95% of the time, this blog is about games, game development, and game design. I had the usual sort of article half-written yesterday – a design dissection of why CD Projekt RED’s masterful games, The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk, are so great on a second and third playthrough despite replayability not being a primary game pillar in either title.
But events of the world are overwhelming my gaming addiction these days. Along with a lot of others, I’m feeling increasingly tense, anxious, and concerned about the state of things – almost to the degree I did at the height of the COVID pandemic.
A storm’s about to break, both metaphorically and literally. Hurricane Milton is barreling toward the coast of Florida – a Category 5 as I write, though it’s expected to weaken as it approaches land.
Milton follows on the heels of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene, which has ravaged the Carolinas and Georgia with devastating floods and destruction in hard-to-reach areas, cutting off entire communities. Rescue and recovery efforts are still underway; the property damage is still incalculable, and the human toll is unthinkable.
And because it’s election season in the year 2024, the storms have been politicized. Despite an aggressive federal response, there are sitting members of Congress trying to turn hurricane lemons into electoral lemonade – to the level of making ludicrous claims about the government manipulating the weather to murder voters in red states.
the coast of New Hampshire.
The storms of fall are still far away.
I make no secret of the fact that both my economic and social politics lean hard left. There aren’t any scenarios where I’d vote for a Republican simply from a policy perspective, even if the quality and character of the candidates were impeccable. So it’s always been an easy choice for me this year, even before Harris replaced Biden.
Yet despite what seems to be a solid poll trend in a positive direction, I feel much of the same anxiousness that I felt in 2016. America has made mistakes before, but the consequences of this election for a diverse array of communities – not just in America, but around the world – are beyond devastating.
So, for what it’s worth, consider this blog the official Scree Games endorsement of Kamala Harris. I don’t agree with the mainstream Democratic positions on everything, but compared to the candidate the other side is fielding, there’s no contest.
Unlike some, I believe the fundamentals of our democracy will remain intact through a second Trump term. He’s likely to be reined in by a Democratic House of Representatives, and the institutional nature of our bureaucracy and the realities of our corporate-controlled status quo would check his worst impulses.
Still, it’s clear to me that a lot of people are going to be hurt – and some will die as a result of doubling down on destructive policies – if Trump wins.
But that’s a discussion to have next January. Today, we hold our breaths, waiting for the storms to hit. First, the actual and devastating monster bearing down on Florida this week; then, in early November, an election that (even in the best-case scenario) promises to be contentious and close, with heated, passionate feelings on all sides.
In the aftermath of both storms, when the political gamesmanship fades, let’s find the collective courage to rebuild what’s been lost.
If you’d like to donate to hurricane relief, you can’t go wrong with the Red Cross. Back next week with our usual light gaming fare.