A couple years ago, I wrote an essay about how atheists view religion, and last night some family friends came over. We had a lengthy and fruitful debate about a variety of topics, but one of which was about how Christianity is starting to decline in the United States. Our friends were about as excited about the decline as I was, and although we used different language (I was speaking in Foucauldian terms, he historical/religious), we both agreed that the decline would help restore the authenticity of religious faith.
In my previous essay (link above), I had written that atheists find it difficult to view religion as an authentic mode of belief because it was the dominant power structure, adding that demagogues had hijacked it, making it incredibly difficult to distinguish between actual Christians and those who were either along for the ride or who used it to conveniently justify their own prejudices.
Christianity's popular decline will force two things to happen: Being a Christian (think of Heideggerian connotations) will be more difficult as the religion evolves to cope with shifting demographics, and widespread acceptance of previously maligned minorities, forcing religious believers to rethink what believing really means. Many Christians are already inspired toward social justice and positive social change through their religious belief, so these, I would go so far as to say, are already ahead, but those who favored discrimination will have to quickly make amends or be abandoned. Furthermore, those who have been defeated on this and other issues will face the most daunting theological challenges as their positions not only fail to satisfy the needs of their constituents, but also fail to sway outsiders to their cause. No longer can simply calling one a "Christian" be sufficient when expressing prejudiced opinions, but it also can no longer shield one from ridicule or rejection; no longer do those calling themselves Christians automatically gain moral high ground for otherwise unpopular and xenophobic opinions.
The second thing that will happen is that Christianity will be forced to cope with competing ideologies, and must quickly learn to play nicely with others. Immediately following 9/11, the leaders of the Christian Conservative movement moved to assert power and began attacking, both verbally and legislatively, a whole swath of minority groups that they had previously battled. Jerry Falwell, on the 700 Club the day after 9/11, listed virtually every non-Christian minority and placed direct blame on them for the WTC attacks simply by virtue of not being in line with his narrow ideology. This trend continued unabated to the present day, with the Christianists (in conversation, I regrettably reverted to "Christians" as a gross generalization. Old habits die hard) acting largely with impunity, passing same-sex marriage bans across the nation, injecting their own brand of bad theology into science classrooms, and wielding undue influence on public school reading material and sex education. The latter has yet to be corrected. Through it all, this large group of Knights Templar employed xenophobic rhetoric unbecoming of a movement connected--supposedly--to such an altruistic figure, and this rhetoric largely went unchallenged for a good span of time until the oppressed (specifically the LGBQ* community) organized and began to gain sympathy for their cause. Because of the success of the LGBQ community and the hateful rhetoric of the Christianists, people--especially Millennials--saw the Christianists for what they were and came out, regardless of their own sexual identities, in support for LGBQ rights.
What further complicates the issue--and also further incentivizes support for minority causes--is that many LGBTQϟ people once were and/or want to be religious. This is a very important phenomenon. While I myself don't quite understand it--I don't understand why African Americans are religious either, but that's neither here nor there--it takes some serious frakking guts to want to be open to religious belief after what they've been through. There is a very unique opportunity being given to religious belief here, and were religious leaders to take it, LGBTQ Christians would not only help proliferate the religion like no one else could, but also do wonders for helping certain Christian communities resemble, to a significant degree, what it was when it first started. But there is a caveat to be established, a certain warning to be sounded, because it is at the same likely that religious leaders may still view LGBTQ people with disdain: the unfair and equally condemning "Hate the sin, love the sinner" refrain, which is merely thinly-veiled contempt.
At this point, I feel I should address why I wrote this essay. If I'm an atheist, what interest do I have in the issues facing a demographic I am no longer a part of? In the 11 years I've spent studying and following this issue, the less sure I can be that it's the fault of Christianity itself. Furthermore, I don't think it's quite fair to leave those who are open to change in the religious community in the dust. There are people who are called to social justice and are really trying to make Christianity resemble its original intentions, instead of using it as a platform for their own prejudices and a weapon of disenfranchisement against people they don't understand.
