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.
There still needs to be a Cheeto-dust fart in here somewhere for this to be truly authentic.
I saw a gamergater on twitter today genuinely calling a low review for a game he liked “corruption”. It was… I’m not even sure. I felt a mixture of disbelief and embarrassment for him. And he is the second or third one I have seen calling review scores he didn’t like “corruption” in journalism.
So really, when they say they are against “corruption”, what they really mean is they are against anyone who doesn’t hold their opinions. I’d like to say that I’m exaggerating here, but somehow no.
It seems like this nonsense is finally starting to peter out, though. I hope so, anyway. In another few weeks, GamerGaters will delete their anonymous Twitter sock accounts and when anyone brings up GamerGate they’ll say “Oh no, I was never involved in that. That was probably just a feminist false flag.”
Quick! They’re on to us, toss them the foreign guy with the funny name!
There are indeed some well-intentioned dudes who are entirely ignorant to the origins of GG, and who think it’s a potentially good cause hijacked by a few misogynists. These are guys that clearly haven’t been paying attention. I just talked to one who, fortunately, eventually admitted he fucked up.
Thing is, some individual Gaters’ ostensibly good intentions don’t matter, because the movement was founded on misogyny and is fueled by an aggrieved, misogynistic mob. ALL Gaters are part of the problem, whether they intend to be or not. That also goes for people who implicitly condone GG with their silence (those who are in a position to safely speak out, that is).
I’m just wary because the “well-intentioned” people I saw until now were just saying they’re interested in “corruption” while defining “corruption” as “wah SJWs want to take away my vidya gaemz”.
Inform them that Sperlunking is a fine hobby, but that’s it’s also advisable to return to the surface from time to time for food and air!
A+ detective work, guys. You found one whole person.
Next they’ll be complaining about the FBI not showering them with job offers for their sterling detective work.
“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.”
Disagree. Sure, the true believers I’ve met are less vicious in their harassment, preferring “You’re a stupid/brainwashed liberal/Feminazi” to the usual rape and death threats, but they still harass, and they still do jack-shit nothing to counter non-imaginary corruption. There are as many truly innocent #Gits as there are truly innocent Tea Partiers.
I’m wary of the so called good people that got taken in too. The evidence that the movement is about misogyny and harassment has been there from the start. People who opposed the harassment have been pushing back from the start. Anyone who is aware that gamergate exists, has to be aware of the counterpoint. Also, presenting these people with the evidence tends to make little difference. Everything is out of context, or not a gamergater, or not representative of gamergaters, etc.
Reblogged this on World of Values and commented:
The GamerGate saga is stupid and reactionary.
Yeah… they all believe in their cause. Because very few people in the world do bad things just to be bad. They are the good guys in their narrative. They are always, and have always been, 100% right about everything and that’s why no self evaluation is ever necessary. People saying things about video games that aren’t first approved by GamerGaters? Those are the real bullies. They need to be stopped. GamerGaters are heroes for threatening women into silence. They didn’t harass those men and women and their families and employers to be jerks. They did it because they had to for freedom!
You just made me think of one of my favourite Simpsons quotes. “Now, Marge, just remember. If something goes wrong at the plant, blame the guy who can’t speak English. Ah, Tibor, how many times have you saved my butt?”
Other Simpsons quotes/references I think of when I think of GamerGate:
Not racist, but #1 with racists!
On them offering to deprogram people from the “cult” of modern feminism and cultural Marxism:
“Apparently the people she hired to deprogram her sister from that cult were an even worse cult.”
“by daring to hold video games to the same standards as the rest of culture.”
THIS. I so do not get this. WTF is wrong with trying to criticise or critique games? Really? You can’t even handle the smallest basis of criticism for a medium you insist should be taken seriously? What do you think happens to mediums who *don’t* expect to be taken seriously, do they somehow warrant less criticism? Or maybe mediums taken very seriously warrant less criticism? The mental gymnastics behind the demands of GGs are ridiculous enough that I can’t take any of them seriously as #NotAllGamers. If you genuinely believe in GG as a cause, you’re NOT avoiding buying in to the culture of hatred, you’re perpetuating it, on the simple fucking mental gymnastics you have to perform in order to think of GG in a positive light while still believing you’re not being a misogynistic asshole.
If people here (for instance) started threatening, harassing or doxing MRAs, I would a) strongly speak out against that, and b) stop hanging out here.
I hold other people to the same standard–if your associates are doing horrible things, stop them or stop associating with them.
It’s not a high standard.
“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?”
YAY! My daily act of misandry!
bogdan
Well those upright, honest and admirable, maybe misguided, people have the same freedom as everyone else to start up another hashtag. They could then use that # to pursue their non-harassing, totally legitimate objective and shout down any misogynist harasser who tries to take over their project with the offensive stuff.
