The Left has their narratives and talking points, and you can almost map them out as they cross social and print media. Everything is racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. and once those pejoratives lose their bite, the Left moves on to the next cause du jour. In this case, the latest sin is 'colonialism' and it's everywhere, apparently.
Even board games.
Yes, board games.
Those fun things you're supposed to play with.
What’s unsettling about Catan: How board games uphold colonial narratives https://t.co/H9gX3603mt
— The Conversation Canada (@ConversationCA) January 29, 2024
The only thing that's 'unsettling' is that people look at board games and find them problematic.
Ultimately, through a set of game mechanics that motivates resource extraction in the name of settling a supposed empty land, the connection between the in-game narrative and the political histories of North America and other parts of the world is clear. As historian Lorenzo Veracini says, “the Settlers of Catan is really about settler colonialism.”
The success of Catan also codified a certain kind of game play that has similarly proliferated worldwide, one that’s invested in the specific historical, economic and political factors of settler colonialism.
This gaming rhetoric quickly began to shape the game mechanics and narrative strategies of not only European games but also global tabletop gaming culture.
Pardon us while we roll our eyes. Hard.
The history of the world is settling and conquest. This notion that 'colonialism' is purely a Western thing, and therefore inherently evil, is ridiculous.
But we expect no better from the Left.
Thankfully, they are getting ratioed into orbit on Twitter/X for it.
omfg delete your account pic.twitter.com/DY8uZqGzIT
— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) January 29, 2024
Recommended
Yes, solid advice.
Delete your account ASAP.
Wait till you guys get a load of this game, so many toxic things to unpack pic.twitter.com/MbxpI3HGyE
— jay bob (@BobJudu) January 30, 2024
They're gonna ban chess, aren't they?
If I play the Andes version and I let my Peruvian family win, is that decolonization? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/q22U9zyitv
— Russell host of the Canadian Conservative Podcast (@TheCanadianCon) January 30, 2024
Asking the important questions.
Here I am, colonializing everything. pic.twitter.com/iGoEWJXoLP
— Old greenone (Jaime Cooke), space pirate. (@GreenoneOld) January 30, 2024
Look at you, you evil colonizer.
Imagine being so weak you’re threatened by a board game.
— Anti-Taxxer (@colossusPhD) January 30, 2024
It's not that they're weak; it's that they have to suck the joy out of every possible facet of life.
Everything has to be politicized, filtered through lenses, and the things they find offensive must be banned.
It's ridiculous.
You really want to be the pod ppl.😅
— Old greenone (Jaime Cooke), space pirate. (@GreenoneOld) January 30, 2024
No, they want everyone else to be pod people.
They'll do whatever they want.
Amazing. Perhaps you can follow this up with a secondary article: 'What's Risque About Risk.' Perhaps one on how Clue normalizes murder or the problematic capitalism of Monopoly.
— Lynn M (@LynannMacdonald) January 30, 2024
Don't give them any ideas.
'CandyLand' promotes fat shaming. 'Chutes and Ladders' is is classist.
The Game of Life teaches capitalist consumption and “merit” rather than just giving every player a UBI which would be fair.
— Judi Heppner (@JudiHeppner) January 30, 2024
Snakes and Ladders also problematic as it expects players to climb ladders, obviously discriminating against differently abled people.
See? Great minds think alike.
The possibilities are endless.
cOlOnIaL NaRrAtIvEs,
— WordsfromCanada (@WordsfromC) January 29, 2024
wHiTe SuPrEmAcY pic.twitter.com/a8Rcr5yf4X
Thank you for mocking them.
It's all they deserve.
"In other news: Hungry Hungry Hippos was designed to fat-shame me."
— Dadador the Dinosaur (@JustSumDave) January 30, 2024
Exactly this. Just as we said.
"Academic Experts"
— Fran Catman 🇨🇦🇺🇦🇰🇷🇮🇱 (@francatman) January 30, 2024
What's the "Humanities : Science" degree ratio in your ranks?
'Experts' are useless, as we've learned in recent years.
Does someone actually get paid to come up with this crap? 🤡
— Edward Braddock 🇬🇧🇦🇺🇨🇦🇳🇿 (@EdwardBraddoc11) January 30, 2024
Unfortunately, yes.
omg this account is like a social-justice Twitter feed from 2015, when people actually thought that saying stuff like this was clever https://t.co/XSI9pd3ACe
— Jonathan Kay (@jonkay) January 29, 2024
Yes, it is.
It's the same tired talking points with a new label slapped on them. It gets exhausting.
Are you fun at a party? No. https://t.co/TJeQBQReNr
— Hoisttheblackflag (@HTBF1968) January 29, 2024
We're guessing they don't get invited to a whole lot of parties.
I hear Clue marginalizes people who might have a legitimate grievance against Mr. Boddy. https://t.co/LXfOEXqaaf
— Scott Andrews, non-gladly sufferer of fools (@RansomOttawa) January 30, 2024
Darned Clue.
People do not think about the games they play in this way. This is entirely an over-educated person imagining something terrible so they can rail against it while subtly stabbing at the plebs. https://t.co/EGrNrIaSZl
— Great Basin Theo (@BasinTheo) January 30, 2024
That's exactly it.
We've become so coddled that the 'problems' we're concerned about include board games that are 'colonialist' and other things that are the epitome of privilege. And the Left uses these things as a cudgel to shame the rest of us into not enjoying board games, movies, music, the list could go on and on.
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