It's rant time again. Today's topic was touched on briefly in one of my earlier blogs, but I was absolutely floored by something that happened today in chat.
We are all taking part in friendly conversation in Groupees chat for the second Doujin bundle and some random twit logs in and, out of the blue, starts bashing the Japanese. We all know that there have been societal concerns with the declining birth rate and things of that sort, but he starts off by ranting about how the government is saying this and that, but these aren't his opinions because someone else said them. He then starts calling the Japanese retarded because of all of this, yet continues to insist that this is not his opinion, but fact, because someone else said it.
If you are presenting fact that no one arounds you cares about, the value of that fact is, in fact, little more than opinion. Knowledge is only beneficial when it is useful. That information has been old news for close to 20 years now, and the Japanese have gotten better about it by and large, with only a small faction of the Otaku population skewing numbers. Most Japanese, however, aren't otaku. They work their asses off and just want to go home and rest in peace, with their families, if they have them.
Without needing to reference the point that he was trying to make, if you are spouting facts to people who don't care, are already aware, and do not share the chosen interpretation of that face, you are trolling. Trolling, no matter how you dice it, is an unfriendly act. It diminishes the value of the community you are taking in and serves no meaningful purpose unless directed at people who are seaking to break apart your community. Even then, it's not friendly, but do what you must to keep your community intact. If you have to drive out some random a**hole, then do so, but try not to offend everyone in the process of doing so.
So, we finally get him to stop talking about the matter and someone mentions not having enough money to buy the current bundle. Thus spun off into a whole new land of a**holery stemming from the same guy trashtalking him about how he shouldn't be in a chat for games if he can't afford to buy them. When it came up that this guy was unemployed for several years, he was immediately branded as a retard by the problematic chatter, despite knowing nothing about him or his situation.
First of all, the purpose of these chat channels is not to show off that you have money. It's to share in common conversation with people with similar interests, whether you have the money to buy the games or not. Secondly, why would you call someone unemployed a retard....losing a job is not a funny thing. It is not an amusing thing. It is not something to be made fun of. It is something that ruins lives and makes things difficult. For all we know, he may not have had any control over situation. He could live in one of the many states where they can fire you for whatever reason they want and not even give you an explanation. Maybe he did something really cool and made his boss look bad. We'll never know, but not only is it insensitive to harp on the point, but it's stupid to do so. We don't know the circumstances of his demise and it's not our business to.
Buying him a bundle, or anything, isn't a sign of supporting laziness. People who aren't employed deserve the right to enjoy themselves to. Not having a job is stressful and can lead to depression. A little kindness can go a long way. He managed to keep a roof over his head, food in his stomach, and a computer and internet running. Perhaps that's all he can afford on whatever limited income he has. Perhaps he's living with his parents or a friend that is helping him out. Whatever the case, he's got things together enough to have those things. Not having extra to buy games is understandable.
When we mentioned that he could get banned for his behaviour in the channel, he suddenly got even more self-righteous, pointing out that he has the right to say what he wants. The argument reached the point that I had to point out that the right to say what you want ceases when it imposes on the rights of the masses to enjoy themselves. If you are causing problems for the people around you, the right of you as an idividual is overshadowed by the rights of the masses that are being violated.
Sadly, this is an almost daily thing. Every community has an unwanted jerk that people wish wasn't there, but most of them manage to keep it in check enough that they are tolerated there. This may not always be the case, so perhaps people should start keeping in mind the feelings of others. When did the internet become devoid of etiquette and the basic treating of people with respect. So what if you'll never see the person on the other end of that chat string....you know that they are a person, and that should be grounds enough to show them respect.
