrats, then they'll just shut up, no matter how many fundamental attacks on the countries traditional practices or declared values, most don't even believe in Democracy in reality.

Sticks and stones, but also, 'my side right, whatever'. The modern lack of integrity and personal responsibility, but equally, the confusion of abstract thoughts or zealotry of those who believe having thoughts is the same as doing something, pre-crime and thought crime: you just have to look at the amount of muslims charged with nothing but reading and having thoughts that govt. said they shouldn’t have. We are currently putting people in prison for words they type (how many so-called liberals or lefties think that’s OK)!

We have built a world of structural and systematic confirmation-bias, from top-down, to bottom-up.

There is no hate without love, and the arrogance of the majority is that they are superior, that they are not evil, that we are not all capable of doing ill, that if we do it, it must be right, or at least, OK. The left might love their own co-hort anti-otherisation, but they’re quite comfortable with otherising those with contrary opinion.

We ignored for every action, there is at least an equal and opposite reaction. And are so many of us going to be paying for that reaction.

What Trump is saying or doing is one thing, but what the left are reacting to is all about their own validation, with little sense of perspective and self-awareness. The centre/right were dragged into the current western neo-liberal economic/social policies, with little respect/consideration/persuasion, they were dismissed and disrespected, they were told they were backwards and deplorables and little Englanders, except for this alternative world in which they built (plus cynical exploitative) niche self-referential media of their own, because lets not pretend, we were mostly all on an escalator of how the world was meant to become.

Then by dint of nothing to lose, and yes, the same ideological ignorance that the left have been allowed to live in for last few decades (, but didn’t notice as 90% of every one in their world/media also agreed with their worldview) they were willing to throw the baby out with the bath water, no matter that Trump is enacting liberisation in the same way that Bush 43 did, and as with Hurricane Katrina, will probably lead to the exact same outcomes.

They still cling to anti-conservation industry because they’ve been given no hope in any alternative, compare that to the decades Germany took to transition from coal, and contrast how that was directly inverse with the actions of politicians in the west pandering to the fossil-fuel industry.

If you have a demos that has actively been mis-informed, where the media are owned by a few deceitful self-serving old men, where journalists have been happy to manipulate while never actively lying or challenging their own prejudices, where liars are not called out for lying because they might be the Prime Minister, etc. don’t be surprised we end up where we have.

Why we’re where we are is an amalgamation of corrupt politicians doing secret deals that were the opposite of their democratic promises, allowing a handful of rich ideologists of a narrow world-view to control our information and worldview (inc. FB being the modern Ma Bell without regulation), deregulating media and disinvesting in educational skills, less tax=less everything universally, smug liberals (the same media type who live in the core twitter bubble) shutting down everyone who disagreed with them or who spoke ‘wrongly’; while being economically fooled, the same group using the smoke and mirrors of identity politics to let many believe they were voting for a different values/party, after shutting people who’s priority wasn’t identity, the establishment who mainly care only for power and money (it allows for their own bubbles of anything else) thinking those people had just magically disappeared, and under-investing in our countries while happy to let the businessman and bankers be worshipped while they fleeced the state and the individual. We voted for this, we paid for it and consumed it.

We fear what we don’t understand (why the least new immigrant areas are the most fearful of it, Chinese whispers, daily mail, vacuums and echo chambers) . Fear leads to Hate. Just as Child Murderers should be understood (or do you agree with ho

Reply
zootle
12/2/2017 07:58:23 pm

We fear what we don’t understand (why the least new immigrant areas are the most fearful of it, Chinese whispers, daily mail, vacuums and echo chambers) . Fear leads to Hate. Just as Child Murderers should be understood (or do you agree with how the tabloids treat teenage murderers?), or terrorists or paedophiles, yes. Nazi’s (esp. the non actual murdering type) should be understood, and maybe, just maybe, Yes, how about hugging a Nazi? Yes they are normally authoritarian, but if they have hate in them, they also likely have hurt and fear inside them too.


In my life I’ve found shouting and screaming at somebody who doesn’t agree with me, is less likely to them being receptive to me providing counter ideas.

I won’t even start about the crying wolf in week 2, the distraction of America’s trump distracting from our own homelessness, disability, child poverty, low-quality employment, corporate tax-avoidance, under-priced privatisation, nhs cuts or the stupidity of “the resistance” , rather than olive branches and cups of tea!


Does no one have the courage of their convictions, and the beliefs in their own principles, so scared to engage, it’s no different to how America and Trump are the most scared people in the world, by which I mean actual cowards, the force they need to use for everything, the seeing enemies in the slightest slight, the need for constant validation, Yes, even American liberals thing their country is supremely special; the constant need to re-inforce that through multiple ways, says how hollow it all is, massive over-compensation………..


Cui bono.

Reply
Darrel
14/2/2017 09:14:41 am

I normally read your blogs at work whilst going for a poo but there were just too many words for me to read and finish in the normally decent time allowed for pooing without people getting suspicious that I'm reading something, or have the chronic shits. Sorry.

Reply



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