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Welcome to the first episode of MEME FAIL, a new series of posts in which I look at, well, memes that fail. It’s kind of all there in the name, huh?
Today, we look at a meme aimed at former Star Trek: The Next Generation star Wil Wheaton, who has apparently committed the egregious sin of expressing his opinion about #GamerGate on Twitter.
The MEME. (Click for a larger version.)
How it FAILS: There’s really no way in which this meme doesn’t fail.
Let’s start with the most obvious problem: Calling #GamerGaters stupid pieces of dog poop is not actually racist or sexist. Apparently, #GamerGaters feel that because there are some people in their little movement who aren’t straight cis white dudes, any insult directed at their little movement is therefore racist and sexist (and homophobic and transphobic)?
Yeah, that’s not how it works. It almost seems like #GamerGate is trying to use women and people of color (and GLBT folks) as, well, a way to shield themselves from criticism while being complete assholes and bigots?
Then there’s the whole “Eulogy” thing. Wheaton is not actually suggesting that #GamerGate should go die, literally or figuratively. He’s actually quoting from the lyrics of a song by Tool called, well, “Eulogy.”
The song in question, as best as anyone has been able to figure out, is a snarky takedown of a self-righteous, self-appointed martyr who “had a lot of nothing to say.” Tool’s drummer has suggested that it’s aimed at L. Ron Hubbard. But, as Wheaton notes, the song very well could have been written about #GamerGaters, if #GamerGaters had been a thing when it was written.
You sure could yell.
You took a stand on every little thing
And so loud.
Standing above the crowd
So loud. So very very loud.
BONUS IRONY: I ran across this meme being mocked on r/gamerghazi, but did a reverse image search to find a larger and more readable version of it. I found one in a thread on FunnyJunk.com in which one of the commenters refers to “Wil ‘Captain Mangina’ Wheaton” as “the gayest faggot in Fagtopia” and, well, let’s just say that the commenter also suggests that Wheaton enjoys anal sex.
Everything else aside, this pathetic excuse for a meme once again demonstrates that brodouches of any variety, MRA or hashtag GamerGater alike all think that economical privilege is the only privilege that matters in society.
That, and “female privilege”, which apparently means getting some kind of magical “victim points” in exchange for being the victim of harassment and abuse. Victim points that don’t have any actual use or value in society, mind you, but any sympathy a woman might get from anyone after being targeted by these piss stains is, after all, misandry.
Assholes.
Oh! Moria! I played Moria! I have one of its descendants on my computer currently. I just never kept track of what the names of new versions were.
I found the Nethack->DCSS changes difficult at first, but it soon won me over, with its cool new player races and gods every months. Especially when I noticed some effort had gone into pronoun-dodging.
Hair dye! Entirely by coincidence, I coloured my hair (or rather, half of it) about the time gamergate was kicking off. Everything they’ve said since has made me more comfortable to identify with the SJW label, and I don’t feel like letting it grow out yet.
My hair is currently pink with yellow streaks in the front. Also rather faded and grown out right now because I needed to give my hair a break before I dye it again. I wish it has stopped all the douches from contacting me.
Seems like I sometimes can’t go a week without some dude asking if I dye everywhere. Eww eww eww! Also ow ow ow because my hair is naturally quite dark so I have to bleach it first. Hair bleach does not belong in certain areas.
If you encounter a no sense of appropriate boundaries dude again you should tell him that you also dye your armpit and nose hair, and offer to show him.
My hair’s very dark brown with a dash of black to keep the grey roots (which is most of ’em) and the gingery fading at the ends under control. Nothing like my natural hair colour, thank goodness. 😀 But I haven’t seen that in thirty years. I’d probably be all grey if I stopped getting it coloured, but I’m not ready to do that, not by a long chalk. Apart from anything else, Mr K might feel compelled to make his hair grey to keep up, and I don’t want to lose the sight of that lovely black hair!
@gilshalos:
Wasn’t one of its descendants a little game called, like, Diablo or something? /snark
(My wrist hurts just thinking about that game. I wore out a mouse playing it …)
Buttercup Q. Skullpants, “pink” in that context usually means “vagina”
“Does the carpet match the drapes?”, leer. Skeeviest pickup line EVER.
And if anyone ever got action out of that, it would be news to me.
A drink thrown in their face counts as an action, right?
Well, more of a reaction, really. But not the kind they were hoping for, I’m sure.
I thought it was misandry to have pubic hair these days anyway.
O______________________________o
Because only white women have vaginas.
(Thanks for the explanation, dudeinthewoods…I knew it was something I would regret googling)
Buttercup Q. Skullpants, mucosal membranes in humans tend to be pinkish no matter what the external skin colour might be (think about mouths and tongues). You’re not confusing vaginas with vulvas, are you?
It’s misandry to have any hair except on the scalp, eyebrows and eyelashes, apparently.
GOOD.
I think last time we tried to think of things that weren’t misandry we failed to come up with anything.
tigtog – I’m well aware of the difference, but I don’t think MRAs are. Most of them seem to have only the most cursory familiarity with female anatomy.
Pretty much, because everything a woman can do (and even ones she can’t) manage to be misandry for some dude somewhere.
Everything we do, we do it for you!
(Lies)
I suppose we could say we’re misandering for them … at least, if we thought about them at all when we do stuff. It’s a bonus, isn’t it: do stuff for ourselves, do stuff for people we like/care about/fancy and vice versa, and with no effort at all, misander!
Thinking of hair dye, I have a friend who dyed her natural blonde hair dark brown. Which is not the normal way round. She looked good as a brunette, but the main reason she did it was she had naturally black/dark eyebrows. She got so fed up with people assuming she dyed her hair blonde that she dyed it to match them 🙂
Also @Falconer Yes, I have ALL the Diablos 🙂
@cassandrakitty:
Standard action! Ranged touch attack!
… Dammit, those D&D rules arguments have worn a groove in my brain.
@gilshalos: I moved up to Torchlight recently, but I spent more time comparing my new loot to my current equipment to see if the loot was better than running around playing the game.
That, and this one time the boss got me and the lag prevented me from telling my friends before they got the boss, so I didn’t get any XP. Poo.
Reblogged this on The fiction of Amelia C. Gormley and commented:
If I’d known about We Hunted The Mammoth a year ago, I would have featured them in Player vs. Player. What an amazing site for keeping track of what GamerGate and the MRAs and PUAs are up to.