I have resisted any comment on this because, honestly, the last thing I want to do is shine any more spotlights on this attention whore, but it makes me so damn mad, I have to make a response...even if it's only here, as I can't be bothered to sign up to that crap-hole of a site in an attempt to point out the obvious to someone who will never, ever see it...
So, to preface my rant, I will give you a small...very small...sample of the misinformation provided by the cretin in question:
"It's called "Mass Effect" and it allows its players - universally male no doubt - to engage in the most realistic sex acts ever conceived. One can custom design the shape, form, bodies, race, hair style, breast size of the images they wish to "engage" and then watch in crystal clear, LCD, 54 inch screen, HD clarity as the video game "persons" hump in every form, format, multiple, gender-oriented possibility they can think of.
The objections to such filth should be simple to understand.
Starting with the disgusting idea that one can "create" their own versions of what people look like, removing warts, moles, and bald spots while enhancing - shall we say - the extended features of the game's characters tends to objectify women, sex, and human relationships. Right? We can all agree on this? "
[rant]
As a mature, married woman who plays video games, these comments make me want to laugh. I sincerely hope a great deal of 15-year-old boys purchase this game based on these complete fabrications. I'm sure the extra money will help sooth BioWare's injured feelings. I also feel somewhat obligated to point out that BioWare Corp., in fact, remains a favourite with female gamers due to their consistant gold-standard in storytelling, gender equality and romance. Mass Effect has not let us down in any of these categories.
Now, as a woman who writes for pleasure, this butchery of the English language makes me cringe. But, as this is the Internet, I'll let it slide - a little...
As a journalist, however, this entire episode makes me want to weep. I have spent 18 years of my life earning my living, and even the occasional award, as a reporter, editor and writer of opinion columns. And I have never - never - seen such an abuse of the title 'journalism.'
The hundreds of posts that point out each and every factual error and outright lie in this unworthy pile of typed drek would make any real journalist crawl under their bed while dutifully re-checking their research and printing heartfelt apologies. This ... writer ... apparently believes that lies can be used to defend more lies.
As a member of the fifth estate, I am often confronted with outright hostility, as members of the public believe that my job is defined by sensationalism, bias and opportunism. Over the years, I have grown weary of these confrontations as I could not understand the basis for these feelings, when I do my best every day to tell people's stories as honestly as they are told to me, to take my government to task when they fail us, to hold up the wrongdoers of society as an example of paths to avoid and to put the spotlight on those citizens who make our world just a little bit brighter.
Thank you for clearing that up for me.
Thank you, also, for instilling in me a deep gratitude that I do not ply my trade in your country. While the rules that govern journalism in Canada might occasionally chafe - especially when confronted with the idea of limiting my own concept of 'justice' - I see now where the alternative leads.
The only thought I'm left with is that this individual is, flat out, a liar. And the only consolation I can cling to comes from the book of law in my own country.
"The gist of the torts of libel and slander is the publication of matter (usually words) conveying a defamatory imputation. A defamatory imputation is one to a man's discredit, or which tends to lower him in the estimation of others, or to expose him to hatred, contempt or ridicule, or to injure his reputation in his office, trade or profession, or to injure his financial credit. The standard of opinion is that of right-thinking persons generally."
I honestly do not believe that any informed reader ? or 'right-thinking' persons ? could ever, in fact, take anything written by that person seriously. Nor do I believe that anything he has to say could possibly negatively impact on Mass Effect, nor BioWare. It serves only to reflect abysmally on himself and ? sadly ? on the state of journalism in the United States of America.
[/rant]
