Hypocrites

[TheHuntressSabrynah]

First of all, I would like to apologize to BlackOpal/Opal Roseblossom for stealing the title and format of her Artemis Fowl oneshot of the same name. She is a much better writer then me, and I would strongly encourage you to go and take a look at the original fic at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3426757/1/

 

 

 

This fic is about my frustration with the pompous male buffoons that seeem to think being female makes someone weaker. It is an almost daily occurance for me. I'll be going about my business, doing no harm whatsoever, when some idiot will laugh, or start talking about his "super-awesome" Clan Chat and tell me there are "no females allowed," or some buffoon will tell me I'm weak!

 

I'm resigned to being insulted by these morons. I'm just tired of keeping quiet about it, and I had to let out my feelings.

 

 

 

----------------------------------------------------------

 

They're hypocrites, the lot of them.

 

They say I'm weak, based on the fact I'm female.

 

Ha! They don't know what we endure.

 

It would kill them.

 

It only makes us stronger.

 

 

 

Hypocrites.

 

 

 

S[bleep]ing around, assuming they're better then me.

 

Just because I'm not a puffed-up narcissist man like them.

 

I only want to be myself.

 

Why can't they let me?

 

 

 

Hypocrites!

 

 

 

I've been playing RuneScape for much longer than most of them!

 

I have much higher levels than most of them!

 

I could probably kill most of them, unarmed!

 

How many of them have ever pulled back a bowstring in real life?

 

Probably very few.

 

That doesn't beat my outstanding record!

 

 

 

HYPOCRITES!

 

 

 

They tell me to go sit in a corner.

 

They say I'm stupid.

 

Ha! Me? The girl who is legally considered a genius?

 

I really don't think so, diolain!

 

I'm myself, and proud to be a girl!

[Hawks]

True that. This is why I play a male character in RS.

 

 

 

I assume that you have, in fact, shot a bow in real life? Archery is a most rewarding pastime, I wish I had a good bow... (But I have to make do with my brother's crappy one. :x )

 

 

 

It's not particularly flowing/articulate, but it makes its point well. :D

[archimage_a]

Hypocrit is exact what it says it is...The word hypocrit is hypocritical. It is nearly always used to attack people who have stated an opinion, WITH ANOTHER OPINION!

 

 

 

Being a girl on RS is really, really, really, easy. I have been a girl the last 3 years of my RS life and I have found it to be a much easier game to play as a woman...namely because skirts are cheaper and it is much easier to start conversations with intelligent people because you can say Hi, they say Hi and if they are an idiot they will tell you you are hot. Hence with only three lines you have eliminated 95% of the idiots.

 

 

 

I don't think that my RS gender ever became a problem, in game...in real life it is another matter but its nothing major.

 

 

 

In the wider world men tend to suffer more discrimination than women, and women tend to be bigger hypocrits than men. Most men have had to make the transition over the last 100 years, they have had to learn to cook and clean, iron and wash...Women on the other hand...very few have crossed the barrier, very few have learned to work machines, to become scientists, to develop in any significant way.

 

Men are near always called to remove spiders from the bath, to do something mildly dangerous, to take care of the cars. Most women make a mess of the bathroom as they try to wash the spider away, get scared and leave the shower head flailing. Most women will say 'Your the man, you do it' when faced with a loose electric cable. Most women will drive a car without filling the oil, water or checking the tyres.

 

When it comes to national military service women are exempt in many countries, despite being more numerous. Why do we persist with the idea of 'women and children first' if we are all equal?

 

 

 

Who suffers? The children. Instead of having a parent, though unhappy, who looks after them, they have no one. The man should play his part, he should be AS willing to look after them, but that hasn't happened. Instead Women have decided that they will sacrifice their children so that they can go and have a career. How is that fair?

 

Now it has reached a point where if both parents don't work there is not enough money. So your little quest for freedom has lead you to a point where much greater inequality exists. Your quest has damaged the world and both men and women alike are too stubborn to give an inch more.

 

 

 

Instead of declaring yourselves better or equal you should have declared yourself free, chosen the men who were willing, like myself, to put their lives on hold to look after children and bred a generation which was free of the sexism without being destroyed by feminism.

