Twitter is Garbage, and Rumors of the Death of Gamers Have Been Greatly Exaggerated.

Bickering over the labels we use to categorize ideas is part of what leads to divisiveness. We are all fairly educated, so we're used to nitpicking language choices, but the idea that we actively choose to sacrifice shared sentiment on the altar of diction is, in this climate, distressing.

@groverat: I always like to hear opinions that differ from my own so I would be more then happy to talk to you about such things.

The last thing we need is a bunch of men who barely understand what feminist means to try to "reclaim" feminism.

I am in favor of "We'll take over from here, ladies."-ism

So are you suggesting that I'm unable to recognize this, or did you just want to make this point? Cause you haven't really told me anything I didn't already know, and I'm still a bit confused as to what you were trying to get at by addressing all of this towards me.

If you just wanted to put all this out there though, it's cool.

Yes, someone that barely understands feminism trying to weild the name for their own twisted ideals would indeed be awful.

Found this post fairly reasonable even If I don't agree with all of it. The crazy incendiary response really drives home the point of how shitty discussions like these always end up being on the internet.

Yeah, we all know this is a women vs. men issue, we don't want any cooperation or anything. Letting man filth in would indeed undermine the whole thing.

...and this is exactly why feminism is a dead cause.

I know it sucks having to admit you stuck your foot in your mouth in such a spectacular fashion, but this is the time to admit you were wrong and move on, not dig your hole even deeper.

No he's right. Take an intro course to philosophy, humanism is a thing that already has a meaning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_humanism_in_Northern_Europe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Humanism

I don't need an intro course to philosophy to be able to google the definition of humanism.

1. any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests,values, and dignity predominate.

A mode of thought centered on human values, interests and dignity. Equal pay for equal work definitely falls under either of those categories. Is feminism a more special case? Yes. But that is exactly the distinction the original poster wanted to make. Why is this discussion going in circles? Oh yeah, because we're online discussing feminism.

@shinjin977: You make a good point, however it's not so much a case of trying to take away a person's "identity" (which must be incredibly flimsy if it is so reliant in a single term to warrant death threats when said label comes under critical scrutiny): it's more a case of trying to get rid of the negative, socially outcast image that the term perpetrates.

Take @heyguys's examples, for instance. The term foodie is bullshit for a lot of reasons - one of them being the fact that we all love food, granting that specific label a particularly arrogant undertone - but it is not detrimental to the food industry. "Gamers", unlike "film buffs", or "readers", have a very specific stereotype attributed to them. They are often perceived in the mass media as something close to social pariahs. It's a reductive label with detrimental effects, that hamper the growth and maturity of this industry into something bigger, better, and more widespread.

To strengthen my point: I challenge you to count how many press conferences, trailers, PR spokespeople, or other verbal forms of marketing specifically namedrop "movie buffs" or "foodies". The prevalence of the term "gamer" in the video-game industry proves a lot about it, and makes its effect all the more noxious. It turns this industry into one that markets to itself.

It's not a term worth keeping just for the sake of teenagers and young adults who seek an "identity" by, ironically, branding themselves as part of a larger group/cult, which, as you pointed out, is precisely what happens, and why people in said group lash out against entirely valid arguments so aggressively.

Perhaps a lot of young people would be better off developing their self-trust in more coherent ways, but that's besides this discussion. I'm not saying "fuck you, stop labelling yourselves" because I hate the people who are doing so, I simply despise the effect said label has on this industry. I want that label to end already, or, less preferably, to radically change facet.

In this thread, someone states what they identify as, and someone ridiculed them and accused them of sexism because that person said they weren't a feminist. Even when it's something as personal and impossible to argue such as what someone persobally identifies as, even when the person says they believe in the same things as the in-group, failing to agree that you're a member of the in-group means that you're a ignorant, mansplaining asshole.

@gloomytangent said:

@promanari:

Courtesy of xkcd.

This is fantastic.

Over the last few weeks we've tried to be as accommodating to as many viewpoints as possible, and I think the consequent discussion has been beneficial to all involved. Having said that, we aren't robots, and we're now getting to the point where everyone is pretty fed up of hearing about the same arguments over and over again. That's why we've declared the next week to be exclusively Sunshine and Smiles.

Get involved.

FFS, the word you're looking for is egalitarianism, not humanism. Humanism is centered on promoting human values and opposing things that dehumanize individuals, not things that don't promote equality. You literally gave the definition and then disregarded exactly what it said.

OK, the last few posts in here have been increasingly off-topic, rude and generally just silly. I'm locking it, and I'm going to re-iterate that it's sunshine and smiles week. Yaay!