I know of two fairly simple alternatives.

Reminds me of the old Penny Arcade comic where the security question was “what is delicious?” and a panel is devoted to philosophical brain-racking and internal-monologue debates before, in the final panel,

Really the whole thing is highway robbery, with the Bain Capital crew fucking over everyone else.

Similar:

I’m surprised the officer in the picture wasn’t also on his mobile phone while on the computer, both which of course are illegal in my state but hey, because cops, they’re above all laws, so I guess it’s okay.

“I was really conflicted about it, and I may even have lost some sleep last night. I didn’t, but the possibility that I could have was there.”

“After thorough analysis from accounting concluding we will not lose one goddamn cent by doing this, we have decided in this isolated situation to do what our paying customers want, but don’t get used to it.”

I think calling playing a video game a sport is a slap in the face to the tens of thousands of athletes who dedicate their lives and years of physical training to a particular sport.

If you think IronPlushy’s colourful comment exposes an inferiority complex, let me point you toward an article about a bunch of football fans literally throwing their toys: https://kotaku.com/football-fans-throw-controllers-onto-field-in-protest-a-1829282823

Any professional devotes years of their lives to their work. Why put athletes on a pedestal?

Common conservative fallacy. The money could flow much better than into the pockets of a tiny handful of millionaire athletes and even a smaller number of billionaire owners. These ultra elite receive literally billions in local government aid to build these stadiums and it has been proven that professional sporting…

> Athletes provide entertainment, which I’d argue is something society needs.

If “esports” is not a “sport”, then neither is hunting (which is literally called sporting) or poker (which is shown on ESPN constantly).

Pssst, aside from a few charitable ones, athletes have no positive affect on society. Garbage men collect garbage, nurses take care of people, mcdonalds employees serve food, athletes get paid billions of dollars to play a game. And even if they rape or kill people, fight dogs, or beat their wives in public, the fans…

Uhm, that’s why they call it “esport.” Or do you also object to having the word “sport” injected there?

Also, esport “athletes” actually do dedicate significant time for physical and mental training in preparation for competition. They’re not just sitting in couches all day and playing games.

When someone says “im open minded to a lot of things” it’s always followed by something ignorant and closed minded and sometimes but not always followed with “just my opinion” or some variation.

So it’s just the English language you have a problem with here?

Damn straight.

And they’re also notoriously corrupt examples. Even communism is perfectly fine in-and-of-itself; what isn’t fine is a power-hungry, psychopathic government that murders it’s political rivals and abuses it’s people, and that can arise regardless of the host nation’s government or economic policy.

Many of those places are communist, not socialist.