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.
Since Anita sends all those threats to herself, I guess today we discovered she’s actually Brazilian.
Hey, everybody knows that taking out Osama Bin Laden stopped all terrorism forever, right?
From the reddit link in one of the tweets:
This is no different than the #NotYourShield graphic they posted a ways back (still don’t understand what that hashtag is supposed to mean. Shield for what?). The 4chan hordes are not all white and male, so it’s perfectly easy to find some actual non-white-males to pose in front of a camera, thinking that it means anything. Similarly, they could hunt down and uncover and actual harasser that was actually not affiliated with GG and it still doesn’t offset any of the harassment they produce.
GG is turning into one big gaslighting movement.
They should be proud they made it to the NYTimes, and suddenly they are worried about their image.
@Bina:
The guy’s a libertarian man-child like Trey Parker and Matt Stone, an oh-so-contrarian shithead whose work involves punching down as much as possible – like any bully.
@thebewilderness: if they worried about having factual and measured content, then there would be no image issues.
That’s only going to work if the harassment actually stops. Let’s see if Gaters put some effort to it.
If they’re such a diverse movement, it should be easy to find some Brazilian gamers in their midst so they can coordinate something and, at least, get the Polícia Federal to investigate the matter.
The real question is, do we want to?
Don’t be silly, Hyatt! Everyone knows that terrorist manifesto was just a false-flag feminist operation to make them look bad! It doesn’t count as REAL harassment!
How desperate they must have been, when the shit was hitting the fan all over the place, to find someone suitably not American – hey, he might even be BROWN! I am actually amazed that it turned out to be a man at all. And we are ingrates for not believing that AS has been ‘saved’ by the noble GG’s, so ready to right the wrongs!
I managed to have a civilised discussion with a youtuber, but even he was maintaining that AS is making most of it up and embracing victim status. I do not know her, but I bet she is hating being victimised and is probably pretty angry right now. But at least she knows that she must be doing something right to get these fuckwits so worked up!
Maybe they mean “the one harasser that has no connection with gamergate whatsoever” so they can pretend they’re not the same thing?
Still I thought these trolls were stupid and arrogant but at least tech savvy and all, they should be able to google and find more than one misogynist that doesn’t care about their sacred videogames.
Anyway, I’m glad most media are not buying any of their BS.
Actually I am thinking some of the #GG group are desperate. After #StopGamerGate2014 went big some of them held a drive for a charity against bullying (shades of The Fappening). This fits the same timing. So now they can claim they found a harasser or two and that’s it and people will forget about it.
Of course as it’s pretty easy to find plenty of people obsessed with Sarkesian it’s not too hard to speculate on any number of harassers. And if she keeps getting threats?
Well then they’ll say it’s a conspiracy and it’s all being faked. Or it’s not them. Or . . .
Everyone who thinks #GG is about Journalistic integrity is a #HarassmentShield.
I’m ashamed to admit that I used to like Thunderf00t, back when his channel used to purely be about the science that could be verified. Then he started painting with a broad brush Muslims, which was when I unsubscribed, and now it seems he’s moved on to feminists.
The gamergaters want Anita Sarkeesian to thank them :O Lol forever to that.
“Hey! Look over there!” all the #Gits collectively say, pointing to some random jerk in Brazil who conveniently happens to be Not White. Then they pat themselves on the back for being so clever and go back to harassing Anita as if they think we’re all stupid enough to fall for their failed attempt at misdirection. They tried to cover their collective ass and failed yet again. Smells of desperation, if you ask me. No wonder the media (outside of Breitbart, of course) won’t take them seriously.
Oh, and they’re claiming they’ve Saved The Sarkeesian? Sounds suspiciously like “white knighting” to me, and by MRAs (some deep in denial) no less…
That’s unfair and untrue Bina. It is true that a lot of Gaters are harassers but there are Gaters who genuinely believe in their cause, as misguided as they may be.
Well, that solves that, then! Now that they’ve found Anita Sarkeesian’s harasser, all the death threats, abusive comments, and horrible tweets will stop, and we can all go home and have a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.
On a side note, the kid in the photo reminds me of “Conservative Jones, Boy Detective”.
I wish I could say you were right, but the truth is, harassment IS their cause. If it were actually about journalistic integrity, they’d be going after actual, demonstrably corrupt journalists. Instead, their targets have been five women: two game developers, two journos with NO history of corruption, and one media critic, also not bought off. If they genuinely believe in their cause, they either have no idea what it really is, or they are just dyed-in-the-wool misogynists.
(I forgot to add that the two game developers also have no proven history of buying any journos off, with sex or otherwise.)
I think more of them are harassers than they’re willing to admit. The thing is, they don’t consider it harassment.
Like this response from the designer of Bayonetta, a game they support (and so someone they presume to be on their side). It sounds like he’s blocking the tag because he’s been messaged so much, and probably by pro-GG people. I’d consider spamming people to get their opinion on an issue they’ve never talked about before a form of harassment, but that seems to be part of their campaign.
“Gamerghazi-ans pick scapegoat to minimize the fact that they are a hate group targeting women with any and all connection with the videogame industry. There, Gamerghazi bros. I fixed it for ya.
If I wasn’t so afraid of harassment, and if this were less than 140 characters, I would totally tweet this.
So… you found her harasser? The only one? Man, he’s a busy guy. Oh, wait, he’s not the only one, is he?
I guess you have some more work to do, detectives!
WOMEN!! We take valuable time off from our important gamer responsibilities to LET you out of the house to go shop for our SANDWICH materials every third day! And in our spare, non-gaming time, we have also come up with this one sort of scapegoat or something. WHY AREN’T YOU HAPPY AND CASTING OFF THE SHACKLES OF FEMISM NOW
After two years of harassment that has escalated to death threats absolutely no one is going to believe the excuse gameratzis are giving to justify their terrorist threats.
Hmm, if you’re only eating every third day, I think that eventually you’ll be light-headed enough for me to knock you out and steal your gaming equipment…
Their cause is anti-feminism. Seriously, even the sincere Gaters think that it’s feminists who are “corrupting” the video game industry by daring to hold video games to the same standards as the rest of culture.