We would be better off if we take the opportunity to get involved, to--forgive the metaphor--reforge their swords into plowshares. A mutual understanding benefits everyone in our society and allows everyone to get what they want. My real hope is that there is something beyond simply fending off the Christianists every election cycle, a way out of the mutual distrust we have felt for one another for so long.
Don't forget, also, that we may get something out of such an exchange: We receive the recognition and the respect we need, leading to the expansion of minority rights, among other issues that we care about. I personally want to restore NASA's budget, boost science education in public schools, and counteract global climate change. There are many on the other side of the religious divide that are more than willing to join us on these initiatives. Theological evolution? Sure, I'll take it, as long as the science remains intact. Christians are also called to be "good stewards" of the Earth, and thus have a divinely-mandated duty to stop climate change. Let's get them on board!
There is another reason why we should come to an understanding: The debate itself is so much fun!
*: The transgender/transsexual communities continue to get shafted by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer community, so their struggle continues. So little is still known about them by outsiders, and they are still unfairly delegitimized by greater society. I am leaving them out only because they have not yet gained full recognition and are still fighting. I am personally sympathetic to their cause.
ϟ: I will include them here because I am not discussing the civil rights movement
Thursday, December 4, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Noroi: The Curse is the Greatest Found Footage Horror Film Ever Made
The found footage subgenre has exploded in the past 14 years with the release of The Blair Witch Project, leading to franchises such as Quarantine (REC in the US), Paranormal Activity, and myriad other low-budget frightfests, but none of them ever come close to the sheer authenticity and terror of Noroi: The Curse ("Noroi" actually means "curse" in Japanese, so the title is redundant), a little-known film quietly released in 2005.
When most people try to name Japanese horror films they've seen, they name such films as Ringu, Ju-On, Kairo, or Audition. While all of these are excellent, none are as deeply unsettling as Noroi: The Curse.
Without giving too much away, Noroi is the story of a paranormal investigator and his cameraman who are investigating a series of mysterious disappearances centering around a woman named Junko Ishii, a middle-aged recluse, and her son, and encounter a young girl named Kana, who has psychokinetic powers. Eventually, they team up with a famous TV personality and a hikikomori who covers himself in aluminum foil and keeps freaking out about "worms."
Noroi takes itself very seriously, and splices footage from Japanese TV and public access interviews, as well as local historical records and urban legends to provide subtle hints as to what's going on, and does a fantastic job of establishing and maintaining its authenticity right to the ending credits.
The sheer, disturbing beauty of Noroi is that everything is constructed to be as real as possible. There is only about 15 seconds of CGI, and it is startlingly effective, and absolutely not anything the audience would expect. The actual paranormal phenomena in question stays true to traditional Japanese folklore; in fact, I believe that were anything to actually happen, it would work exactly as presented in the film.
Nothing in Noroi is ever expected or predictable; the movie works so well because it has no convention. When one actually discovers what's going on in the second hour of the movie, one's jaw will hit the floor, as it is much, much worse than any monster that could possibly appear on screen.
Noroi works so well because is not a movie that will shock you with jump scares or fast cuts to disturbing images. It doesn't intend to gross you out by showing you blood and guts, no girls coming out of your TV, or bloody mothers gurgling down the stairs; rather it is what's underneath the events in the film that will keep you up after you watch it. The very story is terrifying, and how the film handles what it has presented to you when the credits roll only serves to drive the whole thing home and make your insomnia that much worse. No other found footage films ever address how they actually got "found" and released to the public. Noroi takes special care to include this detail to the audience's satisfaction, and that is one of the primary reasons why it is so utterly horrifying.
Noroi: The Curse is freely available on Youtube in its entirety You can view it here
Happy belated Halloween!
