There’s a lot of really good stuff about the whole #GamerGate fiasco on Twitter. Here are several excellent collections of Tweets that have helpfully been put into Storify form for easy reading.
The He-Man #gamergate-rs Club. A collection of Tweets from @a_man_in_black showing that #GamerGate just the latest, if the most virulent, “outburst of a larger misogynist movement going back years.” He looks at the sordid histories of a number of current #GamerGaters and finds that many have been involved in misogynistic and transphobic harassment for years.
The most startling discovery: The creator of the “Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian” game you may recall from two years ago … well, he still hates Sarkeesian, only now he’s a #GamerGater who pretends that he’s against harassment.
#gamergate doesn't tolerate harassment, says the creator of Beat Up Anita Sarkeesian. https://t.co/wz3W7LZg4g
— Jay Allen (@a_man_in_black) October 18, 2014
Click on that Tweet to see more from @a_man_in_black on Bendilin.
For still more on the background of some of the worst in the #GamerGate movement, check out The Bad Apples of #GamerGate on Medium. Also essential reading. You’ll notice some familiar names on the list.
@EffNOVideoGames has put together an amazing account of the origins of #GamerGate, poiting out that the “movement” has always been about spin. Deftly rebuts the notion that #GamerGate is about “ethics,” and provides numerous screenshots offering clear proof of the misogyny that’s been there from the start.
Oh, and if you want to see how serious #GamerGaters are about actually fighting harassment in their movement — which always seems to be the fault of a few “bad apples” — check out what happened when @ShadowTodd asked them to show their sincerity by donating money to help the women who’ve been harassed by these “bad apples.” SPOILER ALERT: What happened was a lot of victim blaming and “false flag”-crying and not one penny donated — even when Todd suggested that even if they hated Anita and Zoe and the rest, donating money to then would at least make them look less like the unrepentant woman-haters they are.
There was literally no downside. The only way it would hurt your cause is if your cause was actually… to hurt female VG critics…. OH GOD
— Todd in the Shadows (@ShadowTodd) October 17, 2014
Another chilling read: “There is no Virtue Without Terror” On the Ethical Landscape of GamerGate by Katherine Cross (@Quinnae_Moon on Twitter), a researcher of online harassment who has drawn the ire of the #GamerGate crowd.
She reflects on the decidedly mixed performance of the media in all of this, and a bit on her thoughts what it means for her as an academic studying gender, in another set of Storified Tweets, Katherine Cross on the effects of GamerGate.
If you’re on Twitter, and trying to keep up with #GamerGate, I’d highly recommend following @a_man_in_black, @EffNOVideoGames, and @Quinnae_Moon, as well as the excellent @srhbutts.
And of course you need to follow @TheQuinnspiracy (that is, Zoe Quinn) and her dude @alexlifschitz.
H/T — @lawblob for the pic at the top.
@ktrantingredhead – a good start is to prove the profile pic they’re using is a stock photo or FB pic (use GIS). That really puts the lie to the liar
But #ggers say that all the time, too. “You don’t know we’re socks! #notyourshield” *posts blurry-ass mosaic of pics*
I conducted a little twitter experiment of my own….and was shown a collage of “notyourshield” people and told that most women are on the side of gamer gate. Then I was told that real GamerGaters would gladly support me and help report my harassers but that I’m obviously a stupid, feminazi, propagandist….sooooooo harassers are going to help report other harassers? Fuckingfuckballshitgoddamnmotherfuckertitscuntasspenisfaceshitbag…..this kind of idiocy makes me mad….I should laugh at it, but I can’t…I would laugh if it were truly harmless, but it’s being shown to be dangerous.
-utters more obscenities-
@ktrantingredhead
Keep in mind that many of them operate under the assumption of the feminist movement to be literally made of Nazis who’re out to silence and kill all white heterosexual american men in the long run. And that feminists worship any person who doesn’t conform to that identity and truly and honestly believe that anyone non-white, non-male person can do no wrong.
