Over the last several days, the #GamerGate hashtag on Twitter has been speckled with self-contragulatory Tweets by Gators boasting that they have “found Anita’s harasser.”
Who, this guy?
No, not Thunderf00t, although the YouTuber’s obsession with Anita Sarkeesian is getting a little out of hand.
According to the #GamerGate Internet detective squad, Anita’s real harasser is a Brazilian “journalist” who has been spamming people who’ve posted in the hashtag with links to badly written articles on his website alleging all sorts of unsavory things about game critic Anita Sarkeesian. When one of his accounts is shut down for spamming, he starts another one and spams again.
But he doesn’t just spam: the #GamerGate detectives have also posted numerous screenshots that seem to show the spammer, using several separate accounts, Tweeting graphically violent rape and death threats aimed at Sarkeesian.
If these screenshots are real and not part of some cynical frameup, and if #GamerGaters have identified the right culprit, then, congratulations, guys, you have found one of Sarkeesian’s most active harassers.
But that’s not actually what they’re taking credit for. No, if you look at their Tweets, they claim to have found “Anita’s harasser” — singular — as if there is only one of them.
@maddoxrules We even found Anita Sarkeesian's likely harasser, yo. Of all the ironies? He's a games journo. Reported to FBI. #GamerGate
— Chríss (@Chriss_m) October 16, 2014
@themojowire In fact, we traced down Anita's and (possibly) Wu's harasser and all we got was more misogynist articles + #/StopGamerGate
— Something witty. (@codeGrit) October 16, 2014
@DrBobbyFlavor @BlackIsInYo @CBCNews
And what were Anita's own people doing while #GamerGate was tracking down her harasser?
I want to know— Supperdude9 (@Supperdude9) October 15, 2014
@femfreq That's the thanks we get for tracking down your harasser for you? You're one classy lady, Anita #GamerGate http://t.co/p8ZGjWIx3L
— bubblesort1 (@bubblesort1) October 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/GARlosengen/status/522790768272875521
There are literally dozens of tweets like these, and the ulterior motives of the tweeters could not be more transparent:
1) To deflect attention away from the massive wave of harassment that Sarkeesian has been facing ever since she first announced her “Tropes in Video Games” series.
2) To deflect attention away from the harassers in their own ranks (from senders of threatening messages to “activists” like Thunderf00t and the Sarkeesian Effect duo who seem to devote themselves full-time to tearing her down).
3) To cast doubt on the reality of the death threats that shut down Sarkeesian’s scheduled talk at Utah State University this week because, hey, it was a dude in Brazil who made the threats. (Never mind that there’s no evidence of this, and that the writing style of the Utah State threat bears no relation to the awkwardly worded articles of the Brazilian journalist, for whom English is clearly a second or third language.)
4) To make journalists, particularly games journalists, look bad, though the “journalist” in question has a lot more in common with anti-Sarkeesian rumormongers than he does with any of the games journalists targeted by the #GamerGaters
The sleazeball “journalist” in question may indeed be a harasser. But for #GamerGaters it’s clear that he’s more important as a convenient scapegoat, and an excuse for them to carry on as they have, without any real self-examination or remorse for the harassment their “movement” has inspired and enabled.
If they really want to to catch “Anita’s harassers” — plural — they might start by looking in the mirror.
Hey David, I hope you won’t mind if I post this video
One of my favourite thing about Anita Sarkeesian’s harassers is how they like to talk about all sorts of issues they have with the videos and that’s why she “deserves it”… Except the harassment started before the first damned video was even made.
Well everybody sees how much credit they give themselves and they figure it’s enough for anybody.
Come on, they found one whole harasser! Out of thousands! Isn’t that good enough for you?!
Mystery, Inc. would not be happy with the GGers. No Scooby Snacks for you guys!
But really, what has ANITA been doing about this. That’s the question. Not like she has better shit to do or anything…
They “found” just one harasser? Considering how many of them there are, that’s…underwhelming.
(And by “them”, I mean GamerGaters. Who are ALL harassers.)
So… they tracked down *a* person allegedly harassing Anita Sarkeesian and hold themselves up as paragons of virtue.
