Weldon’s thoughts about Riot’s female & non-binary panel at PAX

Weldon Green
Sep 2, 2018 · 3 min read

Context

Riot is holding a couple of workshops at PAX in a female and non-binary safe space. A number of posters in the community at reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends are up-in-arms over the insult this presents to their personage.

My plea

Think very carefully when you take a stance on this issue.

The internet does not forget easily.

When gamergate came around, many sensible people were shocked and appalled by the insane statements being made online in support of what was nearly criminal behavior.

I urge you to create your own independent, moral and ethical stance on this issue and do NOT get suckered into what you think is the majority opinion because of what you read in what, to me, looks like an online echo chamber.

It will become a part of your history online, and what you say out-loud can impact other people and hurt them.

My opinion

My point of view is that the people speaking out against this panel will be on the wrong side of history. Worse, they are liable to hurt others with their words, and they might be hurting themselves as well.

Safe spaces are a perfectly fine thing to exist, and beyond that they are very positive.

Hegemonic cultures often force people to have their identity lurking in the back of their mind, sometimes front-of-mind. It’s so very rare to simply be oneself when the dominant culture forcefully reminds one of their otherness.

Safe spaces allow people in the target demographic to, for a time, not be constantly reminded of their otherness. And more importantly, to be the hegemonic culture and the majority for a particular time and space.

If you are interested in educating yourself, there’s a great interview with Shelley Zalis, founder of The Female Quotient which does Girl’s Lounge at conferences and universities all over the world. You can listen to it here on one of my favorite and recommended podcasts, Girlboss Radio.

My warning

When I make a hiring decision or decide who I’m going to work with, obviously I check to see if they were involved in gamergate. I know several other esport business owners who were equally disgusted by the events and do the same.

If you don’t have anything nice to say about the current topic, and you are not a member of the female or non-hegemonic gender community, then the best thing you can do for your own moral development right now is listen. Find somebody who is female or non-binary and ask them what they think, and then listen a lot. Ask questions, get more stories, and listen.

I plan to take this opportunity to strike up the conversation with a bunch of people I’ve been wanting to talk to, hear their stories, and try to get perspective of the psychological framework they must employ to navigate the world.

Take the opportunity to expand your compassion, and have interesting conversations with people to hear stories you might not otherwise be privy. But most of all, stop talking, and open your ears.

Yes, I am aware of the irony I present by breaking this rule to make this post.

My rant

SERIOUSLY? Are you female or non-binary? No? Then IT’S NOT ABOUT YOU! Stop making it about us. That’s LITERALLY the point! The entire reason that safe spaces are needed and work so well is that it’s always about us, and this is a space that is 100% guaranteed to not be about us! And now you are not even at PAX, and you are not attending this panel, and you are on the internet making this all about us. Just, look at yourself. Seriously the only thing I can do is laugh, this is so absurd. It really is absurd. I feel like I’d be hard-pressed to find a normal adult human male or female who is over the age of 35, who has lived in this world, worked a job in this world, been married in this world, had kids in this world, that could understand why people are upset about this. I seriously do not get it. This looks like a /r/insanepeoplefacebook but like… reddit-gamer edition. WOW!

If you are working on your personal philosophical stance towards this I recommend meditation to generate compassion. Here’s a guided meditation.

Weldon Green

MSc. sport and exercise psychology. Esport coach, 4x championship wins.

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