So how much do some angry gamebros hate Anita Sarkeesian? Enough to send me death threats … for writing about the death threats sent to Anita Sarkeesian.
Shortly after my post on the threats against Sarkeesian went up on Thursday, I got these messages sent to me as anonymous “asks” on Tumblr. These were all in succession, in this order; I’m pasting each one individually instead of the whole bunch at once so you can read them in the order in which I got them. [TRIGGER WARNING: Violent threats; I’m putting them past the jump.]
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There is a certain irony in that last comment, whether or not it came from the guy (and I’m pretty damn sure it was a guy) who sent all the threats that immediately preceded it. It’s pretty clear to me that Sarkeesian has no need to fake anything; obviously her haters aren’t exactly shy about sending death threats to people they don’t like.
And if this is what my inbox looks like for merely writing about Sarkeesian, I can only imagine what her inbox looks like. I suspect she gets threats like these all the time; the reason she called the police about several of the threats she got this week is that the threateners posted her personal information as well.
In the interest of full disclosure: Here and here are screenshots of these messages as they appeared in my Tumblr inbox; I’ve blurred out the personal information of the people sending me cat pics.
Needless to say, I’ve turned off anonymous asks on my Tumblr blogs.
Half of them are quotes from Team Fortress 2. Couldn’t even come up with his own death threats. Sad.
…Wow. Lack of creativity or not this is still disturbing.
I’m sorry this has happened, David. These people are just horrible.
The claim that A.S. faked death threats being sent immediately after a death threat…I can’t even.
How clue free are these guys?
Douche-canoes, the lot of them.
Ridiculous. What the hell is wrong with people?
Wow. Please stay safe, and don’t let the bastards get you down.
Damn. That sucks. I’m sorry 🙁
“This is my world. You are not welcome in my world.” That pretty much sums up the whole aggrieved entitlement thing right there.
Ick. Sorry, David. And I believe that last one sucked up all of the irony in the world, leaving none for anyone else.
Goddamn, man. Please, do stay safe, Dave, and don’t be afraid to report the death threats to the authorities every chance you get.
That is really vile. Sorry to hear they did that to you, David.
Who died and put this douchenozzle in charge of the world? I demand to see the world’s manager!
Ugh…really sorry you have to deal with that shit. Hang in there.
ebilflindas, I didn’t knoiw that. Though I own the Orange Box and have played through Half Life 2 twice, I never play multiplayer anything, which I guess makes me not a real gamer. But I guess it makes sense they’d crib their threats from video games.
Thanks, everyone! I’m taking steps to stay safe.
This is of course repulsive, but at the same time I picture him hollering this stuff at confused cats.
Anyway, I am now thoroughly convinced that there’s no sexism in gaming.
Yeah, I was going to say, those threats sound familiar.
Man, that is flat out pathetic. I don’t know what to say.
They can’t be very keen gamers, if they have time to send death threats to everyone expressing even vague support for Sarkeesian.
I really hope nothing happens and these numbskulls grow up. Stay safe.
Urgh. Way for an entitled douche to abuse lines from a good game.
I really wish these assholes would just sod off and leave gaming to actual decent people. Or, you know, leave everything in general to decent people.
(Sorry if dupes of this post show up in the moderation queue… I’ve been having some issues with posting.)
They are not as foolish as they seem. The reason to use quotes is plausible denial so they can claim they were playing around. You would be surprised at how well that and feigned ignorance works.
Please stay safe. Thank you so much for this site. Your sarcasm makes this hate seem less toxic and less frightening. Keep up the good fight.
Well, the good news is, according to D J Grothe, writing about threats sent to you is “smart marketing, good business.”
https://twitter.com/DJGrothe/status/505257685411827712
Cyberhugs offered, Dave.
Meanwhile, I’m told that on Twitter, in a conversation with Phil “Thunderf00t” Mason, DJ Grothe claimed that Anita is publicizing death threats because it’s “good marketing.”
(DJ Grothe is the President of the James Randi Educational Foundation.)
http://freethoughtblogs.com/almostdiamonds/?s=is+dj+grothe+a+psychopath
David, I’m sorry, honestly, I find it appalling that people act like that. Looks like it came from a gamer judging from the wording used, and also someone afraid of conflict in real life, hence the passive/aggressive tone and the hiding behind the anon nick.
That said, here’s the deal. Those aren’t real death threats, which you should well know by now. Having people exaggerate and dramatize every offensive thing they find on the internet, makes it that much harder to address genuine threats. If everything is a death threat, than nothing is anymore.
Ninja’d by Ophelia! (Who was able to provide the tweets in question!)
I wonder how long it will take for someone to drop by and make the claim that this proves there is no sexism in gaming or in the criticism of Anita Sarkeesian, since David is male and is receiving death threats, too.