"we're inclusive and accepting!" says #gamergate, before drawing racist caricatures of women they dislike. pic.twitter.com/zbFnWBOmdn
— Sarah Nyberg (@srhbutts) November 1, 2014
The other day, I posted a screenshot of an 8chan comment featuring the drawing above, a crude caricature of Anita Sarkeesian that’s a not-very-subtle variation on a racist and anti-Semitic cartoon that originally ran in a neo-Nazi newspaper.
Here’s the original, in all its crapitude:
Let’s face it! That is one fucking awful cartoon.
Now, if that picture — or at least the grinning fellow on the left — looks familiar, it’s because he’s been that’s turned into a meme (“Le Happy Merchant”) that’s proven popular with 4channers and Stormfronters alike.
Given that GamerGate itself has its origins on 4chan — and in an IRC channel populated mostly bey 4channers — it shouldn’t come as a complete shock that #GamerGaters, some of whom refer to Sarkeesian as “Jewkeesian,” have repurposed the image into a caricature of one of their most hated foes. Sarkeesian isn’t actually Jewish, but for whatever reason this doesn’t seem to faze her anti-Semitic non-admirers.
GamerGaters like to claim that this sort of bigotry “isn’t what GamerGate is really about,” and that anti-Semites and other bigots are fringe elements in their movement, if not “false flagging” feminazi shills trying to make GamerGate look bad. Here, one GamerGater makes that point with as much sarcasm as he can muster:
https://twitter.com/JakALope044/status/525839519161917440
This would be a much more convincing argument if GamerGaters weren’t so quick to excuse and/or explain away the anti-Semitic imagery every time it rears its ugly head.
Here’s one active GamerGater who wants everyone to know that, actually, it’s about ethics in game journalism.
https://twitter.com/SlushStuff/status/524266371069517824
But she has a pretty unusual notion of what “not hate” is, given that she posted this picture several days later:
This lovely little drawing combines the racist caricature of Sarkeesian with another bit of neo-Nazi propaganda that’s been floating around the internet for a while, and which had already been repurposed as an anti-Muslim comic. In other words, @SlushStuff has posted a mashup of a neo-Nazi cartoon that’s already been used in another bigoted mashup.
We can’t blame @SlushStuff’s glee in posting this on her ignorance of the sources of the cartoon in question; she’s well aware that the picture is based on anti-Semitic propaganda. She just thinks this isn’t a problem, because reasons.
https://twitter.com/SlushStuff/status/526342650375704576
https://twitter.com/SlushStuff/status/526396368609615872
Then again, @SlushStuff doesn’t seem to have a problem with straight-up racism either.
https://twitter.com/SlushStuff/status/521793824621088770
This is a common reaction amongst GamerGaters when confronted with this particular work of, er, art. When srh, who tracks GamerGate bigotry on Twitter, posted the tweet at the top of this post, here are some of the reactions she got, in a seemingly unending discussion that extended over hundreds of tweets. (These aren’t all successive tweets; see here for the whole thread.)
Yep. That’s right. A guy whose avatar is a white dude in an American Indian headdress (comedian Jim Norton, FWIW) is lecturing people about what is and what isn’t racism.
At this point I “noped” out of reading the rest of the thread before my head exploded from all the nonsense.
GamerGate claims to have an anti-harassment squad, but when someone posts caricatures of Anita Sarkeesian that are not just inspired by but probably literally traced from Nazi propaganda, these are the guys who show up.
To quote the robot bartender in The Fifth Element, do you want some more?
Here’s more.
After one anti-GamerGater posted a screenshot of Mary’s post featuring Sarkeesian painting fake threats on a wall, one #GamerGater had this response.
Here yet another GamerGater claims that the caricature is mocking Sarkeesian, so therefore it can’t be anti-Semitic:
https://twitter.com/NappalmSam/status/526385714968428544
Oh, wait, is this yet another GamerGater making the same terrible “argument?” Why yes, it is:
I ask #gamergate why they are condoning/reposting Ann anti Semitic cartoon. They respond: Jews Are Not A Race pic.twitter.com/Ef1mhYw6Dy
— Joshua Idehen (@joshuaidehen80) October 26, 2014
And, oh, it gets weirder. Here a GamerGater responding to a critic who was pointing out an instance of GamerGaters using “Le Happy Merchant” in an infographic … by suggesting he was “Jew-shaming.”
https://twitter.com/emvarez_dota/status/526379494580695041
And here’s a GamerGater who uses “Le Happy Merchant” as his fucking avatar … accusing Sarkeesian of anti-Semitism. And spelling it wrong.
