Hey! There are 5.5 million of us!

[orichalcum]

So, the official McCain blog just decided to gratuitously mock Obama supporters as D&D players, despite the context having nothing whatsoever to do with gaming:

"It may be typical of the pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd to disparage a fellow countryman's memory of war from the comfort of mom's basement, but most Americans have the humility and gratitude to respect and learn from the memories of men who suffered on behalf of others."

So, yeah, personally, I'm an Obama supporter, 2nd-place international D&D champion, and prrroud, but dude! I've got plenty of gamer friends who support your candidate, Mr. Goldfarb, and frankly, claiming that they lack humility and gratitude towards the military is rude and insulting. It might be hard to believe, but both Obama supporters and D&D players can be mature adults who don't live in their parents' basements and have happy, functioning social lives and political opinions of all stripes.

Plus, um, from what I hear, RPGs and MMORPGS? Pretty big among those who are "suffering on behalf of others" in Iraq and Afghanistan _right now._

Meanwhile, we aren't the ones throwing throwing around insults like "Barack Obama sleeps with a teddy bear," so, really, I'd step back from the "who's more mature and adult here" game.

Comments

[holmes-iv.livejournal.com]

Speaking as an unemployed 30-year-old gamer who lives in his mother's basement (at least until tomorrow evening), I approve this message. ;-)

[digitalemur.livejournal.com]

*guffaw*

[gee-tar.livejournal.com]

Huh. Well, I guess I was already in Obama's camp, but if I was on the fence for some strange reason, this would help me make up my mind as to whom to vote for.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

Mission accomplished? America's Geek for Obama?

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

I foresee an ad campaign on the CW.

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

That would beat the Paris Hilton ad by a factor of a hundred. :-)

[emilymorgan.livejournal.com]

just to clarify, I mean the ad Paris Hilton made, not the original.

[meepodeekin.livejournal.com]

Classy.

And btw, it's probably me, but none of your links have been working for me in several days. They look like links but do nothing if I click. Other people's links on my friends page seem to work normally.

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

It's not you; there's been a problem with my journal updater. Sigh.

[amethyst73.livejournal.com]

Hmph. Who says that sleeping with a stuffed animal isn't an adult thing to do?

[orichalcum.livejournal.com]

That too - but it's certainly the implication of the insult.

[marginaleye.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of the Israeli army's silly anti-gaming policy.

There is, by the way, a lot of creepy hard-right politics in gaming. The players of "Star Fleet Battles" (Star Trek, perversely re-imagined as an exercise in Clancy-esque technophilia and warnography) come to mind.

On more tangential note, allow me to state that I am heartily sick of all the "hoplolatry" in the today's miserable excuse for political discourse.