"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.
@pallygirl
That headline would be a wee bit more fitting if it was DC.
Actually, World Cat Day is August 8. October 29 is National Cat Day in the US.
Since my wife and I are co-owned by six cats, I am amused to find out that our wedding anniversary is National Cat Day.
If people were really appalled by the sexism in gamergate,instead of blaming it on a few at the fringes they could have officially split. Setting up forums where only ethics in journalism is discussed and blocking anyone who attempts to be a bigot.They could even use the @notyourshield tag to get the point across that misogynists are not welcome.
Of course that would never happen because as we all know gamergate is nothing to do with ethics in journalism and all about misogyny.This is easily proven by the fact that GG’s who say most of them aren’t sexist usually go on to say something horrendously sexist.
I spotted that Landon guy yesterday in another Twitter thread related to what an anti-GGer had to say about Gamergate, and it’s too easy to see that he is a through-and-through jerk.
Duh you guys, it’s not racism, IT’S SATIRE!!!
tiko72 – I see your furry overlords have taught you the art of speaking Cat: one word means everything!
Previous comment in short.
Gamergaters – you know when your movement is full of shit when the other side is giving you advice on how to achieve your supposed goal.*
* You know- ethics in journalism. Those three words you spurt out in a knee jerk reaction whenever anyone accuses you of sexism,even though you never actually talk about ethics in journalism.
@kittehserf
Yep , although I have been converted to saying noms instead of munchies when talking about their tum tums.
I love how desperate the gamergators are getting. Poor, poor “Saul”.
tiko72, I’ve picked up the word noms too – internet kitty power, lol.
We don’t have any special words for our two, though Maddie is most often referred to as The Poor Little Cat. She isn’t little and she isn’t poor, but try convincing her of that; her story is that she’s terribly hard-done-by.
Am I missing something? There are a bunch of responses to the graffiti picture, including one in the screenshot above, claiming that it predates gamergate. Putting aside for a second why that is supposed to excuse a horrible picture, that’s obviously not true, right? I mean, that picture is referencing the threats that made Anita cancel her talk at Utah State, and that happened when gamergate was already in full swing.
@kittehserf
Yeah , I know the hard done by look as in ‘my bowl is only three quarters full’. I also get it when I’m caught looking at icanhascheezburger.
My cats are my floofy baby (Jade) and my stripey baby (Pan).
@derangeddan – you aren’t missing anything. It’s just #gamergaters thinking that if they deny reality long enough, reality will fit to whatever they want.
GG’er: *storms into lawyer’s office* MY RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH HAS BEEN VIOLATED!
Lawyer: *intrigued* Tell me all about it. Arrested? Lost your job?
GG’er: WORSE!! I was on this website–
Lawyer: Get out of my office. Now.
Ah yes, the three-quarter-full bowl! Mads looks truly pained when that happens. It’s the famous Cat Logic.
https://i.chzbgr.com/maxW500/6250110976/hB5B3E034/
Currently Mads is terribly hard-done-by because I haven’t turned the heater on. The fact that it isn’t cold makes no difference at all.
These guys remind me of my dog as a puppy, who upon shitting on the carpet, would look up at me as if to say, “No, that’s not a turd. Even if it was, I didn’t do it. I don’t even know how to poop. Maybe you’re the real poopist.”
@wordsp1nner
I had a cat called pan. (passed away late last year) Also known as panny panini and panny poo bum (there were reasons)
@kittehserf
Ah yes cat logic, so true.
No heater on either but spikey joe is always on my knee when i’m on the laptop.I used to think it’s because i’ve had it years (the laptop) and it gets quite warm but I think he likes to keep a check on what i’m viewing.He’s totally up to date with gamergate.
@wordsp1nner
I can see by your picture that they are indeed floofy and stripey babies.
It’s like talking to a parrot. For a second, it will convince you that it knows what it’s saying, but the longer you talk to it, the more obvious it becomes that it doesn’t.
@katz: except parrots are more intelligent. I had one cockatiel who knew what “come out” meant as I always used the phrase “do you want to come out” before I opened the cage door. If I hadn’t let him out for the day, when I came near the cage he would rattle the door up and down as much as the clothes peg would let him, saying “come out, come out” the whole time.
Those African grey parrots look really intelligent too. So are ravens and crows.
African greys are sufficiently intelligent that I don’t trust them. It’s the fact they’re so suspicious of me though that often makes me distrustful of them.
I’m terrified of birds.
There’s a tiny part of me that has a tiny bit of pity for GG’s. Well i’m not sure that’s the right word. These are, after all ,really horrible people.
But that’s the thing,what do you call it when you try to imagine how these people view life?Their whole life is based on hatred. Their only aim when they log on is to be as nasty and vile as possible
I know there’s a lot of horror in the world but do these people get any pleasure out of the nice things in life. Do these people go to bed thinking of what nasty things they can say to people the next day. Is their whole life based on being nasty to as many people as possible.
( notice there’s no question marks above)
So if there’s no other word than pity it’s less ‘you poor thing’ and more ‘ I just imagined what it’s like to be you for a nano second and it filled me with horror’.
One time I heard someone say hello to me over and over when I was walking down the street. I thought it was a catcaller. It turned out to be a parrot that was in someone’s porch.
Never laugh at someone who leaves a lot of money to their parrot, they can live for over fifty years.