Melonie Mac was Suspended from Twitch, and Opinions are Flying
A few days ago, popular gamer and streamer Melonie Mac was suspended from Twitch for two weeks for “hateful conduct.” While she hasn’t been told what action caused her to be suspended – which you’d think they would want to tell someone – Mac suspects it’s the clip below:
Mac sees this as her being punished for her religious beliefs, or at least for not keeping them to herself, as she is expressing the beliefs of many Christians. And another online gamer, Asmongold, made a response video to Mac’s suspension:
Frankly, I find this reasonable. Asmongold doesn’t want Melonie Mac banned or silenced, and he makes that clear; he just vehemently disagrees with her. And Mac seems to be okay with it, too. She explained her perspective on today’s episode of Side Scrollers, the clip of which you can see here:
Mac makes a good point: her sharing her religious beliefs on an internet livestream is considered to be forcing her opinions on others, but instances of forced compliance with other ideologies aren’t. She uses the example of insisting others use one’s preferred pronouns, and we can look at Gina Carano’s years of trouble as an example of that. (Even if you don’t believe it was the real reason behind her firing, as she has claimed, Disney and Lucasfilm attempted to force her into a humiliating struggle session over it.) You don’t have to click on a video, but you may have to use a genderless bathroom.
Insofar as Asmongold, his reaction may be getting as much attention as it is because of his comments regarding another streamer, HasanAbi. Hasan made a video where he said that streaming “sucks your social battery” more than most normal jobs, though he made an exception for things like being a salesman or others that require a lot of social interaction. Here is Asmongold’s response video:
Again, these takes are reasonable. Hasan didn’t mean that streaming is harder than being a construction worker or a doctor or a plumber; he meant it’s harder to be sociable when you’ve spent an entire day doing that. And I get that; different jobs take different things out of you. I remember ItsAGundam saying in a video that it’s hard to go on dates when you have to leave suddenly because big news just hit and you have to make a video; that doesn’t mean ItsAGundam thinks making YouTube videos is harder than other jobs, just that it has its own drawbacks.
But people are taking Hasan and Asmongold’s comments the wrong way, and I think this is the crux of the problem with Melonie Mac as well. The atmosphere today is so antagonistic that everyone’s back is up as a matter of course, and people are programmed to take offense to anything that’s perceived as the other side. That’s why Melonie Mac was banned from Twitch, that’s why everyone got mad at Hasan, that’s why Asmongold’s takes on these issues are grinding gears, and that’s why we’d all be happier if we calmed down before commenting on something that’s trending. The lure of social media’s capacity for instant responses, combined with the human propensity to dig your heels in even when you see you may have been wrong, is the real bad guy in this, not Melonie Mac or either of the other streamers. Take a few minutes to think, and you might find you agree with someone you thought you hated – or, at least, that you don’t hate them.
Comments (3)
It is wrong. She’s creating shame for a minority that has little protection and high rates of suicide and discrimination. She’s telling ppl that their identity isn’t valid if her religion says it’s shameful.
What her religion also says is not to judge. She’s not God, she shouldn’t spend so much energy trying to do his job on Earth
Nothing about shame or suicide has to do with Melonie Mac in any way. More likely, it’s from abuse within their own community. When corporate America sponsors Pride parades, yeah, they have plenty of protection. Again, the abuse comes from their own and not from people like Melonie Mac. She cares much more than i do to speak out on this topic. No commercials or media is forcing Melonie Mac, but they are forcing unwanted sexual pressure on the public.
My respect for her is very high. It goes to show that it isn’t vulgarity or blue material that is censored, but instead, it’s religious people with religious views. She said nothing wrong, but look how polarizing it is. Hollywood has tried to tell the public that being religious is a sin. I am not, btw.
How is a streamer forcing an opinion on others, but ladies on The View or CNN or MSNBC are not?
Melonie Mac is exactly the kind of leader Gen Z needs. Nothing is more censored. Nothing is more taboo than religious conviction.