Drowsy Emperor

I read this comment and I can vouch for the first three sentences. I don't know of the rest (I haven't looked at her hand). I'm not sure who you are quoting, I'm assuming someone posted and deleted their comments? How is it a lie? Obviously these athletes are showing some public display of solidarity. Their ummm...politics are only a matter of interpretation. The point is in the interpretation. Western media is interpreting it as a sign of protest against Putins new law. Others are pointing out that this is a traditional Russian gesture (a peck on the lips) of greeting and congratulations. One reader also pointed out that one of them is married, which renders it very likely that this was indeed a congratulatory gesture and that there was no pro-LGBT politics behind it. If that is true, the entire anti-Putin part of the "news" is just a fabrication.

I read this comment and I can vouch for the first three sentences. I don't know of the rest (I haven't looked at her hand).

Fine, since you're such an expert, are you denying that the new law allows any boy who claims he feels like a girl to use the girl's locker room? I wonder whose clever idea was to turn this into an issue in school for christ's sake. Why don't they just let the person him/her self sort his own issues post-schooling? With free counseling, surgery, drugs, whatever just not in school among other kids.

Please insert a drill bit into your eye. Anyway, I doubt this will have any major consequences for things in Russia. Gay athletes will go untouched up to a point if they go looking for it (Russia's not served by that additional embarassment) and all the groups wanting to beat up gay visitors will go quiet lest they get screwed to a wall. Heh, like a Potemkin village I wonder if people will get on the case of nations with equally or worse treatment of gays being allowed to participate at all. Of course no one is going to touch gay athletes. Unless they leave their lodgings and purposefully go down to the city and start waving flags about in a deliberate act of provocation. And even then nothing might happen. That depends on whose clients they are. I don't hear the calls to boycott the World Cup in Qatar where male homosexuality is a punishable by imprisonment? But I understand why they're making so much noise. The various LGBT political groups depend on foreign funding to do their work in Russia, the new law is effectively shutting them down. No more sweet sweet euros from Denmark, Norway etc. to fund their very much "above the Russian average lifestyle." In the recent gay parade in Budva, Montenegro there was a grand total of 30 participants. Half of those were politicians looking for exposure and the other half were paid around 600 euros to show up. So much for the great "struggle for equality", bleh.

Its not about civil rights and their abuses, that's just a pretense. If it were about civil rights you'd insist that the Saudis organize a gay parade, and stop murdering their own citizens whenever the ruling family feels threatened by the idea of a peasant uprising. Civil rights are just a tool in modern mainly US international politics, (ab)used to give a veneer of legitimacy to realpolitik. Its a clever strategy because it causes moral outrage that is helpful in building enthusiasm for war. The said abuses sometimes exist, but are most often blown out of proportion by flat out lies and propaganda and sometimes they're just invented by PR companies. The real causes of the wars are much more practical in nature. It is the same with the current topic, homosexualism in Russia. Yes there is the occasional violent crime (prosecuted by police like any violent crime, regardless of what western papers say). Yes there are politically insignificant far right groups that engage in political violence towards LGBT activists (just like there are groups around the British BNP, just like there are neo-nazis in the German regional parliament that have people out murdering Turks for fun). Its all disgusting and deserving of police attention. But its also very very minor. I'm sure there are satisfied homosexuals in Russia that lead productive lives and have relationships with whomever they please. It couldn't be any other way because society solves this problem on its own - places and methods spring up for gay people to find others of similar inclinations Its only when faced with public pressure and propaganda that previously uninterested people start becoming angry. In the whole slavic world (less so in the catholic-slavic countries) the basic family unit is still the heterosexual marriage. It commands a respect of sorts, it is seen as something worthwhile. There is no alternative to it. Everything else is considered indecent and to be kept private. Gay activism is seen as a direct attack on those values and all it does is make everyone angry and resentful towards homosexuals. In fact, its the best recruitment tool for far right groups. Putin knows this, because he knows what his voting base thinks. He knows they're overwhelmingly against LGBT activism. He didn't create the disapproval of said activism in Russians, he's merely giving it an official stamp. It may even get him reelected. What is he going to do, sacrifice his political career trying to force his countrymen into something they're not going do and approve of?

Why, what are you using to judge the gayness of that picture, your own hard-on? Or did the male body and horses become gay while I wasn't looking? Seriously, the level of hate in this thread for Russia and Putin shows how thin your veneer of civility and tolerance is over that typical British racism of eastern europeans in general ... now that you can't be racist towards, arabs, blacks etc. without repercussions. PS: before you reply keep in mind you already told oby that his "eastern blood" was showing in another thread after he showed up with some ridiculous theories on the origin of jews. His writing may have been anti-semitic gibberish but your reply pretty much speaks for itself.

What she said was: when in rome do as romans do. 95% of Russian support what she said because they share the same opinion. She knows this, which is why she was comfortable saying it. They don't want rainbow flags, parading of various sexual fetishes etc. If engaging in positive propaganda for homosexuality (the sort that equates it with heterosexuality) is forbidden in Russia the shut the **** up and get on with the program. The athletes are there to engage in sports and win medals not to draw attention to their sexual preferences or political leanings. Or is this the first gay olympics? Seriously people, you need to get a grip on the concept that other countries with democratically chosen leaders can make up their own rules on what's okay, and what isn't okay.

