D&D Orcs get woke proofreading: Censors standing on George Floyd’s death are after a fantasy game

How many of those who support censorship in the name of Black Lives Matter have even played Dungeons & Dragons? Why are companies like D&D creator Wizards of the Coast caving in to the hurt feelings of the woke?

Some people like to say we’re living in a “Clown World” where not much really makes sense. Given the current political climate and the effect it’s having on the arts, I’m starting to agree. The recently renewed push to declare certain fantasy tropes like Orcs or Drow to be racist and offensive, is a case in point. The incessant drone, that we can’t have certain ideas or words in the arts “in the year 2020,” is often parodied as “in the current year,” given that tv host John Oliver seems to state this every year as if it’s going to matter.

Wizards of the Coast, the creators of D&D, has now stated that they are going to bring in “sensitivity readers” to check their work to see if it’s offensive. So let’s get this straight: A company is going to bring in the constantly offended to check and see if its own work is offensive? What could go wrong?

For the end product, it’s like hiring Jack Kevorkian to monitor a loved-one in a coma, or like hiring Josef Mengele as your surgeon. It’s likely going to end with someone or something dead, in this case your entire role-playing game franchise, or at least the last vestiges of fun it used to bring.

Read more

Stop with the inclusivity! Only FAN GATEKEEPING can save our favorite nerd passions – from D&D to Star Wars

Here’s the issue that I have with this, beyond anything. Twenty years ago, if rocker Dee Snider was asked by his record label to have self-styled censor Tipper Gore read through Twisted Sister’s lyrics, he’d likely tell her to go have intercourse with herself (though in more vulgar terms). Heck, Wizards of the Coast were victims of the Satanic Panic. Would they have invited Pat Robertson to come into their offices and be a “sensitivity reader” by any chance? Of course not, and they’d be idiots for doing so. Just like they’re being idiots now. Nothing has changed except the group asking for censorship.

So why cave in now? The United States is not populated by racists, not to mention that up until Covid-19 hit we were looking at record employment levels for African Americans. By all accounts, things were going great until the riots. Did the death of George Floyd suddenly make the United States turn into Alabama circa 1950? Of course not, and a sensible person wouldn’t think so.

Here’s how it is. Censors who are always offended because things aren’t intersectional enough are standing on the grave of George Floyd. They don’t care that he was killed by a police officer. They care about control.

This is the card that is always played by the Intersectional Intifada. They don’t care about the dead. They’ve never cared about the dead. But they will readily use the graves of the dead as a platform. They stand on the graves of the children killed in Sandy Hook. They stand on the graves of people killed at the Pulse Night Club. They stand on the grave of Michael Brown. Now they’re standing on the grave of George Floyd with a megaphone and a gallon of fake tears.

Any company that kowtows to this deserves to lose its following and, ultimately, money. The mob doesn’t matter. Consumers do.