Outrage Culture, Leadership, and the MTG Content Creators Awards
Criticism is nothing to hide from. You do not have to be afraid of someone voicing their opinion. I have received a lot of criticism over the last few days and many of my friends rushed to see how I was handling it. Some rushed to add another layer of criticism, and some backed away from me slowly, not wanting to be contaminated by our relationship. I feel obligated to explain my reaction and my feelings.
Before I go any further, I have to give you a little bit of history about myself. I am not a child by any stretch of the imagination. I've been a professional member of the military for many years. I've been all around the world and have seen the type of things that only members of the military are privileged and cursed to see. I've lived through moments that have shaped who I am as a person and moments that have inspired me to strive for who I want to be.
I've seen this term 'outrage culture' thrown around as an explanation for why some people get angry and voice their opinions on social media. I despise this term. The reason I'm uncomfortable with labeling a group of people as part of an 'outrage culture' is its diminishing effect on the person expressing outrage. It diverts attention from what the person is saying and folds it into a stereotype. It's not the person...it's the culture speaking. You are not a person...you are a blurry voice influenced only by the other blurry voices around you.
It's just another way to make you easier to deal with. You're just part of this thing...and this thing has the bad habit of screaming on social media.
In my travels, I have seen what happens to people when they are relegated to being less than human. I've seen human beings for sale...sold like garments...by sex traffickers to sex traffickers. I've seen poverty and inhumanity on a level that you could not comprehend unless you saw it for yourself. I've seen the bystanders who claimed that they had no knowledge of what's occurring, even though it was right in front of their faces. I've seen women stripped of all of their worldly possessions and subjugated by religious zealots. I've seen children pulled from their parents by politicians while they tell boldface lies to the public. I've seen the weakest and most defenseless peoples erased from existence on a whim.
And I've heard pretty much all of the silence that I can take.
I promise you, there are organizations that are currently working to diminish you into a product for their own consumption. They're trying to scale your voice down and package it up with other voices so they can easily push it aside...out of plain view. I've sat with a friend as she cried in my arms when she realized that her 'illegal' same sex marriage suddenly became legal in the military. I saw years of private pain released in a moment of joy at the knowledge that her wife would now be able to received basic medical benefits. What do you say to someone who just got told that they now hold the same legal status as other human beings? Congratulations? And I sat with another friend as she asked me desperately what was going to happen to her when her status as a transsexual suddenly became illegal in the military. What do you say to someone who just got told that they somehow don't hold the same legal status as other human beings?
If you think that you can't be tricked into accepting less than what you deserve, think again. There are thousands of freedoms that have been handed out like trophies when they should have been yours from birth. And there is a reason that the outrage is gaining volume.
If you see even the slightest form of discrimination, demeaning behavior, or social inequality...especially if it is institutionalized in a form that claims to be a 'community' program, you should scream in defiance of the offense. If you or your community is personally offended by the actions of an organization that has any semblance of a leadership role in the community...you should scream it at the top of your lungs and not stop until the demand for change is answered.
Don't give them an inch. Don't surrender even the smallest portion of your freedom or identity.
Give them nothing. If you do, they'll come back for more...and more...and more...until they can find a way to convince you that you don't even merit your own existence.
And that is why I am appreciative of people who speak out when they see something wrong...even when the outrage is directed at me. I have great respect for the community leaders who have engaged me behind the scenes, even through their skepticism, as well as those who publicly called me out on my behavior. Those leaders have an obligation to their communities to react.
And I have an obligation to listen.
My awards program doesn't exist to hurt people. When I tweeted a name without properly checking it's history...I did hurt people (tweet link). I realized that the awards have grown to a size that will require me to ask for help. Many people are helping me right now to sift through the enormous list of nominees to ensure it doesn't happen again. If I am to stand with other community leaders, I have to be responsible for everything associated with the awards.
The original purpose of the awards was simply to bring attention to MTG content creators who don't get much visibility and to inject some happiness into the lives of people who don't always get recognized. There's no corporation or wizard behind the curtain or secret agenda. I have refused sponsorship to avoid any conflicts of interest. It's just me, my idea, and a few online tools.
Before this started, my content creator friends were doing good work while falling in and out of depression from not being seen or heard. MagicWithZuby wrote an article and an accompanying video on the 'Other Side of Content Creation'. It captured the feelings that I saw in my friends. I started brainstorming ideas to help. After a few promotion ideas (#WeAreMTG), I had a vision of the biggest content creators working with the smallest...side by side...celebrating the fact that they were both content creators and loved Magic: the Gathering. I had a lot of side discussions last year and worked with a lot of people to make the inaugural awards happen. I tied the awards into an overall strategy of connecting people through communication and appreciation. I wrote the strategy down (strategy link) and angled everything having to do with the awards toward connecting people. I knew that if people were going to be able to celebrate each others' accomplishments, I would have to create an environment of friendly competition that couldn't be used to promote negativity.
With that, I silently removed names that didn't align with the code of conduct. I did this behind the scenes, after many long discussions with other content creators, in order to avoid having the focus of the awards shift from the content creators participating to the ones who weren't participating. I didn't want to weaponize the awards as a method of delivering judgment on individuals and I didn't want to be forced into conducting public trials. That would turn the awards into something they weren't supposed to be. It would also put the awards program at risk, opening the door to libel and slander litigation. And that would put my family at risk.
The MTG Content Creators Awards will continue to try to bring disparate groups together in celebration of our craft. I will continue to listen to what this community is telling me, and I will do everything I can to make the process enjoyable for all participants.
