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.
So, insecurity? And if the Other/Lesser fails to assuage the in group’s feefees, there’s gonbe Hell to pay?
Meh, a bit anticlimactic, but makes sense.
Thanks, kittehserf!
When he said it was “debateable” [sic] if I was a man, I took it to mean one of two things:
1) He thinks I am lying about my gender in order to make it appear that there are men on this website, when of course there aren’t because men don’t support feminism, like duh.
2) He thinks I am less than a man because real men don’t support feminism or think women are human beings, like duh.
If he met me in person he would probably think I was less than a man because I don’t like football, have a cat, and can dance.
Whatever the reason, he’s a racist homophobic right-wing idiot, four vile flavors that always seem to go together.
Yep. It’s a weird and unsavoury mix. Wouldn’t want to meet him in person.
But on line he is funny! It was like he was being more Steven Colbert than Steven Colbert, even if less urbanely.
High five for being a cat person AND not liking football! (I can’t dance for quids, but eh.)
Actually, the only place in my life where I feel prejudice directed against me as a man comes from other men when it regards football. MISANDRY!
Hah, Sean, what a character. Comes in to rile up all the mean girls only to be outsmarted by them immediately. I haven’t read the rest of the comments yet so I’m wondering how many more times this asshole can repeat “deep down you knowwwww!” like its a magic mantra that will just work if he says it enough times. Deep down, where? I know it is said that all men think with their dicks but I don’t think its true and besides its a pretty male-centric saying.
That “deep down you know!” is one of the most desperate arguing ploys. It means you have no evidence, so can only rely on claiming that your opponent is secretly in agreement with you. It also shows someone who has so sold themselves on their own BS that they cannot understand that anybody could disagree with them. Sean told himself so many times that “Anita Sarkeesian lied!” that even when it’s shown in broad daylight as untrue (cripes, even Jordan Owen gave in on that!) he still holds onto the falsehood and screams in spittle-flecked fury at his opponents: “No…. YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
Ugh what a golden troll. Truly something to behold.
I have to say as someone who didn’t finish high school for various reasons, it is no excuse to be a clueless asshole. Especially when you clearly have access to the internet and loads of free time! Even if he somehow quit school before he was legally allowed to he should have learned something about reality by now.
Deep down I knooowwwww
1. It’s time for a cup of tea.
2. The Furrinati rule, now and forever, amen.
3. Mr K.
4. Chocolate.
5. Does there need to be a five?
I just had a weird thought. Imagine the UK and British-influenced countries like Australia, NZ, the Western part of Canada, etc. without tea. Like, imagine the Brits had never encountered tea in the first place. What would we do when we’re stressed/bored/just feel like doing something comforting and familiar? Like, completely remove that beverage and every ritual associated with it. Would you even recognize your own culture any more?
And yet, tea in those countries is a product of colonialism, not something homegrown at all.
5. is Hail Bootsy!
Deep down I know that our trolls really are just as pathetic as they secretly fear that they might be. The thing is, so do they.
And now they know that we know too.
Also..no tea ? really ? How can you even imagine the lack of tea ?!
*hugs her tea, and carries it with her constantly so no-one steals is now*
And then I grew up and married a guy who’s Asian. Put us together with other couples and we’re all, there are people who don’t have any tea in the house? How would that even work?
The phrase in Scotland is Tea Jenny. Never heard anyone but my parents and my doctor use it, but yes, wonderful phrase.
Also, I just saw the latest Come Dancing preview. Greg Wallace and Tim Wannacot in the same show ?
NOOOOOOOOOOOO
Also, what default line would all those TV police have for traumatised crime witnesses if they couldn’t say “Constable, go make a cup of tea.”?
Well, some people are coffee addicts. I shared a house with one, who knew I was as addicted to tea as he was to coffee. When he went to make a mug of coffee, he’d look at me and as ‘Rhetorical question?, and I’d hand him the empty mug I had saying Symbolic Answer. Of course them he’s stir my tea wth a coffee-tasting teaspoon, and we’d argue about whether he was doing me a favour or not.
“Constable, go make a mug of Horlicks”? No, not the same at all.
Would be hard I reckon. Scandinavia is a coffee culture (and I’m a product of it, tea makes me queasy) and their crime shows usually solve this through awkward silence.
What kind of coffee do people drink in Scandinavia? French style? Arab style? Italian style?
gilshalos, OT but did you see the pic I posted for you here?
Aitch, awkward silences seems about right. Granted I’ve only watched Unit One and the English remake of Wallander, but oy, grim, grim, grim*.
I like coffee too, and am more likely to drink it when I’m out. It’s easier to get right than tea, imo.
* the third brother that left before they got famous
Bit of everything these days, Italian-style drinks are common in cafes, and filter machines and espresso machines in offices. Quite a few people drink it without milk or sugar. I think Finland consumes the most coffee beans in the world, followed by Norway.
The traditional way is to boil ground coffee in a pot, but the grounds wouldn’t be as finely ground as Arab/Turkish coffee. No idea how that tastes tbh, and that’s dying out unless you’re in nature with no access to city equipment: at my parents’ house it was usually French-style press coffee, or just instant.
Ah! That’s a question I’m qualified to answer.
“You there, I’m in a hurry, get me a cup of your stuff right quick because the train is leaving in three minutes and I need my coffee now? Do I want a what? A grande what-now? Just give me whatever has caffiene in it!”-style.
Less glib, it seems there’s a preponderance of filter coffee. Normal cup of coffee – black, through a basic filter, somewhat hot, no frills, no sugar, no cardamon, no bloody nothing. It’s a mite boring. Free refills at most places though (because it’s people’s homes, see)
I noticed a recent trend of Starbucks and Barresso – the local Danish equivalent – offering slightly more advanced combinations (actual bloody espresso, cafe au lait, someone once offered to actually add syrup to mine and I was in shock for days)
Despite the sheer variety of coffee styles, it seems most Danes I know graviate naturally towards just having a plain cup of boiled water filtered through ground coffee beans. Then sometimes if they want to get exciting they add milk. If you opt for sugar, you’re being risque and practically scandalous.
Denmark is a coffee culture in the same way that it’s a beer culture – it doesn’t matter so much what’s in it, just that you have at least four.
Great, now I miss arabic style coffee.