#GamerGaters have been spending a lot of time lately trying to convince the world that they’re really quite reasonable people, actually, and that the “movement’s” reputation as a hotbed of hateful bullying is undeserved.
Today on 8Chan’s /gg/ board, for example, one enterprising anon announced the start of “OP FIREHEART,” a combination of “Operation Firefly + Operation Lonely Hearts.”
Operation Firefly, you may recall, is GamerGate’s attempt to flood Tumblr with Tumblr-fied versions of their standard propaganda. Operation Lonely Hearts is a more recent “op,” an attempt to hijack a new meme started and spread by people critical of GamerGate, in which Twitterers and others replace their avatars with heart-shaped icons to indicate their support of a diverse gaming world open to all. GamerGaters have appropriated these heart-shaped icons and are using them to spread their own terrible message.
Op FireHeart aims to take these GamerGated hearts to Tumblr.
The weheart.io heartpix we made are amazing and powerful. But we can take them one step further, and use OP Firefly to help them spread on Tumblr and Social Media. They are the type of post that Tumblr can’t get enough of. They’re artsy, fun and minimalistic.
Here’s the plan- we make a lot more of those memes, but we use popular anime and vidya characters along with people from superwholock /homestuck /mlp etc. Include hot guys and gals and load up on those pop culture references.
See guys we like anime so therefore we can’t be all bad right? NO ONE WILL SEE THROUGH THIS CLEVER RUSE.
Really, anything can be made into a fireheart meme. Pictures of food, alcohol, parties- make it fun and spreadable.
We post the images in those tags (where the character came from), with one simple message underneath: #Gamergate loves you. It’s a show of support and outreach, nothing else- but it will make a lot of neutrals curious.
Even aside from the fact that this propaganda campaign is, you know, transparently cynical and obvious – if you’re going to try to dupe the world it’s generally a bad idea to let the world know about it first – there’s one giant problem with Operation FireHeart and the RebuildInitiative and all of GamerGate’s attempts to win the PR war by pretending to be nice, and that is: WE CAN SEE YOU.
Evidence of your bad faith and bigotry is everywhere; you can’t wash it away with a letter-writing campaign or heart-shaped anime avatars.
Oh, you want evidence? Well, look no further than this thread from yesterday on 8chan. After one anon posted screenshots of an actual polite Twitter conversation they had with a woman GamerGaters have been going after lately, the thread quickly degenerated into a transphobic nightmare after one anon declared that the woman in question was “a man, baby.”
Some, er, highlights of what followed. Oh, and Trigger Warning for some really horrible transphobic crap.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure that heart-shaped anime avatars aren’t going to dig you out of the hole your’re continually digging for yourself.
Oh, but there’s more.
That last comment is what passes for a “moderate” voice in this thread. It helped to inspire this, er, debate.
There’s not enough perfume in the world to make this shit smell sweet.
For more on this thread, and on “reasonable” GamerGaters, see “Polite” GGers – A Case Study, an excellent Storify of some recent Tweets from @alexlifschitz, which is what alerted me to this toxic thread.
And in other depressing news, some 4channers — remember them? — are launching a new “op” of their own … designed to drive trans folks to suicide. See here and here for more details. (Neither is a link to 4chan.) I can’t even.
Nice one, Skullpants. Even the colours match somewhat.
I’ve taken the liberty to put some in a meme format, with some extras.
https://imgflip.com/i/ej3h2
https://imgflip.com/i/ej3j7
https://imgflip.com/i/ej3k7
https://imgflip.com/i/ej3pi
“GamerGate is good, GamerGate is great, we surrender our will, as of this date!”
I really don’t want these asshats to invade my fandoms.
Leave my fucking fandoms alone. You’ve already poisoned gaming. Contain yourselves in your small containment area that has been carefully marked with Biohazard stickers.
You don’t “love” me. I’m a female gamer who doesn’t nod along willingly with everything you say. You’ve threatened women with violence and rape for less, so here’s a casual “Fuck you” from me to your little movement who hates women-driven indie games because you think it’s some sort of “conspiracy” that people actually fucking like them and have the audacity to disagree with you.
*sits back and grumbles while sipping her tea*
The whole stupid “trap” thing really exemplifies one of the biggest problems with the dudes involved in this (other than that they’re assholes, which it also illustrates) – they seem to always be convinced that everyone is doing everything at them, rather than just doing it for their/our own reasons. A normal person would see Bill Kaulitz walking around and go “oh, hey, he’s really pretty, and he does seem to play that up a lot – could be lots of reasons for that, one of which is that making money is nice, and also a lot of girls like it and he seems to like girls, or maybe that’s just the style he prefers”, but the 4chan/gamerbro dudes somehow seem to think that men like that are being sexually appealing to them on purpose just to (whatever), and that’s not fair! Just like women are playing games in order to (something something, insert bullshit here) at them, and that’s not fair! The idea that most people are just walking around living their lives never thinking twice about how their actions impact a bunch of angry dudes with entitlement issues on the internet never seems to occur to them, and on the rare occasions that they’re forced to realize that it makes them even angrier.
One of my triggers is ‘trap’. Because transpeople aren’t trying to trick anyone. Yeah, there’s a tiny group of transpersons who believe it isn’t a slur. Yeah, it has to do with a star wars meme – but when someone is invoking that word, they means someone who is purposefully tricking another. It pisses me off. (That and using pronouns someone didn’t choose, or diminutives…)
These guys don’t have a clue what consent means, at all. I guess that’s what bothers me. Consenting adults can use these words about themselves… But none of the objects of their comments consented to these words at all.
@Casandrakitty
But…what about the menz?! How are they going to function if the world isn’t revolving around them and everyone isn’t doing everything they do specifically to give them wood?! How would the poor things function if they learned that I do not get up and put on my bra and makeup specifically for the sole purpose of trying REALLY hard to get their attentions (which are the most important, after all)?!
But in all seriousness, I agree wholeheartedly. Some dudebros really need to get off the idea that everything and everyone must cater to them. It’s childish. I don’t give two flying ROUS turds what some random dude on the street or in the internet tubes thinks about my goddamned appearance.
Grumpyoldnurse
Thanks
Bina
Hail Durga! ::bows::
ParadoxicalIntention
They can go to an island or planet no one will miss them.
@ ParadoxicalIntention
I always want to say “dude, you’re just not that important to a bunch of strangers, nobody cares what you’re thinking”, but oh, just imagine the epic tantrums that would provoke.
Hear, hear! And consider yourself not the only one who feels that way.
Also, while I know that libartrollian is now banhammered, I just thought I’d point out that not only is telling someone to kill themselves NOT just “saying mean things”, it IS in fact illegal in a number of countries. If memory serves, a case recently went to trial where a man who persuaded several people on the Internet to commit suicide and do so on camera (for his own grotesque voyeuristic pleasure) was found guilty. So our trollish idiot interlocutor was not only disingenuous as fuck, but also full of shit. And sure has a skewed sense of priorities, too.
And he’s not even a trans person, as far as I know. He’s just a male rocker who looks great in full makeup. So the idea that he’s a “trap” is just plain stoopid.
And besides, I seriously doubt he’s interested in “trapping” any of them. Who would be? The channers are so loathsome, nobody even wants them to come close, much less have sex.