Wherever you stand on the 2014 “GamerGate” controversy, it was a harbinger, if not a catalyst, of the encroachment of real-world social and political issues into our hobbies. To those of us who turn to our hobbies as a place to rest, away from the real-world issues were bombarded with in real life on a daily basis, this encroachment poses a legitimate threat.

Some fans’ idea of a solution is taking up the political extreme opposite that of their opponents, which only ends up further muddying the waters by turning a slow encroachment of politics into a full-blown culture war. To them, the newfound interest in their hobby from a political angle is an attack, warranting an equal and opposite defense.

The problem is that fighting politics with the opposite politics only serves to escalate the fighting and polarize the community further. It doesn’t do anything to bring the hobby back to where it was before things got political. Instead, it drives wedges between people and makes things worse.

People need an alternative, somewhere they can talk about their hobbies without the looming threat of the discussion getting political. That’s why the Iyashikei Discord doesn’t have a channel for “serious discussion.” There are (unfortunately) many places where political discussion can and does coincide with anime discussion. Iyashikei doesn’t need to be another place like that.