I wrote this in my journal.
===================================
Recently Bioware said that in Star Wars The Old Republic will be no same gender romance arcs. While it has caused the expected heated debates, they know they will get through with it. Because they can do it with us.
In the Melian Dialogue of Thukydides history of the Greek War, when Athens wanted to raid the independent, small nation of Melos, they said: the strong do as they please and the weak have to suffer it. Apparently 2500 years later humanity hasn’t changed. Those who have no lobby are victim of prejudice and must suffer dishonouring their integrity.
Many gay fellow gamers told me, but SWTOR is such a great game, and a boycott would not change anything. And even more say, it is just a game, what does it matter?
Let me say to this a few things. I understand, a boycott likely would not change a thing. Too powerful and influential are those who hate us, those to whom our very existence is unbearable and who clearly would want to see or tolerate our destruction. It is true, the chances we can effect this are minimal. But for me, it is a question of moral integrity to stand for what I believe in. Either I believe in equality and respect and stand for it, or I accept and stay silent when the honour of others is trampled. There is no middle ground in questions like this. Alas, it is a very common thing in humanity, that when a minority is dishonoured, silenced and mistreated, the majority-society shrugs and says, what do I care. I am not black or gay or Jewish. And so injustice prevails.
Since WHEN is the argument, it doesn’t change a thing of any validity??? If you know a product is made with children work, you STOP buying it. Period. You don’t claim, hey but it won’t change a thing, or others do it too. No, you boycott products made by children, because IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO! You do not bargain with companies who neglect some peoples integrity. End of story.
Others say it is just a game. To them I say: in matters of honour, respect and racism, there ARE no small matters! Imagine for a second Bioware would have announced, it had no black people in them. It would cause a major uprising. But since it is “just some gays” many shrug it off or even applaud it. Not so long ago, black people in America were forced to stay in certain spaces in a bus, and Jews in Germany were forced to wear a David Star. A small matter, people said back them. What do you fight against such small matter, they said. If a black person is forced to sit in a separated place, they said, it is because we do not wish to see black people close to us. This is no different. People don’t want to see gay people. They want them away, invisible, not exist. In a story focussed game, where romance stories are an integral part as in Bioware RPGs, the absence of gay & lesbian romance stories is not a small thing, it is a BIG statement, one that will have great influence.
Entertainment industry has a much greater influence than people admit or want to accept. When comic reading youths read about Gay Superheroes like Wiccan and Hulkling from Marvel, or see gay people in TV shows like Glee, it has a considerable influence to create tolerance and acceptance. It is a great thing. And the same is the message to exclude it. Such messages are of the greatest importance, for, to paraphrase Kreia, the world is moved from such small angles, through such small matters. In 2011, when so many games, TV shows, comics asf of the entire Entertainment industry have no issues to show gay people, this is a ultra conservative signal and something not to understand. A gay romance is not dirtier than a straight romance. Either love is sacred or love is dirty, and I vehemently deny that gay love is dirty when straight love isn’t. THAT is the signal such a decision shows. And that is why it is unacceptable to support Bioware with ANY game it further releases.
You can tell me a thousand times about how TOR is a product to be sold. I think that is bollocks. The gay superheroes never made people buy less Marvel comics. Sims sold record breaking despite even having gay sex and gay marriage! Fable, Dragon Age and other games who had gay romance and gay sex also sold well and were very popular. But this means to give in to those with hate, despise and prejudice. In terms of respect, dignity and equal rights is no small matter, no compromise. Just imagine for a moment, Bioware would have excluded black people. But gay people are fewer and they know they can do it with us, because too few will have solidarity. They know they will get through with it.
Adorno once said, the power of good is not that it triumphs over evil, but that we can say, despite all you did to annihilate us, we are still here. This is a day that is very unfortunate and tragic. A great wrong was done. But I know how it goes. “I am not gay, why should I care.” If I were not a spiritual person who had decided long ago that the human world is a place were darkness, chaos and selfishness reign and there is no hope in this world, I probably would have gone mad long ago. So I just see again what I already learned the hard way. That respect, decency and virtue are rare.
