Worlds are colliding: Roosh Valizadeh, the reactionary, woman-hating pick-up guru, is starting a #GamerGate inspired game site, just as #GamerGate itself is descending into a morass of mutual recriminations and generalized douchebaggery.
Reaxxion – the title presumably a reference to Roosh’s neo-reactionary political views – doesn’t seem to have officially launched yet, but it is up, and looking a bit threadbare at the moment, with only a handful of articles posted yet. Billed as “a safe space for gamers who support #gamergate,” the site is an obvious attempt to cash in on #GamerGate anger. Roosh’s timing is a little less than perfect; he’s jumping aboard this money train as it seems to be derailing.
Roosh introduces the site in a post that is one of the most inadvertently ridiculous things he’s ever written. He begins by introducing himself, boasting about the page views his sites generate. And then he writes this amazing paragraph:
I have written well over one million words, but less than 2,000 of those have been taken out of context to paint me as an extremist, misogynist, and rapist, accusations that my friends, family, and women I’ve had relationships with can’t understand. I must state that I have never once committed assault against a woman or been accused of assault, but … such accusations are being used as weapons to marginalize speech.
Well, since he brings it up, I might as well quote the 311 of his words that have been, er, “taken out of context” to “paint [him]” as a rapist. In his ebook Bang Iceland, he recalls one of these. er, bangs:
While walking to my place, I realized how drunk she was. In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent. It didn’t help matters that I was relatively sober, but I can’t say I cared or even hesitated. I won’t rationalize my actions, but having sex is what I do.
The context for this passage? A book offering men advice on how best to manipulate women into bed, in Iceland.
Anyway, back to Roosh’s amazing little introduction. After some more complaints about the alleged evils of the SJWs, Roosh drops this little confession:
I’m not a gamer
I’m starting a video game site even though I haven’t played video games seriously since the year 2000 (Starcraft was my jam). I don’t even play mobile games. I won’t blow smoke up your ass by pretending I’m a gamer or have a deep commitment in furthering game technology.
Huh. A dude who couldn’t give two shits about gaming is starting a site to capitalize on #GamerGate. ETHICS, yo!
So why, aside from sheer opportunism, is Roosh starting the site? Well, as he sees it, he’s doing it to stand up for the rights of the truly oppressed.
I aim to protect the interests of heterosexual Western males, a category I’m in.
How are these poor creatures being oppressed? Well, as Roosh sees it,
The far-left is trying to censor and criminalize masculine behaviors that are normal. They want to relabel consensual sex as “rape” and relabel innocent flirting as “harassment,” and as I learned with #gamergate, they’ve successfully infected the gaming industry and gaming journalist sites by damaging the very nature of gaming development to fit their extreme political agenda. So while I don’t play video games, the idea of starting a pro-#gamergate site is compatible with my overall mission.
Apparently he wants to make video gaming safe for … date rapists? Sorry, date consensual-sex-that-has-been-relabeled-as-rape-havers?
He tells the sad story of his younger brother, an actual gamer who likes games with stories to them. If the evil SJWs get their way, Roosh warns, his poor brother will have to endure game narratives that include, you know, girls.
The infiltration of SJW’s into gaming may mean that my brother will have to put up with their narrative in his games. It may mean that his entertainment options become more limited because a developer was subtly threatened unless he inserted another “empowered female” in a game where such a character simply doesn’t fit.
We wouldn’t want to limit his brother’s choices, huh? Like the choices available in Grand Theft Auto V, in which players can switch between three different protagonists, none of whom are icky females.
Roosh acknowledges that he’s got an ideology of his own, but assures readers that he won’t impose it on them like those terrible SJWs do.
[I]f you don’t don’t agree with ROK, that’s fine, because Reaxxion will not try to jam ideology down your throat like the existing gaming sites. We won’t tell you to go to the gym and live in Eastern Europe to sleep with thin women, behaviors that I currently engage in.
But dudes, you totally should go to the gym and move to Eastern Europe to sleep with thin women instead of those uppity Western fatties. Just sayin.
