Progtardation
Jun 29, 2020 6:51:55 GMT -5
Post by dmdr on Jun 29, 2020 6:51:55 GMT -5
this will be long. If you don't like it, get fucked
Alright so this last convulsion on DoomWorld regarding the depiction of Lara Croft being eternally tortured in Ascension.wad (a short summary will follow for latecomers), and the consequent blowback from tiresome, moralising left-wingers (hence: progtards), has led to people attempting to defend the wad and it's creators by saying a lot of things like:
"Lara Croft is imaginary"
"Doom has heaps of violence and depictions of torture, how is this different"
"The people torturing women are the bad guys"
"There's no proof the wad author is getting off on this"
"Isn't this a lot like Christians trying to censor Doom?"
(not direct quotes even though I used quotation marks I do what I want lololol)
None of these are bad points or wrong in any way but they assume that the people attacking Ascension are doing so on a rational/logical basis; they are not. Or, more correctly, their logical process is completely different from those who are defending the wad on those or similar bases, and can be succinctly summed up in one simple phrase:
MAGIC SPELLS
(the promised summary follows in a spoiler)
A lot has been made of progtardation and it's similarity to religiosity in it's practices and attitudes. This is usually meant as an insult of sorts but it's actually very true; hence MAGIC SPELLS. As such the best guide to progtardation is actually The Golden Bough by J.G. Frazier, or at least the first chapter in which he explains the typical logic of magic rites (I haven't read the rest because even the abridged edition I have is 974 pages long lololol. Judging by the contents page the rest is mostly examples of magical and religious rites and thought etc. culled from many different cultures around the world in order to lend support to his thesis so it's unlikely to invalidate what I'm about to say anyway).
In Frazier's schema he identifies two mechanisms of magic which are what he calls 'sympathy' and 'contagion'. 'Sympathy' is a little hard to articulate, so it may not be very clear which is why I'm going to give as many examples of it as I can think of, but can be summed up more or less as 'like attracts like' or 'like begets like' or somesuch along those lines. You may remember that 'The Secret' thing from a few years ago which encouraged people to imagine themselves being rich or whatever, at which point it will come true somehow; alternatively, when someone tells you to 'fake it til you make it' they're engaging in a similar sort of thinking, ie. that if you behave a certain way you will eventually become like that for real.
'Contagion' is easier for me to explain -- it's the idea that things that have been separated remain connected and things done to one part will affect the other. Homeopathy, the idea that drinking water that has at one point been in contact with some sort of medicine will cure whatever ails you, is exactly and almost purely this.
Consider the humble voodoo doll, as it's a good example of both kinds of magic. The classic voodoo doll is constructed by making a little effigy of a human being that is then impregnated, for want of a better word, with a little piece of the intended victim, typically a lock of their hair or a fingernail clipping. At that point you can poke it with pins, hold it above the fire, fart on it, or whatever, and the doll will magically transmit those effects to the victim in the form of tummy aches, a fever, or a BO problem, respectively. The 'contagion' part should be clear, as the hair etc. connects the doll to the victim and thus transmits whatever violence is done to the effigy to them; this violence forms the 'sympathetic' part of the magical equation.
I'm also reminded of an episode from Napoleon Chagnon's 'Noble Savages', which is a popular book (that you should read) about the time the author spent in the Amazon jungle with the Yanomamo Indians, who at that stage had never been in contact with civilisation. Quite soon after he arrived his hosts went to kill some of their tribal enemies, but before they went they dressed up a log in a manner typical of the intended victims, then danced around it while chanting and attacking it with axes, shooting arrows into it, and so forth. This is another example of 'sympathetic magic' in that the Yanomamo engaging in this rite expected their successful attacks on the log to translate into successful attacks on their enemies; by acting it out they make it become real, so to speak (the dressing up forms the 'contagion' part of the rite, of course -- one assumes that they used clothes once worn by the intended victims, but I don't remember specifically).
Another good example of this phenomenon in progtard thought is that of 'representation', as in, of women and minorities in various media, which involves the creation of various effigies, seemingly in order to bring them about. In Marvel comics, for example, any new superhero who has a technical or scientific basis for their powers is almost guaranteed to be a black woman or girl (Iron Heart, Moon Girl) -- cue complaints about the lack of diversity in STEM. Conversely, depictions of black criminality are shied away from, even in the news (see also this, which explicitly demands that any given writer 'place the humanity and leadership of people of color at the center'). This is all typical of sympathetic magic, ie. depict/enact the behaviour/results you want, make taboo those you don't -- Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, refused to describe the rites of various cults he'd been privy to for fear that would rob them of their power. See also secret men's cults in New Guinea, etc. etc.
Anyway I think I've gone on long enough (and I made my point some time ago anyway). Hopefully you learned something about magical thinking and will be able to identify it the next time those idiots engage in it. And a final thought: don't bother arguing with such people.
Alright so this last convulsion on DoomWorld regarding the depiction of Lara Croft being eternally tortured in Ascension.wad (a short summary will follow for latecomers), and the consequent blowback from tiresome, moralising left-wingers (hence: progtards), has led to people attempting to defend the wad and it's creators by saying a lot of things like:
"Lara Croft is imaginary"
"Doom has heaps of violence and depictions of torture, how is this different"
"The people torturing women are the bad guys"
"There's no proof the wad author is getting off on this"
"Isn't this a lot like Christians trying to censor Doom?"