“AVFM is in full recruitment mode like leeches on this GG shit..there website has a “welcome new folks” article that literally looks like a Disneyland ad..Paul Elam has scrubbed his name ..far as I can see.. from anyplace on AVFM that would indicate he’s is any sort of leadership position..”
I don’t get it–why would Paul Elam be a turn-off to gators?
Yes….because of all the genocide that’s ever happened in the world, white, Christian, cis males have certainly been victimized the most. XD
These are the kinds of people who probably think the biggest travesty of slavery was that so many slave masters lost money after the Civil War.
Standard #notyourshield exchange:
Prima: Your movement’s death threats against women in the industry is appalling and you should be ashamed of yourselves.
Secunda: @prima As a black queer transgender autistic Wiccan single mother, I support #gamergate and am #notyourshield.
I’m a woman and a person of color, and I once drank the right-wing, libertarian kool-aid as an impressionable young person. (Not precisely the same thing as gamergate, but a close enough example.) One of the things that right-wingers love to do is to accuse leftists and social liberals of not thinking for themselves. You’re an independent thinker, right? Do you like making your own decisions or having them made for you? I mean, this sort of thing is very appealing to an adolescent who is trying to forge their own identity. Unfortunately for them, my own personal experience with the pitfalls of sexism and racism, as well as further reading and thinking on my part, led me to change my mind.
One of the things that I have found to be very good about gamergate is that it has given me a very handy list of people I can block as being not worthy of my time. The other night I was going through the hashtag and I found an account from someone who had just tweeted a drawing he had made of an African-American woman. He posted it with the note to say “this is something I just made and it’s #notyourshield, so feel free to grab it and use it as an avatar!” Yeah, I think it’s safe to say that #notyourshield is bullshit.
Ah, you’re a woman of color. I read what you wrote. Now I’m an expert in the experiences of women of color and am totally qualified to speak on your behalf…..because “all my ______ friends…..”
That’s probably what’s most insulting. It’s a formula they’re following.
Step 1: Do something horrible.
Step 2: Get an unsurprisingly horrible response
Step 3: Get someone who belongs to the group we’re insulting to be on our side.
Step 4: WIN
It’s why FOX News does their best to hire black anchors that don’t care about racism, atheists who don’t like the separation of church and state, and women who hate birth control…..and they think no one notices?! Like…..they think people believe this shit? It’s like when a kid closes their own eyes then says, “YOU CAN’T SEE ME!”
“As a female”
Said no female ever
So they’re basically using women and POC as human shields. The irony.
Yeah, basically the gamergater’s (or right-winger’s, or what-have-you) perception of identity politics. They have the African-American friend, or the female friend, who laughs at their racist/sexist jokes and that gives them a pass. And the friend, whether or not he or she exists, is seen as an independent thinker who doesn’t follow the crowd. Beautiful, isn’t it?
You know, the only real “shields” in this debacle are the supposedly “reasonable” GamerGaters who hate harassment and only care about journalistic integrity. Maybe they should take up the #notyourshield tag against GamerGate.
Of course, that would require them to not actually be full of shit.
Breaking news:
https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal/status/523564495395115008
Yep. There’s also this:
Activist: We should listen to women/poc/lgbtqia people about their experiences!
Gamergater: I know a black person who is a gamergater therefore racism isn’t a problem in games because black people can never be wrong due to your own logic CHECKMATE SJW SHITLORD!!!
Also, this (read the whole thread, it’s sickening).
…Ceiling Cat! It all makes sense now! They don’t want to help women for PR because they hate women!
Not that any of them will admit it, of course. They’d just be happy to sweep this failed fundraiser under the rug.
@Sarah
What is the context of that tweet?
For the one from Brianna Wu, she’s trying to get an interview with a radio station and gamergaters are trying to derail the interview. The second one from Zoe Quinn is a discussion of a credible threat.
Let’s total up the ironies as we find them:
1. Maker of punch-Anita game says he’s against harassment, even though his widdle game is totally an exercise in harassment.
2. Women and non-whites are #notyourshield…except when they’re totally a shield for GamerGomers, who are mostly white and male.