My communication lines will always be open. I don't block or ignore anyone...ever.
I want to hear your voice.
And I'm proud to be in a community where silence is not the norm.
Before I go any further, I have to give you a little bit of history about myself. I am not a child by any stretch of the imagination. I've been a professional member of the military for many years. I've been all around the world and have seen the type of things that only members of the military are privileged and cursed to see. I've lived through moments that have shaped who I am as a person and moments that have inspired me to strive for who I want to be.
I've seen this term 'outrage culture' thrown around as an explanation for why some people get angry and voice their opinions on social media. I despise this term. The reason I'm uncomfortable with labeling a group of people as part of an 'outrage culture' is its diminishing effect on the person expressing outrage. It diverts attention from what the person is saying and folds it into a stereotype. It's not the person...it's the culture speaking. You are not a person...you are a blurry voice influenced only by the other blurry voices around you.
It's just another way to make you easier to deal with. You're just part of this thing...and this thing has the bad habit of screaming on social media.
In my travels, I have seen what happens to people when they are relegated to being less than human. I've seen human beings for sale...sold like garments...by sex traffickers to sex traffickers. I've seen poverty and inhumanity on a level that you could not comprehend unless you saw it for yourself. I've seen the bystanders who claimed that they had no knowledge of what's occurring, even though it was right in front of their faces. I've seen women stripped of all of their worldly possessions and subjugated by religious zealots. I've seen children pulled from their parents by politicians while they tell boldface lies to the public. I've seen the weakest and most defenseless peoples erased from existence on a whim.
And I've heard pretty much all of the silence that I can take.
I promise you, there are organizations that are currently working to diminish you into a product for their own consumption. They're trying to scale your voice down and package it up with other voices so they can easily push it aside...out of plain view. I've sat with a friend as she cried in my arms when she realized that her 'illegal' same sex marriage suddenly became legal in the military. I saw years of private pain released in a moment of joy at the knowledge that her wife would now be able to received basic medical benefits. What do you say to someone who just got told that they now hold the same legal status as other human beings? Congratulations? And I sat with another friend as she asked me desperately what was going to happen to her when her status as a transsexual suddenly became illegal in the military. What do you say to someone who just got told that they somehow don't hold the same legal status as other human beings?
If you think that you can't be tricked into accepting less than what you deserve, think again. There are thousands of freedoms that have been handed out like trophies when they should have been yours from birth. And there is a reason that the outrage is gaining volume.
If you see even the slightest form of discrimination, demeaning behavior, or social inequality...especially if it is institutionalized in a form that claims to be a 'community' program, you should scream in defiance of the offense. If you or your community is personally offended by the actions of an organization that has any semblance of a leadership role in the community...you should scream it at the top of your lungs and not stop until the demand for change is answered.
Don't give them an inch. Don't surrender even the smallest portion of your freedom or identity.
Give them nothing. If you do, they'll come back for more...and more...and more...until they can find a way to convince you that you don't even merit your own existence.
And that is why I am appreciative of people who speak out when they see something wrong...even when the outrage is directed at me. I have great respect for the community leaders who have engaged me behind the scenes, even through their skepticism, as well as those who publicly called me out on my behavior. Those leaders have an obligation to their communities to react.
And I have an obligation to listen.
My awards program doesn't exist to hurt people. When I tweeted a name without properly checking it's history...I did hurt people (tweet link). I realized that the awards have grown to a size that will require me to ask for help. Many people are helping me right now to sift through the enormous list of nominees to ensure it doesn't happen again. If I am to stand with other community leaders, I have to be responsible for everything associated with the awards.
The original purpose of the awards was simply to bring attention to MTG content creators who don't get much visibility and to inject some happiness into the lives of people who don't always get recognized. There's no corporation or wizard behind the curtain or secret agenda. I have refused sponsorship to avoid any conflicts of interest. It's just me, my idea, and a few online tools.
Before this started, my content creator friends were doing good work while falling in and out of depression from not being seen or heard. MagicWithZuby wrote an article and an accompanying video on the 'Other Side of Content Creation'. It captured the feelings that I saw in my friends. I started brainstorming ideas to help. After a few promotion ideas (#WeAreMTG), I had a vision of the biggest content creators working with the smallest...side by side...celebrating the fact that they were both content creators and loved Magic: the Gathering. I had a lot of side discussions last year and worked with a lot of people to make the inaugural awards happen. I tied the awards into an overall strategy of connecting people through communication and appreciation. I wrote the strategy down (strategy link) and angled everything having to do with the awards toward connecting people. I knew that if people were going to be able to celebrate each others' accomplishments, I would have to create an environment of friendly competition that couldn't be used to promote negativity.
With that, I silently removed names that didn't align with the code of conduct. I did this behind the scenes, after many long discussions with other content creators, in order to avoid having the focus of the awards shift from the content creators participating to the ones who weren't participating. I didn't want to weaponize the awards as a method of delivering judgment on individuals and I didn't want to be forced into conducting public trials. That would turn the awards into something they weren't supposed to be. It would also put the awards program at risk, opening the door to libel and slander litigation. And that would put my family at risk.
The MTG Content Creators Awards will continue to try to bring disparate groups together in celebration of our craft. I will continue to listen to what this community is telling me, and I will do everything I can to make the process enjoyable for all participants.
My communication lines will always be open. I don't block or ignore anyone...ever.
I want to hear your voice.
And I'm proud to be in a community where silence is not the norm.
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