Friday, October 24, 2014
GamerGate is Really Pissing Me Off
By now, the entire Internet is aflame over #GamerGate, which is best described as a misogynistic anonymous swarm of users on 4chan and Reddit who, under the false guise of "journalism ethics", seek to silence feminist critics of video games, namely Anita Sarkeesian, whose video series Tropes Vs Women in Video Games seeks to shed light on misogynistic undercurrents of video game plots and gameplay mechanics.
To recap, Eron Gjoni, an ex-boyfriend of Zoe Quinn, the creator of the brilliant (in my opinion) Depression Quest, alleged that she had slept with a Kotaku writer in exchange for positive coverage of the game when it was released on Steam1. Kotaku investigated the incident, and found no conflict of interest2. Unfortunately, despite the immediate issue being resolved to satisfaction, GamerGate only stepped up its resolve, and began targeting not just Zoe Quinn, but a whole swath of female personalities not only in gaming, but also in geek culture at large. Their primary target right now is Anita Sarkeesian, whose video series mentioned above has already angered many a hikikomori, but they have also attacked Brianna Wu, and even actress Felicia Day, who was "doxxed" (had her personal address discovered and shared on the Internet for the intent to intimidate and harass) for a rather innocuous and mournful Tumblr post3.
Many, such as the famous Chris Kluwe, have already succinctly expressed how I feel about GamerGate, but I feel the need to further explain why GamerGate is so toxic to gaming generally, especially when bastions of "old media" are becoming more accepting of the medium as an art form4.
It isn't quite enough to simply say that GamerGaters (GamerGators?) are the lowest dregs of modern society who should slither back into the filthy holes from which they first appeared; like it or not, the appearance of this phenomenon will irrevocably harm, if not entirely destroy, the hopes of the gaming culture to become an accepted art form, something that at leased used to seem important, back when Roger Ebert said he'd rather read Huckleberry Finn than play a video game.
The truth is, we need women in gaming. Unbeknownst to many, women have contributed a great deal to many of our favorite games. Amy Hennig was responsible not only for Uncharted, but also for the famous Legacy of Kain series. Jane Jensen created Gabriel Knight. and Roberta Williams wrote King's Quest.
I've been playing Counter-Strike in all of its forms starting when it was released (I started playing at version 1.5, I believe), and I have never played in a clan in which women were not present. Over the 14 or so years I have been shooting virtual avatars, I have met a fair number of women on the battlefield, and all of these women were fully capable of playing the game at least as confidently, if not more than the male players. One of these women exclusively uses the shotgun and calls herself ShotgunSally. As an ally, ShotgunSally is invaluable: If the rest of the team were to be eliminated, she can always be depended upon to complete the objective. As an adversary, Sally is terrifying.
A few days ago, RockPaperShotgun published an article about a freeware title called CHYRZA by Kitty Horrorshow5. I got the opportunity to play it late last night, and it was absolutely brilliant. The Unity game revolved around a small desert community in which a giant black pyramid appears on the outskirts of the village and summons inhabitants inside, causing them to disappear. It was a short and haunting game that I would recommend to everyone.
That women not only want to play games but also take part in their creation is beneficial to all of us not only as intelligent human beings, but also as gamers. One argument I've read was that because [gamers] have historically been bullied by women and have thus retreated to video games and other technological hobbies as an escape from daily ridicule, the phenomenon of women who want to partake in "our" culture is seen as an invasion. This is ridiculous. The reason is that because women--and greater society generally--are looking to take a more positive look at video gaming, people who play games no longer have to feel alienated, which is, ironically, something that these isolated boys have secretly wished for forever. There isn't a gamer on this planet who has not secretly wished for a "gamer girlfriend", and now that it is becoming a reality, they are terrified of it.
Because of the growing interest of women, the variety of stories and perspectives gamers are going to be exposed to will expand indefinitely. This is a very good thing. Earlier, I mentioned CHYRZA by Kitty Horrorshow, but there are more examples. Many of the games created by women are critical successes, such as Gone Home, Portal, and Journey, in addition to those I mentioned previously.
