- Pronouns
- he / him / his
I wanted to start this little thread as a discussion, based partially on some events on Discord over the last few days, but also just because I think it's a good discussion to have.
We have official Discord rules, and while they are good rules, they don't fully give context on what the rules are trying to achieve with them.
Let's start with the obvious: the internet has a lot of different communities with different norms and cultures. At least in the United States, thanks to the first amendment these communities, largely, get to govern themselves and set what kind of culture they want.
That means we get to decide what behavior is allowed, or not allowed, in our community. It's our choice. Just like it's the choice of other internet communities how they police their own culture and behaviors. It's not anti-free speech or anti 1st amendment to set boundaries and parameters on behavior in our community, it's actually a living embodiment of our first amendment rights to set up a community with the standards we want.
There are many communities on the internet who choose to have a very different culture from Europeia, where almost anything can go, no matter how offensive or tasteless. While occasionally these communities promote blatant biases (sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-semitic, xenophobia, racism, etc.), it's become increasingly in-vogue to embrace these biases and -isms "ironically".
There are many internet communities who embrace this offensive "humor", and consider it "edgy" to share memes, images, and comments that promote biases and -isms. This has naturally begun to seep into Nationstates, and the various regions of our game. Too often I join the Discord server of a newer region and am confronted with anti-semitic or racist memes/images.
"But all the images are just a joke"
"Only a few people participate in some dark humor"
— are some of the responses I often hear.
What we believe in Europeia is that behaving in bigoted ways and deeming it "humor" or "ironic" does not erase the bigotry itself. At least half of the Nazis who showed up to Charlottesville in August 2017 claimed that their chants of "blood and soil!" were just irony. It's all "irony".
It's our choice how we govern our community, and we choose to prioritize the comfort and safety of all people over the ability to express "edgy" (i.e. sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, anti-semitic, etc. humor). We chose to prioritize the comfort and safety of people above being able to "sarcastically" hold absurd and offensive beliefs for the lulz. Essentially, we are saying that we'd rather a member leave because they aren't allowed to express their brand of offensive humor than a member leave because they feel their identity is not welcomed. Personally, I don't think that's unreasonable. I actually think it's kinda common sense.
If you disagree with our prioritization—and I say this with absolutely no malice—you are probably a better fit for other communities on the internet. There are many communities on the internet who do not prioritize the same way. That's ok, in the sense that that is their right. Just as it is our right to govern ourselves the way we see fit.
On the other hand, I think as a region we should also be expected to assume good intent and explain our standards and values rather than just shame and ridicule people for not immediately meeting them. Nationstates attracts a very young demographic, and there are surely players who haven't thought as deeply about these things, and may "come in hot" saying things that are perfectly acceptable in their other RL and internet communities and have never had reason to question before. I hope we can give people that space to question and consider before throwing the book at them. We can all do a better job of this, in my opinion.
This topic got a lot longer than I initially anticipated, but I thought it might be worthwhile for us to work collaboratively to craft a community mission statement that sits on top of our formal rules. This mission statement wouldn't be a rule itself, but simply express the culture we aim to create in the region. I think this might help new members immediately have an understanding of our expectations, which would help ensure that the execution of our rules doesn't come to any surprise.
We have official Discord rules, and while they are good rules, they don't fully give context on what the rules are trying to achieve with them.
Let's start with the obvious: the internet has a lot of different communities with different norms and cultures. At least in the United States, thanks to the first amendment these communities, largely, get to govern themselves and set what kind of culture they want.
That means we get to decide what behavior is allowed, or not allowed, in our community. It's our choice. Just like it's the choice of other internet communities how they police their own culture and behaviors. It's not anti-free speech or anti 1st amendment to set boundaries and parameters on behavior in our community, it's actually a living embodiment of our first amendment rights to set up a community with the standards we want.
There are many communities on the internet who choose to have a very different culture from Europeia, where almost anything can go, no matter how offensive or tasteless. While occasionally these communities promote blatant biases (sexism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-semitic, xenophobia, racism, etc.), it's become increasingly in-vogue to embrace these biases and -isms "ironically".
There are many internet communities who embrace this offensive "humor", and consider it "edgy" to share memes, images, and comments that promote biases and -isms. This has naturally begun to seep into Nationstates, and the various regions of our game. Too often I join the Discord server of a newer region and am confronted with anti-semitic or racist memes/images.
"But all the images are just a joke"
"Only a few people participate in some dark humor"
— are some of the responses I often hear.
What we believe in Europeia is that behaving in bigoted ways and deeming it "humor" or "ironic" does not erase the bigotry itself. At least half of the Nazis who showed up to Charlottesville in August 2017 claimed that their chants of "blood and soil!" were just irony. It's all "irony".
It's our choice how we govern our community, and we choose to prioritize the comfort and safety of all people over the ability to express "edgy" (i.e. sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, racism, anti-semitic, etc. humor). We chose to prioritize the comfort and safety of people above being able to "sarcastically" hold absurd and offensive beliefs for the lulz. Essentially, we are saying that we'd rather a member leave because they aren't allowed to express their brand of offensive humor than a member leave because they feel their identity is not welcomed. Personally, I don't think that's unreasonable. I actually think it's kinda common sense.
If you disagree with our prioritization—and I say this with absolutely no malice—you are probably a better fit for other communities on the internet. There are many communities on the internet who do not prioritize the same way. That's ok, in the sense that that is their right. Just as it is our right to govern ourselves the way we see fit.
On the other hand, I think as a region we should also be expected to assume good intent and explain our standards and values rather than just shame and ridicule people for not immediately meeting them. Nationstates attracts a very young demographic, and there are surely players who haven't thought as deeply about these things, and may "come in hot" saying things that are perfectly acceptable in their other RL and internet communities and have never had reason to question before. I hope we can give people that space to question and consider before throwing the book at them. We can all do a better job of this, in my opinion.
This topic got a lot longer than I initially anticipated, but I thought it might be worthwhile for us to work collaboratively to craft a community mission statement that sits on top of our formal rules. This mission statement wouldn't be a rule itself, but simply express the culture we aim to create in the region. I think this might help new members immediately have an understanding of our expectations, which would help ensure that the execution of our rules doesn't come to any surprise.