http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/15/straight-white-male-the-lowest-difficulty-setting-there-is/

couldn't decide whether or not to add some mild trolling so i'm just going to post the link

blogs should be illegal

duh, is this a contest or something

Definitely the lowest difficulty, but because of that there are more high scores in this mode. So the standards are higher.

hey guys did you know that the grass is green

i just read an interesting article about how the sun is hot

hey guys did you know whales are mammals, i read it on a blog and now i feel smug

did you guys know that children are young humans?

trotsky I just had to explain what male privilege was to you like 2 days ago

poor pitiful oppressed middle class white college educated charmbag :(

I can really see your grasp on feminism 101 here

i think you operate under the delusion that i'm more gender-typical than i actually am

I think you operate under the illusion that it matters

poor oppressed sensitive Nice Guy. I hope feminism comes to his rescue!!!

redbreegull in a skirt, everyone.

as far as I can tell, this really comes down to you being annoyed that feminism isn't about you, and your unwillingness to acknowledge the extent of your privileges you get just for being born male. I'm actually not here to whine about how oppressed I am. I'm trying to move toward a political goal that is a lot bigger than me. quit navel gazing and support the cause or fuck off.

I think it's profoundly absurd that you don't think men can also suffer under the expectations, requirements, and oppression of the established patriarchal order.

and then as soon as i say that, it "doesn't compare"

but then later "it's not a contest of who's oppressed more"

men are not oppressed as a class. you may suffer as an individual, but that has nothing to do with feminism either way. this is exactly what this article that you think is so pedestrian is trying to explain.

it's hilarious to me that you try to peg me as a long-suffering self-martyr, when every time we talk it is you who complains and complains about how hard you personally have it. if you wanna complain about how bad it is for men become an MRA and make your own thread about it, so we can all laugh at you.

i don't actually have it hard at all, and neither do you.

All you do is work to create division, separation, and conflict.

i don't actually have it hard at all, and neither do you.

I have many privileges. I do not have "the hardest difficulty setting" at all. k?

I'll own up to my white/economic privileges always and my male privilege in general, but just because I'm not gay or transgendered doesn't mean that I don't struggle with what I see as a society weighted in favor of a specific <i>gender role</I>.

patriarchy is based on the oppression of the female sex. gender is the role each sex is shunted into in order to preserve male power.

if you wanted to be serious about this you should list all properties of a human being that are relevant for creating an easy difficulty setting. a straight white male can be born without arms and legs and have a disfigured face and thus have a harder difficulty setting than a healthy gay black male born in Mbongo - Africa. Conclusion, straight white male isn't automatically the easiest difficulty setting so he's WRONG!

i opened my invisible knapsack and all i found was condoms and hooch

What about males who white people see as Mexican and Mexicans see as white.

We are marginalized! Who will stand up for us -- err, I mean, THEM!

Pop that pussy.

if you wanted to be serious about this you should list all properties of a human being that are relevant for creating an easy difficulty setting. a straight white male can be born without arms and legs and have a disfigured face and thus have a harder difficulty setting than a healthy gay black male born in Mbongo - Africa. Conclusion, straight white male isn't automatically the easiest difficulty setting so he's WRONG!

Being armless comes after being dickless.

men are not oppressed as a class.

>>implying classes exist
>>using the master's tools

The problem with all of your deconstructionism is you yourself still rely on terms like patriarchal, male, female, class, et cetera. You imply this is a male structure yet you decry the use of male/female boundaries and systems. So if male/female does not exist, how can a system have a masculine or male gender?

Charmbag, might I suggest you revamp your argument to claim merely that this is a system made by the more powerful, for the more powerful, rather than by males for males, or by men for men. Although if you were to accept that proposition, you would also have to accept that it predominantly favors males, thereby further implying males are predominantly more powerful.



GOOD DAY MADAM.

Decrying them doesn't mean denying they exist. You sound like those "I don't see race" white people

Males and females definitely exist

I SAID GOOD DAY.

This thread is like a flytrap

You give the system a gender but you argue there is no such thing as gender?

Just something to think about.

I don't "give a system a gender"

Thanks for taking a stab in the dark though. Next?

male privilege

patriarchy is based on the oppression of the female

The thing you do here. It voids your argument. Deal with it.

I just don't get how you can operate under these parameters but suggest they're invalid simultaneously. Just something to think about.

Acknowledging that society privileges one group over another based on sex is not how I understand the mostly nonsensical phrase "give a system a gender"

I'm not sure what's complicated about this. Males and females exist. Society privileges males over females. End of.

Society is what people do. All people. Where you at?

trotsky I just had to explain what male privilege was to you like 2 days ago

ding ding ding

The real problem here is bros before hos. But hos are so easy and willing to be oppressed, and bros are great at it. It's the evolutionary equivalent of being sexually attracted to fire.

That's ridiculous, shut up.

hey guys did you know whales are mammals, i read it on a blog and now i feel smug

if it swims in the water its a fish dammit

Acknowledging that society privileges one group over another based on sex is not how I understand the mostly nonsensical phrase "give a system a gender"

if you give a system a gender, it will want some milk

That's ridiculous, shut up.

lol

Of all the things in this thread, you respond to that. I'm ashamed for both of us.

There's barely anything worth responding to in this embarrassing thread. Trying to express anything remotely contrary to what arrogant psuedo-religious know-it-alls already accept as completely iron-clad universal truth, is a complete waste of time, but you're just being a shithead.

hey guys did you know that the grass is green

.

hey lets try to quantify everyone's hardships and create a working hierarchy of difficulty of life i'm sure this will be productive use of our time

i'm sure it'll really bring us all together to cooperate as one

we should also let black men know how much the patriarchal system favors their maleness, i don't think they got that memo.

