Mulldrifting

I want to state that I feel Jesse Mason did a poor job of covering the issue on the art of Triumph of Ferocity. 

His article was not carefully written, and his subsequent reactions on Twitter were inflammatory without value; all he managed to do was create a huge blow-up, on an issue that could’ve been handled many other ways. 

Yes, I feel Wizards made a mistake in that piece of artwork (from a marketing / branding perspective—I’m sure it is fine otherwise). I’m glad Elaine Chase stepped up to the plate and owned it. After all, she is head of Branding, and that’s what this was about—poor branding. 

I am not interested in that debate at all, however. Let’s move on.

My point is that I feel Jesse’s article was irresponsibly done. This was a delicate issue, one with a lot of angles, and there are reasonable arguments on both sides. So why do I get the sense he just decided to go for the sledgehammer instead of the scalpel? Why do I get the sense he didn’t take the issue seriously and just made statements to try to inflame? And not inflame in a way that made people question themselves / their beliefs or make them feel a level of social responsibility—he just riled people by making jokes in poor taste and assuming his readers would react a certain way (in the dumbest way possible).

A lot of his equivalencies / metaphors are outrageously out of scope. 

“Serial killers don’t get to point out all the people they didn’t decapitate.” What is the point of saying things like this? How does that help the argument at all? It’s like he’s derailing himself. 

It’s not that I can’t appreciate his points, several of which are valid. It’s that he seems to not appreciate what an incredibly complex, nuanced, and controversial issue it is. And yet he is attempting to speak with some kind of authority on the subject. Meanwhile, he’s also shedding responsibility, by making jokes about his validity: “I’m a Fairly Serious Player”; “I conducted an extremely rigorous experimental process”; “I play Magic every now and then.” This isn’t funny! This just subverts what he’s trying to accomplish. 

If you can’t take yourself seriously as a writer and you can’t take the subject seriously, I wouldn’t expect your readers to either.

There are other, better ways to be funny. I thought Jackie’s article on women in Magic was quite amusing. (“Most feminist writers don’t make many jokes?” I’m sure they just feel their efforts would be inadequate, next to: “Angels about to cleave some zombies in half with cleavage.” All right, maybe that was a low blow. 

I’m not too good at this humor thing…

Anyway.)

Normally, I’d just talk to Jesse about this privately and let it all rest. This instance, I feel a strong need to say something publically, as I’m being mistaken as a strong advocate of Jesse’s stance / article. And I’m not. I don’t agree with all his points. I don’t like the way he approached the issue. Jesse’s opinion, as strong and forceful as it is, is affecting people’s ideas of what my opinions are. I’m less than enthusiastic about this. 

Jesse is his own person. I’m my own damn person. Stop lumping us all* together, like we’re “all the same.” 

* I.e. people who try to discuss sexism

Last major point: Stop attacking people for expressing a different opinion. It’s fucked up and shitty. Yeah, I went there.