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Mar 31, 2016 at 9:54 am
Opinion: Nintendo got it right on Alison Rapp's firing
"Nintendo made a smart decision in a bad situation.
Nintendo fired Alison Rapp, and it's the right call. Not because of a smear campaign, which was utter horsesh*t, but because of her words and actions while employed at Nintendo.
Let's address the smear campaigns. They originate from her detractors finding a publicly available academic writing from her college days. It seems to take an unpopular stance on Japan's right to make their own laws regarding depictions of child sexuality. It's an uncomfortable topic to be sure, but any topic should be open to properly researched and reasoned academic discourse. Barring her actually diddling children, she did nothing wrong by discussing a controversial subject, even if you don't agree with it.
If that was the sole reason for her firing, I would be there with the rest of the pitchfork-wielding mob, but it's not.
Rapp chose to write about child sexuality and air controversial opinions on social media sites, and made no bones about her posts being intentionally inflammatory. She (allegedly) moonlighted as a model for suggestive photos, and posted a sample from her “shoot” on her twitter. There's nothing particularly bad about any of these things on their own.
The problem is that Alison Rapp was employed by Nintendo of America in the PR field. You know, the only major video game company that's adamant about catering almost exclusively to children and families. We can clearly see Rapp was aware that she needed to be careful about what was and wasn't appropriate, given her position with Nintendo and working with children, but that didn't stop her from making “edgy” posts on twitter, be they serious or in jest."
http://www.gamezone.com/originals/opinion-nintendo-got-it-right-on-alison-rapp-s-firing-jzmk
Mar 31, 2016
Internet Trolls Win?
"Internet trolls use various tactics to shame, discredit, harass, isolate, and mentally/emotionally torture individuals. They don’t refrain from even going through their target’s garbage to find something that points to a skeleton in someone’s closet.
Over the past few months, internet trolls have caused quite a lot of commotion for a Nintendo Employee named Alison Rapp, a female mid-level marketing face of Nintendo America. For months, internet bigots made sure they shamed, isolate, discredit, harass Ms.Rapp in every way possible.
They believe that Ms.Rapp is somehow responsible for their favorite Nintendo games being censored in America. An amorphous group has targeted her relentlessly, going as low as using her Amazon wishlist and an anime pillow to shame her.
Pointless and desperate petitions were also filed in order to get her fired from Nintendo. Unfortunately for them, nothing worked and even petitions were taken down as they violate community guidelines."
http://segmentnext.com/2016/03/31/nintendo-just-fire-someone-internet-trolls-demanded
March 31, 2016: 4:48 PM ET
Why did Nintendo fire this woman?
"Nintendo fired a woman named Alison Rapp on Wednesday, a decision that's putting the spotlight back on harassment in the gaming industry.
Rapp worked in marketing at Nintendo and has been a vocal advocate for women in gaming.
She was also a frequent target of online vitriol from supporters of a movement known as GamerGate. The movement purports to promote ethics in gaming -- but has been condemned for harassing women and their supporters in the gaming industry.
It was this harassment that Rapp posits cost her her job.
Rapp had found herself in the hotseat over Nintendo's decision to tone down its sexualization of girls in games, according to Kotaku.com. Though Rapp wasn't involved in the decision-making process behind these changes, she become a sort of scapegoat for those who disagreed with Nintendo.
For its part, Nintendo (NTDOF) said it let go of Rapp -- who had been at the firm since 2013 -- because it discovered she was "moonlighting" with a second job, which it said it doesn't allow."
http://money.cnn.com/2016/03/31/technology/nintendo-alison-rapp
http://www.tampabayreview.com/news/grp-nitendo-fires-alison-rapp/3450
https://medium.com/@infiltrator7n/allison-rapp-is-entitled-to-her-academic-views-but-her-defense-of-actual-child-pornography-dcc10531db3b#.vol41uu3m
https://medium.com/@jkellytwit/nintendo-s-public-relations-employee-alison-rapp-now-vocal-for-pedophiles-656f9965c6e9#.eqn7mm3w7
http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/1972063-Alison-Rapp-fired-by-Nintendo/page12
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Published on Apr 13, 2011
Honors Review - Volume IV
Volume IV of the Honors Review, a nationally competitive undergraduate journal of research published yearly through the Augsburg College Honors Program
https://issuu.com/honorsreview/docs/volumeiv/33
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