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[ScientificPizza]

it's poetic that a thread about the prolonged sexual harrassment of women has devolved into a discussion about the hardships and racism that white men endure

truly, now more than ever, we must unite under the banner of #notallmen

 

[The Technomancer]

Like

Nick

This shit was creepy even before you got famous

It wasn't okay before

 

[Famassu]

Yeah, lol? What, you think if someone punches me for being gay(which has happened) I'm not gonna punch back? lmao ignoring it and "being the better person" does nothing

Call the police at that point. I've been the target of violence and it was far better to get out of the situation and getting the police involved than answering violence with violence. That'll just escalate the situation or at least make escalation far more likely.

 

[Kyou]

it's poetic that a thread about the prolonged sexual harrassment of women has devolved into a discussion about the hardships and racism that white men endure

truly, now more than ever, we must unite under the banner of #notallmen

I have to shoulder the burden of power and privilege, where's MY parade?!

 

[Orb]

Call the police at that point. I've been the target of violence and it was far better to get out of the situation and getting the police involved than answering violence with violence. That'll just escalate the situation or at least make escalation far more likely.

If you're black, you're likely the one to get shot in that situation sooner than the guy who punched you

 

[ClayKavalier]

Why would his content be taken down? Is it offensive?

They're firing him out of principle, but are fine continuing to profit off the content he's already made. Seems lame to me. I understand it's a business, just seems lame that his behavior was concerning enough to suspend and then "part ways" with him, but not so bad that they won't continue being associated with him for some clicks.

Pretty sure Subway didn't continue running ads with Jared that were taped before the truth about him came out. Obviously whatever Nick did is nowhere near Jared, but seems like a similar situation to me. Is Nick a horrible person you don't want working for company, or is he a flawed person whose work you don't mind using? Letting him go to seem principled while making money off his work just seems greedy and cynical.

And again, I realize it's a company. I'm not trying to blow anyone's mind with some sort of revelation, just seems tacky to me.

 

[theangrypirate]

thats the thing, saying "white people" is more like drawing a stick figure and punching that

white people as a whole have oppressed pretty much everybody as hard as they can and as a race have responsibility to accept that and acknowledge their priviledge and realize, hey, maybe theyre justified in rightfully being pissed at the people that have in some cases physically hurt or killed people they love

What a sad angry way to go through life. This type of thinking only causes more division. There are actually non-racist white people out there you know and lumping everyone together by race is just wrong and simple minded.

reverse racism isnt a thing

You're right about that. Its just called racism.

Sorry for the derailment - came here to say this Nick guy was a real piece of shit - learned all white people are racist, thought I would reply. Thanks everyone for putting me in my place. I'm out.

 

[Ondor]

I have to shoulder the burden of power and privilege, where's MY parade?!

I believe that's called "Columbus Day".

 

[family_guy]

The apology wouldn't be accepted by most people no matter what he said. Hopefully he can take the experience and use it to make himself a better person as opposed to the experience destroying his life and making him a worse person.

 

[Roni]

Call the police at that point. I've been the target of violence and it was far better to get out of the situation and getting the police involved than answering violence with violence. That'll just escalate the situation or at least make escalation far more likely.

Sometimes the police can't get there in time, knowing how to defend yourself is a really useful skill. Where I live, people have been killed because they're black, gay and other things.

If someone is out to get ya, being able to deter the situation by presenting equal or greater amount of violence is the only surefire way of letting them know it's not OK to do what they're doing. Because if they can get away with it, some people will do it. And calling the police when someone is chasing you with a broken bottle won't cut it.

 

[mcfrank]

It's ok for non famous people to randomly ask people you barely know for nudes?

 

[ArjanN]

Yeah, this is definitely giving me Gomeshi/Faraci vibes. I think people need to seriously pump the brakes on the good apology stuff.

I mean, it is a good apology. Whether he actually means it is another thing of course.

 

[Narpas Sword0]

It's ok for non famous people to randomly ask people you barely know for nudes?

It's flirting, you see

 

[The Technomancer]

Yeah, this is definitely giving me Gomeshi/Faraci vibes. I think people need to seriously pump the brakes on the good apology stuff.

Faraci's response was "what I did was inexcusable and I'll engage in any mediation the victim desires". At the very least the dude owned it. This is deflection bullshit

 

[Orb]

What a sad angry way to go through life. This type of thinking only causes more division.



You're right about that. Its just called racism.

Because being aware of my privilege and knowing what my race did/does to others is sad. Right. Gotcha. Next you're gonna call me heterophobic for not liking being around straight men too much, huh?

id rather be educated than try to make everything about me

 

[mcfrank]

I mean, it is a good apology. Whether he actually means it is another thing of course.

