Chuds are, as the kids say, losing recipes. Not so long ago, there were Right wing internet warriors on sites like Stormfront and 8chan, blasting screeds and manifestos filled margin-to-margin with racist/*-phobic slurs and FBI crime statistics. They had their own little echo chambers, and they were perfectly fine with knowing they were a “fierce” but valiant minority, uninterested in assimilating with the “Black-Jewish-Liberal-[insert virtue signal language here] Culture” at large. But, like all people in the Internet Age, Rightoids sidelined their moral qualms with the Liberal Propaganda Machine to acquire something far greater than virtue or righteousness: likes and subscriptions.

Yesterday, Grimdark Compendium–which I guess is a store(?) or educational blog(?)–posted their awards for Round 2 of their lauded competition, The Dark Goblet, or something Le Epic Bacon like that. One of the Gold winners (since taken down) painted a little guy who, admittedly, looked pretty cool. Unfortunately, in a tale as old as time, the painter had “I don’t support tranz (sic) or tardian leftist (sic)” in his bio. Naturally, Grimdark Compendium didn’t notice his bio when they selected his submission to win, or, apparently, when they followed him in the first place. Many such cases. 

The response from Grubdick Duncehatium (before later taking the slide with his nomination down and removing him from the post) was to say: 

“painting competitions are just that. Its not an investigation or background check. We dont pre screen the entrants. We do not know nor are we concerned about the personal or political beliefs of the people that entry (sic). Entires (sic) are judged on their merit alone… we honestly cannot turn the GDC and its competitions or any of the other upcoming community events into a social policing event.”

Fair enough. I mean, who would want to talk about politics in the greater Grimdark community? After all, the majority of the community is based on the game Warhammer 40000, which is set in the “grim darkness of the future” where there is “only war.” There’s nothing political about a bleak future in which the last remaining hegemonic empire–literally called “The Imperium of Mankind” (I mean, come on, man)–wars with other factions over the last remaining table scraps of a ruined universe… Right? 

So, what happens when internet-poisoned fascist sympathizers discover games that were made to satirize their own beliefs? Well, apparently they play them and love them anyway, because Chuds are notoriously media illiterate. But herein lies our real dilemma: what happens when Chuds try to ingratiate themselves in a longstanding community of anti-Fascist gamers and hobbyists? If you ask Grimfart Cockpumpium, apparently politics are irrelevant to the art… even if the art in question was created as a political satire of Far Right dipshits. Which is, of course, a submental understanding of both the grimdark setting and also, on a very literal level, what politics are. 

Before I go further, make no mistake: this is not the Cancel Culture Culling Hour. I absolutely listen to musicians that I disagree with politically on a fundamental level (Agnostic Front, Current 93, basically every Spirit-Filled Hardcore band of the 90s and early 2000s). I read and love authors who were (Crypto-)Fascists in their personal lives (Mishima, Pound, Yeats, etc.); I love S. Craig Zahler’s movies, which have assuredly “problematic” politics. I think it’s perfectly fine to separate art from artist to a level that you feel comfortable with. That is to say, when you’re deciding for yourself and for your own enjoyment, you can make whatever value claims you’d like. 

If you’re a blog(? again, I don’t know exactly what Grimdork Cumshittium is) hosting a competition, you are making the choice to platform art made by real humans with their own beliefs. And if you want to platform someone with differing political beliefs than the community at large, especially people who put those political beliefs in their bio to virtue signal, that is your choice to make. However, what aren’t political beliefs are the ones regarding humans living and existing in peace. 

When people use the word “politics” to describe their beliefs, they generally aren’t talking about politics at all. I don’t care if you’re fiscally conservative or if you think there should be a reorganization of income tax brackets. I don’t care if you voted for your Republican state senator because you think you’ll get more back on your tax return (which doesn’t happen anyway). I don’t care if you vote to fund your local arts through tax dollars, although obviously I think you should. Those are political matters.

If you don’t believe that Trans people should exist, or you believe that Trans people “aren’t real”, those are not part of your political beliefs. Those are basic questions of human morality. If I say, “Trans people have the right to exist in peace,” and you say, “No, actually they don’t have the right to exist in peace,” we are not at a political impasse. You are simply a fucking dork that’s as apathetic to your fellow humans as you are stupid. You don’t have transgressive politics: you’re a fucking loser. There’s no political solution to being human cattle who slurp up culture war bullshit like sludge, incapable of critical thought or basic empathy. You just have to, in the words of Deputy Director Gordon Cole, “Fix your heart or die.” The end.

(For a deeper dive into the early politics of the Warhammer world at large, both Fantasy and 40K, read this great piece)