Collective Shout claim it’s about harm reduction, but then push an agenda that functionally amounts to moral panic.
Their approach is identical in logic to the “GTA causes school shootings” hysteria: loud, pearl-clutching, and utterly unmoored from data.
If Collective Shout want to argue these games cause harm, then show us the harm. Not correlation. Not outrage. Not hypothetical downstream consequences. Show causation. Peer-reviewed. Reproducible.
Otherwise, they’re just moralizing bullies using the banking system as a cudgel.
On top of this, they might actually be harming their own cause. The catharsis hypothesis poses that sexual fantasy enactment might reduce risk of real world harm.
The logic is simple: suppressing a compulsion doesn’t eliminate it. It just bottles up until it explodes. Redirect it into a safe outlet, and it becomes manageable.
The burden of proof SHOULD be on Collective Shout to provide a reasonable argument which supports their claim that their actions will reduce real world harm.
Current working theory in psychology: it doesn’t. Emerging theory suggests: they’re shooting themselves in the foot.
The real solution to real-world harm involves empathy, autonomy and education.
Their decision to target the payment processors - not the developers, or itch.io, or steam, is some of the most cowardly and authoritarian things I’ve ever seen in the gaming space.
It’s economic coercion; a playbook used by religious bigots and authoritarians for decades. Financial censorship by proxy. IMO: they should fuck off.
Collective Shout claim it’s about harm reduction, but then push an agenda that functionally amounts to moral panic.
Their approach is identical in logic to the “GTA causes school shootings” hysteria: loud, pearl-clutching, and utterly unmoored from data.
If Collective Shout want to argue these games cause harm, then show us the harm. Not correlation. Not outrage. Not hypothetical downstream consequences. Show causation. Peer-reviewed. Reproducible.
Otherwise, they’re just moralizing bullies using the banking system as a cudgel.
On top of this, they might actually be harming their own cause. The catharsis hypothesis poses that sexual fantasy enactment might reduce risk of real world harm.
The logic is simple: suppressing a compulsion doesn’t eliminate it. It just bottles up until it explodes. Redirect it into a safe outlet, and it becomes manageable.
The burden of proof SHOULD be on Collective Shout to provide a reasonable argument which supports their claim that their actions will reduce real world harm.
Current working theory in psychology: it doesn’t. Emerging theory suggests: they’re shooting themselves in the foot.
The real solution to real-world harm involves empathy, autonomy and education.
Furthermore…
Their decision to target the payment processors - not the developers, or itch.io, or steam, is some of the most cowardly and authoritarian things I’ve ever seen in the gaming space.
It’s economic coercion; a playbook used by religious bigots and authoritarians for decades. Financial censorship by proxy. IMO: they should fuck off.