Let’s get one thing out of the way: I am by no means a gamer. I am somewhat of a computer geek, but it’s just a tool for something much more important. If the Internet and computers all died tomorrow, I’d simply find another tool for the job. This one happens to be the best available right now. Further, I don’t particularly care for most of the gamers I’ve encountered. They tend to be arrogant little shits who have a poor grasp of reality, who dig so deeply into virtual worlds because they have trouble with the real world.
But so do most other humans, just in different ways. The average Joe and Jane Sixpack prefer to chase their false reality passively through TV and other forms of entertainment. Gamers end up being closer to reality because the rest of the world refuses to get involved in the first place. The fake world of gaming comes closer to the truth for that reason, and gamers deserve at least that little bit of respect.
Let me lay a proper foundation for this discussion. A critical element in the Fall Narrative is this:
And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 MKJV)
Some of this is translated poorly by tradition, and in part because the subtle nuances of Hebrew contextual and symbolic logic are alien to Westerners. The business of “knowing good and evil” carries the idea of having the authority to decide. Satan makes a subtle accusation that God is hogging all the best toys of life for Himself when He’s no better than anyone else. Who made Him God? Anyone from that ancient culture would immediately recognize how utterly preposterous Satan’s comment is.
Yet this is the very same accusation so commonly used by people seeking an excuse to reject revelation. This serves to emphasize the vast difference between our modern world with its common assumptions against those of Ancient Near East (ANE). Without bothering to walk through the entire thought process, Satan jumps right down into a raft of unspoken assumptions, including the notion that there is some objective standard out there somewhere against which we can compare God. Further, Satan implies that if they reject God’s revelation and assert the authority to use their own powers of reasoning to discern this objective truth (the meaning of the symbol “Forbidden Fruit”), they can tell God where to get off.
It won’t matter what brand of logic and reasoning you choose, asserting that as your standard to which God must appeal, the standard itself is a false god. It’s idolizing your own reason and all the failings built into it. It’s an internal attempt to tell God that He isn’t really God. Were He as angry and implacable as most Westerners assume without thinking, everyone making that error would immediately go to Hell. God’s patience is misread as inability to act, or lack of concern. In essence, it provides a false cover, a pretense of holding forth reason when the real issue is one’s personal petty wishes. This is a lie we tell ourselves in Western thinking — and at that, it’s only when we are at our best. Western heritage offers a plethora of even worse logic and self-centered thinking.
This is the fundamental flaw in the whole range of Western assertions of authority. We raise the pretense of some objective standard, but it’s a standard loaded with a million loopholes so folks can grant themselves extra privileges because it’s just part of the job of being boss, a basic necessity for getting the job done. It becomes the excuse for shitting on a lot of other folks who might think differently about what that standard should be. And a whole world of people who simply want to be left alone, people who are unwilling to force their will on others, are treated as hideously evil because they won’t kiss the ass of someone who takes themselves too seriously.
You see it in politics, naturally. It’s prevalent in business, too. And if you don’t see it as part of organized religion, it’s because you refuse to see it. Why should we be surprised when people read their personal god-hood back into every institution that organizes human activity? It’s so ubiquitous that we forget it’s not right. If the people using this trick can get enough others to buy into the system, they will try to make you feel guilty for following your instinct to get away from this game.
And this is what’s behind the Gamergate thing. Wikipedia outright lies about the matter, taking the side of the godlings who demand people kiss their asses. The real story behind it is closer to this. We see that irresistible urge to play god and assert what is good or evil for others. Major businesses that consider their websites the arbiters of what digital games are and should be are now losing money because they weren’t as subtle as Satan in the Garden of Eden. The self-appointed gatekeepers of information about digital games wanted to have their cake and eat it, too, but failed to be the least bit subtle and polished. It was naked, visceral hatred for the people who make the gaming industry possible. Not just consumers, but the folks who design and write the software were vilified.
You’ll find precisely the same behavior in every human endeavor. Wherever you see this thing rear its ugly head, where the ostensible servants (game review business) attempt to assert mastery over those they serve (gamers), it’s a batch of godlings taking themselves too seriously. If there’s one thing so utterly typical of the West, and so utterly shocking to Ancient Near Eastern sensibilities, this is it. This is what sets apart our civilization from all the others. Jesus was the essential Hebrew man who would find our culture stomach-turning. This is why Westerners get so much of the Bible wrong. Organizations claiming to promote the message of Christ blatantly play the same games as you see in Gamergate.
Don’t tell me you are a Christian if you reject the most fundamental assumption of what Jesus taught. Keep your eye on this one thing, in the mirror and in the world around you. Expect it; take it for granted, but never lose sight of what is the fundamental error. One of the few really good things about the Internet is that it makes resistance possible, and the gamers have won this round, but you wouldn’t know that if you keep buying into the mainstream propaganda.