 

 

 

I await your hate mail.

[TheHuntressSabrynah]

Please forgive me for finding that incredibly funny, Archimage.

 

Did I ever say that I'm a placard-carrying, bra-burning feminist? I just don't like being verbally abused!

 

Then again, I am one of the girls on FF.net who believes

Be insane, because well-behaved girls never made history.

 

By the way, my use of the word hypocrite has a double meaning... It seems wrong to you, but go read the artemis Fowl books, have a chat with a few FG'ers, and you might possibly figure it out. Possibly.

[archimage_a]

Possibly.

 

Ooo, do I detect the sting in the tail. :P

 

 

 

Hmmmm, well I will say this:

 

'Mankind has advanced, when it has advanced, not by being responsible, sober and dutiful; but by being reckless, playful and childish.'

 

 

 

Though at the same time:

 

'You can't say civilizations don't advance, because they kill you in a new way in each war.'

 

 

 

Is that progress we actually want? ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway I just about understand the hypocrit referance in Fowl....Something to do with the She Elf(Sorry, terrible with names today) being a token promotion who has to dutifully obey just to get there.

 

Which was sort of why I went into overkill with my responce.

 

 

 

I just have a thing against reactionary literature. It creates far more problems than it solves, and in forty years time has no significance to anyone...unless of course it fails to provoke any change....which seems rather :wall: (For want of a better word)

 

 

 

I suppose because the middle ground shifts by centuries not years, or even decades. One wonders if, in the future, humanity has evolved a way to change their mind every five seconds:

 

Evolution-Millions of years

 

Stone Age-Tens of thousands of years

 

Civilisation-Thousands of years

 

Theocracy-Hundreds of years

 

Industrial Revolution-Tens of years

 

Democracy-Years

 

:ohnoes:

[TheHuntressSabrynah]

But, have you chatted with the FG'ers I have? We're a twisty lot, and what I actually meant was the useage of the word in my story, not Opal's. No, it's not a reference to Artemis Fowl or Opal's story, I meant AF would help you figure out what I meant. Arty and I think alike. Probably because we're both genii.

 

Don't worry if you don't see the double meaning right away. No one ever does. Maybe no one ever will.

[archimage_a]

a stage actor, hence one who pretends to be what he is not

 

 

 

Someone who pretends to be a women when they are actually a man? That is not being a hypocrit, that is being open minded...or trod upon.

 

 

 

Probably doesn't help that I don't know what an Fg'er is...

[Earth_Poet]

It's probably a bad idea to interject in the middle of a feminist argument, but I'm a sucker for punishment.

 

 

 

The subject matter is so strong that the technique is somewhat a secondary priority to discuss. The plight of women in the world is well known. In 2002 in the United States, women outnumbered men 144 million to 138 million, making up 51% of the population, yet women are still commonly referred to as a minority group. Only in the last thirty years have women actively pursued careers in the workforce. Prior to that, nurses, teachers, and secretaries were pretty much the only options. While Hillary Clinton was running for president, she mentioned her dreams of being an astronaut as a child, only to be told she couldn't be one. Even today, we still mention the metaphorical "glass ceiling" when referring to women in the workforce.

 

 

 

Your subject is far more specific, yet we see the same old prejudices apparent. In the gaming world, females find themselves even more of a minority than ever before. You have a right to be offended when you hear, "No girls allowed." What if they said, "No black people allowed," or, "No Jews allowed." It is offensive to women.

 

 

 

I wasn't sure about the use of the word hypocrite, however, so I checked out the link to the story that inspired you to right your piece. In the original story, it seems much of the intent is directed particularly at Captain Holly Short. Hypocrites are those who condemn others for the very same actions they engage in themselves. For example, it would be hypocritical of me to bash people who spend excessive amounts of time on the internet, because I fall in the same category.

 

 

 

Your story deals more with prejudices, sexism to be more specific. Your antagonists assume you must be weaker because you are female. For me, this fails to fall under my definition of hypocrisy.

