incredibly offensive article

[amul]

http://indianapolismonthly.com/monthly/article.asp?articleid=3

An incredibly mean-spirited review of GenCon.

I'm writing a letter to the editor as we speak.

Comments

[rustdangel.livejournal.com]

you are not kidding!

seems like he was a gamer himself as a child and tormented by the school bullies, so now he's got his panties in a knot because it's so accepted now.

this guy needs a spinning back kick to the head. and a jab to the adams apple.

[amul.livejournal.com]

Why not write the editors? You can click on the Contact Us button for a form to fill out. A female artist in the industry? You're more notable a complaint than I rate.

[rustdangel.livejournal.com]

I just did... I never claimed to be a great novelist, so... read at your own risk.

http://indianapolismonthly.com/monthly/article.asp?articleid=3

I attended Gen Con, infact I had a booth at the art show. I didn't see a realitive point being made in this article beyond gay bashing and gamer bashing.

That article was an incredibly long-winded mean-spirited review of GenCon, and completely failed to mention, the other events, talent (as in Larry Elmore, Mark Poole and other big named artists and television personalities - such as Kevin Sorbo, Gigi Edgley, Steve from Ghosthunters, or the Mythbusters crew - who appeared there), game previews (Eve & World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade), contests and THE ARTSHOW.

Also it seems like Tony Rehagen was a little too focused on Mykal Wells for this article to appear as nothing more than perhaps a lovers spat? or maybe Tony Rehagen is homophobic and was just reaffirming his testostorone induced delusion of being manly.

He just kept going on and on to where I couldn't even finish the article beyond skimming over it to the end.

[merrilin7.livejournal.com]

I read the whole thing and didn't find it mean-spirited. Please to explain?

[amul.livejournal.com]

Well, there's the repeated bits where he describes the entirety of Gen Con as pimply-faced geek boys who pee their pants when a woman comes within twenty yards of them. You know, for a start.

[merrilin7.livejournal.com]

What I read was someone who wasn't completely involved to the extent of the people that attended making some funny observations. It mostly seemed to be just factual with some opines that were based on someone looking at it from the outside. If the person isn't familiar with your sport then you should just chalk it up to ignorance and look at the article as publicity. It isn't that big of a deal. The only reason someone would have to be offended by the remarks are if they hit too close to the mark. Inability to laugh at oneself is a sign of insecurity.

[dragonbane.livejournal.com]

It's just like referring to all sports event attendees as testosterone-laden jocks who holler themselves hoarse at the game, then leave, get drunk, and roll cars over for fun. This is a common sports-lover stereotype, but many sports fans would take umbrage at having themselves as a group characterized as such.

[eevilyounggirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, seriously. It's like we, the medium-hot ladies of the world, suddenly become SUPERHOT.

It's great.

[elissa-carey.livejournal.com]

I won't deny that there's mean-spirited elements in the article, but it seems that it's born of ignorance more than anything else. Yeah, there's definitely quite a lot of the social misfits, rotund t-shirt-wearing, shy and introverted, hygiene-lacking and so forth, but there's also gamers like me, you and the people that we know, and we're not always easily picked out of the crowd. (God knows that in my day-to-day wear, I look like the typical gamer girl: long brown hair and glasses.)

My guess is that the journalist decided to, in an effort to understand and cover Gen Con, follow around a "typical gamer." Not a bad tactic, but it does ignore some of the other people and elements to be found at the con, and therefore isn't as thorough an article as perhaps it ought to be. It focuses a bit much on the stereotype and doesn't show other sides of the story.