You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. You can attempt to justify/rationalize your reasoning but Ingress has no place in politics regardless of you saying it isn’t and the only things you are accomplishing with your continued political initiatives are to drive more players away, like you haven’t lost too many already, and drive a larger wedge within the community. Get back to your core function. Finally, you often ask the community prior to many things, why don’t you with sensitive matters like this?
BLM movement started a few years ago. I am pretty sure there were promises from companies in the beginning, too. Yet here were are again. Yes, for now and until something actually changes, I see it as PR stunts. But then again, it's just business as usual. Hong Kong and Ukraine and Syria and pay inequality and lots and lots other issues are not as mainstream as BLM is atm, so we have BLM stuff. The moment other issues become mainstream, we will have those issues' stuff. The moment tides change, Niantic will be advertising beacons with Confederate flags.
Maybe if next time some company makes a statement before people start protesting and rioting, something will change. Until companies just follow trends, nothing will change. Like I said, rainbow XM doesn't have to be there just during June. It should pop-up randomly and without any announcements. Just because why not. Doing it in June is "well, other companies are doing something, so we should do something, too, so that we are not perceived as homophobic and out of touch". Such things should be random.
For people saying that these beacons and rainbow XM are only PR stunts; I feel like Niantic as a company is actually committed to doing something, unlike many other companies. Just read Hanke's open letter that was linked here earlier.
i`am living in Russia. Here is beating an killing not only Brown or Black. Here we are all in the police and government terror. No matter what color of your skin. Russia was in slavery so long. So, you can see more than usa.
Oh, okay, I can understand that. The USA is not Russia yet (hopefully it never gets that bad.) But Niantic is headquartered in the USA, so it's not too surprising that they may be a little more focused on the political situation here. I don't think anyone is denying that all lives matter, but the problem here is that black people have not been treated equally, they are generally harassed, arrested, and imprisoned more than white people. And there is a pretty clear history of systemic racism since slavery was legal in the USA, before the US Civil War. The thing is a lot of people here believe that "black lives matter" is trying to take power from them and give it to black people, when black people just want to live their lives in peace. So some people will claim "all lives matters", or "blues lives matter" (and by blue, I mean police, not Smurfs, or Resistance), and just ignore what is happening to black people, so what they are really saying is "all white lives matter, and **** the black and brown people."
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
It's called amplification and concentration. When everyone does something at a certain time there is a greater chance the message will have an impact. It's why days, weeks, and months are devoted to specific issues. Breast cancer awareness month and pink being everywhere for example.
I can't take you seriously if you state Niantic will support Confederate Flags. That's a straw man argument and logically fallacy you wrote to try to make your argument look good. Shame.
You also are clearly unaware of the actions and commitments Niantic has made. What have you done for the issues you say you support? I'm going to bet they aren't as impactful as what Niantic has done and will be doing. And yes, they can do more because they are a company and have more resources. That's literally the entire point.
Let's say mooooooorrrrrrrreeee free political beacons in the future.
e.g.
"Women Have Equal Rights"
"Stop Murdering Animals, Eat Vegetables"
"Muslim Matters"
"F*ck Trump"
"Reunite the Soviet Union"
"Japan Needs to Enlarge Army"
"There's Only One China" or "Free TaiWan / Hong Kong / Anything Else"
I'd be appreciate if one day all those above beacons will be free in the store, 15 at least, just like BLM beacons.
-----------------------------------
To be honest I'd say I have no interest in BLM beacons (not BLM itself, I think highly of BLM as a human right activity) and don't want to see them in the store.
It has no relationship with any part of the game. Don't want political things in a game.
BTW: I did not receive the BLM beacons till now. And will never receive them.
And yes I think rainbow XM is beautiful but not a good idea.
Enjoy your dead empty game full of social justice warriors and white knights - you can all congratulate each other on defeating the 4th riech...that is until reality hits you (if it ever does).
This is obvious to any decent human being - only leftists ideologues, race-baiters, and totalitarian marxists focus on identity politics and all the things that divide us instead of what unites us. This is why the people in this toxic "Community" disagree so much with anyone who doesn't toe their social justice narrative line. LIFE is precious. This shouldn't have to be stated but the leftists have to signal just how "Virtuous" they are to the others who mindlessly follow the same mantra.
Spend the time to educate yourself properly instead of surrounding yourself with the confirmation bias of the mob.
Police brutality is a thing. It doesn't affect just black and brown people and it actually affects WHITE people more depending on how you wish to slice the statistics. If this movement had instead been on ending police brutality and improving their training etc. it would be a different story.
