GamerGaters claim they’re on the side of truth and righteousness, but they sure do love monologuing like cartoon villains.
They claim to be shocked by alleged evidence of journalistic collusion, yet they happily plot strategies and “operations” together both in secret and in broad daylight. They claim to be about ethics, but regularly employ not-so-subtle subterfuge to try to disguise their carefully coordinated propaganda campaigns as spontaneous uprisings.
This week, GamerGaters on 8chan launched a new “operation” to win over the hearts and minds of the masses on Tumblr. And it’s as ethically bankrupt as anything they’ve ever done.
Operation Firefly, as it’s officially known, is an attempt to take the GamerGate “fight” to a “new frontier.” Tumblr. As the originator of the initiative explains it in a somewhat less-than-stirring manifesto:
In recent weeks the revolt has been getting bogged down in a stalemate. Useless drama and e-celebrity happenings are sidetracking us and sapping our strength. We’ve become demoralized and are losing momentum. …
Time for a new frontier, a new fight, a new chance to spread the truth.
Apparently, the GamerGaters are beginning to realize that their current strategy of being dicks to people on Twitter isn’t paying off quite as well as they had hoped.
While Twitter can be considered an important part of the movement, it is one of the worst places to focus our efforts. Too much time, energy, and attention is currently being wasted there. … The only things twitter is good for are out-of-context quips and angry outbursts.
Twitter is wearing us down, and it’s becoming a red herring/albatross around our neck. It’s time to use our limited resources where they will be more effective.
So they’re Tumblr-bound.
As a group we’ve done a horrible job at reaching out to others and spreading our message. That’s a problem. Instead of waiting for people to come to us, we need to go to them. That’s why we need to go to Tumblr. Going forward, only 25% of the people who are currently on Twitter should continue to post and debate there. 25% should redeploy to fight on Youtube and defend our home turf while the other 50% should go to Tumblr.
But isn’t Tumblr full of, you know, girls? Well, yes, but even this obstacle can be surmounted with some calculated pandering.
Most users on Tumblr are teenagers between 12 and 20, and most of them are girls. They are very interested in fandoms, anime, and other memes. … A good idea would be to use popular anime characters and pokemon to get the #Gamergate message out. Another idea would be to create crossover fanart with Vivian James in it.
That’s right: use an imaginary girl to win over the real girls. Just try to avoid being too logical, because, as everyone knows, girls don’t logic.
Tumblr enjoys appeals to emotion. While rational debate is important, make sure you are making it personal.
And remember to use GamerGate’s “female and minority” members as your shield! Oh, sorry, as your totally not a shield.
A major effort will be spent on pushing our female and minority voices to the forefront via #notyourshield. the goal is to discredit and debunk the narrative and shut it off at the source.
Operation Firefly doesn’t have to limit itself to the GamerGate hashtag on Tumblr. Go ahead and flood all discussions of vidya games with your propaganda. Just don’t make it too obvious, guys!
In order to be effective, you must also talk about Gamergate in other relevant hashtags, such as popular video game titles like “Mario”.
And make a bit point of pretending to be a victim. Sorry, not pretending. Authentically being a victim.
Tumblr is a different place than what you’re used to, so take time to lurk if you must. You are the victim in order to gain sympathy and support.
Remember to support your comrades!
Any time you see a pro-gg post, you need to follow the poster and reblog it in order to signal boost. This increases solidarity and cohesion. Build numbers and stay in contact with each other.
Just don’t lay it on too thick with your propagandizing, lest the Tumblrites catch on to the fact that you’re part of an invading propaganda army. Maybe reblog some kitten pics too.
It’s important to be a real person and not some faceless nobody. This means you should round out your blog by reblogging interesting content you like from other, non gamer-gate related things.
And try to lay off the scary skull imagery.
[T]umblr enjoys relatable and homely things. Consider when conveying your opinions to produce approachable and likeable art pieces. Look at the “art motivation” comics, high reblogged and non sexual fan art, cute stories and the like. …
Don’t be afraid to turn Vivian James into Hello Kitty or a pony.
When cynically setting up a throwaway blog to spread GamerGate propaganda, try to avoid looking too much like a GamerGater cynically setting up a throwaway blog to spread GamerGate propaganda.
