Tag: middle ground | A Banana Peeled

Tag Archives: middle ground

Nuance is not a four-letter word

Posted on April 11, 2025 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

I’ve been loosely following the drama surrounding the Switch 2, otherwise known as the SwIItch and a bunch of other cute names. I was never going to get one because one, I don’t do consoles*, and especially not hand-held ones. I do all my gaming on a PC, which is so much more comfortable (to me). Then came the news that the next FromSoft game which nary a word was breathed** was going to be a Nintendo exclusive and my heart dropped to my stomach.

I’ve reacted to it already, but I have more to say. Not so much about the game (though I will touch on that), but on the discourse about the game. Which, funnily enough, mimics the discourse around the Switch 2 itself.

The opinions are so divided, and you can’t stake a claim somewhere in the middle. Either it all sucks and is the end of gaming, or it’s the best thing ever and shut up with any/all of your criticisms. As a species, we tend to do go to extremes, but it is just getting worse and worse. In the Discord I’m in, there are a few guys (and, yes, all guys) who make these really declarative statements and discourage others from speaking up. I know they don’t think they do that, but it has that effect. I’ve seen other people get shut down and just never come back.

I’ts not about the opinions, but the fact that there’s definitely an in-crowd who dominate the discussions. I am not part of that in-crowd, by the way. I’m on the fringes. I’m not an outsider, but my voice is not important enough, loud enough, or male enough to be influential.

The conversation/argument/debate over the Switch 2 is not where I’m going to jump in. First, I’m not buying one. Second, I just don’t want to get into the arguments when both sides are camped firmly in their opposing viewpoints and won’t budge. It’s not a discussion; it’s a drawing of sides. I have no interest in that, and I don’t want to put my neck on the chopping block–especiall when the subject isn’t something that affects me.

When it comes to The Duskbloods (FromSoft), though (and, yes, I know I said I was not writing another post about it, but I had more to say), I have so many thoughts on it. I was watching a video by TopicArlo, someone who is torn about the game in much of the same way I am. For whatever reason, I decided to look at the comments. I normally don’t look at comments because they are so toxic, but I was curious–I don’t know why.

No common ground

Posted on December 5, 2022 by Minna Hong • 0 Comments

Back when the country was debating marriage equality (called same-sex marriageat the time), there was a meta-debate raging about the ‘tone’ of queers as we argued for our basic civil rights. And, yes, I am framing it in a deliberate way beacause I rail against the notion of neutrality when it comes to the issue. I remember Matt Birk, ex-Vikings (maybe current at the time) center bleating about how we can be cvil as we disagree.

So many of the anti-equality people wanted to control the WAY we debated the issue along with debating the issue itself because it behooved them to strip out anything emotional from the discussion.

The ywanted to make it simply about two differing points of views. Both equally valid, reasonable minds agreeing to disagree, etc., etc., etc. ‘Civil’ was repeated over and over and over yet again.

“We can disagree without being disagreeable” was another saying I heard way too many times.

I’ was reminded of this because on NPR, they were touting a town meeting with four diverse thiners as a way to come together as a society. ‘HELL NO!’ is what I said out loud in my car. Because I don’t want distasteful ideas such as white supremacy, monitoring the genitalia of trans kids, and a federal ban on abortionto be made palatable. I’m pretty sure that’s not what the NPR tow hall had in mind, but it was what I immediately thought of.

See, in order to have this kind of discussion, you have to have some ground rules. As someone who is a minority in so many ways, I’ve lost count, my first would be my civil rights as an American on several levels. As a queer person. As an agender person. As someone who could still theoretically have a child but most emphatically does not want one. As an areligious person.

My ground rules would be that a person’s gender identity is not up for debate–nor is their sexual identity. I was listening to the radio in the car the other day, and the co-hosts were going on and on and about the ‘alphabet soup’ that is queer identity. They were begrudgingly accepting of gays, but started pooh-poohing trans and everything else. “The founding fathers got their ideas from church!” one of them declared. Which…was an interesting interpretation.