Gamers claim that it is important to them that video games are recognized as art, but in silencing critics like Anita Sarkeesian for pointing out what she feels is misogynistic in popular games (one of the games she mentioned in her latest video happens to be one of my personal favorites), GamerGaters can't have their cake, and eat it, too. Part of something being "art" is finding deeper meaning in what's going on under the surface of any story: text, film, or game, and being able to analyze it in a way that is relevant to the greater culture as a whole. And you know what? Anita Sarkeesian is actually right about what she's saying. It would be absurd for me to be offended at what she's saying, and absolutely Kafkaesque in the cruelest sense to silence her for stating what is a reasonable, well-researched opinion.
What Sarkeesian is actually doing is offering developers the opportunity to write better games; games that deliver to us a much wider variety of experiences, and this is, ultimately, what gaming is all about. The very best games tell memorable stories, make us think about our own lives, and ponder the big questions, such as, "What can change the nature of a man?"
Trying to alienate women from gaming vis-a-vis GamerGate has done enormous and irreparable damage to the gaming community in all aspects. As women leave gaming, terrified of severe persecution by Knights Templars*, the quality of games will stagnate, and we will never experience the games that we could have had. Once, gamers had a chance to be accepted into mainstream culture without others looking askance at their virtual hobbies, but GamerGate has all but dashed their hopes, projecting once again the image of basement-dwelling, neckbearded, odorous hikikomoris. As long as GamerGate continues, everything that gamers have wanted will be far beyond their grasp.
1) http://gawker.com/the-angry-ex-who-ignited-gamergate-has-no-regrets-1647186033
2) http://kotaku.com/in-recent-days-ive-been-asked-several-times-about-a-pos-1624707346
3) http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/23/felicia-days-public-details-online-gamergate
4) https://medium.com/the-cauldron/why-gamergaters-piss-me-the-f-off-a7e4c7f6d8a6 -- Chris Kluwe originally tweeted a colorful condemnation of GamerGate, but I can't find it. I have just discovered that he wrote this wonderful essay as a devastating salvo against the "movement".
5) http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/21/chyrza-horror/
*: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KnightTemplar
To recap, Eron Gjoni, an ex-boyfriend of Zoe Quinn, the creator of the brilliant (in my opinion) Depression Quest, alleged that she had slept with a Kotaku writer in exchange for positive coverage of the game when it was released on Steam1. Kotaku investigated the incident, and found no conflict of interest2. Unfortunately, despite the immediate issue being resolved to satisfaction, GamerGate only stepped up its resolve, and began targeting not just Zoe Quinn, but a whole swath of female personalities not only in gaming, but also in geek culture at large. Their primary target right now is Anita Sarkeesian, whose video series mentioned above has already angered many a hikikomori, but they have also attacked Brianna Wu, and even actress Felicia Day, who was "doxxed" (had her personal address discovered and shared on the Internet for the intent to intimidate and harass) for a rather innocuous and mournful Tumblr post3.
Many, such as the famous Chris Kluwe, have already succinctly expressed how I feel about GamerGate, but I feel the need to further explain why GamerGate is so toxic to gaming generally, especially when bastions of "old media" are becoming more accepting of the medium as an art form4.
It isn't quite enough to simply say that GamerGaters (GamerGators?) are the lowest dregs of modern society who should slither back into the filthy holes from which they first appeared; like it or not, the appearance of this phenomenon will irrevocably harm, if not entirely destroy, the hopes of the gaming culture to become an accepted art form, something that at leased used to seem important, back when Roger Ebert said he'd rather read Huckleberry Finn than play a video game.
The truth is, we need women in gaming. Unbeknownst to many, women have contributed a great deal to many of our favorite games. Amy Hennig was responsible not only for Uncharted, but also for the famous Legacy of Kain series. Jane Jensen created Gabriel Knight. and Roberta Williams wrote King's Quest.
