James Russell Lowell would be very proud.
At a time when all the old venerable New England liberal publications descended into a swamp of woke blogging, The Atlantic maintained some of its respectability. It still published plenty of garbage, not least of which came from whiny racist and Hamas fanboy Ta-Nehisi Coates, but at least it avoided going down the sewer of woke pop culture warfare.
Until now.
Behold what the old publication of Holmes and Longfellow now amounts to
Why Elon Musk Needs Dungeons & Dragons to Be Racist – The fantastical roots of “scientific racism”
In the game, as in the books, certain characters’ fundamental traits were determined by their “race.” A dwarf couldn’t do magic; an orc was dumb and violent; an elf couldn’t be ugly. Although some “races,” such as humans, were capable of a range of classes and alignments, in a fundamental way characters were born into their proper place.
Finally, The Atlantic has taken a stance against the uh… pernicious idea that orcs are dumb and violent and dwarves (dwarfs?) can’t do magic in a basement game.
If you don’t think this can get dumber, I’ve got bad news for you.
In June 2020, during the protests following the murder of George Floyd, the D&D development team acknowledged in a blog post that some earlier versions of the game offered portrayals of fantasy creatures that were “painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated.”
Elves. George Floyd. Who can even tell the difference anymore?
Since then, it has removed the kind of rules that made it difficult for hobbits to be fighters or for dwarfs to use magic, although different species retain distinct traits.
Stunning and brave. Not since Hillary Clinton ran for president, has there been anything as historic as this.
What’s the justification for this nonsense? That playing different races in Dungeons & Dragons convinces people that racial differences are real. And then George Floyd can’t breathe. Because he wasn’t allowed to use magic.
But is this really about changing the world by changing D&D or about politicizing anything fictional so that it imposes a narrative on even the most escapist pursuits? Anyone who has seen woke culture warfare knows the answer.
This is stupid, petty and trivial which is exactly what the Left is now. A maliciously petty movement obsessed with power over everything because it’s incapable of achieving any of its stated goals, only destroying everything, which is its unstated goal.
But at least George Floyd can use magic now.
