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PaperclipPerfector  19hr ago (text post)   2729 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 22, 2025

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Not at all a gamer, but I am an avid reader. And contemporary literature has many of the same issues (with different inflections) as video games.

My solution: exit. For the past year, I've only read books written in the 20th century, and it's been such a breath of fresh air. Instead of endless variations of progressive morality tales adapted to different settings, you get genuine variety of perspectives. Mentioning this elsewhere, the usual response is "oh, so you're just reading dead white men instead," but it's not at all that. You get writers of both sexes and all races bringing new perspectives to the table. Currently I'm reading an excellent memoir by a bisexual, Jewish, female software engineer, and you get none of the drivel that would be put to the page today.

This may have limited applicability to gamers: games are more social, require a much greater investment to produce, and the average game in 2025 is better (I assume) than the average game in 1995, despite wokeness. Which points to the problem for people wanting better video games today. So long as people are buying the ones produced, that's what you're stuck with, and there's not much you can do besides quit altogether.

Currently I'm reading an excellent memoir by a bisexual, Jewish, female software engineer, and you get none of the drivel that would be put to the page today.

Can you name it? This sounds interesting.

Close to the Machine, by Ellen Ullman.

My solution: exit. For the past year, I've only read books written in the 20th century, and it's been such a breath of fresh air.

Exit has been my solution as well. Hollywood/Netflix/tv wants to serve nothing but slop? The NFL has all the aesthetics of a rap video? Guess I'll pass on all of it.

Mentioning this elsewhere, the usual response is "oh, so you're just reading dead white men instead,"

And the correct answer is yeschad. They were the good writers.

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