This piece is going to have nothing to do with video games. Sorry. I just need to write it. It's off the back of the above tweet from The Sun Apologies, quoting this column from Rod "The Sod" Liddle.
It feels for a while like I've been reaching a tipping point, where a growing sense of unease about the direction of our country - and our world - becomes all-out despair... and now, thanks to The Sun, I might just have reached it.
It's Liddle's use of the term "whites", and how he equates immigration almost exclusively with Muslims. Or, it seems, anyone who doesn't have white skin. And I'm kind of confused about this.
I mean, what about white Eastern European immigrants? Are they acceptable because of their skin colour, Liddle? How about Italians, like my step-daughters? Or someone, like my partner, whose father was Croatian, but who grew up in Australia? I mean, her mother's English - and she's white - so that's probably alright, yeah? We can let her into our whites-only compound can't we?
Oh. But what about black British people? Unacceptable? Should they be among their "own kind", who are "a little bit like them"? Does it matter that, culturally, most of the black people I know have more in common with me than I probably do with you, Rod? I mean, we're more alike because of our skin colour, yeah? We're skin brothers. That's what matters.
It feels for a while like I've been reaching a tipping point, where a growing sense of unease about the direction of our country - and our world - becomes all-out despair... and now, thanks to The Sun, I might just have reached it.
It's Liddle's use of the term "whites", and how he equates immigration almost exclusively with Muslims. Or, it seems, anyone who doesn't have white skin. And I'm kind of confused about this.
I mean, what about white Eastern European immigrants? Are they acceptable because of their skin colour, Liddle? How about Italians, like my step-daughters? Or someone, like my partner, whose father was Croatian, but who grew up in Australia? I mean, her mother's English - and she's white - so that's probably alright, yeah? We can let her into our whites-only compound can't we?
Oh. But what about black British people? Unacceptable? Should they be among their "own kind", who are "a little bit like them"? Does it matter that, culturally, most of the black people I know have more in common with me than I probably do with you, Rod? I mean, we're more alike because of our skin colour, yeah? We're skin brothers. That's what matters.
PHONING HONEY G LIDDLE BIT OF POLITICS
Liddle argues that "the greater the influx of immigrants, the less integrated the country becomes. Moderate numbers are easily dealt with and it’s more likely the incomers will assimilate."
He makes a point which seems reasonable, though most of the more extreme racists I've met in my lifetime are experts at hiding their racism behind arguments and logic traps, which - upon first glance - seem impossible to argue against.
Frustratingly, it's even possible to agree with the arguments of Liddle and his ilk, if you don't dig too deeply. I mean, white British people aren't the only ones aggressively asserting their cultural identity: everyone is doing it these days. I can't pretend I didn't roll my eyes when I read a piece from a black writer in The Guardian arguing that The X-Factor's Honey-G - a white comedy rapper from North Weezy, same as me - was an example of offensive "cultural appropriation".
Then I caught myself, and wondered whether I was being a bit racist because I'm not black, and can't possibly understand how an idiot like Honey G might offend somebody who is black. It's a minefield.
Y'know... you even get the politically correct lobby asserting the rights of others to assert their cultural identity - Lily Allen jumped on the "Honey G is offensive" bandwagon, and all that sort of thinking results in people - particularly the English, with their tenuous grasp of their own identity - roaring harder to establish who they are. I get that.
In America, Black Lives Matter is a movement the likes of which we've not seen since the 70s. Radical Islamic Terrorism is on the political agenda like never before (despite terrorism killing far, far, far fewer people annually than, say, obesity, smoking, traffic accidents, and people falling off ladders - yet despite this, billions are spent on wars to combat it... like a bulldozer driver demolishing an entire block of flats, because he's got a fly in his cab). And we're leaving the European Union, because those ruddy Eurocrats want to shove our country full of filthy foreigners.
It feels like everyone is being more racist than they have in decades, a trajectory that has slowly built ever since 9/11, and stoked more recently by the likes of UKIP and Donald Trump.
And it depresses the hell out of me.
