Utah State University has just announced that Anita Sarkeesian has canceled a talk she was scheduled to give at the school tomorrow after receiving a threat of a “Montreal Massacre-style attack” by someone promising ““the deadliest school shooting in American history” if the cultural critic was allowed to speak.
Here’s the official announcement:
Anita Sarkeesian has canceled her scheduled speech for tomorrow following a discussion with Utah State University police regarding an email threat that was sent to Utah State University. During the discussion, Sarkeesian asked if weapons will be permitted at the speaking venue. Sarkeesian was informed that, in accordance with the State of Utah law regarding the carrying of firearms, if a person has a valid concealed firearm permit and is carrying a weapon, they are permitted to have it at the venue.
Emphasis added. That’s right: the school received threats from someone promising to shoot people at a public event, but because of Utah’s gun laws, authorities would not be able to prohibit audience members from BRINGING GUNS to the talk.
Before learning that this was the case, Sarkeesian — after consulting with authorities — had planned to go ahead with the talk. As a spokesman for the school told the Standard Examiner, a northern Utah newspaper:
“They determined the threat seems to be consistent with ones (Sarkeesian) has received at other places around the nation. … The threat we received is not out of the norm for (this woman).”
The email threat came from someone who claimed that “feminists have ruined my life and I will have my revenge, for my sake and the sake of all the others they’ve wronged.”
The email, sent to several campus officials and posted online by the Standard Examiner, warned:
If you do not cancel [Sarkeesian’s] talk, a Montreal Massacre style attack will be carried out against the attendees, as well as students and staff at the nearby women’s center. I have at my disposal a semi-automatic rifle, multiple pistols, and a collection of pipe bombs. This will be the deadliest school shooting in American history and I’m giving you a chance to stop it.
The email writer claimed that even if authorities manage to stop him from an attack at the event,
There are plenty of feminists on campus who won;t be able to defend themselves. One way or another, I’m going to make sure they die. …
Anita Sarkeesian is everything wrong with the feminist woman, and she is going to die screaming like the craven little whore that she is if you let her come to USU. I will write my manifesto in her spilled blood, and you will all bear witness to what feminist lies and poison have done to the men of America.
All this because she made some videos discussing sexism in fucking video games.
Here’s a screenshot of the full email, from the Standard Examiner site:
I’m speechless. What the fuck is wrong with these people?
NOTE: This is a NO TROLLS, NO MRAS, NO GAMERGATERS, NO VICTIM BLAMER thread. I will delete comments and ban people who do not respect the rules.
UPDATE: Sarkeesian has provied more details on Twitter; there were multiple threats, including one that specifically referred to GamerGate
Forced to cancel my talk at USU after receiving death threats because police wouldn't take steps to prevent concealed firearms at the event.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 15, 2014
Requested pat downs or metal detectors after mass shooting threat but because of Utah's open carry laws police wouldn’t do firearm searches.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 15, 2014
Multiple specific threats made stating intent to kill me & feminists at USU. For the record one threat did claim affiliation with #gamergate
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 15, 2014
At this point supporting #gamergate is implicitly supporting the harassment of women in the gaming industry.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 15, 2014
I’m safe. I will continue my work. I will continue speaking out. The whole game industry must stand up against the harassment of women.
— Feminist Frequency (@femfreq) October 15, 2014
Surely – SURELY a private venue like that can override the state laws for carrying concealed weapons in public? I’m from the UK but live in America, and their attitude to guns just continues to flabbergast me.
The letter is unbelievable and this time, there’s absolutely nothing that anyone can say that will lighten it up at all D: “Let’s show people feminism is the real hate group by killing anyone who dares to be part of it”. Fuck me.
Wait a second, so they can’t prevent anyone from bringing weapons to the event if they have the appropriate permit (Wow. That just makes me so proud to be an American. Not.), but they can still search people at the door and/or tighten security, right? Can’t they ask people to check their weapons in with security for the duration of the event?
Mind literally boggling right now.
@davidknewton
Utah State is not a private entity. It’s a state school, which means it’s a state actor, for legal purposes. It is bound by the state and federal conditional limits imposed on state officials and entities.
Going back to my original queries…if a person is barred from bringing a weapon to a government office, whether state or federal, then surely Utah State can request that people check their weapons and/or leave them elsewhere. I hope.
They do it because it works. Terrorism has always worked.
Since dude was threatening to shoot random women on campus if he were denied entry I don’t think that any safety measures taken in the venue itself would be helpful anyway. Cancelling even with a police presence makes sense, but is so fucking unfair.
And if they *don’t* catch him, he now knows how to stop anything from happening. Talk about campus rape? Gonna shoot everyone I see! Talk about having a women’s reading group? Gonna pipebomb the library! I hope they catch him immediately and he is locked away forever. On Ferdinandea.
At this point, I think she could actually get shot by an ideological opponent and there’d still be people claiming that she was just doing it for attention and probably faking all the threats. And that thought makes me really, really sad.
Well this is just a big ol’ stinking pile of totally fucked up.