[H]aving a profile say why you love video games, why you’re a decent person and concluding with “I am a person and I support gamergate” will show you’re human. … If you are making a new account, don’t choose a name that has anything to do with video games or gg.
Yeah, the “Tumblrinas” will never be able to figure out what’s going on.
Oh, and do your best to not make it too obvious what a hateful dickweasel you really are.
[T]alking like a cunt can be really fucking hostile even if it sharply nails the point. I get some of you guys enjoy the shitslinging language and the fuckyouisms of the prominent youtuber, but it’s not inviting. That’s not to say you have to read like a Disney script, but the language you use will be one of the deciding factors in who you appeal to.
Sounds like a foolproof plan!
On 8chan, some of the regulars put forth suggestions of their own.
CUTE KITTENS ASSEMBLE!
Meanwhile, another 8chan anon tried to convince the GamerGate invaders to ix-nay the ane-Bay memes, at least on Tumblr.
So, y’know how Bane is basically the mascot of GamerGate in the chan community? He’s a good fit: A brutal revolutionary and since he’s a Christopher Nolan character, he’s automatically a man’s man, which for some reason appeals to a community defined by their love of a sedentary hobby. …
Bane will not work on tumblr. He’s a bad guy. He’s all big and beefy and while some subset of tumblr’s mostly female audience will like him, most prefer dexterous pretty boys (hence the neverending love for Benedict Cumberpatch and David Tennant).
So what can GamerGaters do to get around the Bane ban?
[O]ur tumblr mascot needs to be Katniss. She’s in an upcoming movie which means even tumblrites with extremely short attention spans know about her. She’s a revolutionary fighting against a corrupt government. She’s a teenage girl which makes her easier for the average tumblrite to associate with her. On tumblr, GG is Katniss.
Uh oh, nobody tell Vivian James she’s got some competition.
So how is the invasion going? Well, if you go to the GamerGate tag on Tumblr, you will indeed see a bunch of GamerGate spam in it.
So by GameGate standards, I guess they are WINNING.
I’ve no idea why, but my comment seems to have gotten stuck in wordpress and I only get duplicate errors. any ideas?
@tinyorc
I remember that talk. Another connection between what’s been going on for years and GG. There is an interesting analysis of the whole campaign and its “Gamification” here:
http://designislaw.tumblr.com/post/100651306295/the-gamification-of-terror-manufacturing-gamergates
I find this really sad, in a way. I read a lot of fantasy as a teenager, and played all kinds of games (though I’ve never been into shooters). Both empowered me – I went on to study literature, and I’ve always found joy and enlightenment in intelligently made games, but both because I always engaged with them critically (which never meant that I couldn’t also lose myself in stuff). Their way of consuming mindlessly and taking the stuff they find in games into the real world rings very hollow to me.
Uh-huh. Like a bunch of mangry rageboners who throw shitfits about “Five Guys” are rational debaters.
A propos connections going back for longer than the start of GG: looking at the “propaganda” they produce, one can also see the connections to discourses and tropes of MRAs that have been around for longer. For example, there is a picture going around (which wordpress doesn’t let me link to, for whatever reason), in which a caricatured “feminist” character is derived from the woman who shouted at MRAs at a rally in Toronto last year. That shows they have been connected to MRA circles for much longer than just for this specific hate campaign.
Then again, Adam Baldwin was on Firefly. Maybe they think that’s enough to get the Whedon fans on their side. They’d be mistaken, of course.
becausescience:
Because it’s not fun otherwise?
“Let’s Trojan Horse our way into a SJW base using Katniss and My Little Pony!” = super seekrit infiltration operation, embattled GG warriors against the world!
“Let our arguments speak for themselves on whatever platforms we happen to already be active on” = time consuming, intellectually challenging, honest engagement with the “other” side.
Ha ha ha, oh wow. If the gamergits can’t maintain credibility on Twitter — famously dominated by white, male, middle aged techbros — I can’t imagine they’ll get traction on Tumblr, which skews younger, female, and multiracial. I don’t think the Tumblrites will be receptive to the whole gamergate message of “Stupid gross GIRLS should stay out of our games (and non-white people, shut your mouths, you’re all on notice too).”
