lolplatypus: "Yeah, how's that for some use of hashtags"
I agree with you on previous incidents. I also agree that in general people get outraged very, very easily these days. But let's not act as if this one was a silly mistake and Gog didn't know what they were doing.
See, the thing about that is you're quite right in principle, but there's a time and a place.
This is not the time. The joke generally conveys a very different spirit, if the target is currently struggling. That's also true for straight white men, it's just that - as a group - there's a lot less struggle. But if you take a straight white man, make him a struggling alcoholic and then make fun of him when he's fallen off the wagon and cuddling his own vomit, you'll find that jokes carry a different flavour depending on the situation.
And it's not the place, either. This would be quite a different matter, and in my opinion absolutely fine, if this was a comedy gig. But even though Gog's decisions making is indeed laughable, it's a storefront for games and I honestly have no idea when it became fashionable to drop any pretense of professionalism and maturity in favour of awful Twitter banter and whore yourself out for the latest fad, just because fucking Wendy got a few laughs.
Indeed they probably shouldn't. And so far I haven't been. Am I allowed to be offended by this one, though?
You really don't have to be some raging SJW to find this distasteful.
You know, I kinda agree with you on this one.
You can be offended at anything you like. Just like I can. The difference is choosing your battles. Would you decide to take someone on and try to damage them over something like this? Would you try to blow it out of proportion like this? People get made fun of all the time, and it's ok until they're transgender. I don't get the preferential treatment. In this case, no one was being made fun of at all. But thanks for not just becoming a SJW twit that flies off the handle and can't carry a conversation because "HATE" or some shit.
I disagree with you about time and place (what better place than Twitter) and the point of Twitter is to garner attention. They're get getting shit on because people don't get GOG. They don't target specific groups, they take trending hashtags and change the meaning to their message. It's what they do. Why is this hashtag (Still one of the stupidest things ever, btw. Hashtags in general, not this one)so much more special? They are collections of letters that loosely resemble words. If so much of your life is wrapped up in Twitter that hashtags are a main means of communication or directed offense, maybe your problem isn't the material you find offensive. People should GET OUT OF THEIR FuCKING PHONES and try to live life for 5 minutes. Maybe their life would be happier without people telling them what to be upset about all the time.
VesuviusThe2nd: I honestly don't think that tweet in and of itself IS a huge problem. (The cyberpunk gender tweet DOES more actively make light of a genuine concern).
I think a "sorry, our bad, we'll try to be sensitive to how things can be taken" is literally all that I would want from GOG from this if it was the only instance. With their recent history I'd like them to do a little more to see why this has happened a few times now.
As for what is offensive about it? It's just that it takes something being used to signal boost about what is life changing moment for many trans persons and dilutes the meaning. There's plenty of other ways the sentiment of keeping old games around could be expressed without bringing that up, or comparing the desire for old video games to the desire to have your identity recognized by the government.
It's not the end of the world, it's just tacky. As for your other comment, about my demands, I don't have any. I'm expressing my opinion about what I'd like them to do. That's not a demand, it's my perspective and nothing more.
Thank you for responding as well. I disagree that any apology at all is owed for this because of reasons I already stated. People want to be angry at something. This wasn't bashing or hateful or in anyway disparaging of the people or their struggle, nor was it mocking, precisely. Intentional use of a trending hashtag? yep. Intentional harm to those who feel offended? Nope. People really need to raise the bar for what is or isn't offensive.
I saw posts of people comparing these struggles to slavery or the holocaust. You don't think slaves who were beaten and literally treated as property, actual sub-human treatment would be offended at the comparison? Or Jews who are executed and experimented on in cruel ways, forced to live in abject fear for their actual existence, you think they would be offended by the comparison? These people are fighting for rights in a world where they've never been denied the right to vote, the right to look at another human being or the right to breathe the same air as everyone else. In terms of Holocaust and slavery, their struggles are non-existent. But yes, let's bash on GOG for posting a Tweet with a hashtag that they've appropriated.