All my life I've been proud of my country, because it was multicultural. That, to me, was its identity; its acceptance of others, a country that was multi-racial, multi-cultural, and - for the most part - we all got along.
I confess, I may have been trapped in a little London bubble, but nevertheless... it felt like that spirit of inclusivity spread beyond the M25. That's who I was. I was part of that. And now? Despite feeling like I belonged, despite living in a street for years where my neighbours were either black, Muslim, Fijian or Romanian, I now feel utterly alienated by my country. I feel like I don't belong here - because, apparently, I'm not racist enough.
And to make matters worse, I'm constantly worried that my neighbours might suspect I'm racist, because of the colour of my own ethnicity. Imagine what they must feel, wondering whether I think they're terrorists (the Muslims), thieves (the Romanians), or a volcano (the Fijians).
Liddle argues that "the greater the influx of immigrants, the less integrated the country becomes. Moderate numbers are easily dealt with and it’s more likely the incomers will assimilate."
He makes a point which seems reasonable, though most of the more extreme racists I've met in my lifetime are experts at hiding their racism behind arguments and logic traps, which - upon first glance - seem impossible to argue against.
Frustratingly, it's even possible to agree with the arguments of Liddle and his ilk, if you don't dig too deeply. I mean, white British people aren't the only ones aggressively asserting their cultural identity: everyone is doing it these days. I can't pretend I didn't roll my eyes when I read a piece from a black writer in The Guardian arguing that The X-Factor's Honey-G - a white comedy rapper from North Weezy, same as me - was an example of offensive "cultural appropriation".
Then I caught myself, and wondered whether I was being a bit racist because I'm not black, and can't possibly understand how an idiot like Honey G might offend somebody who is black. It's a minefield.
Y'know... you even get the politically correct lobby asserting the rights of others to assert their cultural identity - Lily Allen jumped on the "Honey G is offensive" bandwagon, and all that sort of thinking results in people - particularly the English, with their tenuous grasp of their own identity - roaring harder to establish who they are. I get that.
In America, Black Lives Matter is a movement the likes of which we've not seen since the 70s. Radical Islamic Terrorism is on the political agenda like never before (despite terrorism killing far, far, far fewer people annually than, say, obesity, smoking, traffic accidents, and people falling off ladders - yet despite this, billions are spent on wars to combat it... like a bulldozer driver demolishing an entire block of flats, because he's got a fly in his cab). And we're leaving the European Union, because those ruddy Eurocrats want to shove our country full of filthy foreigners.
It feels like everyone is being more racist than they have in decades, a trajectory that has slowly built ever since 9/11, and stoked more recently by the likes of UKIP and Donald Trump.
And it depresses the hell out of me.
All my life I've been proud of my country, because it was multicultural. That, to me, was its identity; its acceptance of others, a country that was multi-racial, multi-cultural, and - for the most part - we all got along.
I confess, I may have been trapped in a little London bubble, but nevertheless... it felt like that spirit of inclusivity spread beyond the M25. That's who I was. I was part of that. And now? Despite feeling like I belonged, despite living in a street for years where my neighbours were either black, Muslim, Fijian or Romanian, I now feel utterly alienated by my country. I feel like I don't belong here - because, apparently, I'm not racist enough.
And to make matters worse, I'm constantly worried that my neighbours might suspect I'm racist, because of the colour of my own ethnicity. Imagine what they must feel, wondering whether I think they're terrorists (the Muslims), thieves (the Romanians), or a volcano (the Fijians).
SKATING ON THIN ICE
Thing is, I'm on thin ice, because I'm not inherently a political person. I used to vote Lib Dem - the true sign of the politically apathetic.
Whenever I've brushed against politics on this site - even the politics of something like Gamergate - I've usually received a lot of flack for not understanding the deeper issues, or I get accused of being pro-this or pro-that.
"If you don't choose a side it's as bad as condoning it" I was told repeatedly, in an unironic echo of George W. Bush's "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" speech.
