A Call To Action For "Allies."

Why "Allyship" Can Harm You.

Recently, Tim Sheridan took to Twitter to bring a call to action for “Comic Friends! Queer Friends! Allies! I need your help! Please SHARE this and let's work together to deliver CG a big L.”

For those not in the know, CG is Comicsgate.

Here’s the skinny, DC Comics has made the original Green Lantern gay and that’s how they’re leading out with it. Well, we all know how that turns out. These are not going to be good stories and all they will be is pandering, lecturing, etc about what a terrible person YOU are and how YOU can do better as an “ally” and then you will be subjected to purity tests and hoops through which to jump as though you are little more than a show pony or dog.

Let’s break down how much of a friend of comics I am.

I’ve been reading and collecting them when and where I could since I was 12 years old. I’m 45 now. That means for the last 33 years, I’ve been reading them, watching every movie and TV show that I could watch until recently. I watched the old Marvel movies and TV shows. I grew up on the TV shows of Wonder Woman, The Incredible Hulk the original Superman movies and you have no idea how hard I went when Batman hit theaters in 1989. I couldn’t wait for it to hit VHS so I could watch it again and again and again. I just recently bought some comics and did a thread on Twitter where I showed off my purchases and told you why I bought these rather than raiding the dollar bins again. I’ve gotten into Lazarus and was amazed at it’s sheer brutality. I’m still a fan of Rob Liefeld’s work. Yeah, comics? Love them. I do have friends that are gay, lesbian and bisexual. I’m of the mind that we’re friends first. What they do in the bedroom is absolute zero in the way of my business and shall remain so and vice versa.

Ally…no. Never.

I know how that sounds but hear me out.

Don’t get me wrong, I did make every attempt at being an ally to some, even ignoring obvious red flags. I will cite a recent example.

I got back into TTRPGs back in about 2020 or so. I needed something to do and solo gaming was becoming more prevalent. I kinda saw the direction that video games were taking, wasn’t a fan and moved onto printed book RPGs. I met this creator and he seemed like he was okay if a bit of a drama queen. He made a good game. He made this one game that was a single page of rules and I liked it. He mentioned it was coming and I told him I’d be the first in line. Sure enough, the minute it dropped, I purchased and I do not regret that purchase, it is a good game. I mostly ignored the rather dramatic posts he would make. He claimed to be of an alternate sexuality…okay, whatever, I don’t care about that. He would go out of his way, seemingly, publicly stressing himself completely out of his senses until things went his way. When I’d see these posts, I’d keep scrolling with my verbal response being “Okay, kid, cool your jets and take a fuckin’ breath. You’re gonna have a heart attack or stroke pretty young.” He talked about white privilege and all the Marxist talking points and how he hated the bourgeoisie but every photo of every game he developed was on one of those expensive ass Mac computers and I’d be willing to bet he was locked into the Apple Ecosystem. What I got to see of his place was pretty nice, far more so than what I have and then, one day, it happened.

Allegedly, he got an email and he posted a “screenshot” of the text body. See, this person had set up a BIPOC-Only game. The “emailer” expressed concern that this wasn’t inclusive and this kid had a very public meltdown.

Well, being the “ally” that I thought I could be, my first thought was, “Hey, let’s take care of the problem, get him out of the guy’s hair and done is done, right?” So I told this kid to gimme his name. I’ll host a separate game and anyone who wants to join can. Option presented.

Let’s be fair here. Something told me this kid was volatile. I never expected the volatility that I got, though.

He completely lost his shit. I mean completely. He claimed I hurt him directly. I wasn’t a good ally and then he went on to lecture me, ignorantly attempting to leverage my religion against me.

Readers, understand something. The Poetic Edda is available in audiobook and is included with your Audible subscriptions or you can check it out and listen to it through Hoopla if you have a library card. I suggest looking it up and actually reading it, even if you don’t feel like believing with me, at least do that so that you have at least some understanding of the background here. If nothing else you get to see some stuff you might recognize from the Marvel movies. This kid equated my polytheistic pantheon to the workings of the Christian afterlife.