Heck, Roosh’s site is so committed to not shoving ideology down anyone’s throat that it has a special page setting forth a list of prescribed “Reaxxion Community Beliefs,” which include:
1. Men do not become more violent, sexist, or racist because they play video games.Gamers should not be shamed for a hobby that does not cause harm to others.
And:
7. Heterosexual men should not be shamed for enjoying things designed to appeal to heterosexual men. There is non-harmful entertainment value in traditional story lines involving masculine men and feminine women.
Gosh, nothing ideological here!
And since Roosh isn’t going to try to push his ideology on anyone, his site will presumably extend its welcome mat to everyone, huh?
Oh, wait.
Our goal is simple: create a safe space for heterosexual males who play video games. We won’t exclude homosexuals or attractive women from commenting on our articles, and we sincerely hope they find value in what we have to say, but understand that this site will be written by male gamers for male gamers.
Oh.
It aims to be a place where men can be themselves without SJW infiltration, judgement, and influence. In the year 2014, surprisingly, there are very few spaces for men online where their message isn’t attacked by white knights, man-haters, and SJW’s. I know an unmet need when I see one.
Finally, men’s voices will at last be heard!
And unlike some gaming site, Roosh’s Reaxxion will be all about ethics. Heck, he’s even got an official Ethics Policy setting forth how totes ethical his site will be. For example, he pledges that Reaxxion
won’t attempt to ruin individuals or companies. Any critical story is based on facts and properly sourced. We don’t publish articles with the intent to incite a mob.
So, no ruining or mob-inciting. I guess that’s better than the alternative.
We don’t bully, harass, threaten, SWAT, or dox anyone. Contact us if you see such activity in the comments.
Wait, what? You feel the need to announce publicly that you won’t SWAT people? That is, you won’t maliciously call 911 and report an imaginary crime in order to get a SWAT team sent to your victim’s house? Is this something that happens at other game sites? I mean, does Kotaku regularly send SWAT teams to harass makers of games they don’t like?
We will not publish clickbait with the intent to outrage. Authors will have 100% belief in what they write. Contributors who are found to be “trolling” will be blacklisted.
Yes, the dude behind Return of Kings, the publisher of pieces declaring that tattooed women are “broken” and offering “5 Reasons To Date A Girl With An Eating Disorder” is telling us that he’s not going to publish “clickbait with the intent to outrage.”
Anyway, Roosh apparently feels he’s got all he needs to run a totally kickass gaming site for cool dudes. He’s got a publisher – himself – who knows nothing about gaming. He’s got that ethics policy. He’s got a stable of expert writers … oh, wait, about that. Apparently he might be a little light on writers.
[S]end us your submissions. We want you to inject your DNA, your ideas, and your stories into Reaxxion. Instead of trying to silence you like the other sites, we want to make your voice louder, even if you are not a “professional journalist.”
Yeah, there’s no possible way Roosh’s site could turn into a complete fiasco that embarrasses everyone involved in it. Or is there?
Part of me thinks, “Good, take your shitty fucking non-personalities to your shitty fucking echo chamber and leave us genuine humans to do our work,” and another part of me hopes anybody who contributes to Roosh’s newest shitbox spontaneously combusts.
“We won’t exclude homosexuals or attractive women from commenting on our articles, and we sincerely hope they find value in what we have to say”
So… they will exclude unattractive women? You need to submit a photo with your registration so that Roosh can make sure that, if he doesn’t want to bang you, it’s because you’re a dude?
Last I checked, the only article posted that was related to games was a “top three games of all time” dealie, two of which were Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time. Prreeeetty sure that’s like making a list of the top three inventions, two of which are the cell phone and sliced bread.
“We want you to inject your DNA, your ideas, and your stories into Reaxxion.”
“We want you to inject your DNA…”
“…inject your DNA…”
Well that’s certainly an… interesting way of phrasing that.
I don’t know about you guys, but I sure am relieved that attractive women will be allowed to comment!!!
At last, SOMETHING that caters to men in the gaming industry.