Instead it has turned into more misinformation campaigns and race-baiting in an effort to garner political support not actually institute real change. By insinuating there is some sort of "Systemic Racism" problem you are impugning the integrity of the very people who spend their entire careers putting their lives on the line to protect you so that you can live in the freedoms they help protect.
That's how I felt a couple years ago when this all started and it has invaded every source of entertainment in our culture now. I have to seek entertainment from the few countries in the world who believe in putting the quality of their product and satisfaction of their customers over virtue signaling and political correctness.
He was dead on accurate. Niantic isn't doing anything other than dividing their own customer base in the same way Hollywood has divided its base and our politicians have done the same. It is divisive and is contributing to the balkanization of our country.
Niantics position is the safe one which is why so many corporations have adopted it. This is exactly what virtue signalling means, just at a corporate level. It's not virtuous no matter how much you tell yourself it is - it is weak and unprincipled and it follows the whims of the mob and the masses all for a false sense of pride.
These Topics don't "amplify" anything because it is already turned up to the max by every corporation clamoring to out do one another and show how "woke" they are.
In reality you're just dividing people and creating controversy which is an evil that is greater than the issues you supposedly seek to inform others about.
What you people don't understand is there are a legion of avenues out there for people to engage or submerse themselves in politics today. Some of us want to play games, watch TV, or pursue other avenues of entertainment to relax and escape these realities, even if for a short while. (As you would expect in an altered reality game) By engaging in these activities they're just marginalizing their own customer base and promoting the demise of their own product.
You know why people say something is, “virtue signaling”, when they see anyone being an ally to the oppressed or abused? Because they cannot imagine an action not linked to a selfish motive. They cannot accept someone wanting a better world without it directly benefiting them. They are trying to stigmatize empathy and their lack of it.
Accusing others of virtue signaling encourages you to not interrogate your own beliefs. If you think people only disagree with you because they are trying to show off how nice they are, why would you even consider that what is obvious to you might be wrong? It is often used to try to show that the accuser is above virtue signaling and that their own arguments really are sincere. Of course, this is just another example of virtue signaling!
For something to be virtue signaling, rather than just showing off, it would need some sort of sacrifice, like a sacrifice of knowledge by pretending some obvious falsehood is true. Niantic is donating millions to positively impact social change. They are taking actions to ensure people have equal access to the same opportunities in the industry they belong to.
In the same reply Niantic’s actions are labeled both “safe” and “dividing people and creating controversy which is an evil”. This is confusing. If it is divisive to advocate for human equality, maybe those opposed to the appearance of this item in the game should reflect on why they are offended by it. Niantic has put their money where their mouth is to level the playing field. They are trying to help the marginalized of our society who have not had a fair chance. If that means some customers get upset because a company is advocating for Black people to be treated as equally as White people, I’m sure they don’t care about loosing those customers.
You might be right. And I totally understand why we have this month or that month. But again, I don't understand why we can't have rainbow XM or pink XM at random times. If they can change color of XM with a press of a button, they why not do it? I am trying to remember if rainbow XM requires Ingress updates, but I don't think it does; if it actually requires updates, then yes, it's not something they can do easily.
As for what Niantic is doing - I have no clue besides that letter they posted. Do they post any other info somewhere? Like how many black people they helped per month? Or how many women in the company have same pay as men?
And again, what about other political issues? Syrian lives don't matter enough yet? How about recent "voting" in Russia to make Putin a permanent president?
Pay inequality and gay rights have been issues before BLM movement started, yet I don't see Rainbow beacons. And I think Rainbow beacons would make more sense as not every country has significant black population, but every country has significant gay population, and in some countries being gay is very much not OK. Wearing masks has become a political issue, and to me it's a bit more concerning than BLM, so can we get Facial Mask beacons?
The only reason we have BLM beacon and not any other issue beacons because this issue went mainstream, and that's my personal opinion. Niantic doesn't do Pink XM for October or Mustache beacons for November, does it?
Comments
Nia:
You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. You can attempt to justify/rationalize your reasoning but Ingress has no place in politics regardless of you saying it isn’t and the only things you are accomplishing with your continued political initiatives are to drive more players away, like you haven’t lost too many already, and drive a larger wedge within the community. Get back to your core function. Finally, you often ask the community prior to many things, why don’t you with sensitive matters like this?
PLEASE leave the politics and controversy out of Ingress!