…it’s super-obvious he learned nothing from The Satanic Panic. It’s also obvious that he never went through it.

I left the door open though after he blocked me and “ordered” me to never purchase nor play any of his games.

Purchases, that’s not a problem. Playing…I still own that one and I fail to see how he’s going to enforce that. It’s a single page and it’s nothing for me to print from my PDF and distribute to a table. Not even sorry about that one.

I told you that story because it was the last in a series of examples dating back to about 2010 when this started to peek it’s head above the parapet. I decided well after that that I am no one’s ally. Why? Because being an ally is to be one of the cult. That is all.

Allies, I need you to listen. Your entire lot is to follow unquestioningly, to not think, to remain docile, servile and to do as you are told. It is slavery. You mean nothing to any of these people. You are disposable at a moment’s notice and soon, you will be turned upon whenever it is convenient for “the cause.” You are a useful idiot to these people and you will share in none of the rewards that these people reap because of you.

To quote Master Splinter, “The Shredder uses you! He poisons your minds to obtain that which he desires! He cares nothing for you or the people you hurt!”

Now, sure, I hear what some of you are saying, one anecdotal story and the quote of a fictional character about another fictional character doesn’t mean a thing in the real world, right? Okay. I can see you want a real-world example. Here you go:

Allies, you will be thrown away. This is but one of the many real-world examples. Look, have your opinions on whatever but another quote comes to mind and I’ll tell you the background and then share the quote.

In the movie Excalibur, Arthur and his knights are out and need to cross a bridge but a knight is encamped just over the bridge and he’s blocking it. Arthur’s men are getting their asses whooped one by one and then Arthur, incensed, goes to confront the knight on his own. The knight introduces himself as Lancelot and claims that he lives with a curse. That curse is that he has not met his match in battle and, until he does, he will not allow anyone to cross the bridge.

Arthur sees it as a challenge to his authority and decides to take him on. True to Lancelot’s word, he’s tactically sound and just makes short work of Arthur. Things start going a little bad because Lancelot sees that Arthur simply won’t stop and he says this to him…

“Your rage has unbalanced you! You, sir, would fight to the death, a knight who is not your enemy over a stretch of road you could easily ride around.”

Arthur then acknowledges that that, is, indeed, his intention. I won’t spoil that movie for you, every one of you whom hasn’t seen it should.

In any case, we have these groups out there. If they’re calling you an ally, you’re basically cannon-fodder. You’re Operation: Human Shield. They’re the next phase. Operation: Get Behind YOU.

You are a slave. If you doubt, just start asking legitimate questions that you have and watch their reaction. Ask what happens if you were to come up with reasonable compromises between the group with whom you’re allied and their perceived enemies.

That’s what this is all about. What you’ll find is nothing is good enough but the total destruction and decimation of their ideological “enemy.” That’s what Sheridan is commanding, not asking, for you to do and there is no excuse for not showing up as ordered. Sheridan is locked into an ideological war. The quality of the comics he’s a part of, that’s secondary if it’s being considered at all. It doesn’t have to be any good, it just has to be part of that message, same as you. He’s losing and he can’t stand to lose and he’s begging you to come in and save him.

What’s in it for you? Nothing.

It’s the same as any soulless corporation. They’re blameless, don’t you see. You’ll do as your told and if you don’t like it, then you know where that door is. If you do choose that door though, I know…there’s fear there.

Let me hit you with some facts. You seem to think that you’ll lose friends there. You don’t have friends there. They certainly don’t call you one. You think you’ll be alone in a sea full of enemies. Problem is, you won’t be. Did you know you can tell your stories and yeah, some are going to hit you with “I told you so!” and we did but others are going to show you more compassion than those with whom you’re allied will, which is to say if you go back after questioning them, you’ll get it worse with them than you’ll have ever had it with those you perceive as your enemies. I’m 100% serious about that.

Some of your perceived “enemies” are far more forgiving and understanding that you think.

Also, you’re part of a sinking ship that is losing ground. That’s no joke. Your groups are slowly eating themselves and they’re accelerating that at a rapid pace. Get it clear in your mind. You’re Expendable.

Question is, what will you do about it?