"Well said Pete Brown!" Topic

In support of the piece by Pete Brown in WI#378 April 2019

link

+1 and a standing ovation.

And I'd like to buy that man a drink.

spot on

"It is surprising that our hobby has avoided the lighthouse beam of right-on indignation for so long."

Don't kid yourself – there have been periodic outbursts of righteous, right-on ranting throughout the past fifty years. If you ignore them, they go away. There's always something new to get upset about.

DBDD

Love the blog post, haven't read the WI article.
Question: You mention people protesting at Salute. Did this happen recently? How many poor confused souls showed up for that?
Curious Yanks wanna know!

Thanks Parzival. I did not witness the 'protest', Pete mentions it in his piece. I have seen some very unacceptable re enactment groups at SALUTE before, deselection is the best response to that sort of thing. Not sure protesting in the wastes of London's Docklands is going to achieve much.
There are some nice restaurants around there though.

Some fine thoughts on being offended here…..

YouTube link

Just a whiny rant of an old man seeking to build straw men. He is sad that he too, cannot be a victim and thus manufactures something to be concerned about so he can exceed the outrage of those he complains of. I have seen this before.

Jocknroll, have you been personally bothered by anti-wargames protesters?

I haven't seen or heard from one since Armageddon became Colours. I took a leaflet, smiled and went in. Hardly traumatised me at all.

Salute? – I don't go, so don't know. If we are talking about the protests against SS re-enactors some years ago, I am glad there are people willing to peacefully point out this may be an inappropriate way of advertising wargames. I feel completely unthreatened by this.

I haven't read the original article so I am not clear what the problem is. As for changing moral codes and language, well we no longer think public executions are a good thing or persecuting people for their consensual sexual preferences an acceptable pastime. Do we? No.

So whilst I share some confusion over the rapidity of social change, and don't always think it is for the better, I'm generally not too concerned about political correctness which is simply another way of saying be thoughtful and polite about other people.

Thought the article was a space filler to be honest, along with the piece on the commission purchase system in the British army which ignored much of the reality of the system and concentrated on just 1 abuse to claim that it was bad. Not an especially good issue this month.

I've never been harassed by anti-war types for wargaming but I have been harassed by religious extremists for Role Playing Gaming. My response to them would earn me a bleep-o-matic or possible dawg-housing if I wrote it here.

Old, sad, ranting, victim – you are clearly a very,very wise man or perhaps we know each other. I'll hold my hand up to all of that. Well done, go to the top of your class.

Did he ever get around to making a point?
It was mostly rambling to me.

I think I am missing something – what is the whole affair about?

I think it was being indignant about others indignancy.

I read it again.
Nowhere does he point to any actual events where wargamers were harassed, but if that ever does happen, by cracky he's ready for it.
It's as useful as thinking about what I should have told my ex-wife. ("And another thing! I really can't stand Conway Twitty!")

And just to show that I'm not stuck in my basement being moody, I've been attending conventions since 1981. I'm always expecting to see a Civil War game being picketed, and a horrified Host manager shutting down Historicon. Funny. That has never happened.

Never seen a protest at Salute but I have felt body-shamed by all the healthy marathon entrants that are usually registering next door…I may stage a counter-protest this year by having an extra bagel from the very nice shop at Excel.