BLM movement started a few years ago. I am pretty sure there were promises from companies in the beginning, too. Yet here were are again. Yes, for now and until something actually changes, I see it as PR stunts. But then again, it's just business as usual. Hong Kong and Ukraine and Syria and pay inequality and lots and lots other issues are not as mainstream as BLM is atm, so we have BLM stuff. The moment other issues become mainstream, we will have those issues' stuff. The moment tides change, Niantic will be advertising beacons with Confederate flags.
Maybe if next time some company makes a statement before people start protesting and rioting, something will change. Until companies just follow trends, nothing will change. Like I said, rainbow XM doesn't have to be there just during June. It should pop-up randomly and without any announcements. Just because why not. Doing it in June is "well, other companies are doing something, so we should do something, too, so that we are not perceived as homophobic and out of touch". Such things should be random.
Any Life Matter
We all don`t agree with police, beating and torturing ANY people.
For people saying that these beacons and rainbow XM are only PR stunts; I feel like Niantic as a company is actually committed to doing something, unlike many other companies. Just read Hanke's open letter that was linked here earlier.
If all lives matter, then why do so many black and brown people keep getting killed by the police?
i`am living in Russia. Here is beating an killing not only Brown or Black. Here we are all in the police and government terror. No matter what color of your skin. Russia was in slavery so long. So, you can see more than usa.
PLEASE leave the politics and controversy out of Ingress!
Oh, okay, I can understand that. The USA is not Russia yet (hopefully it never gets that bad.) But Niantic is headquartered in the USA, so it's not too surprising that they may be a little more focused on the political situation here. I don't think anyone is denying that all lives matter, but the problem here is that black people have not been treated equally, they are generally harassed, arrested, and imprisoned more than white people. And there is a pretty clear history of systemic racism since slavery was legal in the USA, before the US Civil War. The thing is a lot of people here believe that "black lives matter" is trying to take power from them and give it to black people, when black people just want to live their lives in peace. So some people will claim "all lives matters", or "blues lives matter" (and by blue, I mean police, not Smurfs, or Resistance), and just ignore what is happening to black people, so what they are really saying is "all white lives matter, and **** the black and brown people."
"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."
-Desmond Tutu
Good move, Niantic.
If anyone wants to leave, this isn’t an airport and you don’t need to announce your departure. https://niantic.helpshift.com/a/ingress/?s=your-ingress-account&f=i-want-to-delete-my-account&l=en&p=web
It's called amplification and concentration. When everyone does something at a certain time there is a greater chance the message will have an impact. It's why days, weeks, and months are devoted to specific issues. Breast cancer awareness month and pink being everywhere for example.
I can't take you seriously if you state Niantic will support Confederate Flags. That's a straw man argument and logically fallacy you wrote to try to make your argument look good. Shame.
You also are clearly unaware of the actions and commitments Niantic has made. What have you done for the issues you say you support? I'm going to bet they aren't as impactful as what Niantic has done and will be doing. And yes, they can do more because they are a company and have more resources. That's literally the entire point.
Did you get permission to use the logo?
Good job Niantic.
Let's say mooooooorrrrrrrreeee free political beacons in the future.
e.g.
"Women Have Equal Rights"
"Stop Murdering Animals, Eat Vegetables"
"Muslim Matters"
"F*ck Trump"
"Reunite the Soviet Union"
"Japan Needs to Enlarge Army"
"There's Only One China" or "Free TaiWan / Hong Kong / Anything Else"
I'd be appreciate if one day all those above beacons will be free in the store, 15 at least, just like BLM beacons.
-----------------------------------
To be honest I'd say I have no interest in BLM beacons (not BLM itself, I think highly of BLM as a human right activity) and don't want to see them in the store.
It has no relationship with any part of the game. Don't want political things in a game.
BTW: I did not receive the BLM beacons till now. And will never receive them.
And yes I think rainbow XM is beautiful but not a good idea.
Well done Niantic. Perhaps this deserves a news post too?
Enjoy your dead empty game full of social justice warriors and white knights - you can all congratulate each other on defeating the 4th riech...that is until reality hits you (if it ever does).
I'm not against any of the trends, but I just wondering why we don't get more stuff like this?
Why not change XM colors in other year event too, like in Christmas we could have green and red XM, pink xm in October, gold/white on new year, etc.
This is obvious to any decent human being - only leftists ideologues, race-baiters, and totalitarian marxists focus on identity politics and all the things that divide us instead of what unites us. This is why the people in this toxic "Community" disagree so much with anyone who doesn't toe their social justice narrative line. LIFE is precious. This shouldn't have to be stated but the leftists have to signal just how "Virtuous" they are to the others who mindlessly follow the same mantra.
Spend the time to educate yourself properly instead of surrounding yourself with the confirmation bias of the mob.
