I've been in a fairly fowl mood ever since last night and find myself in the awkward position of not being able to drown my mind in music, work or games in order to silence it all. It seems that, somewhere over the span of the past who-knows-when, people became unable to discern a joke from a statement. It feels like whenever this happens, the offending joke is rarely "offending", it's more the attitudes of each side that drives me up the wall.
 
What started all this was the current Rape-Joke controversy that penny-arcade is currently embroiled within. To make a dumb story short, last year, Penny arcade made a joke about people being raped to sleep by "dickwolves" a monster that they created that has the body of a wolf, but all of its limbs are each an erect phallus. A particular member of the game development community (I will leave names out since that was part of the problem) took offense, wrote emails, and then put up a lengthy diatribe explaining why Penny Arcade is bad and why we should all feel bad for reading it.  Up until this part of the story, I really didn't care and honestly couldn't be bothered to analyze either side. It's a comic strip, not even that funny of one, where the aspect of rape is used as an adjective to the plot, not a result or a cause. It literally is something that has no merit. 
 
it's the next part of the story that really gets on my nerves. The following day (or interval, whatever), another strip was put up which seem like a sort of snarky response towards said diatribe, dismissing it in a very callous way. Poor form, but not the worst thing that has ever happened. The response from said bloggist was to put a series of blog posts on why rape is bad (which to this day is at 52. FIFTY TWO LENGTHY BLOG POSTS ABOUT WHY RAPE IS BAD, AS IF WE DON'T KNOW), many of which still point fingers at Penny Arcade in being rape apologists. Afterwards, Penny Arcade produces a tee-shirt/hoodie combo with a dickwolves logo on it and sells it, making the shirt a symbol of solidarity for penny arcade. Now this isn't necessarily bad, but without taking care of the previous issues, its easy to see why people could take offense. After all, without nipping this in the bud well and early on, you could make the argument that anyone wearing a dickwolves t-shirt is okay with rape. So that was poorly handled. BUT THEN, one certain bloggist makes DICKWOLF SURVIVOR t-shirts in an effort to combat against penny arcade and raise more awareness that the site and anyone associated with it are rape apologists. 
 
And it was about at this point where I started to wonder when the world had lost it's god damn mind and if we could ever get it back.  Everything in the aforementioned paragraph is fucking childish, petty, BULLSHIT.
 
I understand how this happens. Groups based in comedy are always looking to push the envelop, so they come up with things that aren't in the best taste. Sometimes those things get popular and are emulated by those who subscribe to the source material. it's commonplace; it's the stuff that memes are made of. And there will always be people who fly off the handle and take it too seriously, calling for a stop to it all so more feelings don't get hurt. Hell, Tipper Gore was famous for it during the rap revolution of the late 80's/early 90's. This won't be the last time it ever happens. 
 
I feel though, as a species approximately 5000 years into modern civilization, that we need to cope with our feelings a little better than this. I don't make apologies for either side. I like the penny arcade guys, I think the things they've done for hospitalized children through their child's play charity is wonderful. And I've seen and revere the works of a few of these offended bloggers (hell, I've been to the offices of one in the not too distant past as we live in the same city and we're both in the biz). The point where both sides could come away looking like rational adults who have a disparaging opinion has long since past. What we have now are petty, stupid, he-said, she-did, I'm so smart so you should listen to me, you don't know what you're talking about so you're opinion is invalid, bickering non-sense. And it has to stop. 
 
If the penny arcade guys wanted the dickwolves to be a great logo for the site, they should have provided it with more background regarding the symbol. I know it's similar to a sports logo and it's not that out of the question thinking of it as a sort of "The fighting dickwolves" type deal which is why the whole thing comes off as lazier than it should. It wouldn't have been hard for those two to come up with something. Hell, the dickwolves was the name for the official PA WOW Guild for a while, THAT IS REASON ENOUGH!  Without it, the entire notion of dickwolves comes off as ambiguous and potentially offensive, and can be PR suicide for your COMPANY which is something you need to think about before you start marketing things (I'm often amazed by some of the shirts that come out from enthusiast sites, and more by the people who actually wear them in public).  If the woman who was the most vocal in all this wanted to be taken seriously, she shouldn't have marketed a counter product in order to feast on the sympathies of people in similar situations. It makes you look opportunistic and crass to the actual issue at hand, which submarines your whole point since she claims to be a survivor herself. And generalizing the people who actually read these blog posts as "Ignorant neckbeards who do nothing buy play video games" does not help your cause either. If you're writing these, you're trying to branch out to communities you are not regularly a part of, so leading out with "All you dumb boys just don't get why my feelings are hurt" isn't a great way to express your point or pull people to your side. I found it really sickening to have to watch war veterans explain the effects of PTS Triggers in a god damn comments page because the blog posts did such a poor job of explaining things and served to only sensationalize the entire affair.
 
But in the end, I point the finger the squarest and hardest at those lurking upon the Internet, feasting upon all this drama, getting over involved and succumbing to its overinflated hype. I get upset when I hear about people in games journalism boycotting things like PAX because of silly stupid squabbling like this, and I get VERY PISSED OFF when people ask me to take sides and try to prey on my moral standards. That is not fair to anyone and no one should be vilified for their difference of opinion, ESPECIALLY WHEN THE SUBJECT MATERIAL IS SO DAMN TRIVIAL. To be fair, I learned about this whole ordeal while pursuing /v/ looking for more information on Marvel Vs. Capcom 3. What I found were THOUSANDS of hateful ignorant knee jerk responses from countless people who thought their sensibilities were being attacked and HOW DARE SHE BE SO INSOLENT, LET'S TAKE THIS FUCKER DOWN. And on the other side, we have the death threats against Jerry Holkin's Wife and child. OVER A COMIC STRIP. This is the garbage that is killing the common sense of the planet.
 
So I have made the decision to not care anymore. I'm done following this story. just like with the Orson Scott Card/Chair Interactive issue last year, I will continue to do what I want. I will not make changes to my day, I will not stop doing the things I like because people who's opinion I revered have decided to act in a extreme method based on what they may or may not see. I will continue to read Penny Arcade, I will continue to visit the blogs of game developers who make products I find appealing,  I will be at PAX, I would engage in the festivities, and I will enjoy myself dammit, because life is too short. Now, if anyone wants to have a dialogue with me at PAX over this, I'd be more than welcome to have one, as long as it doesn't keep me from going to anything I want to see. Which is now less than it was yesterday due to this nonsense. 
 
It truly feels like we, as a society, are forgetting how to take a joke. In my twitter feed today, someone linked me to a tweet from Kenneth Cole Inc, saying an approximation of "Now e know why Egypt is in such an uproar, THE NEW KENNETH COLE SPRING LINE IS OUT!" Crass? Idiotic? In poor taste? Absolutely. Am I going to boycott Kenneth Cole products because of it? Fuck no. I groaned, did a head slap, shook my head and kept reading my twitter feed. If we get offended at everything that can be taken out of context or can be told in poor taste, we will never get anywhere. We need to remember how to laugh as a people.  
 
But I, for one, am tired of being upset over this. I am going to go home, watch tonight's fight club feed, work on cosplay, and start living within my own brainspace again. Because this is the last thing I want to have to worry about.