State schools in Kansas colleges (at least, the two I’ve been to) have placards on the door stating that they’re exempt from the state’s open carry ordinance. No Guns Allowed, period. I can’t believe Utah doesn’t have a law to that effect.
Sarkeesian continues to be my hero. I would have folded and moved to the Arctic years ago. Wish we had a hundred just like her.
Reblogged this on J. B. Garner – Musings of a Starving Author and commented:
Holy crap, what the hell is wrong with these people?
Don’t just read this and nod and mumble about how horrible it is. Reblog it, spread it, Tweet it. Expose this vile behavior for the cowardice and ignorance it is!
I suspect that the school was under a lot of pressure to cancel too. It’s way easier to cancel an event than it is to explain why you didn’t cancel and now a dozen people are dead. Every threat must be taken seriously. Now if only twitter would realize that.
The absolute insanity of it all.
The only way to fight back is to spread this sort of thing everywhere. Show the people who don’t understand and don’t pay attention to this normally what kind of insanity and terrorism these type of people spew.
It’s easy to see that they’ve been consistent when “Integrity”, to them, means not saying things about video games that make them uncomfortable (all else is “agenda” and “corruption”)
For those pondering the gun laws, Utah’s state legislature overrode the University’s ability to regulate guns on campus except in very limited circumstances. Students can request a gun free roommate, but there can’t even be a gun free dorm. People with concealed carry permits can carry basically wherever, whenever per state law. So in this case, the University’s hands really are tied.
It makes me so depressed when terrorism works. I can not begin to state how much I hope this shitstain gets caught.
This is terrible, absolutely terrible. In addition to all the other things mentioned thus far by everyone else, because the police were unable to act to ban guns at the event or search people etc, cancelling the event basically sends the message that if you don’t like something then all you need to do is something like this to stop it.
Awful, just awful. URGH.
I’m also seeing more and more commentary from the GG assbags that they will burn gaming to the ground rather than “lose”. With this extreme incident it is increasingly worrying me that gaming will become very rapidly a taboo hobby and industry. The income for big name studios comes primarily from the casual gamer, the COD gamers, the parents buying for their kids… the very small minority that’s causing all this kerfuffle and awfulness cannot sustain the industry on their own, and if they make it a hobby that’s equated with domestic terrorism and hate groups then it will collapse.
They very much are beginning to display the attitude of “If we can’t control it, then no one can have it”.
Urgh. URGH. I’m reduced to just making Tina noises at this point.
I would be really surprised if they didn’t take this threat incredibly seriously. I can’t imagine feeling very safe as a woman on that campus right now regardless of the event being cancelled.
Margret Atwood’s quote: “men are afraid women will laugh at them; women are afraid men will kill them” seems an appropriate way to frame this.
Despicable. How could the university not just forbid firearms at their private event, especially with a publically known death threat.
And how the fuck does a student at the university have his life ruined by feminism? I know this is pretty minor compared to everything else, but at most he’s in his 20s. How does that even work?
Holy fuck. Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.
What will it take for these people to realize that enough is fucking ENOUGH? What argument will convince them that hey, they are on the wrong side, that they have become worse than the perceived monster?
Nothing will.
I don’t think Gamergate/Gamerghazi will ever end because a handful of people are so dogged in their assault on anything or anybody related to Zoe Quinn or Anita Sarkeesian that they simply will not stop. Somebody out there is probably chuckling to himself, maybe gloating over it with their friends, that they single-handedly stopped Anita from speaking at a university. They might know the implications of what they’ve done, and they don’t care. They will not stop, so long as they have the means to create burner email and Twitter and social accounts.
And look at the KotakuInAction thread that Cloudiah linked to. There’s a chucklehead there saying, and I quote, “Except that anti-GG people do doxx people and unlike pro-gg, we seldom see anti-gg telling doxxers to fuck off like pro-gg does” and then gives a picture link and some more text. Yeah, there might be a few people being doxxed by people against Gamergate, but it’s directed against people who are disrupting lives–and you can call me out for this real or imagined hypocrisy.
I will wish one thing against these self-created monsters: that they gain the hindsight and maturity to realize that they were doing wrong, and that the shame of this will plague them through the rest of their lives.
Sarkeesian has provided more info on Twitter; I pasted her tweets into the post. She’s safe. She also notes that there were *multiple* death threats, including one referencing GamerGate.
I’m sure if the trolls were allowed they’d be quick to assure us this trouser stain represents neither MRAs or gamergate.
Yet, the obsession with Anita Sarkeesian is all gamergate and much of the language he uses is identical to what MRAS say. Especially “misandrist harpy”
He’s one of yours, assholes. Feel shame.
This has got to stop. This kind of behavior is completely and utterly reprehensible. I’m so glad that Illinois isn’t an open-carry state.
There’s a #stopgamergate2014 tag trending on twitter and it’s full of awesome and gold. Sure a few gaters are in there too, but for the most part people tweeting to it are really, REALLY fed up.
Wow, this is so horrible. Plus, am going to have to add Utah as a definite ‘never visit’ state.