It's not because it implies that his fame is made what he did wrong. It was wrong whether he is famous or not.

 

[Bubbavelli]

saying white != every white man doesn't change anything. Normal people know individuals should't be generalized by race. What he said was incredibly racist. Just because he said it about white people shouldn't make it ok. If anyone said the same thing but replaced white with black it would be an insta-ban.



Ah right, its totally cool to generalize when it comes to white people, just don't do it to anyone else, then you're a racist.

Oh shit, like you're actually serious about this. You're not trolling

 

[LunaticHigh]

Straight white male feels sorry that the internet discovered he was a dick. News at 11.

No need to segregate based on gender, sexual orientation or race here.

What do you want? Straight white men have to have an avenue for redeeming themselves. There's no reality that can exist where we don't allow people who do wrong to learn they were wrong, reflect, and then champion being right.

This is a step in the right direction. If Nick corrects himself, abstains from harassing people, and becomes a symbol of acknowledging that he was wrong, isn't this exactly what everyone wants?

Hate doesn't defeat hate. Education, acceptance, and redemption do.

Nick did what he did. We can't change that. We can't undo what happened to those women.

What we can do, is teach people that it was wrong. Not just Nick, his followers. Young boys, young women, of every race. People who don't know what they're doing is wrong.

There are people out there, who genuinely, actively think that what Nick did was right. They are the minority. They are bad people. We cannot help them.

The vast majority of people who will act this way in the future, however, do not know what they are doing is wrong. We need to use this as a way to teach them, because once they understand both sides of this, good, genuine people will know what they've done is wrong.

For a moment, think about your position here, and what you're saying. I am 100% behind Nick being in the wrong here, but there needs to be a way that we, the collective progressive people can allow him to be welcomed back into our arms.

If not, there's no way we'll ever rid society of this. We'll just fuel the extreme people who will use your anger as a justification of their own insecurities.

 

[ElBoxyBrown]

saying white != every white man doesn't change anything. Normal people know individuals should't be generalized by race. What he said was incredibly racist. Just because he said it about white people shouldn't make it ok. If anyone said the same thing but replaced white with black it would be an insta-ban.



Ah right, its totally cool to generalize when it comes to white people, just don't do it to anyone else, then you're a racist.

You are not a victim here. Just move on.

 

[theangrypirate]

You are not a victim here. Just move on.

Never claimed i was. I won't reply anymore to this thread though. Have fun everyone.

 

[Vital Tundra]

I'm glad his apology wasn't an "apology" you see all to often with shitty youtubers who don't actually apologize in their statement. He didn't blame anyone, didn't shift his own blame, and accepted the fact that he fucked up. It's a sincere apology and I hope he does grow and change the way he acts and treats his position as a person with a following.

 

[Lightningboalt]

I can't take "give me another chance" apologies like this seriously. If this was genuinely a one time screw up, sure... but he's harassed so many people for YEARS, he's already had a ton of chances and he's blown through all of them doing the same garbage repeatedly. The only thing stopping him is finally being caught and punished over it. Can he learn and improve himself? Theoretically, and I hope he does, but I don't really have faith it'll happen when the main crux of his apology is downplaying what he did and basically using the apology as a vehicle to ask for forgiveness. If you fuck up, your priority should be apologizing, not asking to get another chance.

Hoping he can get himself sorted out, I'm just not optimistic about this kind of stuff anymore.

 

[Goofalo]

Nick Robinson is the Bill Cosby of flirting.

Bill Cosby is still the Bill Cosby of rape.

edit: Maybe this was too extreme. But I feel like "No."

 

[Bahorel]

They're firing him out of principle, but are fine continuing to profit off the content he's already made. Seems lame to me. I understand it's a business, just seems lame that his behavior was concerning enough to suspend and then "part ways" with him, but not so bad that they won't continue being associated with him for some clicks.

Pretty sure Subway didn't continue running ads with Jared that were taped before the truth about him came out. Obviously whatever Nick did is nowhere near Jared, but seems like a similar situation to me. Is Nick a horrible person you don't want working for company, or is he a flawed person whose work you don't mind using? Letting him go to seem principled while making money off his work just seems greedy and cynical.

And again, I realize it's a company. I'm not trying to blow anyone's mind with some sort of revelation, just seems tacky to me.

I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that most of his work is from partnerships. So taking the stuff down is taking much of Griffin's work down, and I think no matter what the userbase would be upset about erasing that past I guess.

