Gatekeeping

 I've been under fire by my liberal friends* because I have a habit of giving other adults benefit of the doubt, and expecting the same.

The latest shitstorm has been going on for months, and no-cost me a player at the table, although her husband has stuck around (awkward).

It started with the Orc Lives Matter assholes.  In short, if I describe something as primitive, violent, and savage, the racist lefties brain pops to 'OMG he means black people'... 

No, I don't.  I mean orcs.  I said orcs.

I'm archiving my side of the story here, so I can stand by my words for better or worse, as my cousin deleted the conversation on Discord.

I lead in with a link to the article here: 
Stop with the inclusivity! Only FAN GATEKEEPING can save our favorite nerd passions – from D&D to Star Wars by Sophia Narwitz

It's an Op-Ed.  The key point I agreed with was thus: 

it’s up to long-term fans to shut down those who want to forcefully enact change. So, for as much backlash as the woke crowd is already receiving, they need to get even more of it. These people don’t deserve to feel welcome in our hobbies. There is no place for them here.

Sounds pretty harsh out of context, I admit.  I clarified - People that want to come in and ignore/destroy the past of a franchise (usually because they aren't creative enough to compete) should be kept the fuck out.  Full Stop.

Mind you, if you read the article, it lays it out.

Here's the funny part, I got attacked initially because I didn't vet the source - apparently it's a Russian Bot site.

It's an Op-Ed.  What exactly do you 'fact check' on an opinion?

So going back into Facebook I see some smears and libel on my posts, so I updated with a couple of classics:

and

https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

-----------------

I've never once, and never will, keep someone from playing 'the' game the way they want at their table.

I've never once denied someone a seat at my table because of their beliefs, race, sex or who they prefer to have sex with.

I -have- and will continue to restrict my table to people that will bring something to the game and NOT DISRUPT IT.

*who have no problem misquoting me online, taking what I say out of context, and stirring up shit - in a word, facebook.