All I wanted was to understand though, and try to listen when people told me "We've been misrepresented". From speaking to those on both sides I came away feeling that there were good and bad eggs in both camps. There was misunderstanding and misinformation, from everyone. That was my experience of Gamergate, and it was a deeply unpopular position to take.
I stepped away from the issue when it became clear that trying to make people, with a vested interest in the topic, see beyond their prejudices was only making me unpopular, and I was being misrepresented as pro-Gamergate, or a "Social Justice Warrior".
When tackling such subjects, I've always come away feeling like I've done more damage than good - heck, last week I even got pointed in the direction of somebody who apparently stopped reading Digitiser2000 and cancelled his Patreon donations, because of my coverage of Gamergate.
But my view of something like Gamergate always comes down to one thing: we're all just people, and by highlighting our differences, instead of our similarities, we're going to isolate ourselves from one another. By not trying to see others as individuals, and through individuals not seeing themselves as individuals - letting themselves be defined by nationality, religion, or culture, we stay dangerously polarised.
That might be painfully naive and wishy-washy, but it's a sincere wish, because I don't want to live in a world where we're all at one another's throats. Why would anybody want that?
You know: unless their sense of self was sufficiently weak that it needs to be shored up by being identified as a member of some group, race, or religion.
Thing is, I'm on thin ice, because I'm not inherently a political person. I used to vote Lib Dem - the true sign of the politically apathetic.
Whenever I've brushed against politics on this site - even the politics of something like Gamergate - I've usually received a lot of flack for not understanding the deeper issues, or I get accused of being pro-this or pro-that.
"If you don't choose a side it's as bad as condoning it" I was told repeatedly, in an unironic echo of George W. Bush's "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" speech.
All I wanted was to understand though, and try to listen when people told me "We've been misrepresented". From speaking to those on both sides I came away feeling that there were good and bad eggs in both camps. There was misunderstanding and misinformation, from everyone. That was my experience of Gamergate, and it was a deeply unpopular position to take.
I stepped away from the issue when it became clear that trying to make people, with a vested interest in the topic, see beyond their prejudices was only making me unpopular, and I was being misrepresented as pro-Gamergate, or a "Social Justice Warrior".
When tackling such subjects, I've always come away feeling like I've done more damage than good - heck, last week I even got pointed in the direction of somebody who apparently stopped reading Digitiser2000 and cancelled his Patreon donations, because of my coverage of Gamergate.
But my view of something like Gamergate always comes down to one thing: we're all just people, and by highlighting our differences, instead of our similarities, we're going to isolate ourselves from one another. By not trying to see others as individuals, and through individuals not seeing themselves as individuals - letting themselves be defined by nationality, religion, or culture, we stay dangerously polarised.
That might be painfully naive and wishy-washy, but it's a sincere wish, because I don't want to live in a world where we're all at one another's throats. Why would anybody want that?
You know: unless their sense of self was sufficiently weak that it needs to be shored up by being identified as a member of some group, race, or religion.
THE BIGOT FRIENDLY GIANT
For the first time in my life it feels like I live in a nation of bigots.
Not just a nation: a global society of bigots, and people who are spoiling for a fight at every turn.
I mean, casual racism was a thing when I was at school, back in the 70s and 80s... but then, anybody who stood out for any reason - be it their skin colour, or their religion, or being a ginger, or a four-eyed speccy twat, or too fat, or too tall, or too posh - was a target. I speak from experience.
I don't know if it's still like that, but second-hand experience - via my kids and step-kids - suggests not. All my kids had Muslim friends growing up, my step-daughter's boyfriend is mixed-race... the kids I know don't seem to bat an eyelid when it comes to race or religion. To them, people are people; some people just happen to have brown skin, or be Muslim, or have been born in Turkey, same as some of us are born with bad eyes, or blonde hair.
Which is as it should be. I wonder, given the prevailing winds, how long that spirit of acceptance is going to last.
It feels, as I said on Twitter this morning, as if all the progress we've made over the course of my lifetime is being undone. We're even on the cusp of a new Cold War with Russia, for pity's sake.
