Democracy is finally experiencing Marx’s warning about capitalism

Democracy just experienced its first serious blow, and it happened in a way that no one even noticed it. It didn’t happen because of some overwhelming force of a dictator forcing the masses to his will (although one sure seems to be trying any way). It didn’t happen because of some oppressive enemy that invaded and destroyed us like Spartans on the fields of Macedonia. And it didn’t involve the proletariat throwing off their chains and destroying the machinery keeping them in slavery (no thanks to businesses like Amazon that pretend to be enlightened as they benefit one man to become the richest man on the planet).

No, the problem started where people tend not to see these sorts of things. And one of its symptoms was seen in all of its glory just yesterday. And it came from as innocuous a place as a computer gaming company, Activision Blizzard.

Now, for most of its history, Activision, specifically the Blizzard portion of it, has been known for such computer gaming delights as World of Warcraft, Warcrart, Starcraft and Hearthstone. There are a few other gaming franchises under their umbrella, but for the most part, they have been known for creating enjoyable games that have produced a really strong reputation in the gaming community.

Well, over the weekend, they ran an international tournament for one of their franchises, Hearthstone. During this tournament, a champion of the game, Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai, used his successful platform to declare…