I wrote to the editor on North Texas Daily.
On the night of Oct 21 at Pohl Recreation Center I witnessed an ugly scene between two campus organizations.
Representatives and members of International Socialist Organization invited themselves into Room 207, reserved and occupied by UNT Gamer’s Club, to inform the attendees of the session that one of them had defaced and replaced ISO posters around campus. A representative of ISO who was at front and spoke for others who followed him –for lack of a name I will call Vanguard– implored the officers of UNT Gamer’s Club to “control” the actions of their members and attendees. Vanguard acted on provocation of an attendee who admitted to the deed, possibly in jest, and angrily implored the attendee to write an address where the attendee could be contacted and uttered an expletive followed by the word “you” after verbal provocation on said attendee’s part. This was witnessed by all in attendance.
To ISO: The behavior of Vanguard is unbecoming of an officer or representative of ISO. If Vanguard is in fact an officer, he is liable for citation. Vanguard must maintain control of his emotions before he implores other organizations to control their members.
To UNT Gamer’s Club attendees, members and officers: A number of you reacted to the accusation in a civilized manner, however, one or two members acted boisterously in order to provoke ISO for their own amusement, including the attendee who admitted to the actions accused by ISO. This is immature and shows poor social skills. In other words, it confirms harmful stereotypes about hobbyists of our sort. Members in question must also show some self-discipline for the good of our hobby.
There is no reason that ISO and UNT Gamer’s Club cannot find common ground to put this shameful episode behind them. To this end I bring up French Situationist Guy DeBord’s creation The Game of War, Ernesto Guevara and Karl Marx’s Chess hobby, Ursula Le Guin’s Go hobby, as examples of leftist figures who find time to play games for enjoyment. I hope this event and actions leading to this event are not repeated for the good of the student body.
Sincerely
Shahryar Rizvi
Student, Gamer, Avowed Leftist.