Come on. This is internet 101 stuff.
As a ‘villain’, the GGs scapegoat could have come straight from central casting.
“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”
There are always people who genuinely believe in the cause of a hate group and totally don’t think they aren’t awful people.
Unfortunately, they still actively support a hate group. If they wish to distance themselves from that, they need to distance themselves from the hate group.
So no, there is no unfair/untrue accusation. If you support a group that is mainly about harassing women out of the industry, then frankly, your other ~reasons~ don’t matter jack.
So we’re just supposed to forget how they spent days claiming that she was “faking” it, that “a feminist” did it, and that “David Futrelle” did it? We’re supposed to just forget all the times they say she “deserves” this? We’re supposed to just forget all of the other people who are also harassing her.
Stay classy, GG.
I was watching Batman vs Dracula (a Halloween classic!), and I rolled my eyes a bit at the use of some reeeally over used tropes, especially this one:
tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheCorpseStopsHere (not sure if this will avoid funky linking)
The GGers are still using TV logic. Give them ‘the harrasser’, and everyone will totes believe it! Media and the average joe will totally let it go now, amirite?
Do they not get that it’s hard enough to suspend disbelief for a movie, never mind real life?
Some GG supporters have also been doxxed, harassed, and threatened, in at least one case to the point that he also had to leave his home. And I spoke up for him when that happened (he showed the evidence, too, the same way Zoe, Anita, Brianna, and others have). I spoke up for him and other pro-GG’ers facing this for the same reason I speak up for the anti-GG’ers getting it. Because it’s wrong, no matter who does it and no matter who the victim is. But that’s also why I support #StopGamerGate2014.
I’m not so much suspicious of the “true believers in the cause of fighting against corruption” as I am disheartened that they would rather defend the GG movement rather than risk speaking out against their own. GG is toxic, even to those who believe in it, as I have seen proven for myself. GG started as a misogynistic campaign to shut down women who play video games, and the true believers have either been ignorant of that or simply don’t care. It’s a lot like how moderate religious people tend to not speak up against the fanatics of their own.
“Of course I know that Catholic priests are abusing children, but I’m Catholic, and they’re repenting, so isn’t that enough?”
No. No it’s not. You need to actually come out and… yes… alienate the fanatics in your own group.
Some are generally good people. My interactions with GG’ers have largely, in fact, been positive, with constructive discussions and so on, and no one’s doxxed (although that’d be easy as I tend to not be anonymous online), harassed, or threatened me (well hello my white male privilege!). But the toxic misogyny surrounding the whole thing is so obvious and so thick that I tend to lose patience even with the ones who truly want to fight against corruption in gaming journalism, because they’ve fallen for it while refusing to acknowledge that they’ve fallen for it. And no, I don’t feel bad for them, or pity them, because they’ve allowed this to go on quite willfully.
I think standing up for corruption is a great thing. But GamerGate doesn’t even come close to being the right way to do that, especially considering where it started.
That they’ve zeroed in a non-white gaming journalist from Brazil does not surprise me at all. And you know… yeah, I’m sure he has been harassing Anita. That they’ve reported one of them is actually a good thing! But this simply isn’t enough. They have to go further. It should be obvious that this guy is NOT the one who sent the terrorist message to the college. Maybe they should be trying to find out who that was. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the writer really is a student of the college.
Their #notyourshield tag was definately made for this one guy in Brazil.
@puddleglum:
I also think Wrong Genre Savvy applies. 🙂
You know, Nathan, I’m so glad you’ve had such great conversations with them. I’ve been called a feminist wh*re, told I was everything wrong with gaming and generally treated like shit by generally the most benign of them, so I have a hard time buying a lot of the excuses put forth.
Honestly? I don’t think they should be trying to find anyone because I don’t think they REALLY want to find the people whose harassment has actually caused damage, so they single out a latino man who retweeted a bunch of bile put forth by someone who is likely white and American. These are not the type of people who should be anywhere near an investigation. We’ll run out of bubble pipes and Sherlock hats.
It’s good that you recognize your privilege here, but you need to take the next step.
If you recognize that the only reason you are able to have these positive interactions is your white maleness, you need to recognize that these are not “good people.” A good person would be capable of having the same caliber of interaction with a woman. You understand that this is not the case.
Because I am white, I am able to have perfectly civil conversations with racists. That doesn’t make the racists good people. It makes them terrible people who have carved out an exception in their terribleness for people who look like me. Your “good people” GGers are the same. The fact that they are not terrible to you does not change their overall terribleness.