Hey don't get butthurt because no matter how much agreeing with Charmbag you've done she still bitches at you.

lol

Lets make the rule that if you are "straight," white and male you can't think or do anything without being sexist or oppressive and just stop talking about this altogether, because these threads are completely pointless. There's no exchange of ideas there's just people talking past each other, broadcasting their personal philosophy and trying to intellectually one-up each other and condescend and marginalize anyone that has any sort of alternate perspective.

I've made my attempts to be civil and foster discussion but I can't take this blatantly fundamentalist pseudo-religious judgmental approach to philosophy. You guys have fun with it.

I hope I'm not supposed to be reading any of these posts you're making

haha

i don't just play on the easiest setting, i couple that with a game genie and the konami code.

hey lets try to quantify everyone's hardships and create a working hierarchy of difficulty of life i'm sure this will be productive use of our time

that's not the purpose of that blog post. its purpose is to explain what "male privilege" means and, equally importantly, what it doesn't mean. it's trying to dispel the common "yeah but i have problems too" tactic you tend to rely on in these types of discussions. no one's saying you don't!

the follow-up post (http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/05/17/lowest-difficulty-setting-follow-up/) is worth a read, btw, and responds to many of the objections you've raised (albeit not the straw man above)

i never denied male privilege

but i'm done with this. i quit. i don't care anymore. you guys have fun congratulating yourselves for being ever so smart and progressive.

Turn up the difficulty - suck a cock or two.

MonteIT

did you guys know that children are young humans?

Not me :(

I defend my right to marry a child. Debate me.

You can't marry me because we're both males though.

I'm assuming.

and a paperback book

if anyone is still on this subject:

why is it that straight white males are making any issues about their role in society in the first place? wouldn't it be better to assist demolishing the boundaries that categorically <i>define</i> their lives as "EZ MODE." saying those roles that have been cast on minorities, gays, women 'aren't so bad' and that people need to 'get off it' is pretty shallow and pointless at best, and hurtful and vicious at worst.

healthy people should stop talking about the cut on their finger to cancer patients.

guilt and shame when pointed out by others

You can't marry me because we're both males though.

I'm assuming.

Wanna find out?

Raising the difficulty.

You're raising more than my difficulty over here, daddy.

Let's try and make things harder then.

max difficulty

finish quicker

Are there unlockables for finishing it on the hardest difficulty?

only the <i>chain on my heart.</i>

Well there's Single Player+ that lets you keep all your items and all your experience from the first time you beat it.

I want to travel back to the beginning of the game and fuck up my enemies with no challenge.

Why not form an alliance with them?

i think you have to play through one time before you can unlock all the cool stuff

i never denied male privilege

but i'm done with this. i quit. i don't care anymore. you guys have fun congratulating yourselves for being ever so smart and progressive.

ah, i will. ah, thanks *clink*

thank god for save states

lol this convo got pretty nerdy

i'm not apologizing

http://images.wikia.com/kingsquest/images/b/b5/Cedric.PNG

i don't just play on the easiest setting, i couple that with a game genie and the konami code.

No shame.

http://i.imgur.com/V2ILA.gif

http://images.wikia.com/kingsquest/images/b/b5/Cedric.PNG

<object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UrFcWcRmjec?version=3&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UrFcWcRmjec?version=3&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>

I was trying to find the one legged busboy bit but found this.

http://youtu.be/-GmalfC_loM

I guess it illustrates the same point but not as intended.

i'd trade places with chris rock are you srs

i'd trade places with chris rock are you srs

:rolleyes: No white guy would ever want to trade places with a healthy, in-shape, rich, famous black man who lives in a mansion.

if we were talking "would you trade places with chris rock right now" yes, absolutely

would I trade places with chris rock cierca 1984? No. 1996? Probably not. Now? well he is going to be in Grown-Ups 2 so...maybe not.

Cierca that special though i always thought that joke was weird.

Nah I wouldn't want to trade lives with Chris Rock because I would lose out on getting taxi rides.

if we were talking "would you trade places with chris rock right now" yes, absolutely

would I trade places with chris rock cierca 1984? No. 1996? Probably not. Now? well he is going to be in Grown-Ups 2 so...maybe not.

Cierca that special though i always thought that joke was weird.

I thought the same thing. In the context of what he was talking about he didn't seem to be talking about trading places with him at birth.

Nah I wouldn't want to trade lives with Chris Rock because I would lose out on getting taxi rides.

Take a limo!

This thread needs this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg48ZZ2wYfM

Take a limo!

As the driver?

I thought the same thing. In the context of what he was talking about he didn't seem to be talking about trading places with him at birth.

in the context of right now i'd rather commit suicide than be in a movie with Kevin James, Adam Sandler and <i>especially</I> David Spade

David Spade was awesome on Just Shoot Me and the first couple of seasons of Rules of Engagement. But yeah everything else he's done has been horrible. I can understand why people don't like him.

in the context of right now i'd rather commit suicide than be in a movie with Kevin James, Adam Sandler and <i>especially</I> David Spade

:rofl:

Speaking of genders and difficulty settings

http://femfreq.tumblr.com/post/52673540142/twitter-vs-female-protagonists-in-video-games

i can't even read that shit

femshep for president

so tired of Mr. Dude the roguishly handsome protagonist/"you"

seriously though who should be criticized more, the jackoff LCD gamer the game companies are catering to or the studios that aren't taking the chance to be progressive?

i mean keeping in mind that up-scale RPGs are customize-a-character and enable female protagonists

does this message board do anything else at this point besides putting down what 80% of us are? last i checked straight white males were widely different.

:cry: