On Friday, expat woman-hating woman-chaser Roosh Valizadeh put up a post on his Return of Kings blog with the sensationalized headline “Did Anita Sarkeesian Commit Felony Wire Fraud?”
Roosh breathlessly “reported” that
Two independent journalists have confirmed with the San Francisco Police Department that Anita Sarkeesian, a video game social justice warrior, may have used false pretenses to raise money for her non-profit entity. The police have said that she has not contacted them as she claimed after receiving a Twitter death threat in August. Under Federal law, this may put her on the hook for felony wire fraud.
The two “independent journalists” in question are tech journalist and self-described “fan of 4chan” Milo Yiannopoulos of Breitbart, and Davis Aurini, the cigarette-smoking, scotch-drinking, Anton LaVey-looking blogger who’s trying to raise money to make a “documentary” about the evils of Anita Sarkeesian and “social justice warriors.”
Both journalists – well, the one dude who writes for a sleazeball right-wing site and the other dude who’s not actually a journalist at all – did indeed contact the San Francisco Police Department and were told by a media spokesman that he couldn’t find a record of Sarkeesian contacting them about the threats she received in August.
This bit of “news” sent #GamerGaters and other Sarkeesian-haters around the internet into a bit of a frenzy.
But it turns out they got worked up over nothing. The police spokesman just hadn’t looked hard enough. A day after Tweeting a number of accusatory questions to Sarkeesian, Yiannopoulos had to backtrack, noting in a series of Tweets that he’d had another conversation with the SFPD, who told him that Sarkeesian had in fact reported the harassment to the FBI.
Another writer posted emails he’d gotten from the police spokesman that seemed to confirm Yiannopoulos’ updated information. In the emails, SFPD Public Information Officer Albie Esparza said that Sarkeesian had indeed contacted the SFPD in August but that the case had been handed off to the FBI. (I’ve confirmed this with Esparza .)
Given that the main “proof” that Sarkeesian was lying about the threats she said she received had just vanished into thin air, you might expect that Roosh and Aurini might, you know, correct their now-clearly incorrect posts on the subject and retract their accusations. Well, not so much.
Roosh’s post remains up, with only a brief “update” at the end, noting that “the police have changed their story and now state that they were contacted.” Aurini’s post remains unchanged, and as I write this he’s posted nothing more on the subject.
Even considering the people we’re dealing with here, the hypocrisy is breathtaking.
Roosh ends his post by declaring that
these new revelations concerning Sarkeesian show that no form of media is safe from the SJW and feminist agenda, and that we must do all the fact checking ourselves. The entire media establishment in the United States is potentially corrupt. Proceed accordingly.
Yet he refuses to frankly acknowledge that the “new revelations concerning Sarkeesian” were based on faulty information, offering instead a weasel-worded “update.”
Aurini, for his part, claims in his post to be “fight[ing] for openness and integrity within Tech and Video Game circles.” But he hasn’t bothered to update his post.
When ethical journalists discover that they were wrong about something, they acknowledge their errors and post straightforward corrections. When they get something spectacularly wrong, they apologize.
Somehow I don’t think we’ll be getting apologies from either of these guys.
And thus we get to the whole wire fraud thing. In his post, Roosh repeated a claim made by Mike Cernovich of the “game” blog Danger and Play, who tweeted:
https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/510245982131335169
https://twitter.com/PlayDangerously/status/510246926990594048
As it turns out, there’s zero proof that Sarkeesian lied about anything here. And she made no direct connection between the threats and her Tweet asking for donations.
Indeed, by Cernovich’s logic it’s Davis Aurini, not Anita Sarkeesian, who’s guilty of felony wire fraud. Why?
Because in his post, he made a direct connection between his accusations against Sarkeesian and his own fundraising efforts. Here’s how he ended his piece:
Personally, I’d like to see a lot MORE documentation on Sarkeesian, because this isn’t the only claim she’s made which I suspect is fraudulent – and not just her, but all of the individuals hiding behind the shield of Social Justice, and the journalists who have been aiding and abetting them, culminating in outrage known as #GamerGate. That’s why Jordan Owen and myself have started a Patreon page, so that we can create a feature-length documentary about these people and their methods, and how they bully and victimize the very people they claim to support.
So please help us get this documentary made, so that we can fight for openness and integrity within Tech and Video Game circles, and expose the professional victims for the con artists that they are. Please support our documentary, The Sarkeesian Effect: Inside the World of Social Justice Warriors.
Given that Aurini now knows that his post was based on faulty information, and given that he hasn’t corrected his post or retracted his insinuations, could he now be guilty of felony wire fraud?
For what it’s worth, I don’t think so. While admittedly I’m no lawyer, Cernovich’s logic seems to me like a bit of a stretch.
I do feel safe in saying, however, that neither Roosh V. nor Davis Aurini should be lecturing anyone about ethics.
UPDATE: I confirmed with the SFPD that Sarkeesian had indeed called the SFPD and that the case was handed off to the FBI; the post has been updated to reflect that.
If he’s trying to look ridiculously cheesy and smarmy, he’s succeeding. If he’s trying to be completely awful, desperately hateful and stupid, he’s similarly successful.
Go ahead, LaVey dude, make your shitty little documentary. You’re just going to make yourself look even more ridiculous than you already do.
The wire fraud angle is funny, did they really think that would stick?
Well, considering PUA Anton LaVey and that other weirdo are almost certainly planning to pocket the patreon money that GamerGate rubes send them, while never making anything more than some low budget, fact-free Youtube videos, a little wire fraud is hardly a concern.
These guys will throw anything at the wall. They were talking about bringing RICO charges against the IGF. Really actually.
It’s just so funny. It’s terrible of that woman to ask for money to make videos about something she thinks is a problem! So send us money so that we can make videos about how we think that her videos are a problem! These people have about as much self-awareness as my shoes.
I get that Destro up there is trying to make a living from his hate-on for feminism via Patreon, but like any other Saturday-morning villain he doesn’t seem to have thought this all the way through. What if he doesn’t succeed? What if he can’t make a living from Anton LaVey cosplay? What if he has to get a nine-to-five job?
It’s not like the Internet forgets, and it’s not like Humana is going to hire someone with this kind of Google presence.
They’re trying attack Sarkeesian to raise funds for themselves to spend with no accountability. She’s fundraising for a charitable foundation that has to document the fact that the funds are not going into her own pocket.
If she’s trying to defraud anyone, she’s doing it wrong. (Note: She is not actually trying to defraud anyone.)
@cloudiah: Reminds me of the people who claim that Anita is a con artist because she releases videos less often than she initially said she would and her videos tend to be rather bland to look at. XD
Hey, look, Smokey is back. I don’t understand why his head is always tilted down. Is his head so full of crap that it’s too hard to keep it supported upright? Or is it one of those Alpha-something things where you look weird because it makes you more manly somehow. One of my friends works with a guy who overdoes his sneezes for that. Calls everyone else’s sneezes girly. Do only girls keep their heads upright?
That’s the standard substitute for people who have the urge to duckface but they know it looks silly. So they do this thing instead, usually with one or both eyebrows up. I think of it as the new duckface.
The Forehead face! 😀
No scrap that, I’m gonna call it the HeadButt.
To me it looks more like he’s trying to mimic Anton LeVay.
Ah David, I am very grateful that you do this work. It’s frightening to think what the climate for women would be without you and those you have inspired to step in also. I don’t know who else would have done the work for this article and debunked these persecutors. I don’t know Anita Sarkeesian, but the more I read about her persistence and overcoming these misogynists, the more I admire her. Thank you for standing up against those who want to silence women.
LeVay wasn’t a great guy, but according to people who knew him he did have a kind of certain charm. Smokey does not. He reminds me of Best of Show or certain Will Ferrell characters. He’s funny in that straight faced but incredibly goofy way. Is affectations and clueless smarm are so over the top and he doesn’t have the self awareness to know just how ridiculous he is. If he was a character actor, I’d say he was a talented man.
Why do they even bother trying to claim Sarkeesian is unethical and a con artist at this point anyway? Their motivations are already out in the open by now, and it’s clear that they think a person having a vagina is a perfectly legitimate reason for hating them all on its own, so why bother to add a whole bunch of other reasons on top? Why not just say: “She’s a woman, she wants to speak, and that makes my boner sad” and be done with it?
Unless they know deep down that women aren’t automatically worthy of hatred and they’re just trying to convince the wider public that they hate for more legitimate reasons…
At first glance I thought Smokey was a comedian doing a PUA character. Alas, I was being far too optimistic.
What a surprise. Assholes behaving like assholes.
I updated the post, just to confirm the info from the SFPD. She did call them, the case has been handed off to the FBI.
Also, I updated the Boob Roll in the sidebar and gave it a new name. (Thanks, Cloudiah, for your help!) I may add a few more sites later. I need to update the Antidotes list as well.
Stay tuned later today for another post that features more HeadButt.
A PUA standup character… somebody ring up Chris Lilly befor he makes a Pat spin off.
Any gamebros still reading? Do you still think you can make the case that this whole thing is about “journalistic integrity” and not misogyny?
Doesn’t matter if they apologize or update their posts, the well has been poisoned. People are reacting to Milo’s tweets about confirming that Anita contacted the authorities by saying the situation got “weird” rather than clarified.
Thanks for another informative article, David!
I love what this tells about Roosh. If one’s worldview requires an elaborate conspiracy theory in order to function properly, it might be time to reconsider a few facts of life you’re apparently taking for granted.
Nail and head or some such idiom. I can’t decide if he looks sillier here or in the video where he makes a melodramatic pause in his speech in order to light a cigar. The video, probably. Seeing the pretentiousness in full movement is a sight to behold.
Come to think of it, most MRAs and anti-feminists seem to go for that distinct cartoon villain look. I repeat: cartoon villain. If feminism is evil and stuff, why do you try your hardest to look more evil? I get that many right-wingers see the world as a terribly dystopian dog-eat-dog setting where truth is a matter of conviction, might makes right, appearances are everything, empathy is a weakness, violence and threats of violence are a justifiable solution, and, most importantly, everyone is just as rotten as you are; it’s the only way they can justify their heads being colonoscopes. Still. If you wish to convince people that you’re one of the good guys, shouldn’t you go for less Lex Luthor and more Superman?
Just kidding. That might make people expect that they help someone, and that would be misandry.
Kubrick Stare.
A black turtleneck + a fivehead makes you look 100 IQs smarter. It is fact.
One thing stock analysts can agree on: Reynolds Wrap is a strong buy.
Christ on a fucking bike. The lengths people will go to to defend fucking video games.
Kill all
mengamers.Aurini considers himself a member of the “Dark Enlightenment,” and part of that is creating this aesthetic of “cool-looking evil.” They look like clownish cartoon clods to us, but in their own minds they look totally awesome. Self-consciousness is not something they do well.
Last time I looked like that in a photo, I was told that “lol, you look like a mulester”.
Which, frankly, does not sound like a compliment.
Just not in the way you think.
@NonServiam
He’s secretly a fan of the Twilight-series of movies and he’s copying his favourite stalker there.
@Cassie’s Major Domo:
Dark Enlightenment, that’s right. Forgot about the term. Are these the same doofuses who make the arsewards-logic “argument” that sociopaths somehow have a vital part to play in society, or am I mixing them up with some other group of pompous douchebags who insist that their utter selfishness is totally beneficial to society as a whole because reasons?
Objectivists, for instance?
Very well. Here’s what happens when you fact-check and try to find any validity in the claims that journalistic integrity is being compromised by a ‘feminist agenda’:
https://storify.com/MorganRamsay/how-often-do-video-game-journalists-write-about-fe
(Spoiler: you find naff all)
Hence the Kubrick Stare. Think Hannibal Lecter or Alex DeLarge.
It’s so dorky looking, though. That’s part of what makes him hilarious, the fact that he has no idea.
These fucking guys. I wish they’d all just go the fuck away.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Homosexual_agenda
Hey, doofuses, if you want to sound credible, at least try to cargo-cult credible people instead of other conspiracy theorists.
LOL at Roosh’s little pitiful update. It undermines his entire hyperbolic vitriol and it is just one little line.
Oh yeah and the Dark Enlightenment stuff…the following quote is relevant.
Google says that they’re part of the Neoreactionary movement, so basically the exact opposite of Enlightement and the rational wiki links them to US fans of japanese-style conservative, right-wing revolutionaries as seen in many Gundam-series.
They’re trying to be Char Aznabel, basically.
I kind of like this as an album title or something.
You know a really similar thing happened to Zoe Quinn during the #gamergate harassment. In burgersandfries there was this objective (I guess you would call it) to get Quinn investigated for tax fraud. I didn’t see any real evidence except jealousy that Quinn had successfully raised money on the internet- some of it professional, some of it personal donations.
And it seems very hypocritical. I spent a few minutes browsing the AVFM Website, trying to get a sense of what kind of organization it is tax-wise. I learned that they raised about $5,500 in their last pledge drive, but it’s pretty opaque about the total amount of money it gets or how its managed.
Why is it no one’s looking at Paul Elam for the amount of beta buxx he gets, accusing him of wire fraud? Didn’t AVFM do something very similar a few months back with that alleged feminist threat at the Doubletree, where their convention was going to be held? I seem to recall there was from scaremongering in the weeks before their convention to solicit donations for “security.”
Sometimes people call you the things they are. Don’t you think?
I wonder if these idiots watch Barry Lyndon and see it as the story of a totally Alpha Dude with great game who only gets tripped up because he doesn’t have to nerve to shoot his stepson in cold-blood.
Oh what am I talking about? These idiots don’t have the patience to watch Barry Lyndon.
But then, most adults know that. Anton LaVey, whatever else was wrong with him, was in on his own joke.
That makes The Forehead, here, along with every fool who tries to sound all scary talking about the “dark enlightenment” just a bunch of nasty children at play.
Problem is that they’re tired of pulling wings off of flies and moved on to people.
Oh… I thought Aurini was too silly to do any real damage—or to be taken seriously by much of anyone, for that matter. But then, I’ve thought that about Rush Limbaugh too. (When I first heard him, I thought he was doing a parody of people who think that way.)
I hope Sarkeesian is weathering all this okay. And I hope the FBI does something about all this. It’s just sad.
LOL. He looks like a child’s idea of evil.
Sounds fishy. How does a police spokesman fail to dig deeper the first time? It’s pretty simple to access the database and find the reports.
Regardless, this whole Anita Sarkeesian is dumb. I personally dismiss anything she has to say as I believe her to be a professional victim and not an actual gamer.
But to resort to supposed criminal allegations to go after her? That kind of means to shut people up is exactly what I despise about feminism, but hell, it’s all over these days.
People can’t simply disagree – an inevitable part of daily life – without going through strenuous methods to shut people up, get them fired, wreck their lives, slander their names and reputations, ect.
You almost have to say, “Fuck it.” these days.
In Screwtape Letters, the senior devil explains that most of a tempter’s work consists not of putting ideas into people’s heads, but keeping them out.
They really overdid it with some of these people.
Also, Dark Enlightenment always makes me think of pseudointellectual Juggalos. F’ing morals, how do they work?
Well, something certainly smells, but I doubt we’d agree on the cause.
Then why the fuck are you here, leaving your aggrieved dudebro droppings?
It’s so ironic to call someone a ‘professional victim’ when she’s being chronically victimized for her profession. It’s just victim-blaming. If she remained silent—then you might have a point. But the whole point of making her the villain for talking about it, for attempting to prosecute it—is to silence her.