Your point makes no sense. And yes I have several gay friends, some of them are conservative around there sexual orientation and some of them are flamboyant. I have no issue with either mannerism as I believe people should be who they are. Its the same when I go out with my gay friends that I don't pretend to be gay. Why should a gay person not be who he is? But once again I am confused by what you are saying. Do you really think that optional gay Romance in Bioware games is "stuffing it down your throat" or "drowning me in there way of life". I assume you have played Bioware games so you know that any Romance is not mandatory. You must know this yet you still feel they are somehow forcing you to be part of something that you don't have to be part of. And you have an issue with it just because Bioware is choosing to be inclusive of there fan base And you still say " you have no issue with gay people". Really, because from where I'm sitting that's not what it looks like? So in other words, if someone isn't enthusiastic about party NPC's being homosexual he's Hitler's and satan's offspring?

I've suspected that for a while. They're so persistent at it over what's a now quite long period of time that it looks very much like the higher ups are actively involved. Certainly no other developer in the industry is so aggressive about it.

It sailed well over yours too. Gaider himself probably does have an agenda judging by how he intervened in my discussion on gay romances in BW forums - but that wasn't the point. The credibility talk is rubbish, I never said anything of the sort. The point was already made in the first post, role playing is a childhood fantasy thing for me and they're putting more **** in it than necessary. Btw the chances that, out of several travelling companions, lets say 5 - that one is bisexual or gay are so remote as to be non-existent. At this point non-straight characters are heavily over-represented in Bioware games (DA2 isn't even worth discussing in this regard.) Same goes for the actual fans of the game, by necessity, gays are such a minor percentage of the fan base that the whole persistence on gay romance is a purely political construct of Bioware made for collecting brownie points with the press and gay community. In fact, knowing how viscerally male teenagers despise their conception of "gays", I can easily speculate that they alienate more people with this policy than they actually gain. So, if that's not a crusade, I don't know what is.

Well then he's even more dishonest than I thought. Talking about inclusivity of minorities when he's actually doing it because of his own inclinations, the latter not being a bad thing if you're honest about it. "I'm gay and I want to write and create gay characters" - that's perfectly fine. Just give us a call when someone less gay gets your job s'il vous plait.

Maybe he's a closet homosexual? He'll stuff it down your throat and if you don't like it he'll actually go so far as to say that the problem is in you, not in his persistence. Because you're obligated to be thrilled when your favorite method of escaping to childhood for a little while all of a sudden features male companions that proclaim their love for your junk. Its like walking through Disneyland and finding Mickey and Donald Duck at it behind an ice cream stand.

I think that Dragon Age art in general is a failure ..that they seem to keep insisting on). The color schemes are unappealing (they're the worst offender by far) and the design is inferior to what other companies are doing. Everything else was decent for its time.

Mass Effect was as good graphics wise as Bioware games got. The first one was very pretty for its time. I think BGII looks great on a large screen with appropriate mods. The rest are ugly, blocky, 3D hell.

And when you constantly heckle in threads about games you (claim you) are not going to buy, I KNOW you're not getting any. Poor retort, take a -1 penalty to all further attempts at being a lawyer. But Nep scores a + 3 for a relevant and very humorous response No, because I am getting it. The facts aren't straight.

And when you constantly heckle in threads about games you (claim you) are not going to buy, I KNOW you're not getting any. Poor retort, take a -1 penalty to all further attempts at being a lawyer.

You know my friends, when I see you debate the features of a virtual space ship the most pressing question on my mind (apart from a cluster headache) is... are you getting any?

Yeah I distinctly remember family trauma. Its like the whole Bioware crew grew up in Dickensian England.

I didn't discriminate, I hated them all equally. Seriously, besides blue alien ass I'm having trouble remembering the rest of the characters.

Bioware can't resist even fictional affirmative action.

But it would be fun to have a protagonist who is an executioner. As the executor of orders other people created lends itself to a lot of strong moral conflicts, intrigue and drama... That or I just like Gene Wolfe far too much.

Yeah, the reality is always more boring than the fiction. Except if its Biowares writing.

So, you're in fact, a Jedi. *yawn* Next! Me no wanna play if I can't burn heretics.

Actually, I've been kissed by a man, have you? Pointless comment is pointless. The laws in Russia are made to target propaganda, and that propaganda isn't just about channeling money into gay rights but into other avenues as well, many of them working directly against the Russian state. The whole act is as much about pleasing Putin's voting base as it is about stopping foreign influence in domestic politics, because most NGO's are nothing more than a vehicle for influence from some country or other. Besides, russian society (like almost all societies in the world) is overwhelmingly against Pride parades and open displays of homosexuality. It would be political suicide to insist on it, which is why only fringe politicians (who collect their paychecks from foreign embassies) can afford to do so.