What follows was inspired by a link posted by the RPGPundit in the current Ravenloft thread.
2. Good Drow, motherfucker: https://comicbook.com/gaming/news/dungeons-dragons-drow-changes-lolth/
I checked the linked page out of curiosity, and of course the toxic word is immediately used, front and center:
"Dungeons & Dragons seems to be poised to make major changes to one of its iconic creatures, likely in response to their problematic depiction in various novels and other canonical lore."Let's put aside the usual hypocrisy innate in the use of "problematic" (i.e. I will not engage in a real discourse about these "problems" by defining them). Remember the old adage by Abraham Lincoln
“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”?
Because this is the point that it is
always skipped when attacking something historically successful: How comes that your "problematic" content was and is being enjoyed right now by people of any kind all over the World? That this enjoyment, of the Drow, Lovecraft, fantasy races or whatever, successfully and consistently lasted for decades - being supported, and being
still now supported, by people of all races, ethnies and nations?
Were we all being racist/stupid/insensibles for decades? Literally, you are saying that THE WORLD, wasn't aware for decades that what was commonly enjoyed had "problems"? Because this judgement would involve from blacks to Asians, and from Italians to Chinese - and everything in between (that racist Lovecraft, BTW, being a success in nothing less than China!)
I guess not. If Lincoln was right, we can say:
"You can sell something 'problematic' to some of the people all of the time, and to all of the people some of the time, but you can not offend all of the people all of the time with your 'problematic' contents." The only possible answer being "These contents are not problematic at all."
Do we recognise unsavoury content? Sure. Lovecraft
was racist (xenophobic, actually). But this part of his "poetic", put in context, was more complex that straightforward racism, involving issues ranging from his personal struggle with sexuality to the times he lived in, and his specific upbringing. Again, starting a discourse about Lovecraft by touching these topics is "forbidden" - no matter if these "problematic" contents were and are put in context just fine by millions of people of any kind.
Any "problems" about "races" in a fantastic environment, BTW, crash and burn once they put them in context (notice how often just putting something in context is enough to kill an argument). Just think about sci-fi, let's say Star Trek or Mass Effect. No one (yet) has problems with the fact that these universes are inhabited by different "races". This, I think, because "illuminated" minds more readily accept a "para-scientific" explanation (different life forms that evolved on different planets) than a fantasy one. And yet, most fantasy Worlds too make clear that "each race was born/created and evolved differently from each other".
Truth is, as amazing as it sound, a universe like Star Trek's or Mass Effect's one is as fantasy as the Forgotten Realms - and should be subjected to the same meter of judgement. There is no reason, if you consider "orcs" problematic, not to attack "Klingons", too. Maybe it will happen. But, right now any discussion about "the problem of races in an imaginary milieu" will, if put in context, just flounder. Which is the reason why it isn't made.
And these are only examples. There are many more, and you can even go much more in-depth if you wish.
No. Whites, Blacks, Arabs, Hispanics, Indians, Chinese, Japanese, persons of any age, gender and sexual inclination,
weren't stupid/insensible/racist for decades. This simply doesn't hold water. And this is the reason why those who today point out "problematic" contents will never touch this simple fact with a 10' pole.
We survived the moral panic years just because the vast majority of the gamers didn't agree that the panic had any real grounds - and in 3E Demons and Devils returned to D&D amid general partying. I think that we will survive the current panic for the same reason, and that it will end the same way. Yes, I'm optimistic