Wait. You mean his entertainment options may be a little more limited? Oh the humanity! Oh the injustice! I mean, if they start making games with more diverse characters and story lines, then gamerbros might have slightly less FPS’s with burly white manly men as main character to choose from!
In America, having sex with her would have been rape, since she legally couldn’t give her consent.
Fairly certain these actions count as rape in Iceland too. And indeed, most of the world. So, yep, you’re a rapist in or out of context, asshole.
My fav line in Roosh’s post:
I imagine he knows a LOT about unmet needs, specifically, all the gross ones he has that no one will cater to.
“It may mean that his entertainment options become more limited because a developer was subtly threatened unless he inserted another “empowered female” in a game where such a character simply doesn’t fit.”
Yeah, because *that’s* the kind of bullying game dev’s are currently getting…oops, nope, my bad! They are currently being sent graphic death threats in order to be coerced into maintaining the status quo and stagnating. Introspection can not ever actually be as difficult as they are making it regardless of the circumstances.
I would like to add that I find the tiny, delicate hands with Roosh’s head very disturbing…
“I imagine he knows a LOT about unmet needs,”
*dies*
@sparky:
Even worse! Less FUTURE FPS’s with burly white manly men! Because really, older games aren’t going to go away. Arcade games are still being played. No no, for every game that features a woman as the main character, that’s one less game that could have been made with a dude. Because that’s how art works.
And that is unacceptable.
David Futrelle
That picture you used is perfect for this piece!
Not really a surprise, as illustrated by several before, given that the condition to support GG is to be a misogynist asshole, not liking games or having opinions about them.
What’s slightly intriguing is if the GG demographic with all their military rhetoric would be happy to accept the dominance in the site of a non-gamer self appointed “alpha” who doesn’t have a better idea than shove all his supposed ‘sex with eastern european women’ in their faces in his presentation.
Also hey MRAs look who’s about to steal all those angry gamebros “activists” so eager to throw donations just to piss off people they don’t like, for *their* site.
This may get entertaining!
“We demand unbiased, objective games journalism!”
First (and only) games related article on reaxxion: a subjective “Top 3 games EVAR” list.
@studiokgato:
A really, REALLY pandering list at that. It’s pretty clear Roosh knows his audience, at least.
I predict GG will shortly split into two groups: one group of Roosh wannabes who really do legitimately hate women, and one group consisting of the poor saps who actually thought this was about ethics and that Roosh is gross. It will be a sight to behold.
I hope this sacrifice was enough to satiate the blockquote mammoth for the rest of the day.
@Sparky
What makes his alleged fear that his brother’s “entertainment options may become more limited” even more ridiculous is that Rooo doesn’t offer any reasonable scenario showing how could even happen. In fact, by nominalizing “threaten” he doesn’t have to identify the who would threaten developers, it’s left to the reader to imagine the shadowy SJW forces at work. He didn’t even bother explaining how Sakeesian’s demon hordes would enforce those threats.
There has never been a single group of people more freaked out by benign criticism.
I have to say Roood fits in nicely with the gaters, I’m sure they appreciate his thumb-fisted appropriation of social justice language.
Let me guess, Roosh thinks if those two imbeciles Aurini and Owen can get money from GG suckers, so can he.
Reaxxion! The extra X is for X-TREEEEME!
Yeah, this isn’t surprising. Dude’s been running out of money from ebook sales and click bait for a while now. Of course he’s going to try and capitalize on GetGirlsOutaMyGamesGate. So far, Aurini, Forney, JuiceBro Lawyer, and now Roosh have all thrown their PUA fedoras into the GamerGate e-begging ring. Are there any PUA’s that I’m forgetting?
How the fuck does *adding* diverse characters eliminate the burly dudebro character?
1+Y does not equal Y….
Kitteh – that is a very plausible scenario.
Speaking as a ‘homosexual’, I have mixed feelings about Rouche’s open door policy for me and my objectively disordered brethren. It’s like a fast food joint that smells of roach frass telling me my business is welcome there; points for the welcome, but none for what’s on offer.