The above statement came as no surprise to me when it was made on my duel challenge thread. I was almost hoping that someone would make it. It was not a well thought out post, not even a poor dito. No, it was a knee jerk reaction, one of many symptoms of a dying community.
Let's examine what this statement entails. It works under the false assumption that a gamer, especially if he (Yes, I'm saying he because if a girl of the same age were to make a post like this, guys would not react to it in the same fashion. I'm not going to go into great detail as to why this is but let's just say that the simplest of explanations are wrong in this case, Occam does not apply). is above school age(<20).
This tells us a ton of things. Not so much about the person making the statement but about generally accepted conceptions regarding the nature of people. It tells us what a male gamer is considered to be and more importantly, what a succesful life entails at what age.
That guy is a failure at life because he plays games for more than recreational purposes
You all recognize this, you have probably heard it said to you and you laugh but really feel a bit hurt because you are a gamer and you have friends that are gamers and you don't consider yourself and your friends abject failures. Well, it is quite possible that this has been elevated to truth in your mind. In that case, I weep for you. It is in other words a stereotype and as is true in most cases of stereotypes, it is very presumptious, very common and very very wrong.
It draws upon the image of the computer geek sitting behind his computer in hos mothers basement, coding, playing games, drinking cola. Fat as fuck, no friends, no interest in contributing to society beyond hacking websites as a form of social activism. You know a person such as the one described here? Probably not. But yet he is so familiar. That's because he is part of the, lets call it caplitalistic society value foundation, and its folklore and value tradition. Yes, I'm talking to you Hollywood, fuck off already kthxbye.
I would hate this guy too probably, not trying at all to be productive and work for a better world. Why should we like him?
Also, this statement is made out of sheer envy. Is the basement dweller ever depicted as a sad, lonely guy? That is not the standard portrait of him in any case. He seems obscenly happy. The audience is supposed to loathe his behavior yet he seems so at peace with reality whereas the other characters usually do not.
I am here to tell you that there is no reason to envy this guy. You know why? Because he is entirely fictional, he doesn't exist anywhere. It's a gross simplification of one of our greatest subcultures at best and a dangerous societal force at worst.
You play Quake every day, you must be an abject failure at life.
This statement is very telling. It shows us what people consider to be a constructive and successful way of life, or it is implied I should say, the direct "truth" here is what a despicable outcast of society behaves like. Look at the professional gamers, are they all abject failures at life? Think of the best gamers in your life, are those guys? If the answer is yes, you are missing the point completely.
These views stems from a time when it was absolutely key that everyone did their contributory part. Mostly meaning mundane, manual labour. Back then the name of the game was survival and in those times no one complained like we do today. Nobody felt their job to be meaningless because the positive fruits from their work could be harvested immidiately.
Today, that is no longer the case. If you work at a factory for a multinational corporation, your work is probably meaningless in every sense of the word. That's just the nature of the beast. But we still believe, and this is rooted deep within all of us, that everyone should work a normal job for a living, and the guy that suffers the most but endures is the greatest of heroes, a modern day William Wallace.
This is ofcourse absurd and obscene. We know enough about the human brain to know that people, baring those with serious mental handicaps, all have the ability to achieve greatness under the right circumstances. Why should all these people be forced to rot away at the assembly line? Why should they succumb to evil dictators such as Warren Buffet and Lloyd Blankfein. They should not of course. The empire will fall in time, rest assured, but let's do what we can to help things along. Please, speed it up as Michael Moore says in his fantastic documentary piece 'Capitalism - A Love Story'.
What is the worth of bringing joy to other? To help an old lady across the street?
Why is it that a nazi scumbag fail factory worker or an insane corporate executive deserves respect while a person that aspires to gaming does not? Answer me this, dear readers. I don't think you can. If I ever go into social science, I will try to expand on this. I have a rough idea of how to forumlate a new monetary system. Goods and services. Making your neighbour smile as he gets his morning paper, that is to me a service. A pretty damn good and important service. I reject the notion that hard yet meaningless labor is something to admire and aspire to. Won't do it.
Leth4l's life history - The short, short version
So, who am I to assert these things? Well, I consider myself to be an enlightened person. Not through plowing through a ton of books and articles but from living. 26 years of living. Absurd religious ideas growing up, depression, melencholy, suicide attempt, no self-worth or self-esteeem, always feeling as an outcast, a failure, a tard. Gaming since forever and never achieving even "a decent player" in any game. I have been educated in the toughest of schools, the school of life itself. The methods of learning are rough but the fruits of all my struggles are significant, they allow me to make this post today.
I am not a failure by any objective standard. So I didn't find my way until I was 25-26. It took 5 days in a mental institution, six months of pitck black depression hell and a few almost suicide attempts. When I sat by the rails, I never in my wildest dreams expected to bounce back. But I am here now to tell you about it.
I study high school 120%, delivers pizzas for my good friend Fares on Sundays, I plan on going to the university this fall and in the mean-time I'm spreading happyness and joy to as many people as I can. I help friends that believe they can't learn elementary english or math, but i show them that they can. I seriously consider applying for a teacher job. I'm just that good at learning stuff to people. I have an insane memory for anything i find interesting and i always want the best for other people.
Do I fail so horribly at life? Because I draw some social welfare at this present time? Because I play games a lot?
Conclusion
This is not a personal attack on the user named asyyy. He just happened to be the user that best illustrated the sickness I'm trying desperately to cure here. I don't respect him. I think he has pathetic views and a very unskeptical way of relating to the world. With that being said, all is not lost. If he comes out and says that maybe I wasn't so wrong after all, then my respect is his to earn.
Peace on earth /Leth4l
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