I could keep going, but after this, is there any point?
Bottom of the barrel, consider yourself scraped.
EDIT: Added more info on the source of that second Sarkeesian cartoon.
FFS Saul. Here’s a google image search for anti-semitic propaganda. See any similarities? Or are you just here to play “Nuh-uh, YOU are!”
I’m confident that Saul is not named Saul, is not Jewish, and is a sock.
I’m also confident that Saul is not named Saul, etc.
I’m always fascinated by the “those who smelt it dealt it” school of racial politics. It makes me wonder what else could be viewed from the mindset of a grade schooler dealing with farts.
I guess Saul would try to tell us the English Defence League isn’t anti-Semitic or anti-Islam, either:
http://politicalscrapbook.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/edl-adapt-neo-nazi-cartoon.jpg
Yeah, this whole “the only way to be familiar with racist tropes is if you believe them” horseshit discounts how easy it is to be (continually) exposed to them, even against your will. I know what Nazi propaganda looks like because I’m over the age of five and don’t live in a deprivation tank. I don’t know what these GGer morons’ excuse is.
Is Saul making a bad joke or trolling his boat? Inquiring minds…
I reckon my real question is: why are GGers so damned transparent with their socks?
@David:
The earliest RIS result I can find for that cartoon is 2008, when it seems to have done the rounds of the white supremacist sites worldwide. Can’t pin down its origin.
David, I don’t know who originally drew that cartoon. Reverse image search shows that it pops up a lot on anti-Semitic sites like Stormfront.
Given how well-reproduced the linework is, my educated guess (I’m a cartoonist) is that this cartoon was drawn sometime recently, probably in this century. The theme also seems pretty modern to me – I don’t recall seeing any WW2 era Nazi cartoons taking a “the Jews are just framing us” approach.
One solid measure of how full of crap someone is is how often they claim that evidence of bad behavior is just other people trying to make them look bad. Listen to Alex Jones (or any of his immitator/wannabes) – everything in the world is a “false flag” operation. It’s absurd.
@Saul
And what about the people that have done this.Their first port of call for inspiration is ACTUAL anti-semetic propaganda, some of it from an ACTUAL NEO-NAZI NEWSPAPER.
Do you find any of that problematic?
oooh hello ampersand, fan girl moment
They don’t understand their “enemies” well enough to troll them effectively.
It’s from well-known racist A. Wyatt Mann (the pen-name of Geraldo nose-breaker Wyatt Kaldenberg). Google him. The image search results are very, very NSFW.
Unless, of course, we’re seeing a drawing that’s a headswap of an actual anti-Semitic cartoon made by actual anti-Semites.
Reblogged this on seleukosnicator10.
These jokers know good and well what they’re doing. They have a lot of nerve to cry “It’s le satire!” when someone calls them on their bullshit. You’d think they’d come up with something more original.
Nothing says journalistic integrity like neo-nazi propaganda, really.
Attention antisemites and/or totalitarians: you don’t get to police who is or is not Jewish, nor do you get to police what Jews do or do not find offensive. You are not the gatekeepers of Jewish identity. Kindly back off.
Frankly, I find it rather offensive that you’re attempting to use my culture and ethnicity as a pawn-by-proxy in your little cultural jihad. Is Anita Sarkeesian even a Jew? Google says she isn’t, so stop trying to drag my people into this. Jews are #notyourshield.
^ Tiresome sockpuppet is tiresome.
*yawn*
Definitely a neo nazi troll then, eh.
LOL the little sock is upset. Poor little sock! Maybe be more subtle next time? Just a thought.
“Oh wow, it looks like a drawing of a Jew so it must be a drawing of a Jew!”
Rephrased:
“It looks like a Jew, so it must be a Jew!”
Wow. I can’t even.
The worst thing about bigots like you is you’ll never understand just how bigoted you are.
“The minority doesn’t agree with us! Time to erase his identity!”
Screencapping this conversation as evidence of your hypocrisy, since I assume it’ll be censored in a few moments anyway.