 

 

 

We also need to take into context the population that play Runescape. We're looking at a dominate section of male teenagers. Some may be preadolescent, and haven't quite reached a maturity with women. They are still stuck in the "Girls! Yuck!" stage. Then you have a large group that are interested in women, but have little experience in conversing with them. These incidents you see a flirtfest begin. Though the maturity level of the community may be a factor in this scenario, you still have an interesting topic. I just think you are going about it the wrong way.

 

 

 

Instead of declaring yourselves better or equal you should have declared yourself free

 

 

 

I agree with archimage on this point. You have found a rich topic to write about in what female gamers deal with. It's good news that you found inspiration through another author. Now I'd recommend revising this piece and utilizing more of your own personal inspiration. In other words, work to make it more your own now, and less somebody else's.

 

 

 

The tone is too aggressive, and that could either make your audience uncomfortable, or dismiss it as frivolous. It sounds like, "How dare you exclude me! I'm probably better than all of you!" And that will fail to garner any sympathy from your readers outside those directly experiencing the same hardship. Scale down the aggression, but still play up your strengths. Frame it in a sense to illustrate the oppressive behaviors you must combat, but don't let the dialect sink down to the level of your adversaries. Rise above it instead.

 

 

 

I've been playing RuneScape for much longer than most of them!

 

I have much higher levels than most of them!

 

I could probably kill most of them, unarmed!

 

How many of them have ever pulled back a bowstring in real life?

 

Probably very few.

 

That doesn't beat my outstanding record!

 

 

 

This strophe, while boasts of your qualities, serves to further divide yourself. It appears more as a circular struggle for respect. They won't give you any respect, so you won't show them any respect, and then they won't give you any respect, etc.. The goal would be to show your attributes while keeping the dignity of the message intact. Off the top of my head, we could do something like this:

 

 

 

I've played longer than most,

 

Yet they still turn me away.

 

I've trained harder, slew thousands,

 

and still I am only a woman.

 

I do what other men have failed,

 

I have insight few could experience,

 

but still I am refused.

 

 

 

Not great, but hopefully that can illustrate my point. As far as technique is concerned, play with some imagery. Use the senses, experiment with some metaphors. I want the reader to walk away experiencing what you have experienced. Don't let this be a therapeutic one-shot to blow off some anger. You have a really good topic here. I implore you to revisit it.

[TheHuntressSabrynah]

Thank you! I will revise it!

 

And, no offence intended, none of you have seen the double meaning yet.

 

Oh, and Opal's definition of FG'er is:

FG'er- noun A person who frequently visits FG.

 

And, before you ask, FG is FanGathering, where everyone is insane or slowly becoming insane.

[Nom]

If no one has yet spotted this purported double meaning then it is hardly the readers' fault. You might want to ask yourself whether the "double meaning" is actually, for lack of a better word, legitimate. Does it make enough sense to be discovered through reasonable deduction and analysis?

 

 

 

The only thing I've seen that could be a double meaning is the irony of the arrogant and aggressive tone in which this invective is delivered, which JP pointed out.

[archimage_a]

It still boils down to a single basic thing:

 

You don't want to build your own system, you just want to exploit the current system to your own ends.

 

 

 

 

 

The system that currently exists is geared to serve the majority, which in this case is female-haters. Hence you want to exploit a system which is inherantly unfair, but also inherantly practical, since it serves the majority. In simple terms, you want to reverse the senario, supressing the majority and therefore creating an impractical system.

 

 

 

Added to that setting up your own clan is a much simpler alternative, which also gives other females, in the same position as you, somewhere to go...Rather than tearing the male world apart, you create a segregated community, which allows, over time...and with a lot of clan duels, to become a cohesive community, with both males and females being parts of large clans.

 

Rather than force a system, I impress a system.

 

 

 

Another alternative is lump the system because the fact is that women will be a minority until they become a majority. Putting a load of effort into making sure women are included in something which the majority(of Women) arn't interested in, already have avalible to them(albeit not widespread) and which would upset a load of people in the short term and create hatred in the long term...Is rather foolish, if you ask me.

 

Just try to make the best of it, its what I do when presented by the immoral world we live in, I don't write attacking monologues critising the world, unless of course I am discussing my views, which sort of makes it pertinent.