Think Different (k3nshi)

AMAZING. I was incredulous reading the insane rantings of qazimod.

Let's break it down and strike a victory for Free Speech, Open Mindedness and the notion of being able to cope with opinions that differ from your own.

Things open with a bang, the worldview of an insane genius who forgot to do the genius part:
"Fewer things are more welcome to see in an online community than a uniform opinion."

Surely nothing is as boring as the kind of circle jerk that most gaming forums are. For some reason the gaming press and certain gamers are obsessed with establishing a heinous level of Group Think: Ico is good. EA is Evil. Wario Ware is AMAZING. Sony is bad. Nintendo is saving gaming. I'm sure you can all think of many more examples of the correct opinions you are expected to have. Gaming discussion? Forget about it - fall in line with the CORRECT OPINION or STFU. We dont want to hear you if you dont agree. Want to express your opinion? Just "piss off" as qazimod so eloquently puts it.

Fortunately this kind of Games Opinion Fascism hasn't totally taken over. There are some places where people value and actively want to engage in actual discussion - including all those annoying, contrary and often just plain wrong opinions that people want to express. If anything I think hash edge is the pefect example of such a place.

I know that the chances of someone on hash edge agreeing with what I have to say about games is less than 10%. We have people who: like the DS to the point of worshipping it as their new god, think Halo is rubbish ("the controls are broken innit - why can't I invert the x-axis?!" ) or - horrors of horrors - think Nintendo have lost it. And yet we can all disagree with each other and cope with this level of (wrong!) contrary opinion. But that's not the kind of forum or debate qazimod wants. And of course, he's not alone - far from it. Which is precisely the reason why the level of gaming "discussion" is so coarse, so binary and ultimately so banal: "I expect you to hear and accept my Truth. I won't hear your LIES - I'll silence you first!!". Draw your own comparisons to the kind of PATRIOTIC FERVER that takes place in the US.

So here's to hash edge, gaming dissidence and all the crazy ones out there: long may free thought and free speech defy the tyranny of the qazimods of the world.