it's a touchy thing because, like, what alec did is horrible and should be condemned, and he should've faced the consequences of it, and zoe was justified in calling him out. and so there's plenty of people here just genuinely being sympathetic and supportive, and that's all great and should be encouraged. and there are of course broader conversations to be had about misogyny in the industry, abusers getting into positions of power, etc. there's plenty of stuff in this that's worth talking about, and that does necessitate a public discussion. and ideally, era should be the place for that! but it's not, because the culture of this forum does not foster reasonable discussion. straight-up.
like, there are already people replying to and talking about my post as if i'm saying victims shoudn't come forward and out their abusers, which is 3000% not what i'm saying at all, and it's perfectly emblematic of one of the many problems discourse on this site has. there's always people deliberately trying to misread a good-faith post in the worst possible way, to try to call them out on it in an attempt to score internet points.
the reason i think this stuff should be banned is not because it shouldn't be talked about, not because "I just wanna talk about vidya gaems without thinkin' bout stuff!", but because this forum simply cannot handle it. there's too much drive-by shitposting. there's too much needlessly hostile infighting. there's too many GG alt accounts trying to stir the pot. this forum is, frankly, a horrible place to discuss anything more complicated than video game news.
and frankly, i also take issue with the idea repeatedly posted in this thread that Alec was a "public figure", any more than anyone with any kind of public-facing job is a "public figure". i would strongly bet 99% of the posters in this thread had no idea who he was before this went down. this was a personal matter between private individuals that was only made public because Zoe felt she had to, because the unfortunate reality is that it's often difficult or impossible to make abusers face consequences otherwise. but just because it's public info doesn't mean we should consider it our place to pass personal judgment on the people involved. and inevitably i can already tell that this will be spun by someone to say "you're defending an abuser!!!!!" because of course they will. and yes, i suppose i am defending the idea that even abusers are human beings, and are often complicated people capable of both horrible and great things, and that it's possible to condemn his actions and think he did some heinous shit and also think posters calling him human garbage who should be thrown out to rot are being self-righteous, toxic assholes.
I dunno. at this point i'm just ranting really. this whole situation just fucking bums me out and angers me. i've been a fan of zoe since before GG even happened and it fucking sucks so bad that so much of her personal life is now used as fuel for internet trashfires. and i just really, really wish era would do better to not be another trashfire.