I hope that somehow Griffin can find a new partner to do a Cool Games Inc like project, but most likely I imagine he will not want to continue with it. I would like to see some replacement programming that will end up being even better than what was lost though.

 

[Random Human]

.

 

[Jobbs]

I mean, it is a good apology.

 

[Emperor_Uriel]

Another person isn't too pleased with his response

Jesus, what did he do? This language makes it sound like he's responsible for some seriously traumatic assault, which is way past what he was being accused of up until now.

"Absolute pain" in particular makes it seem like he did something really, truly unforgivable.

 

[Zambayoshi]

They're firing him out of principle.

I think it's pretty naive to think that Polygon is not firing him out of concern for its own image. Then again, that's pretty much what 'principle' means these days. It's what happens when nobody's around to criticise/praise that really matters, which is all too rare in this day and age.

 

[Zubz]

This was better than I expected, at least. It's not good, but it wasn't a double-down or a tantrum. Part of me wants to believe this is genuine point of growth for him.

That said, there's the deflection others have mentioned. The fact he acts as if what he did was just flirting, & that his position of power was the operative factor. Plus, the victims & those close are insinuating it goes deeper than asking an 18 year old fan of his for a blowjob, which doesn't bode well for Nick.

Ultimately, it's up to his victims to accept the apology. Too bad it doesn't seem like Nick realizes that...

 

[WrenchNinja]

Another person isn't too pleased with his response

Ya know, I'd think the FIRST THING he would have done, upon supposedly "learning" that he made others *uncomfortable* (which he seems to indicate he wasn't aware he was doing), would be to REACH OUT to those people

The reactions from them to this seem like he really didn't do much but craft a well worded reply to save face publicly. At least, so far, that's the impression I'm getting.

This is sounding more like sexual assault than just harassment

 

[BTA]

This is sounding more like sexual assault than just harassment

Harassment can still be very traumatic.

I only say this because I haven't seen anyone use "assault" at all and I don't want bringing it into this to muddy things.

 

[Inferno313]

Like

Nick

This shit was creepy even before you got famous

It wasn't okay before

Indeed. This is a weak ass bullshit apology.

 

[ClayKavalier]

I think it's pretty naive to think that Polygon is not firing him out of concern for its own image. Then again, that's pretty much what 'principle' means these days. It's what happens when nobody's around to criticise/praise that really matters, which is all too rare in this day and age.

Oh yeah, I meant principle was the nominal reason for him being let go. Clearly it was a business decision.

 

[CannonFodder52]

This is very upsetting. I take back what I said about this apology. I clearly do not know enough about the situation to properly weigh in on it. All I can say is I hope the women he harassed get some kind of peace and that he doesn't do this ever again.

Yea, I don't think my perception was great. I read that apology and was too quick to accept it as fine.

 

[Rmagnus]

No need to segregate based on gender, sexual orientation or race here.

What do you want? Straight white men have to have an avenue for redeeming themselves. There's no reality that can exist where we don't allow people who do wrong to learn they were wrong, reflect, and then champion being right.

This is a step in the right direction. If Nick corrects himself, abstains from harassing people, and becomes a symbol of acknowledging that he was wrong, isn't this exactly what everyone wants?

Hate doesn't defeat hate. Education, acceptance, and redemption do.

Nick did what he did. We can't change that. We can't undo what happened to those women.

What we can do, is teach people that it was wrong. Not just Nick, his followers. Young boys, young women, of every race. People who don't know what they're doing is wrong.

There are people out there, who genuinely, actively think that what Nick did was right. They are the minority. They are bad people. We cannot help them.

The vast majority of people who will act this way in the future, however, do not know what they are doing is wrong. We need to use this as a way to teach them, because once they understand both sides of this, good, genuine people will know what they've done is wrong.

For a moment, think about your position here, and what you're saying. I am 100% behind Nick being in the wrong here, but there needs to be a way that we, the collective progressive people can allow him to be welcomed back into our arms.

If not, there's no way we'll ever rid society of this. We'll just fuel the extreme people who will use your anger as a justification of their own insecurities.

Lol straight white man feels what it's like to be called out. Just like why Muslims are not condemning terrorists acts or black folks coming out to apologize for other black people. Suddenly oh it's not all white man

 

[Morrigan Stark]

I am not feeling this apology at all. He refers to his actions as "flirting", not once does he mention harassment. He focuses on the "position of power" thing too much, implying a regular dude doing the same thing would be OK.

I mean, glad that he says he will "listen", but it reeks of self-serving, damage control bullshit. I don't buy it one bit.

 

[Narpas Sword0]

No need to segregate based on gender, sexual orientation or race here.

