Nothing can ever hope to grow if it doesn't take itself seriously. In this sense, I mean committed to a form or course of action and be willing to put aside the barbs and slings of the opposition in order to succeed. If you don't even believe in your own idea, how can you convince others of that fact?

On the other hand, there's NOTHING on this planet more destructive to a good idea than taking it WAY TOO SERIOUSLY. When you brand all opposition as actively evil and act as if your idea is the only thing that matters in the day to day life of every citizen of the planet, you're definitely off the deep end, but even small doses of this mentality can be toxic to the cauldron of creativity.

I'll start with small and simple ideas. How bout the most innocuous concept possible? A Video Game.

The Mass Effect series started off as an outgrowth of another successful series. Essentially the company Bioware wanted to do a Star Wars series with mature themes and more of a free hand than they were allowed under a Lucasfilm license. That's actually a nice, fun idea. Lucasarts has been extremely hostile to any topics that would be seen as "Harming their brand" and in essence have taken themselves WAY too seriously. Lucasarts had banned any suggestion of LBGTQ characters, as well as discussions of racism or any other "Controversial" topic because they felt it would not properly reflect the world they wanted to tell.

So Mass Effect took all the elements from their successful Star Wars Game "Knights Of the Old Republic" and tossed in a Fairly Star Trek-esque plot and universe in order to tell a more mature story. And it WORKED. Worked well in a soy sauce and ketchup manner. The combination of factors led to a great story of heroism, discussed some rather weighty topics like Genocide, Racism, Gender Concepts, and the nature of Sapience. It was the closest thing to a HARD SF story that had been told in mass media for quite some time.

Along came the second game, and they continued on in that matter, dropping a few mechanics, and improving others. The heavy concepts remained, and this time even were MORE hard hitting in their depiction of "Working with Evil in order to Do Good." The questions were a little more morally grey, and yet still gave the impression of the ability to be better than was expected of you. In essence, the game both LOWERED the stakes, and made them more personal. It dumped the "Let's be serious" aspect for what was essentially a "Heist" story. It was fun, and felt like an enjoyable second act. It was the high point of the series, and at this point expectations were high.

It was also at this point Bioware started believing their own hype and decided that their story really MEANT something. So, when the final part of the story came out, to resounding jeers of "Cheap Knock Off" and "Unsatisfying End", they immediately began proclaiming LOUDLY through media that the real reason their fans were complaining was because of the male gay character. Their fans were entitled prigs who didn't understand the ART of what they were trying to do, and were in fact just a bunch of fat white guys. (Sound Familiar?) Their fans would shut up eventually, and come back to the series! This is all just a ploy to destroy us! To make a long story short, they took themselves and their product, WAAAAAY Too Seriously.

This story actually has a somewhat happy ending. Bioware took a look at the sales numbers, return numbers, and bad press, and realized that they were in fact, being dicks. They fixed the most MAJOR complaints, somewhat, and as an apology released possibly the best DLC ever released for a video game ever. It was essentially a love letter to their fans, which helped wrap up the stories of all the beloved characters. In fact, many fans think of this as the definitive ending to the series, rather than the paint by numbers final 3 hours of gameplay.

This kind of mentality continues on in far too many groups, and is rampant in political circles and media.

Don't like the new Ghostbusters trailer? You're a sexist who doesn't like your male heroes tarnished. (Actually, NO, it was a crappy trailer, and the jokes were lame and predictable. It felt like an Adam Sandler movie, where the entire joke was "You recognize that! Laugh!")

Think BLM has tarnished their reputation by attacking their allies? You're a racist. Period. (No, on this one you're not allowed to say "I agree with their message, not their tactics because that's a variety of -splaining")

Feel that Islam treats women poorly, and that the religion actively advocates for the death of those opposed? You are just Islamophobic/Racist. (Which IMHO, is a case of projection of the first order.)

Don't like Hillary? You're a sexist who is influenced by the Right wing smear machine. (Or left, wing? I lost track on the spin on this one)

On and on it goes. It's all symptomatic of a group that is so afraid of criticism that anybody who even speaks an objection must be tarred with the worst smears you can imagine. I'm could go on naming names, but the common thread that runs through these groups is FEAR. Fear that their message might not be properly spun so as a result ALL criticism must be negated by political violence.

And yes, I use the term political violence. In some cases it even has spilled over into actual violence. The imposition of your will by violence is in my opinion the last refuge of a weak idea. In demanding, via force, that your ideas must be the only tolerated ones suggests that your ideas are so weak as to be threatened by the existence of a competing idea.

Note that nowhere do I condone the dissemination and debate on actual LIES. If you tell me that Guns are safe because no gun anywhere has ever killed someone without human input of some kind, I'm quite happy to consider the idea that of a liar with skin in the game. I have no patience or sympathy for those that mishear, or "Play Devil's Advocate" on an idea that is clearly counter factual. If you demand that I prove every person murdered by the Nazi regime was in fact murdered by the Nazi regime, you are wasting your time on a game where the fundamental rules are flying in the face of the truth. Demanding that abortion seekers listen to lies is in my opinion another form of political violence, physically restraining action until your point is heard.

So, here's to taking ourselves seriously, but not too seriously. I hope to be able to to sit back, and when someone calls me a foul name, not to react except to laugh long and hard. I look forward to smiling, adopting a wry grin, and saying...

I'm Not a (Insert -ist phrase here). I'm a PIRATE!

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXoZsgNHquM]