cupofrocks asked: I feel like your openness to criticism of bad behavior is very contingent on if you like the person or now. Bernie's joke was tasteless and if Hillary made it you'd be all about people finding it distasteful, and I say that as a British person with 0 investment in either party.

wilwheaton:

This happens quite a lot. Someone presumes that they’ve teleported into my brain, and just knows that “if Hillary did X then you would do Y, Wil Wheaton.”

That’s just ridiculous. As it turns out, I’m principled, and if something bothers me, it bothers me regardless of who said it. Like Sanders really fucking up on the gun issue last night, and handing Clinton and her super PAC exactly what they need to make him sound like he’s in bed with the NRA (because it’s literally the only thing in the world she can credibly claim to be to the Left of him on). That bothers me. A joke that didn’t land doesn’t bother me, and suggesting that I’d be “all about” anything if someone else had made it is not how this works. It’s not how any of this works.



In this specific case, on this specific issue, I’m exhausted by the constant need to be outraged, and I don’t give a fuck about who made the joke in the first place.

The fact is, what happens in the GOP debates is fucking crazy, and just because I or anyone else struggles with mental health issues doesn’t change that fact. It is crazy to spend all sorts of time, in a presidential election, talking about someone’s dick. It is crazy, in a presidential election, to have hours and hours of childish bullshit thrown around that wouldn’t be out of place on an elementary school playground.

Look, I have depression and anxiety and I take meds and I go to therapy and I have good days and I have bad days and sometimes I feel crazy and sometimes I wonder if I’ll ever not feel crazy. And I still know that what is happening in the GOP primary is fucking crazy.



Don’t get all worked up because a politician made an offhand joke that didn’t land; get worked up because our government doesn’t take mental health treatment as seriously as it should. Get worked up and get angry and get outraged that our veterans are coming home with PTSD and can’t get adequate health care, but hedge fund managers get billions in bailouts that we all paid for.

For fuck’s sake, people, pick your battles. Nobody is saying that anyone’s mental health issues aren’t real or aren’t important. And it turns out that an offhand remark that was clearly intended as a joke about how fucking crazy Trump and Cruz and the rest of them are just isn’t about you.

