"Forgive me my nonsense, as I also forgive the nonsense of those that think they talk sense."
Driving back from the gym this morning, I encountered a piece on Morning Edition about the need for more LGBTQ characters in video games.
Really? Frankly, I never thought to ask Mario or Dig Dug about their sexuality. Do they have one? What does sexual orientation mean in a universe of ones and zeroes? "I was born Android, but I identify as an Apple."
Always helpful of NPR to remind me that there's slant and silliness on the left as well as the right.
Less amusing but in the same vein was an essay this morning in the Atlantic by a former NYT opinion columnist, banished from the building for not toeing the line politically in a newsroom that's lost itself in a leftie echo chamber.
Frankly, I find both sides annoying, although I have to admit I'm more comfortable in places governed by the left-center than the Christian nationalist right. There was also a piece on the radio this morning about legislation in Florida that would allow volunteer chaplains to act as guidance counselors in our K-12 schools. Ye gods. A trojan horse if ever there was one. A bible college yokel whose response to everything from how to handle a bully to whether a kid should enlist or go straight to college is likely going to be "have you prayed to Jesus for help?" isn't going to add much useful "guidance" to the conversation.
So I switched off the news, and returned to the wonderful playlist I found on Spotify while I was pushing a little steel in the gym. It's a compilation of all the music from the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which in turn draw heavily from the early '70s. My musical season, for whatever reason. I guess my mom always had the a.m. radio blasting in the Opel, so it's the soundtrack of elementary school.
Besides, how can you have a bad day with Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love" or the Raspberries' "Go All the Way" thumping along with you in traffic?
So by the time I was back at the condo, my old man annoyance had subsided a bit.
But returning to this problem of shouting down opposing views, this past week the phenomenon manifested in the most unlikely of places, the Panama City Downtown Kiwanis Club.
This is, for those unfamiliar, a nice, nice group of folks. Lots of Q-tips, of course, but also a lot of racial, age, and gender diversity, all working to make this place a little better and a little kinder.
This past Wednesday we'd scheduled a Black History Month presentation featuring an old friend of mine, now a judge, who fell ill with the flu the night before. So another friend, a lawyer I've tried cases against and with whom I shared a babysit throughout our kids' childhood, agreed to pinch-hit. His off-the-cuff program featured thirty-five books on black history and culture that we might consider reading during February, and maybe beyond. It was a thoughtful list, including poets and race scholars and historians from a wide spectrum of views. Some of the books hit topics that make those of us raised with a hagiographic view of our Founding Fathers squirm, such as Thomas Jefferson's relationship with Sally Hemings and their children he also owned. Or the time George Washington sent his nephew into free New Hampshire to try to recapture Martha's chambermaid, a woman named Ona Judge who ran off while George was serving as President in also free Philadelphia. (he failed BTW, and she died free).
All part of the complex tapestry of our past. But also apparently too much for one young, white member, who wrote one of the most scathing resignation letters I've ever read. He berated the club for allowing this "bullshit" to be presented at a meeting, for tolerating what he saw as defamation of great men, for cowardly applause at the end of the talk. I was floored, but also a little disappointed. This is a highly educated individual with an advanced degree, who in conversation seems witty and self-effacing. Now I'm thinking we may need a metal detector at the door of our meeting room, lest he return to settle scores.
So I'll just let Redbone bounce around in my head, try to do a little billable work, and check my certitudes at the door.
As a white straight male gamer for the last 35 years.. its easy to write off the "we need LGBTQ characters" as silly but representation is always important. Look at the impact of Nyota Uhura on Star Trek for a generation of Americans getting represented on TV in a positive role.
A kid being able to play their favorite game and play a character "like themselves" is along the same thing. To have a connection to their character in a video game is no different than seeing a TV character or real life hero they can identify with and feel they belong and can inspire to be like that person.
Especially when they can turn on the TV…