End Geek Persecution

Blogger Ace of Spades reports that the Israeli Defense Forces are giving the phrase "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" a whole new meaning:

The IDF (Israeli Army) routinely discriminates against recruits who admit they... play Dungeons and Dragons.

Ace links to this Israeli news article which fills in some of the details:

Ynet has learned that 18-year-olds who tell recruiters they play the popular fantasy game are automatically given low security clearance.

“They're detached from reality and suscepitble to influence,” the army says.

Ace has plenty of choice comments, as well as a link to the most disturbing video ever filmed. Read it all, but only after putting aside any beverage you might be drinking. I will merely offer my agreement with his eloquent conclusion:

When they came for the Star Trek conventioneers, I said nothing, because I never bothered to pick up even a coversational-level of Klingon.

And when they came for the model railroad enthusiasts, still I kept silent, because I just never felt like dealing with all that glue and cotton-swabs.

And when they came for the massively-multiplayer on-line role-playing gamers, I yet held my tongue, because it's difficult to remain IC ("in character") when you're dealing with horny fourteen-year-old boys who keep asking you "where the whorehouse is" and "Doth thee know of any fair maidens who wisheth to cyber?"

And then when they came for me, no one said anything, because there were no geeks, nerds, dorkwads or gaywads left to cry out.

To paraphrase a line from our of our greatest movies, "no one will ever truly be free until geek persecution ends."


Update: Ace has now posted a list of the "Top Ten Reasons the Israeli Army Discriminates Against D&D Players". Read it, but keep my beverage warning in mind.

(Blame The Corner for alerting me to this.)