Bernardo Soares:
Ditto. I do not for a second believe that videogames or any other form of media has a direct cause-and-effect relationship with misogyny, it’s fascinating to me that so many GGers resort to using overblown military rhetoric or comparing their “opponents” to NPCs or treating online spaces like levels to be conquered. These are the people who are rolling their eyes and assuring us that they can obviously tell the difference between fantasy and reality – but they talk about their actions and goals of their “movement” in terms of game mechanics so often that I’m left thinking “Really? I’m not so convinced that you can.”
Someone smarter than me once said something to the effect of “those who rail against critical analysis of media messages are the ones most likely to be influenced by them.” That’s GamerGate in a nutshell.
Tinyorc: I was just about to make that same point. People who are on Tumblr do know how to use the rest of the internet. It’s not like they’re sealed off in their own universe and have to peep through wormholes or something to know what’s going on over on “teh interwebz”.
But hey! We’re talking about people who exist in their own fetid echo chamber of stupid, so I guess they think the entire internet is like that.
Lol, I was going to share this post on my tumblr, but I kept getting a pic of the frog and decided, ‘Nahh’.
I have a love/hate relationship with tumblr, and frankly I’m really looking forward to gators going to a place that’s infamous for tearing into each other for the slightest SJ error.
Thus Spake Zarapallygirl:
To be fair, all anonymous posters on 8chan show up as “the Leader of Gamergate”.
Yeah, the people who don’t actually think progressive/social justice terms actually mean anything substantive are going to go… take over tumblr.
Why, that is on the same level as a anti-semite pretending to be a jew who wasn’t offended by anti-semetic drawing going by the name Paul W. Asright.
And will probably be about as effective.
@Puddleglum seriously, they clearly don’t spend that much time on tumblr to not realize that even if you stop misgendering someone and apologize, even if you mean it, you will continue to get piled on because it is so hard to communicate via reblogs.
I look forward to those assholes saying terrible shit that they think is just fine and then getting piled on and having no idea how to make it stop. Would serve them right, really.
…do I want to know why they have a cartoon of an autofellating Deep One?
How can someone not stop and think What the hell am I involved in?! when they have to advise their friends not to use violence/ porn/ violent porn when venturing somewhere new.
It sounds far too much like mummy and daddy reminding the 3 year old that granny doesn’t like it when you pick your nose/ jump on the sofa so you’ll remember not to do that while we’re visiting, won’t you.
But I s’pose it’s clear by now that introspection and sober reflection aren’t big features of this group.
hahaha these assholes have no idea about all the hoary old feminists on tumblr just waiting to call them out on their crap
Psst, gaters: if you plaster Vivian James all over your insidious takeover, everyone will know it’s you.
@Cyberwulf: “hoary old feminists”? Fuck off.
It’s striking that they seem to think tumblr invented trans and other non-cis gender identities. Just more evidence to add to the pile that they don’t have any concept of life outside the internet, videogames, and action movies.
Aaaaahhhh! I went to Digg and read Brock’s article.
I haven’t laughed so hard about #Gamergate, since this entire mess started. OMG!
#Takeawaytheirhalos, needs to be tweeted right now!
Although Tumblr is known for porn… (There is a tumblr I’ve browsed a couple of times called something along the lines of “Bored cats in indie porn”… which is exactly what it sounds like, but looking at real naked pictures makes me nervous so I stopped.
I also stopped watching Trueblood about fifteen minutes in, and have never even tried to watch Game of Thrones.
I was hoping Katniss would be Native American, personally. Her sister is described in the books as blonde, though, so there’s that
@booburry, yeah, they think *twitter* is full of SJWs, lol. They can have absolutely no comprehension of the horror they are about have fall on their butts.
That is because her mom was a townie but her dad was from the seam.
The thing that disappointed me the most about the film was the total erasure of the character traits that made Katniss the mockingjay. They stripped the characters and the story itself of what made them powerful.
I wonder if they have a mock up of an actual plotting table on their computors. You know, they’re usually surrounded by uniformed women in old world war two movies pushing around symbols for aircraft or ground troops.
Instead of the names of battlegrounds or fronts on the map,they’d have you tube ,twitter and tumblr etc. I still think they would have the same symbols representing themselves because they do think they’re fighting an actual war. Rather than uniformed women pushing everything around though they would probably have un-informed big babies.
Note to GG’s
You’re not actually fighting in a real war. Stop being so bloody dramatic.