That tweet by bubblesort1 might as well be saying “Hey, can I have my fucking cookie now?” Yet the gamergaters can’t see the problems on their own side. It’s bad when it’s a Brazilian guy but fine when it’s one of their own? Would that be racism then?
I think this guy is more than a scapegoat. He is cover. He is unlikely to ever face any consequences, being that he is in Brazil and certainly did not issue the USU terrorist threat. GGers can keep on harassing, and whenever they are called on it they can pull this guy in front of them as a shield and claim he did it.
I really hope that the FBI locates the actual source of the terrorist threat, because it definitely isn’t this dude. Finding the terrorist and hauling him (or them – could be more than one) into the light of day will demonstrate GG’s tactics on this.
I feel like there’s a “going off to find yourself” joke in here somewhere.
And oh look, there’s Maddox in the mix. Why am I not surprised? Dude’s shit is so crappy, you’re ashamed that you laughed…even when you’re only laughing at HIM.
I suppose we’re meant to believe that this guy sent Anita every death threat she got, plus all the tweets condoning them, and also was all the people who attacked her for the Kickstarter and everyone in 4chan, Reddit and the chatrooms calling her a cunt and wishing for her death? Ah, and he also designed the punch Sarkeesian game. That’s one active guy.
With a typing speed of 10,000 words per minute.
The analogy keeps coming back to me: GG “found” the terrorist just like Reddit “found” the Boston Marathon bomber. In other words, they found a slightly plausible suspect and declared victory.
This just shows again how far, far, far away keyboard warriors are from real law enforcement. Playing L.A. Noire does not actually qualify someone to solve crimes.
Haven’t you heard? Anita and her army of feminists sent the rest of those threats for attention and money. The USU threat is the only real one.
/sarcasm
Yeesh. Break your arms patting yourselves on the back, why don’t you.
It’s like they created a huge tidal wave of shit, caught a little in a vial, and then declared they contained the whole shitty problem. Yes, good job dudes, you caught a tiny bit of the shitstorm you started. You are so smart.
The original death threats, which the FBI are investigating and caused her to leave her home, were sent by a twitter account called “Kevin Dobson @kvdobbsz.” Somebody — they say this Brazilian guy — was retweeting them obsessively, using a variety of names.
There’s never been any suggestion that I know off, not even from GamerGate, that this Brazilian account is the one the FBI are looking for.
It’s as if they hope everyone’s forgotten about “Kevin Dobson,” despite the fact screenshots of his tweets, complete with dozens of MS Paint red squiggles, were being posted by GG all over the place at one point, complete with explanations about how she’d sent them to herself.
It’s nice how high the harassment bar is being set when it comes to Anita, and how low the bar is set when they complain about harassment from SJWs.
They can locate more harassers really easily: just look in the mirror, guys.
Remember that being a feminist is harassing men, ever if you never interact with them in any way. Why must you provoke them by having opinions and a personality? Why can’t you just be pixxelated boobs and a helpful plot point?
Wow. That guy in Brazil must be busy, if he’s responsible for ALL the harrassment Sarkeesian receives.
I mean, when does he even sleep?
Really, them going “We found your harasser, now stop talking about it!” is dangerous. Because she doesn’t have just one harasser, and treating identifying one as the end of the problem would make her complacent.
Also, as someone else pointed out, that guy’s harassment language doesn’t match the terrorism threat sent to USU. That guy is all about the ridiculous statements in soundbite form, the threat was an articulate terrorist manifesto.
The original series of tweets — the ones that forced her to leave her home and which the FBI are investigating — were sent by a twitter account called “Kevin Dobson @kdobbsz”. These that the GamerGate people say were sent by this bloke in Brazil were re-tweets of those.
They’re not suggesting, are they, that they’ve tracked down the “Kevin Dobson” account that originated the tweets and for whom the FBI is looking?
Agreed. I’d also like to point out that this has been done with GG’s typical attention to ethics and detail, that is, none. If someone genuinely found this through investigation, the appropriate action is to notify the FBI. Don’t put up a bunch of screenshots on your Twitter feed, say, hey, this guy did something bad, here’s the number to the Brazilian equivalent to the FBI, everybody who seems this should call them. That’s just inviting another witch hunt on a sloppily chosen target.
sees*