(not direct quotes even though I used quotation marks I do what I want lololol)
None of these are bad points or wrong in any way but they assume that the people attacking Ascension are doing so on a rational/logical basis; they are not. Or, more correctly, their logical process is completely different from those who are defending the wad on those or similar bases, and can be succinctly summed up in one simple phrase:
MAGIC SPELLS
(the promised summary follows in a spoiler)
I was going to write a summary but there's an archive.org backup of the offending page, I believe thanks to @memfis memfis memfis memfis, so I don't have to. The drama begins with Not Jabba's post, about halfway down.
A lot has been made of progtardation and it's similarity to religiosity in it's practices and attitudes. This is usually meant as an insult of sorts but it's actually very true; hence MAGIC SPELLS. As such the best guide to progtardation is actually The Golden Bough by J.G. Frazier, or at least the first chapter in which he explains the typical logic of magic rites (I haven't read the rest because even the abridged edition I have is 974 pages long lololol. Judging by the contents page the rest is mostly examples of magical and religious rites and thought etc. culled from many different cultures around the world in order to lend support to his thesis so it's unlikely to invalidate what I'm about to say anyway).
In Frazier's schema he identifies two mechanisms of magic which are what he calls 'sympathy' and 'contagion'. 'Sympathy' is a little hard to articulate, so it may not be very clear which is why I'm going to give as many examples of it as I can think of, but can be summed up more or less as 'like attracts like' or 'like begets like' or somesuch along those lines. You may remember that 'The Secret' thing from a few years ago which encouraged people to imagine themselves being rich or whatever, at which point it will come true somehow; alternatively, when someone tells you to 'fake it til you make it' they're engaging in a similar sort of thinking, ie. that if you behave a certain way you will eventually become like that for real.
'Contagion' is easier for me to explain -- it's the idea that things that have been separated remain connected and things done to one part will affect the other. Homeopathy, the idea that drinking water that has at one point been in contact with some sort of medicine will cure whatever ails you, is exactly and almost purely this.
Consider the humble voodoo doll, as it's a good example of both kinds of magic. The classic voodoo doll is constructed by making a little effigy of a human being that is then impregnated, for want of a better word, with a little piece of the intended victim, typically a lock of their hair or a fingernail clipping. At that point you can poke it with pins, hold it above the fire, fart on it, or whatever, and the doll will magically transmit those effects to the victim in the form of tummy aches, a fever, or a BO problem, respectively. The 'contagion' part should be clear, as the hair etc. connects the doll to the victim and thus transmits whatever violence is done to the effigy to them; this violence forms the 'sympathetic' part of the magical equation.
I'm also reminded of an episode from Napoleon Chagnon's 'Noble Savages', which is a popular book (that you should read) about the time the author spent in the Amazon jungle with the Yanomamo Indians, who at that stage had never been in contact with civilisation. Quite soon after he arrived his hosts went to kill some of their tribal enemies, but before they went they dressed up a log in a manner typical of the intended victims, then danced around it while chanting and attacking it with axes, shooting arrows into it, and so forth. This is another example of 'sympathetic magic' in that the Yanomamo engaging in this rite expected their successful attacks on the log to translate into successful attacks on their enemies; by acting it out they make it become real, so to speak (the dressing up forms the 'contagion' part of the rite, of course -- one assumes that they used clothes once worn by the intended victims, but I don't remember specifically).
So, what does all this mumbo-jumbo have to do with progtards? Simply, they're engaging in a sort of magical sympathy when they complain about these depictions, which is to say that they have a fear that the effigy will become real. Note that user 'plums' states that the 'content being discussed' 'seems to advocate violence against women' (that's a bit out of context since the two statements I've quoted were on different paragraphs but I don't think I've misrepresented his views) without a bit of evidence that's the intention of the authors. As mentioned in the spoilered summary, the 'trend' involves sprites of the obnoxious feminist punk band Pussy Riot being dead, Tomb Raider protagonist Lara Croft being dead, and Lara Croft being in eternal agony, each being easter eggs that appear exactly once. In what way does this '[seem] to advocate violence against women', or constitute 'torture porn' as many other users insist on characterising these sprites (pornography is, of course, both explicit and repetitive by definition; reference to the linked screenshot should put paid to any such idea)?
Well, if you're the sort of person who believes in magic, implicitly or explicitly, you can plausibly claim the authors are striking the log, so to speak, and engaging in a sympathetic kind of magic -- the effigy, which in this case are the sprites and interpreted as representing women in general (despite the specificity of the actual depictions), will become real! The fact that the authors have done this sort of thing multiple times only increases it's magical power -- a ritual being a repetitious sequence of actions, of course, so the longer it goes on the more powerful it becomes. The Mandan Indians, as per George Catlin, would have a magically potent individual enact a ritual in times of privation, which would go on until such time as bison were sighted and killed. Another principle: if magic doesn't work, keep trying until it does, thus the concern about the repeated pattern of behaviour.
Another good example of this phenomenon in progtard thought is that of 'representation', as in, of women and minorities in various media, which involves the creation of various effigies, seemingly in order to bring them about. In Marvel comics, for example, any new superhero who has a technical or scientific basis for their powers is almost guaranteed to be a black woman or girl (Iron Heart, Moon Girl) -- cue complaints about the lack of diversity in STEM. Conversely, depictions of black criminality are shied away from, even in the news (see also this, which explicitly demands that any given writer 'place the humanity and leadership of people of color at the center'). This is all typical of sympathetic magic, ie. depict/enact the behaviour/results you want, make taboo those you don't -- Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, refused to describe the rites of various cults he'd been privy to for fear that would rob them of their power. See also secret men's cults in New Guinea, etc. etc.
Anyway I think I've gone on long enough (and I made my point some time ago anyway). Hopefully you learned something about magical thinking and will be able to identify it the next time those idiots engage in it. And a final thought: don't bother arguing with such people.