What do you want? Straight white men have to have an avenue for redeeming themselves. There's no reality that can exist where we don't allow people who do wrong to learn they were wrong, reflect, and then champion being right.

This is a step in the right direction. If Nick corrects himself, abstains from harassing people, and becomes a symbol of acknowledging that he was wrong, isn't this exactly what everyone wants?

Hate doesn't defeat hate. Education, acceptance, and redemption do.

Nick did what he did. We can't change that. We can't undo what happened to those women.

What we can do, is teach people that it was wrong. Not just Nick, his followers. Young boys, young women, of every race. People who don't know what they're doing is wrong.

There are people out there, who genuinely, actively think that what Nick did was right. They are the minority. They are bad people. We cannot help them.

The vast majority of people who will act this way in the future, however, do not know what they are doing is wrong. We need to use this as a way to teach them, because once they understand both sides of this, good, genuine people will know what they've done is wrong.

For a moment, think about your position here, and what you're saying. I am 100% behind Nick being in the wrong here, but there needs to be a way that we, the collective progressive people can allow him to be welcomed back into our arms.

If not, there's no way we'll ever rid society of this. We'll just fuel the extreme people who will use your anger as a justification of their own insecurities.

If Nick wants to join hands with well-meaning people and be an avatar of education for people who don't know what they are doing is wrong... maybe he should have said that harassing people isn't just flirting, even if you aren't famous?

He taught all those people to do whatever they want unless they become famous. Great teachable moment, Nick.

 

[PleaseDontBanMe]

i'd vote to give him another chance

 

[LunaticHigh]

Lol straight white man feels what it's like to be called out. Just like why Muslims are not condemning terrorists acts or black folks coming out to apologize for other black people. Suddenly oh it's not all white man

This kind of response isn't helpful and doesn't contribute anything.

I am certainly not straight, but am white, but I hope to be in a world where that doesn't matter.

It's fairly clear you do not want to be in a world where race or sexual orientation do not matter, so I'll just leave my comments at that.

Nick was clearly a scumbag, just looking for something positive here. People were hurt. I'd like the people that come after us to learn from the mistakes of people instead of learn to hate.

I seriously don't think my post justified that kind of response, I'm not the "lol not all white men" I know what the world is like, I'm not blind. Just tired of people jumping on that bandwagon instead of addressing the real problems here.

That being said, NeoGAF isn't really the place to find solutions for that, but have a good night anyway.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Reads pretty okay at first, but it's pretty fucked up when you realize he focuses on how it was only "flirting" and how the worst part is that he didn't adjust to his position of power.

That was all predatory behavior, actual sexual harassment. And what I get from this is that had he never attained that position, he'd be a regular old creep harassing women with even less fear of consequences, as he'd be a nobody. If he hadn't been a shitty creep from the beginning, his position would have never been an issue after all.

His case has received enough attention to serve as an example though, so that's a positive, I guess. I just hope people don't focus too much on how supposedly good his reaction is or whatever and actually care about the damage he's done.

 

[Bobo Dakes]

i'd vote to give him another chance

When you fuck up that big (multiple times) in an industry this competitive, you don't get or deserve another chance.

 

[LunaticHigh]

If Nick wants to join hands with well-meaning people and be an avatar of education for people who don't know what they are doing is wrong... maybe he should have said that harassing people isn't just flirting, even if you aren't famous?

He taught all those people to do whatever they want unless they become famous. Great teachable moment, Nick.

You make a valid point, but look, his apology isn't perfect, but we have to move in a direction that acknowledges fault. So many people in this situation just blame other people.

He didn't do that. There's not a lot of details in his posts, and it's possible he got hungry with that power and started harassing people after he became famous.

I'm just trying to find something for people to cling to here, people were hurt.

If a bunch of young followers of Nick realize they can't do this shit, and that it's not okay, and that they look into why and come out more educated and ready to be a part of this new world, then I'm happy for that.

Is that wrong? I just don't want these kids to think that people are attacking their favorite personality, and that "those people tried to hurt Nick". I want them to be aware that Nick hurt people, and I feel he's at least made some effort to relay that message.

It's probably not good enough of an apology, but then, nothing would be right? He can't not do what he did. I just want these women to be safe.

 

[Goofalo]

 

[BTA]

You make a valid point, but look, his apology isn't perfect, but we have to move in a direction that acknowledges fault. So many people in this situation just blame other people.

He didn't do that. There's not a lot of details in his posts, and it's possible he got hungry with that power and started harassing people after he became famous.

