Sigh.
The phrase used to be 'call a spade a spade', back when spade meant a type of shovel and before we were trained to be hypersensitive to... well everything. The old days weren't perfect, but today is if anything heading towards something worse.
This here is a case in point. This is a typical example of someone who can't bring himself to label the art in Lamentations of the Flame Princess the vile and disgusting trash that it is. Instead he has to celebrate the pushing of boundaries. The publishing of a horrid and repulsive thing in our hobby is seen as a chance to display not one's moral and artistic standards- but how open minded one is.
So here we are. A world where we basically remove an old and harmless saying from usage due to fears of racism, but we celebrate graphic art showing a woman being ripped apart from her vagina out...
Gives a whole new layer to the phrase "you've come a long way baby" doesn't it?
And I find that there are days when I hate this hobby, or rather what is becoming the face of it.
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9 comments:
I'm amazed at the amount of traffic that this one little post has gotten. I'm equally amazed that someone as prominent in the RPG industry as you has even bothered to take notice of what I have to say. It's a shame that in the world today that we have to watch everything we say to see if it passes the muster of political correctness. I agree with you. It's just crazy.
I only have one issue. "someone who can't bring himself to label the art in Lamentations of the Flame Princess the vile and disgusting trash that it is" If I thought it was vile and disgusting trash, I would have called it vile and disgusting trash. Is it horrific, gruesome and graphic? Most assuredly. Is it for everyone? No, it is not. Did I derive any pleasure from viewing it? No, I did not. Is it OK for someone to be totally offended by the art? Yes. Is it OK for someone not to be offended? Yes. Should a publisher have moral and artistic standards? Yes. Who should set those standards? The Publisher. Who should tell the Publisher they went too far? The consumers and folks like us discussing it.
I agree with Chuck. Is some of the art in LotFP good? I think so. However, as you pointed out the one where the girl is getting torn apart and a zombie is fisting here is honestly unnecessary.
I feel that it is not my place to dictate what should be placed as art and what isn't. If the art was depicting women or a certain ethnicity as inferior, then I would have a problem.
While this isn't in the same league, it kind of is.. Look at the stink Michelangelo's statue David has created over the years (although thankfully it has died out). Many people found it offensive (and I know Simpsons did a parody of that years back)and wanted to censor an amazing piece of art.
Now am I comparing LotFP's art to one of the greatest artists in history? No.
I believe people need to censor themselves. If you don't want to watch it, read it, listen to it, look at it.. Then don't. However don't tell others what they can and cannot do.
Also don't lament on someone else (Chuck here) simply because he doesn't have an opinion that doesn't match yours.
@Chuck and wrathofzombie:
It's so easy to retreat and abdicate your responsibility for judgment isn't it?
I rather have a world that would foolishly complained about the statue of David (and be ignored) than one that shrugs and says 'different strokes for different folks' on obscenity such as this.
You have no other goal than patting yourself on your back for your open mind. Pure and simply- selfish.
Meanwhile the wider RPG culture sinks ever deeper into the sewer. You make me almost as sick as the art we're talking about.
I'm not retreating and I'm not abdicating my responsibility for judgement. I make moral judgements all the time. We all do. Just because my view differs from yours doesn't mean that I didn't make a judgement.
I'm not patting on myself on the back for an open mind. I don't have that much of a sense of moral superiority. I'm no better than anyone else and my opinions are no more valid. But it doesn't mean that I won't stand by those opinions.
Selfish? What do I have to gain from all this? Nothing at all.
I'm sorry that I make you sick. Such is not my intent.
I'm with Gleichman on this one.
Its a total copout to say that you think one thing personally and then to disavow it because you think others might disagree with you.
If you want to explore all the various perspectives before making a judgment, that's fine. But once you make that judgment, stick to it. You're either right and ought to have some integrity, or you're wrong and need to be challenged in order to learn.
Either way, you'll learn a lot more about yourself and the subject at hand by standing your ground and defending your opinion.
I'm not copping out or disavowing anything. Let me put this another and more terse way. I am not your mommy. I'm not here to shield you from naughty pictures and hold your hand. You're all adults and you can make those decisions on your own.
Gleichman or anybody else is not my mommy. They don't get to chose when I go to bed or what material is suitable for me. I'm big boy, I can make those decisions on my own.
I hope that clears the air on opinion.
It certainly does Chuck, clears things right up.
It shows that you're a moral infant. Too worried about being seen still hanging on to mommy's apron strings to stand up and call something what it is.
This is something that should never have been. A small evil yes, but it's where the stand against greater evils begin- for it's where people begin to lose track of right and wrong.
No one asked to you go on a book burning mission. They asked you what was *right*. And you took the 5th.
And yes, you're doing so to pat yourself on the back. Otherwise you never would have had reason to say anything at all. You're making a virtue out of looking the other way.
There used to a be word for that. Ah yes, coward.
You know hat the word "Grindhouse" means right? This is like picking up an issue of Hustler and complaining about the content...
I don't care what it's labeled. It's wrong.
And what's worse is that our hobby refuses to call it wrong.
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