As Gaddock fever is sweeping the nation with the upcoming States meta game I feel it necessary to point out something completely irrelevant to his playability as a card.
Take a closer look at the art. Past the squinty eyes, past the bulbous forehead and receding hairline, just north of his neatly woven dreadlocks. His ear, and if you look closer you'll see a small earring.
An earring on his right ear!
AKA a clear indication that he favors male Kithkin. Which makes me yearn for Mr. Teeg so much more. Not only is he a key leader in the Kithkin society, but he is also an open homosexual. A true sign that our community can overcome the stresses of homophobia and segregation of differently minded Magicians.
Personally I don't see what all the riot is about. Every once in awhile an editor will slip up and some kind of obscure gay comment will make its way into an article. The community will go wild with master debaters on both sides of the argument, as if Kennedy was just shot or something.
A good count of this would be a recent Starcitygames article by John Pelcak where he noted that you wouldn't want to be a "Faerie drafter."
C'mon people. We are all intellectuals here, we play an intellectual game, and we talk in an intellectual fashion. So why can't we conduct ourselves in intellectual manner and get past all the gay jokes and whatnots and see the humor that any given writer is trying to reflect.
I'm a big believer that there is humor in everything, including the most offensive and degrading things ever said. And I really fail to realize why people always seem to get up in arms about a gay comment here or there.
Black humor has been one of the most common form of comedy with the likes of Chris Rock leading the black humor bandwagon. Gay humor is just the same, making fun of a way certain people choose to live their life. Its no different than making fun of handicap, females, or ugly people.
A funny image that I always seem to chuckle about was imprinted in my mind when I was in 7th grade. Someone made a joke about a handicap person in our science class, and I respectfully said "Whoa man, thats not cool."
He responded with, "Hey, imagine a person without any arms or legs attempting to ride a bike."
Needless to say the class burst out in laughter as you could tell everyone had an awkward image of some guy with no arms or legs attempting to ride a bike, usually with his teeth griping the handle bar. Sure its not very tactful, but things people say should be taken by the intent they said them with, not the actual words that were said.
For instance, if someone walks up to you on the street, points a gun to your head, and screams in your left ear "I'm gonna kill you."
Thats offensive.
Now picture the staple family kitchen. A young boy is washing the dishes and as he reaches to place a newly cleaned plate on the drying rack he drops it on the floor. Shattering into a million bazillion pieces. The mother looks at him with a twisted smile saying "I'm gonna kill you!" Then she proceeds to tickle the little plate destroyer.
Clearly there the mother isn't going to kill her son, and he is in no danger. It's the way she said it, not the words she said.
I dunno, maybe I'm wrong, maybe things are offensive no matter what way they were said. But thats not how I perceive them.
-Sanchez