I'm just trying to find something for people to cling to here, people were hurt.

If a bunch of young followers of Nick realize they can't do this shit, and that it's not okay, and that they look into why and come out more educated and ready to be a part of this new world, then I'm happy for that.

Is that wrong? I just don't want these kids to think that people are attacking their favorite personality, and that "those people tried to hurt Nick". I want them to be aware that Nick hurt people, and I feel he's at least made some effort to relay that message.

It's probably not good enough of an apology, but then, nothing would be right? He can't not do what he did. I just want these women to be safe.

You do realize that like... he... hasn't acknowledged shit, right?

Like you're going on about using it as a teaching moment but he's literally trying to obscure what he did and twist things in his favor as we speak; even if you legitimately believe he didn't know what he was doing was wrong at all (which I'd argue would be misguided at best), he knows now but is trying to act like this was all he did.

This isn't about it not being "good enough", it's about it not being anything other than an attempt to save face.

 

[Squire]

i'd vote to give him another chance

This apology was his second chance and he seems to have squandered it.

 

[3rdamention]

Obviously, he did some things that some that were disrespectful and/or inappropriate. If you ever make someone feel that way, you are probably in the wrong. So I can never condone his actions.


I respect that he took time, got his thoughts together, and seemed to give an honest apology. Today, people are quick to get defensive, or go on the attack, when they are accused of something, or called out.


I was kinda like "Damn!" when I read that apology. Personally, I think he said what needed to be said, in a kind and respectful way. That doesn't mean it makes those he offended feel any better. It is up to them whether they want to accept his apology or not. I dont think he needed to mention specific things he has done, others have done that.

 

[LunaticHigh]

You do realize that like... he... hasn't acknowledged shit, right?

Like you're going on about using it as a teaching moment but he's literally trying to obscure what he did and twist things in his favor as we speak; even if you legitimately believe he didn't know what he was doing was wrong at all (which I'd argue would be misguided at best), he knows now but is trying to act like this was all he did.

This isn't about it not being "good enough", it's about it not being anything other than an attempt to save face.

I'll read over his message again, it seemed like he acknowledged that what he did was wrong, but maybe I'm wrong? If so, sorry for that.

I'm out of the thread anyway, cheers and hopefully more positive comes of this, enough people were hurt.

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

Jesus, what did he do? This language makes it sound like he's responsible for some seriously traumatic assault, which is way past what he was being accused of up until now.

"Absolute pain" in particular makes it seem like he did something really, truly unforgivable.

Yeah how come it’s only being escalated now, after he’s apologized? I’m not saying I don’t believe it, it’s just crazy to me the rate at which this whole situation is escalating now. But again, this is only from what I’ve seen. I’m as ignorant to this whole issue as most people here.

 

[thepenguin55]

It's hard to recover from something like this, especially since his "flirting" was repeated, aggressive, and clearly rebuffed several times. It's an apology, he's not just saying they're lying, but I don't know if he recognizes exactly why people are pissed at him. He shouldn't be doing this shit regardless of if he's in a position of power or not. But if he can turn himself around/if he's actually willing to listen, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt but he needs to work a little more for me to like him again.

I don't really like how he replaced 'harassment' with 'flirting' but it seems he's decently aware he has issues to sort out. Good luck.

Yes. My main issue with his apology was him downplaying how aggressive he was. If all he did was some light flirting and backed off immediately after being turned down it would still be hugely inappropriate because of his position but certainly more forgivable and not as disgusting. Other than that, I think it was a decent apology. He seems like he's at least becoming aware of the fact that what he did was very wrong. Hopefully he'll fully realize just how wrong he was. Then maybe he can grow and learn from it.

Tbh I'd never heard of this dude before this shit storm but that apology is admirable. I have lost respect for certain journalists through this,the people that said they had heard stuff about him and did nothing about it but took great pleasure in decrying him.

^^^THIS. This so hard. There's no reason none of the journalists that knew about this shit could not have reached out to Chris Plante in private about this sooner. Is it their responsibility? Maybe not but if they cared as much as they pretended to then they should have told Chris.
Instead, they were like the person that hears/witnesses abuse happening at their next door neighbors house and does nothing about it. They just continue with their day as if nothing ever happened. Sure that's hyperbolic but I think that gets my point across. Nick was the one who did something wrong but others had the power to put a stop to this sooner, but instead chose to do nothing.

 

[pastrami]

Not a bad apology, but I'm a little worried that he thinks the reason this is a big deal is because he is a big deal, and not because it's sexual harassment.

The only reason his position of power was ever really brought up is because it's why people were so apprehensive about making these allegations.