Games Journalism hasn't ever really been about the traditionally noble profession of journalism. It's never been about serving the public good, deposing tyrannical governments, or even providing information. It's traditionally been about enthusiasts talking about their passion. It's an enthusiast press, not a journalistic enterprise, and nothing proves that better than the recent "games journalism" meltdown around Minecraft creator, Notch's interaction with a hypocrite on Twitter that happened to share the delusional world view of the hypocrites at Destructoid, and apparently VICE.
For starters, Destructoid's Features Editor Steven Hansen didn't even bother to hide his contempt, or his outlandish headline claim that Notch feels "oppressed." Notch is a billionaire, and at no point in any conversation has he claimed to be oppressed. He could buy Destructoid with the interest he earns on his wealth in a month. If he were the savage beast these self-described "journalists" say he is, he has the power and wealth to buy virtually every games site on the planet, shut us all down, and make his own site to espouse whatever crazy ideas the current lunatic fringe in games media is pretending he espouses. The reality is that Notch is just a person with his own thoughts and ideas, which is utterly unacceptable to the current neo-Puritans of games writing. The "you're either with us or against us" mindset has typically been reserved for the likes of McCarthy and HUAC, or warmongering, or religious persecution. In this new age of "progressives," however, we're seeing it all over again, in a dogmatic refusal to even participate in a conversation unless they're already sure you agree with them. Hence the creation of this most recent sexist tool of silencing opposition: "Mansplaining."
Notch takes umbrage with the term for its clear derogatory intent towards an entire gender. This is the kind of thing we real liberals have been fighting against for decades. Equality is not a pick and choose situation. You get equality or you get discrimination. You can NEVER have both. Neo-Puritans don't want gender equality, they want special treatment for women because the neo-Puritans don't think nature is fair enough, and nature's gender roles mean that men are physically stronger, and often more willing to commit violence.
If you're okay with the term "mansplaining," then you're implicitly okay with "cuntfusing," Notch's response to the go-to gender-disparagement of the neo-Puritans. You don't get to simultaneously claim to care about gender parity while using a derogatory gender slur like "mansplaining" to silence your opponents. Notch does not, nor does any man feel "oppressed" by the term "mansplaining." No, from what I've gathered in listening to the neo-Puritans, we men run the world. But you know what? Unlike them, we actually want to have this conversation. We want to help achieve the goals of real liberals. We're not the idiots here. Games media is apparently full of idiots, though, so instead of a thoughtful piece from Destructoid on the damage that gender disparagement does to the progress of the very important conversation, we get this literal fabrication of a gaming celebrity's "feelings," by a religious zealot masquerading as a journalist. VICE, too.
Rather than give thought and discourse to the very meaningful points of debate, VICE's Mike Diver decided the best use of his platform was to just hurl insults. When Notch's response to being called a synonym for male genitalia was to call his insulter a synonym for female genitalia, VICE described his word as "grotesque." The neo-Puritan logic here suggests that calling a guy a "dick" is rude, but if you so much as utter the word "cunt," you're an oppressive misogynist. That's VICE's prerogative, of course, and Destructoid's as well. I'm not here to try to rebut the non-argument put forth by these posts - If the authors or their cronies were interested in intelligent discourse, we wouldn't be here right now. I know what happens when people start using legislation to mandate morality. Witch trials happen. No, I'm not here to try to appeal to them, I'm here to appeal to YOU - the audience, the readers, the gamers of the world - that this isn't journalism. This isn't even news writing. This is proselytizing yet another religion founded on contempt for rational discourse. This is dogma, and it has no place in the sphere of real journalism.
I can already hear some of you furiously typing about how this isn't journalism either. And you're correct. This is called "punditry," and is a whole different sphere of entertainment. Games journalism is a fictional narrative pushed by "games journalists," who have an increasingly loud collective voice, and precious little interest in information that doesn't fit this delusional sense of self importance.
If you want to have a conversation about the real woes of gender inequality in modern society; if you want to have a conversation about real oppression happening around the world; if you want to have a conversation about how to stop the sexists and racists and xenophobes from dictating how this conversation happens, then please hit the forums here. I'd love to hear from you. If you're just another dogmatic neo-Puritan with a "with us or against us" mindset, then you're preaching, not conversing, and you can go puritansplain someplace else. I'd love to join in a conversation, but I have no interest in being lectured about your pseudo-religious dogma.