In Gearbox’s case I’ve read about some previous statements by the company I wasn’t aware of and there is the big matter that this is the company that bought, finished and released Duke Nukem Forever, which is a whole other level of problematic. Every time something like this happens though people can point to previous instances. Some are more well known than others, but all you can really do is ask somebody when something happens.

A thought: Does the community track this sort of behavior in any organized fashion? I personally was only looking at the specific incident. It would be helpful if there was a site I could visit where we could track these events and so understand which instances seem more like “innocent” mistakes versus which mark a trend for an institution of some kind.

Frankly, I’d like for it to be easy to know that, if I went out and nabbed a copy of Borderlands 2, I’d be supporting such behavior, and so could avoid doing so.

The other issue is, is that for Hemingway this is a first time we can point at him for this type of thing, it isn’t the first time we can point at Gearbox as a whole for sexist pandering. It may not be true for the individual, but as a whole the institution is not inclusive or friendly to such inclusion. There is a subtle difference to be made between what a person is and the culture that person is apart of.

In Akin’s case, what he said was a red flag for what he believes. I hope he loses his election because of what he believes, not wha the said.

In Hemingway’s case (in my opinion) it appears beliefs were ascribed to him that aren’t guaranteed by his words. Based on his defensive stance, I get the impression he was counter-offended by people calling him sexist. Could the whole thing have gone over better if he apologized while stating his stance or beliefs on the subject? Sure. That said, did anyone apologize to him for calling him sexist when he isn’t? Not that I’ve noticed. His gaffe was compounded by the counter-mistakes made by people blowing what he said out of proportion. His reputation has been damaged more than deserved, and the anti-sexism movement has been damaged by declaring an enemy where one did not exist.

If you want to successfully promote a cause, you need to ensure that your targets are legitimate, or a good portion of the more moderate of the population will begin to disregard you. If we want to clean up the very real problem of sexism in the gaming community, we need to take care that the intensity of our reactions match the events that occur.

As for a gaffe, it doesn’t have to speak to truth as regarding reality, merely the truth of what the person believes. An apology at this stage, yes would be nothing more than a cynical ploy to avoid the blowup and really it would have been the next day. But an apology right when things hit a fervor pitch could have been done after he realized the stupid shit he says and realized it hurt people. Everyone wants to give Hemingway the benefit of the doubt so in those circumstances I would too.

The congressman in Missouri, Todd Akin is a different case entirely. What he said, while stupid, is an encapsulation of what he and many others in his party believe that no one was paying attention to. And I mean they actually believe it to be true, it’s not just a political excuse, they defy biology and actual believe this. He has sponsored legislation following up on this belief, that got next to no press. Hemingway phrased a good idea very poorly, Rep. Akin is running on this shit. It’s not about what he said, it’s what he supported. And the awful thing is, according to recent polling he’s still in the lead. The Republican party will successfully distances themselves from him, labeling him as some fringe member, rather than the accurate representation of the party’s stance towards women and people will forget allowing his beliefs to affect policy.

Words have meaning and this dismissing of them is harmful on so many levels. Yes, people misspeak, but sometimes their words speak deeper truths that we would no confront otherwise. My biggest fear is this will disappear with nothing learned and nothing fixed.

On one end, we have people taking the stand that he must believe that females suck at games. I tend to disregard this as people who are focused on the sexism subject and tend to reach maximum offense levels at anything that nudges the issue.

On the other end, we have people who just disregard the whole thing as a non-issue, which also isn’t fair, because, let’s face it, he used a gender-based term.

As you said, it was a gaffe, and should be treated as such. I’m not a fan of the unexplained apology that your PR line supplied. Anyone can spout out an apology without any meaning behind it. I’m also not a fan of the purely defensive stance he took. If you offend someone, you should explain yourself *and* apologize.

Take the fellow running for Congress in Missouri and his “legitimate rape” comment this week. Before I heard any opinions, while just hearing the sound bite, the word “idiot” came to mind. You could tell by how he was talking that he wasn’t really thinking about what he was saying. It was also pretty plain that it was an incredibly stupid thing to say no matter what his beliefs are. But since he’s in politics everyone and their dog is using the opportunity to tear him to pieces. I’m sure he’s lost his election not on the strength or weakness of his beliefs and abilities, but simply because he said something that was not only phrased badly, but did not need to be said.

Much the same as John Hemingway.