I've been playing Counter-Strike in all of its forms starting when it was released (I started playing at version 1.5, I believe), and I have never played in a clan in which women were not present. Over the 14 or so years I have been shooting virtual avatars, I have met a fair number of women on the battlefield, and all of these women were fully capable of playing the game at least as confidently, if not more than the male players. One of these women exclusively uses the shotgun and calls herself ShotgunSally. As an ally, ShotgunSally is invaluable: If the rest of the team were to be eliminated, she can always be depended upon to complete the objective. As an adversary, Sally is terrifying.
A few days ago, RockPaperShotgun published an article about a freeware title called CHYRZA by Kitty Horrorshow5. I got the opportunity to play it late last night, and it was absolutely brilliant. The Unity game revolved around a small desert community in which a giant black pyramid appears on the outskirts of the village and summons inhabitants inside, causing them to disappear. It was a short and haunting game that I would recommend to everyone.
That women not only want to play games but also take part in their creation is beneficial to all of us not only as intelligent human beings, but also as gamers. One argument I've read was that because [gamers] have historically been bullied by women and have thus retreated to video games and other technological hobbies as an escape from daily ridicule, the phenomenon of women who want to partake in "our" culture is seen as an invasion. This is ridiculous. The reason is that because women--and greater society generally--are looking to take a more positive look at video gaming, people who play games no longer have to feel alienated, which is, ironically, something that these isolated boys have secretly wished for forever. There isn't a gamer on this planet who has not secretly wished for a "gamer girlfriend", and now that it is becoming a reality, they are terrified of it.
Because of the growing interest of women, the variety of stories and perspectives gamers are going to be exposed to will expand indefinitely. This is a very good thing. Earlier, I mentioned CHYRZA by Kitty Horrorshow, but there are more examples. Many of the games created by women are critical successes, such as Gone Home, Portal, and Journey, in addition to those I mentioned previously.
Gamers claim that it is important to them that video games are recognized as art, but in silencing critics like Anita Sarkeesian for pointing out what she feels is misogynistic in popular games (one of the games she mentioned in her latest video happens to be one of my personal favorites), GamerGaters can't have their cake, and eat it, too. Part of something being "art" is finding deeper meaning in what's going on under the surface of any story: text, film, or game, and being able to analyze it in a way that is relevant to the greater culture as a whole. And you know what? Anita Sarkeesian is actually right about what she's saying. It would be absurd for me to be offended at what she's saying, and absolutely Kafkaesque in the cruelest sense to silence her for stating what is a reasonable, well-researched opinion.
What Sarkeesian is actually doing is offering developers the opportunity to write better games; games that deliver to us a much wider variety of experiences, and this is, ultimately, what gaming is all about. The very best games tell memorable stories, make us think about our own lives, and ponder the big questions, such as, "What can change the nature of a man?"
Trying to alienate women from gaming vis-a-vis GamerGate has done enormous and irreparable damage to the gaming community in all aspects. As women leave gaming, terrified of severe persecution by Knights Templars*, the quality of games will stagnate, and we will never experience the games that we could have had. Once, gamers had a chance to be accepted into mainstream culture without others looking askance at their virtual hobbies, but GamerGate has all but dashed their hopes, projecting once again the image of basement-dwelling, neckbearded, odorous hikikomoris. As long as GamerGate continues, everything that gamers have wanted will be far beyond their grasp.
1) http://gawker.com/the-angry-ex-who-ignited-gamergate-has-no-regrets-1647186033
2) http://kotaku.com/in-recent-days-ive-been-asked-several-times-about-a-pos-1624707346
3) http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/23/felicia-days-public-details-online-gamergate
4) https://medium.com/the-cauldron/why-gamergaters-piss-me-the-f-off-a7e4c7f6d8a6 -- Chris Kluwe originally tweeted a colorful condemnation of GamerGate, but I can't find it. I have just discovered that he wrote this wonderful essay as a devastating salvo against the "movement".
5) http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/10/21/chyrza-horror/
*: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/KnightTemplar
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