Why are Republicans branding video gamers as the next American scapegoats? | Opinion
Republicans have replaced the “welfare queen” trope with the “lazy gamer.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson is driving the narrative that men in their late 20s are milking Medicaid while they sit at home and play video games. It’s a modern twist on former President Ronald Reagan’s portrayal of Black mothers milking welfare in the 1980s.
“You don’t want able-bodied workers on a program that is intended … for single mothers with two small children who is just trying to make it,” Johnson said when justifying steep cuts to America’s social safety net. “That’s what Medicaid is for, not for 29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.”
As a gamer myself, I know this is not the truth.
Gamers are not lazy
First, let’s debunk the gross generalization that those who play video games are lazy or don’t want to work.
A recent study by Video Game Publisher and Developer Plarium showed more than 67% of gamers have jobs and 47% of them are working full-time. Twelve percent are working part time, 8% are self-employed and nearly 7% are out of work and looking for a job. The study surveyed 1,000 gamers from ages 13-69. The important number for me is that only 2% are not looking for work, meaning that a small margin of people don’t understand the value of working.
Then, let’s address the myth that gamers are antisocial. Nearly 70% of gamers say they aren’t isolating in virtual worlds. The social aspect of gaming is the attraction to many. I mean, what’s more social than hopping on a game and talking with someone in another country? There are also many well-attended video game conventions where like-minded nerds come together and connect because of gaming, a passion we love.
None of this portrayal of the lazy gamer makes sense. But then the anti-game tropes are reflect the feelings of President Donald Trump, who often doesn’t make sense.
When the Florida Parkland school shooting happened in 2018, Trump didn’t say a word about regulating the purchase of guns. Instead, he summoned the leading video game developers at the time for a White House discussion on violent material in their games. You see problematic material in every medium, from TV to social media. Focusing presidential attention on one platform feels more like an attack than an expression of concern. Trump also mentioned video games after mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. For the record: There is no scientific link between video games and mass shootings.
The video game streaming industry has skyrocketed in the past 5 years. It’s where people can go to make money from playing video games. According to Zip Recruiter, a full-time streamer on the popular platform Twitch could make anywhere between $63,000 to $106,000 a year.
The streaming industry is becoming more diverse, as Black, Latino and Asian Americans have a higher interest in being digital entertainers.
Republicans are trying to present gamers as a hobby that only lazy, Cheeto-eating, mother’s basement freeloaders do, us do, but in reality it’s a way for content creators to catapult their career to the highest levels.
We have to end this toxic stereotyping.
Enough with political scapegoating
I have been taught the value of working and the independence that it gives you. The first time I wanted to buy the original Xbox, my mom told me the only way I was going to get one was by getting the old red mower from the garage and cutting the front and back yard. I earned that gaming console with effort.
A sweat on the brow isn’t the only way to measure a hard day’s work. It can now be quantified by how many hours you first person shooter game Call of Duty.
Using the Republican’s own logic against them, every one who watches reality TV shows like Love Island are terrible at relationships and people who watch football are more likely to commit domestic violence.
This also begs the question to the American public: Why do we keep giving power to a party who’s only strategy to win is to demonize people for the hobbies they enjoy?