Are our political leaders so weak, so desperate for power, that they will pander to the prejudices of a vocal minority, and stoke fears, rather than lead by example? How can we ever build a better world like this? Shouldn't that be the goal we're working towards?
For the first time in my life it feels like I live in a nation of bigots.
Not just a nation: a global society of bigots, and people who are spoiling for a fight at every turn.
I mean, casual racism was a thing when I was at school, back in the 70s and 80s... but then, anybody who stood out for any reason - be it their skin colour, or their religion, or being a ginger, or a four-eyed speccy twat, or too fat, or too tall, or too posh - was a target. I speak from experience.
I don't know if it's still like that, but second-hand experience - via my kids and step-kids - suggests not. All my kids had Muslim friends growing up, my step-daughter's boyfriend is mixed-race... the kids I know don't seem to bat an eyelid when it comes to race or religion. To them, people are people; some people just happen to have brown skin, or be Muslim, or have been born in Turkey, same as some of us are born with bad eyes, or blonde hair.
Which is as it should be. I wonder, given the prevailing winds, how long that spirit of acceptance is going to last.
It feels, as I said on Twitter this morning, as if all the progress we've made over the course of my lifetime is being undone. We're even on the cusp of a new Cold War with Russia, for pity's sake.
Are our political leaders so weak, so desperate for power, that they will pander to the prejudices of a vocal minority, and stoke fears, rather than lead by example? How can we ever build a better world like this? Shouldn't that be the goal we're working towards?
THE REAL ENEMY
It just feels to me as if there are complex forces at work which have lead us to this backwards, ugly point in history. I'm not learn-ed enough to understand all the underlying issues which have driven us to this place.
I can speculate that staying racist, hating the Muslims and the foreigners, keeps us distracted from the ones who are really screwing with our lives - the rich, the establishment, the huge, tax-avoiding corporations who we won't stand up to because we like their phones too much. The pressure is put on the shoulders of those who can least afford it, and they're lashing out at the wrong targets.
The world in which most of us live is designed to feed anxiety and a sense of unease. Maybe it's that: we feel unsafe, so we're all retreating to a place of security among those we view as our own. Fighting to hold onto some sort of identity in a world where our identity isn't valued, because we're just gears in a machine which is designed to allow those at the top to lead a life of comfort.
They're the ones who are really screwing us over: those who choose consciously not to contribute to society, to exploit others, to let the rest of us take up the slack - and fight one another over the scraps.
I feel as if we were close to successfully completing a swim across the English Channel, only to turn back at the last minute, because someone from the support boat shouted that he could smell garlic, and that if we stepped foot on the beach, we'd stink of it forever. I just feel heavy, I feel tired, at the thought of us having to make that swim all over again.
What the hell happened?!
It just feels to me as if there are complex forces at work which have lead us to this backwards, ugly point in history. I'm not learn-ed enough to understand all the underlying issues which have driven us to this place.
I can speculate that staying racist, hating the Muslims and the foreigners, keeps us distracted from the ones who are really screwing with our lives - the rich, the establishment, the huge, tax-avoiding corporations who we won't stand up to because we like their phones too much. The pressure is put on the shoulders of those who can least afford it, and they're lashing out at the wrong targets.
The world in which most of us live is designed to feed anxiety and a sense of unease. Maybe it's that: we feel unsafe, so we're all retreating to a place of security among those we view as our own. Fighting to hold onto some sort of identity in a world where our identity isn't valued, because we're just gears in a machine which is designed to allow those at the top to lead a life of comfort.
They're the ones who are really screwing us over: those who choose consciously not to contribute to society, to exploit others, to let the rest of us take up the slack - and fight one another over the scraps.
I feel as if we were close to successfully completing a swim across the English Channel, only to turn back at the last minute, because someone from the support boat shouted that he could smell garlic, and that if we stepped foot on the beach, we'd stink of it forever. I just feel heavy, I feel tired, at the thought of us having to make that swim all over again.
What the hell happened?!
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