I tend to play games at normal and easy difficulties partially because of time and because I enjoy focusing on the story more. But I find predominantly men tend to hold this toxic and sexist "git gud" ideology where they look down on female gamers like myself that prefer lower difficulties as less than, as not real gamers. And they tend to use such sexist terms, ("oh you're just a pussy if you can't handle difficult games"). It bothers me so much to hear my guy friends and relatives use this type of sexist gatekeeping behavior. And it bothers me when men use "git gud" as an excuse to ignore my perspectives and reject my experiences. I've been gaming for almost 25 years and I've experienced so much bullying and general male toxicity from the gaming community. It is so fucking exhausting being a female player today to have to experience so much of this.
Can’t even get it in my dreams anymore either. Woof.
I wanted to add my 2 cents regarding the issues that plague Asians in Anglo-Countries.
To really understand the power structure that pervades this society, I've provided an analogy.
Imagine in an alternate universe where there is a powerful Asian country. In this Asian country there is a pecking order where Irish men are at the bottom. Television depicts Irish men as ugly, unhuman, despicable, weak through the use of racist caricatures.
On the other hand, Irish women are heavily sexualized. The ruling Asians have a fetish for Irish women. Every time an Irish women appears on TV, she is paired with an Asian man. Everytime an Irish man appears alongside an Asian one, he is depicted as inferior in every way.
Even worse a pornography industry is in place that facilitates racist stereotypes of Irish men sexual inferiority. It could be anything (get creative).
As a result, an Irish male by birth will grow up with scarred pathogenic identity. The early mis-recognization of Irish men as ugly and inhuman will become part of himself. He will be traumatized by the images of the pornography he witness at puberty. He faces hostility from Asian men who have been conditioned to take their hostile impulses on Irish men. He will become insecure when seeking a marriage as a result of the accumulation of trauma and also the low socioeconomic standing is brainwashed among the women of that country, making it even harder to find a spouse.
Now take this analogy and replace the Irish with Asian males. That is what pervades the culture here.
If you met an Irish man from this Asian country, would you be surprised if he told you he experienced difficulty in that environment.
There are several issues that really standout culturally for Asian males. I don't include Asian females here though I am sure some females experience racism as well but not to the extent as males. To elaborate, as an Asia female you will have much more ease integrating into western society do the the status afforded. Your high status from being exotic and attractive means you are able to find friends among white and other women. There are no denigrating negative racial stereotypes like being considered ugly, sexually inferior, etc. You will have plenty of suitors who are driven by anxiety that will approach you (white guys, non-Asians who are insecure that black men have bigger penises and hence think Asian women are the only ones they think will like them)
Meanwhile as an Asian man, you will find
... keep reading on reddit ➡For those who are not familiar, the 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rosseau is known for his highly optimistic view of human nature. He believed that in his natural state, man is a creature free of sin; it is civilization's corrupting influence which causes him to become dissatisfied and therefore selfish in thought and deed.
This view was not wholly unique to Rousseau, but he articulated the idea most notably in his conception of the "Noble Savage" - which, again, is the idea that non-civilised peoples, who are closer to the harmonious state of nature, are spiritually superior to civilised peoples.
Despite being explicitly rejected by today's culture of political correctness, the Noble Savage mythology has covertly sunk its teeth - increasing its bite force with each passing year - into Western culture. We must never criticize the history of indigenous peoples, despite the fact that more often than not their cultures were extremely barbaric before the arrival of colonising Europeans. A couple of examples: the Maori of New Zealand practised sex slavery and cannibalism, while some Native American tribes ripped off each other's scalps as trophies.
Now, this mythological framework has been vastly expanded since Rousseau's time to essentially include every single culture which was/is not comprised of white people. The Arabs, despite having practised sub-saharan slavery for millennia, are seen as noble and innocent victims of white imperialism. Africans are lauded as spiritually pure victims of colonialism, despite the fact that they brutally enslaved each other en masse for a very long time before the arrival of European slave traders. Even the Chinese, whose government is carrying out cultural genocide against Uygur Muslims as I write this sentence, are not blamed for the actions of the relatively few in power who are orchestrating it.
In stark contrast to all of this, white people are portrayed - in the countries we ourselves created - as historically unique purveyors of hatred and oppression. After a relatively short time period - in historical terms - white countries granted equal rights to all citizens, and were the first in history to completely abolish slavery. Many white countries now explicitly favour nonwhite people through affirmative action-esque policies, and we have imbibed a level of self hatred unseen in all of history. If you try to state your opinion on an increasingly wide range of political issues, you are liable to be told to
... keep reading on reddit ➡
I was returning on my bike from a friend's birthday party 14 kms away when I was consumed by a couple of worries. If the cops caught me and cross examined me on why I was out past midnight when there's a pandemic raging, I'd squirm. Thankfully that didn't happen.
I had to anyway wedge my phone between my helmet and mask and cheek to listen to the navigation as I wasn't sure of the route. This helped keep me distracted. When my trip odometer was 138.6, and the GMaps mentioned, in 800 meters turn left, I was like okay so I gotta turn when it's 139.4. Then I was like, on the Malazan world how many paces would 800 meters be. So I did some approximations and the results were symmetrically satisfying. My feet are around 25 cms across and a step between them would be around 25-30 cms. So a 'pace' of mine could be 75-80 cms or around 0.8 meters. So 800 meters was like a 1000 paces give or take. On the burning sands of Raraku, on rations of water and food, dragging heavy armour, with the mental strain of the odds stacked against you, a thousand paces or 800 meters for those 'recruits' would have been no easy hike. For Karsa Orlong, on the contrary, that was probably just a stroll.
And then, another of my fears came true. In a 100 meter stretch I had to negotiate, I saw couple of dogs lying around and another approaching. I had to channel my inner cold iron (hahaha), and against my instincts slow down and go calmly without appearing to be a threat to them. It worked. And after a few kilometers, I actually slowed my car by 20 kmph when couple of dogs jumped across around 50 meters away. Again, slowing down and going meant they didn't chase me. These hounds reminded me of the Deragoths slain by Karsa Orlong, and I felt Oponn's luck was with me tonight! Has the Malazan world consumed me yet? I wonder...
Diving into the rest of Midnight Tides!
