Comment on BioWare Was Asked to Remove LGBTQ Flag from Canceled Mass Effect Game, Report Says
bold_omi@lemmy.today 1 day agoA meaningless action
We have gone over why and how it provably has political meaning. It is, per definition, not meaningless.
I can have an opinion without being in the club
This is irrelevant. I didn’t say you cannot have an opinion. I said that your opinion on the quantitative meaning (severity of the meaning) of the action has no significance to the qualitative meaning of the action (the fact that the action is provably anti-LGBTQIA+ in intent).
thingsiplay@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
bold_omi@lemmy.today 1 day ago
These are not the grounds on which I consider your opinion illogical. I consider your view illogical because you have declared meaningless a thing that, per definition, has meaning.
It is not meaningless. The flag represents an idea. Its removal, therefore, symbolically represents the removal of that idea.
We have gone over how the missing flag has a political and social impact. It does not impact the gameplay, but that is not the point.
I did not make the case that its removal hindered freedom. I made the case (with an axiomatic proof I provided earlier) that the removal of a symbol is freedom is symbolic removal of freedom. Not literal removal of freedom.
You can do this. That is fine. But the flag does, per definition, have a meaning, whether or not that meaning has value or significance to you. And therefore its removal does, per definition, have a meaning, whether that removal has value or significance to you.
Matthew Shephard was murdered by bar clientele because of his sexuality. That is a digression, but it feels worth mentioning that LGBTQIA+ people are not always welcome. That said, again, this is a digression.
The issue here is not the lack of a flag. The issue is the political symbolism of the flag’s removal. If a gay flag were torn down from the window of a bar, it would be a political statement. In the same way, if the flag is removed from the game, it also has political symbolism.
The point is that there is political symbolism. I am not trying to convince you that the symbolism should matter to you. I am just saying that the removal of a symbol represents the removal of the thing that symbol symbolizes. That’s the only case I’m making here.