3. Feminists are really, truly Nazis, out to stifle gamers’ free speech and their “art” games. Which are predominantly violent shooter-ups with a side order of beat-up-and-kill-women.
4. Feminists are really, truly Nazis, out to stifle white cis het men. Um, do these guys even realize who led the REAL Nazi party? It was nobody BUT white cis het men.
5. Oh yeah, and the REAL Nazis…HATED FEMINISM. They hated it because it challenged all the notions of who were the “natural ruling class” of the world. So much so that they had to put out their own parallel “women’s movement” to convince German ladies that their true place was in the kitchen, the church and the nursery, out of the hard, hard business of men-ruling-the world, producing as many babies as possible and not worrying their pretty little heads about silly things like equality, human rights, politics, and the like. Sound familiar?
I’m sure there are more, so please feel free to add to this list!
Bina: I have a BUNCH of IOKIYAGG (It’s Okay If You’re A GamerGater, a play on the old IOKIYAR concept) contradictions. The two most glaring ones are:
1. Claiming SJWs/feminists are using shame and scolding as tools to silence those they disagree with and stifle free speech. From a group that counts among its main “victories” bullying an advertiser into withdrawing from a site that published an article mildly critical of gamers from a freelance writer.
2. Claiming that they “just want to play games and leave the politics out of everything!”. When anybody reading /gg/ for five minutes, or willing to waste the time arguing with the Tweeters ’til they show their true colours, can see the Neoreactionary/dark enlightenment SJW-hating is the primary driving force behind the entire thing, and the journalism stuff is the self-serving window dressing used to recruit useful idiots for cover. Being opposed to expression of certain political positions *IS* taking a political position, not “neutrality”.
Ye gods, that Katherine Cross Storify is terrifying. If you’re invoking Robespierre’s ideals to try and justify your cause THAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU THE GOOD GUYS. Also disgusted but not surprised that GaymerX-ers are being stalked. Bigotry is bigotry is bigotry. :/
3. “We only care about journalistic ethics!” “Yeah, I stopped reading IGN’s reviews when it came out that they take bribes for high scores a few years ago.” “*blank stare*… ZOE QUINN!”
4. Disagree entirely with the #GG hivemind? Brainwashed sheep of the liberal Feminazi media! Agree mostly but not entirely with the #GG hivemind? Brainwashed sheep of the liberal Feminazi media! Agree entirely with the #GG hivemind? Unique free-thinker! (I know that I keep comparing #GG to the Tea Party, and that comparison holds true here, but they also kind of seem like a cult at this point…)
Which is ironic, because GamerGate actually does contain literal Nazis.
@David: I am now following all the accounts you linked.
Quoth Hideki Kamiya (Bayonetta) to the #Gits:
I now officially love this guy.
Surely they got that idea from the US Republicans and their highly tokenist failed party rebranding effort aimed toward millennials and women. Like, they found one hipster and a few pliable wives. So what. Tokenism is an old and honored tradition on the American Right. Same old same old. “Some of my best friends are…” (and this time I even invented ’em, so there, gotcha SJWs!!!)
I remember seeing a real “FemiNazi” flag in an anime somewhere. It was the Nazi flag with the Chinese character for “woman” replacing the swastika. Which got me thinking: if there really are Valerie Solanas-style “FemiNazis”, some of them surely are also Anti-Japaneseists, Japanese people who are bigoted against Japanese people and want to destroy Japan for its World War II war crimes, a kind of left-wing extremist whose heyday was the radical-fever-dream 1970s. When the Aum Supreme Truth cult nerve-gassed the Tokyo subways back in 1995, their manifestos at the time were full of Anti-Japaneseist ideology in the exact same way GamerGate relies on the MRM.
Swiped! 😀
Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. So quoth the
TEA PartyGamerGomers.There. Corrected. 😉
This article is germane to this discussion. It’s also hilarious, for anybody who needs a laugh.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/columnists/a-guide-to-the-ideas-and-words-of-gamergate/article21146512/