Police brutality is a thing. It doesn't affect just black and brown people and it actually affects WHITE people more depending on how you wish to slice the statistics. If this movement had instead been on ending police brutality and improving their training etc. it would be a different story.
Instead it has turned into more misinformation campaigns and race-baiting in an effort to garner political support not actually institute real change. By insinuating there is some sort of "Systemic Racism" problem you are impugning the integrity of the very people who spend their entire careers putting their lives on the line to protect you so that you can live in the freedoms they help protect.
I agree, but I'm sticking around to watch the show.
That's how I felt a couple years ago when this all started and it has invaded every source of entertainment in our culture now. I have to seek entertainment from the few countries in the world who believe in putting the quality of their product and satisfaction of their customers over virtue signaling and political correctness.
He was dead on accurate. Niantic isn't doing anything other than dividing their own customer base in the same way Hollywood has divided its base and our politicians have done the same. It is divisive and is contributing to the balkanization of our country.
Niantics position is the safe one which is why so many corporations have adopted it. This is exactly what virtue signalling means, just at a corporate level. It's not virtuous no matter how much you tell yourself it is - it is weak and unprincipled and it follows the whims of the mob and the masses all for a false sense of pride.
These Topics don't "amplify" anything because it is already turned up to the max by every corporation clamoring to out do one another and show how "woke" they are.
In reality you're just dividing people and creating controversy which is an evil that is greater than the issues you supposedly seek to inform others about.
What you people don't understand is there are a legion of avenues out there for people to engage or submerse themselves in politics today. Some of us want to play games, watch TV, or pursue other avenues of entertainment to relax and escape these realities, even if for a short while. (As you would expect in an altered reality game) By engaging in these activities they're just marginalizing their own customer base and promoting the demise of their own product.
@Ezareth I acknowledge your request to delete your Ingress account, and I will see to it personally. Thank you.
You know why people say something is, “virtue signaling”, when they see anyone being an ally to the oppressed or abused? Because they cannot imagine an action not linked to a selfish motive. They cannot accept someone wanting a better world without it directly benefiting them. They are trying to stigmatize empathy and their lack of it.
Accusing others of virtue signaling encourages you to not interrogate your own beliefs. If you think people only disagree with you because they are trying to show off how nice they are, why would you even consider that what is obvious to you might be wrong? It is often used to try to show that the accuser is above virtue signaling and that their own arguments really are sincere. Of course, this is just another example of virtue signaling!
For something to be virtue signaling, rather than just showing off, it would need some sort of sacrifice, like a sacrifice of knowledge by pretending some obvious falsehood is true. Niantic is donating millions to positively impact social change. They are taking actions to ensure people have equal access to the same opportunities in the industry they belong to.
In the same reply Niantic’s actions are labeled both “safe” and “dividing people and creating controversy which is an evil”. This is confusing. If it is divisive to advocate for human equality, maybe those opposed to the appearance of this item in the game should reflect on why they are offended by it. Niantic has put their money where their mouth is to level the playing field. They are trying to help the marginalized of our society who have not had a fair chance. If that means some customers get upset because a company is advocating for Black people to be treated as equally as White people, I’m sure they don’t care about loosing those customers.
Thank you for giving the agents that need this support the chance to express it in a game they love. To who this matters, they see you.
You might be right. And I totally understand why we have this month or that month. But again, I don't understand why we can't have rainbow XM or pink XM at random times. If they can change color of XM with a press of a button, they why not do it? I am trying to remember if rainbow XM requires Ingress updates, but I don't think it does; if it actually requires updates, then yes, it's not something they can do easily.
As for what Niantic is doing - I have no clue besides that letter they posted. Do they post any other info somewhere? Like how many black people they helped per month? Or how many women in the company have same pay as men?
And again, what about other political issues? Syrian lives don't matter enough yet? How about recent "voting" in Russia to make Putin a permanent president?
You solve the problems in front of you, and deal with the greater problems as they arise.
Demanding that someone solve all problems to solve any problems is a tacit attempt to do nothing.
Pay inequality and gay rights have been issues before BLM movement started, yet I don't see Rainbow beacons. And I think Rainbow beacons would make more sense as not every country has significant black population, but every country has significant gay population, and in some countries being gay is very much not OK. Wearing masks has become a political issue, and to me it's a bit more concerning than BLM, so can we get Facial Mask beacons?
The only reason we have BLM beacon and not any other issue beacons because this issue went mainstream, and that's my personal opinion. Niantic doesn't do Pink XM for October or Mustache beacons for November, does it?
This game is AR, but it still shouldn't bring political arguments.