Before he decided to attach himself to the #GamerGate “movement,” Breitbart writer and all-around douchebag Milo Yiannopoulos took a certain pleasure in baiting gamer “nerds,” a demographic he once described as a bunch of “pungent beta-male bollock-scratchers and twelve-year olds.”
He’s not the only self-appointed #GamerGate savior who doesn’t seem to have much respect for the group he’s ostensibly championing. Over on Reaxxion — the atrociously written pro-GamerGate game site run by pickup guru and non-gamer Roosh — one writer implores fellow gamers to quite literally put down their controllers and pick up weights.
In 5 Reasons Why Gamers Should Life Weights, Alexander Anderson urges gamer nerds to become gamer jocks, and not just because regular exercise is good for your health. In Anderson’s mind, weightlifting nerds can also challenge the stereotype of gamers as “socially awkward, passive, uncool, and physically unappealing” nerds by not, you know, embodying the stereotypes so completely themselves.
Go to a gaming gathering event and pay attention to the other people around you. Look at how they dress and how they communicate with each other. Pay attention to their body language, tone of voice, mannerism, and what they talk about. Then go to a sporting event and repeat the process. Which group of people would an average person prefer to be around?
HINT: You’re supposed to pick the sports fans.
The solution? Lifting, bro!
If all gamers start lifting weights, it will help combat the public perception of gamers as unsociable cave dwellers.
And even if Anderson can’t convince every World of Warcrafter to hit the gym, at least those who do lift will have “an edge over other gamers.”
Humans subconsciously prefer the company of those who are bigger, stronger, and smarter than the rest. You will stand out among your gamer friends if you are the only one in the room with muscles. Your social standing will increase, your health will improve and you will gain more confidence from regularly exercising.
Huh. I thought GamerGaters wanted gaming to be a “safe space” for nerds, not another arena in which jocks get to lord it over them.
Maybe they’ll see through his strawman nerds like we see through his strawman feminists?
Maybe?
Why do I get the feeling Milo Yiannopoulos telling gamers they are flat-out inadequate and need to change themselves will generate far less hate than than Anita Sarkeesian or Brianna Wu suggesting games could be better?
Wow, this guy is super invested in the idea that having massive guns will somehow make you a more interesting or sociable person.
There’s already plenty of overlap between people who like nerdy stuff and people who like sporty stuff. Why do manospherians always view people as one dimensional high school movie characters? Most people actually have varied interests and different personality facets. I suppose because PUAs are incredibly shallow they think everyone else is too.
Jocks are known for their fascinating conversations. Good to know.
Pocket Nerd
I’ve talked to a number of GGers about this and everyone I’ve talked to has forgiven him for this, because he claimed he said it before he knew what gamers were really like.
Also, equating “taking regular exercise” with “lifting weights” is fairly misleading. Most of the benefits ascribing to lifting here are exactly the same benefits you get from taking any type of regular exercise. Lifting is great if you want to achieve a very particular type of fitness and physique*, but it’s completely superfluous to maintaining a generally good standard of health and well-being. Moving regularly and breaking a sweat once in a while is what’s important.
*Case in point, the super buff dude who once swaggered into my Bikram yoga class and was literally on the floor after the first twenty minutes. His balance was rubbish and he clearly had no core strength, but mainly he looked absolutely horrified that a group of women of varying shapes, sizes and pudginess were moving through the poses with relative ease.
He said it before he knew that gamers are capable of being terrorists, and supporters of terrorists?
I believe it.
And they actually believe that? Can’t they just be grown ups and admit that the enemy of their enemy is their friend?
Thus Spake Zaratinyorc:
Yeah. And MRAs say women are shallow…
I actually used to do a fair bit of weight training myself, though that was many years ago and I’m now terribly out of shape. One thing I’ve noticed about the manosphere’s obsession with weight training: It’s full of terrible advice. In particular, be wary of anybody who calls it “lifting” instead of “weight training” — they lean heavily on Bro-Science™ and tend to push ideas that are either useless (like working a muscle group over and over, without allowing recovery time) or actively harmful and dangerous (“ECA stacks”).
“Lifters” also seem to care only about how MUCH you can lift, rather than overall tone, strength, control, and endurance. Benching 300 is fine and dandy, but if that’s the only metric of your progress, you’re cheating yourself of 80% of the benefits of weight training. And let’s face it, it’s not likely to impress random strangers unless you carry a bench and dumbbells every where you go…
I wish I knew. Is stuffing people into their home made stereotypes the only way they can deal with the world? Or the only way they can think of holding onto power and control?
Or is it something to do with the Red Pill thing? Like, they walk around in public thinking that everyone else is just some sort of program? They think everyone else is two dimensional and fabricated and deceived by The Gynocracy or whatever, because it’s the only way these dweebs can feel like they’re special?
(Yes, I was watching The Matrix on TV last night, funnily enough).
#biotruth
I like “smarter” just sitting there, being irrelevant.
Yeah, but brain efficiency and capacity is directly related to bicep circumference. #biotruth
Also, I knew a guy who lifted (emphasis on lifting rather than training because he just went in and did whatever exercises he felt like doing that day rather than planning out any kind of productive workout) and who claimed that his arms got so big that he severely injured his shoulder while trying to scratch his back.
Obviously the more you lift the smarter you become. It’s perfectly reasonable and clearly what happens.
Why do these people always fixate on lifting? Why is it never “If you want to get popular, become a long distance marathon runner or yoga expert”?
This is the worst Breakfast Club remake ever.
Fibinachi: Good point. There are loads of sports out there other than lifting.
Community Question: if you could be great at any sport, what would it be? I’m torn between rock climbing and kitesurfing.
Horseback riding.
“Huh. I thought GamerGaters wanted gaming to be a “safe space” for nerds, not another arena in which jocks get to lord it over them.”
No worries, as long as he tagged on something anti-female in there I’m sure GamerGaters will eat it up anyway. Misogyny is like the condiment that makes everything palatable to these guys.
Agreed on horseback riding.
OMG THIS GUY WHO DOESNT EVEN PLAY GAMES COMES IN HERE AND TELLS GAMERS THEY HAVE TO CHANGE…..
That’s what GGers said? Right?……right?
@sunnysombrera: Jousting. (No, really, it’s MD’s official state sport! http://marylandjousting.com/)
Yeah, come on, gamers. Stop being misogynists in the privacy of your darkened bedroom and go be misogynists at the gym and the bar, like us PUAs. How will women ever know how much you hate them if you don’t get out more?
If I could magically be good at a sport: parkour.
I’d go for swimming, because I love the feeling of being in the water.
I could also say “watergym” because it’s super fun, but it’s not the first thing in my mind when thinking about “sports” and “great”.