My article this week is going to be short. For those of you who don’t know, I’m recovering from Pneumonia. But because there has been so much going on in the world, I felt like I needed to make sure that I said something.
With the current political climate things have been more heated then ever. The Alt-Right (and lets call a spade, a spade, they’re neo-nazis) have grown stronger than ever with multiple members working directly with the president as political advisers and more. Even within the Magic community this has huge implications for who and what we can trust. Unfortunately these types of people are not only nestling themselves into our government but in all aspects of our lives.
Mad Eye Moody, a different type of Magic lover, said quite regularly in Harry Potter, “Constant vigilance,” and he was quite right. We need to make sure that we are constantly vetting the people we surround ourselves with and the companies we give our money to. This has already become a large movement nationwide, with the love for Budweiser and the hate for Uber, but this directly affects the Magic community as well.
Take some time to look into the people that you watch on Twitch, follow on Twitter, and whose articles you read. I don’t think anyone expected Travis Woo to come out saying positive things about Mein Kampf, but it did happen and that is not the worst view I’ve seen expressed by someone who is a well known Magic personality.
I’ve said many times how we should welcome as many people into the Magic community as possible. We all stand to benefit from doing that. Calling out people who hate on minorities, women, whomever is a strong way to make sure that we stay welcoming to all. It is not an easy thing to do at all, criticizing someone who you had previously respected. I know I’ve been fooled myself by people who I thought were good content creators to later find out I was wrong. I’m not expecting anyone to be perfect but we should definitely make sure we have a certain level of expectations for people within the community that we put our trust in.
If people say something inappropriate, hold them responsible. If they don’t respond appropriately, make sure to hold them accountable. We deserve the best as a community. We have some really amazing people out there so there is no reason to settle for anything less.
Kate hails from Worcester MA and also does a bit of Card Altering. Check her Stuff out on Facebook! She mainly plays legacy and modern though will occasionally find herself playing EDH.