The Offenderatti Strike Again

Though living in the very progressive city of Seattle can sometimes be very aggravating to a non-progressive individual like myself, there are some benefits. One of those benefits is being able to attend what is arguably the biggest gaming event in the United States, Pax Prime.  I go because I have played video games and board games off and on through out my life, more off since I have left college. I don't really care about the AAA titles, the lines are too long and I find them lackluster anyways, but I really enjoy the indie section as well as people watching and sometimes chatting up the random lone individual; I also use this event as a reminder of what excessive video gaming can do to you as a human being and why I try to limit it to some degree.  But my post isn't about Pax itself, it's about the founders.

Some years ago they published a comic that generated a controversy, a stupid controversy in my opinion, because it referenced rape and their response when the usual suspects cried foul. This happened a few years ago, and I thought it was dead and done with, however, it seems to have been dredged up from the grave once again. This time it looks like it was the comic artist himself when he told his business manager, on stage in front of thousands of individuals, that he regretted pulling the dick wolves T-shirts, made to mock the offenderati, and as we can expect, the offenderatti are coming out of the wood works.

What is interesting to me is not the controversy, after all when aren't the offenderatti offended, but the targets of their offense.  Some individuals accuse the artists of white male privilege, and he is indeed a white male, but conveniently ignore the fact that prior to becoming a pseudo-star he was a clerk at Circuit City and, perhaps more importantly, grew up as part of a class of individuals that are often a mixture of Gamma's, Omegas and a smattering of Delta's, I am using Alpha games socio-sexual hierarchy, and those individuals hardly benefited from supposed white male privilege. There is also the fact that these individuals are, most likely, slightly left leaning, have espoused equalist ideas and do a lot of good in the form of their Child's Play charity events.  You would think that would buy them some understanding from those who now accuse them of supporting rape culture, or are not being politically correct enough, but that would be expecting to much wouldn't it.

When Mike expressed that sentiment in front of thousands, I think it was because he came to a realization that there is no amount of credibility that can be obtained that will shield you from accusations from the offenderatti.  If there ever were such a character that could typify white male privilege, an absurd notion to begin with, then it is laughable to think of the creators of the Penny Arcade Comic as being examples. It is also amusing to see the same offenderatti get their panties in a twist when an individual expresses regret about kowtowing to their demands.

The fact is that you can never adequately appease the offenderatti and that Mike's only mistake is breaking with his companies established policy of not addressing them. I will admit that I wish Mike would be more like Adam Carolla and tell them to get bent, but I think that might be asking to much from the guy. As for myself, when ever some one tells me that something I said was offensive, and I don't mean offensive because I actually said something offensive but stated a fact or an observation, I tell them that their offense is their problem and not mine. This is what I do in private company. If you are in a situation, say work or a public event, I avoid conversation with offenderatti at all costs; because they are bound to take offense to something.