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With interest in their pet cause waning, #GamerGaters have been casting about for something that might give their little movement an infusion of energy and new supporters. They got a temporary boost a month ago from the ridiculous concoction that was #ShirtStorm, but that didn’t last.
And now, as you may have heard, they’re trying again with yet another contrived controvery called #MetalGate.
On Friday, a writer for Death Metal Underground warned fellow metalheads that “the same people who intruded into the gaming industry despite a striking lack of actual contributions” have now decided to take over the world of heavy metal music.
His proof of this Social Justice Warrior invasion? A Spin article mentioning – and celebrating – what it described as a recent “increase in conversations about racism, politics, and feminism” amongst metalheads. And a 2006 Washington Post article suggesting that metal was getting more “socially conscious.”
No, seriously. His entire argument relied on an 8-year-old newspaper article and a single sentence in Spin.
But apparently that’s all it takes to create a #Gate these days. #GamerGaters, desperate for some sort of continuing cultural relevance, are hanging onto the new hashtag with the grim determination of, well, I was going to say this guy
… but the dog is pretty adorable, and he seems to be really enjoying himself.
But, anyway, #MetalGate is now a thing.
GamerGate celebrities Mundane Matt and Sargon of Akkad have already posted YouTube videos on the subject; bumbling Sarkeesian Effect co-creator Jordan Owen has weighed in with a nearly hour-long lecture on the subject in which, among other things, he explains at length why he is not comparable to Beavis or Butthead. (Well, obviously; Butthead is a lot less obtuse than Owen.) Fortunately, he’s not in a bathtub this time.
Roosh’s Return of Kings blog – a kind of bellwether of manosphere opportunism – has posted its own guide to the alleged controversy, prophesying that
The SJWs will likely try the same excessive tactics with metalgate that they used on gamergate and shirtgate, and they will get the same negative reaction from the masses. The harder the SJWs push, the more Average Joe is repulsed by them. Their unfounded optimism and willful naivety will be the death of them.
[For even more ridiculous reactions on Roosh’s video game blog Reaxxion, see this post of mine.]
Over on Twitter, meanwhile, outraged metalhead #Gamergaters and neoreactionary Manosphereians and other easily outraged asshats are busily posting tweets about the evils of SJW influence in metal; the Tweeters include some names that will be familiar to long-time readers of this blog:
Oh lovely, now #metalgate is a thing – guess being one of the most accepting groups of people on the planet isnt enough for some people
— TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) December 13, 2014
I would like to see all kinds of groups standing up in solidarity with GG, daring the SJWs to do anything about it. #gamergate #metalgate
— Fidelbogen – gab.ai/Fidelbogen (@fidelbogen) December 14, 2014
#MetalGate #GamerGate aren't about metal, games, fem-supremists want to kill any semblance of conventional masculinity in society that's all
— Rollo Tomassi (@RationalMale) December 14, 2014
https://twitter.com/Reyeko_/status/543918108944367616
https://twitter.com/runsonmagic/status/543803519837671425
https://twitter.com/voxday/status/543733247122100225
Some other, er, highlights from the discussion.
(CONTENT WARNING: Slurs galore.)
.
.
.
https://twitter.com/beantownborn/status/543639435179745281
#MetalGate
Troll/10. You retards can't touch metal, we aren't afraid to call a cunt a cunt. Cunts.
.— PewpSchute (@ThePewpschute) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/CactusTheLynx/status/544059034676895744
So long as you're not a cunt metal heads will like you. If you're a cunt you'll get called out for being a cunt. Don't be a cunt #MetalGate
— Emily Galiette (@TheGrlThatDates) December 13, 2014
https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/544165045123694592
https://twitter.com/SiliconNooB/status/543697727251427328
The desperation could not be more obvious. Sorry, fellas, but this one isn’t going to take off.
Hell, even #GamerGate’s most famous hanger-on is dubious, asking
Is #MetalGate real or a joke
— Milo Yiannopoulos (@Nero) December 13, 2014
If you can’t even convince Milo to believe – or pretend to believe – your bullshit, well, you’re kind of screwed.
I hear evil SJWs are trying to take over folk music. Quick! Someone warn Billy Bragg! What if the SJWs try to make him anti-capitalist!?
Buying a Norwegian folk Metal album to celebrate your white heritage: $13.00
Realizing a black guy invented the electric guitar: Priceless
Did someone say ‘Billy Bragg’?
Sorry, couldn’t help it! It’s a reflex! What? I have a doctor’s note!
@ Mikki – 😀
I didn’t know green day was metal lol
Meanwhile, iTunes has a racist shit-rock problem, and social-injustice couch potatoes have a new indie-rocker hero who posts shit on 4chan.
Bina,
I’ve never heard of that band, but I’m getting pretty sick of the “just because I use racist, sexist, and homophobic slurs doesn’t mean I’m racist, sexist, and homophobic. How dare you suggest I am!”
Isn’t gate just a thing you tack on to another thing? Like benghazi-gate, it can really be anything.
First: Are we sure this isn’t the result of another Twitter bot?
Second: Catalpa, I would like to offer you this gently used internet. #notyourporkproduct
Now, back to play the videos in the thread.
Yeah, it’s like words don’t mean things. Uh, actually, they do — which is why I don’t use those words unless (a) I’m quoting an asshole verbatim, or (b) I’m describing how those assholes think and talk.
BTW, I have that band’s album on my own iTunes, but it’s not my fave; there are lots of other indies I listen to more. From what I gather on other sites, the band’s frontman was blindsided by this whole thing, and has been taking to Twitter to distance himself from the offender. Good on him for that, at least.
How dare you betray the one true bacon!? This means war! #bacongate
(I kid, turkey bacon is actually really good. Different, but good.)
Hmmm, DIIV isn’t half bad. I’m not overly shocked when a musician says stupid shit, but being a 4chan troll is embarrassing even for a teenager. Their fan base is going to get a whole lot stupider as they get new “anti-SJW” fans. I look forward to Vox Day’s awkwardly tweet about how much he enjoys their music cause he’s hep cat.
I want Vox Day to start a music blog, honestly. It would be the best thing ever.
My first thought on reading the headline was “Metalgate? What do these people have against wrought-iron fences?”
I see the actual reason for #metalgate is far more ridiculous.
I predict that Young Master Beale’s musical opinions will be as well informed and thoughtful as all his other cultural musings. Har.
Vox Day can help expose new rock bands to racist reactionaries who have grown tired of listening to Ted Nuggent. We now know he enjoys great lyrics and guitar solos, plus he’s a super genius, so he could definitely could do a music blog. Watch out Pitchfork.
I understand popular music so little, I will not express any opinions on metal. But that Reddit thread was thoroughly enjoyable. Thanks for the link!
Contrapangloss – what I’ve heard is that, when buying turkey bacon, the more ingredients listed the better. The fewer ingredients, the more it tastes like turkey.
I have no idea how the clowns in DIIV get the press they do.
When I eat bacon, it’s across the veil and it’s most often cooked by Mr K. Is having an ex-king make your breakfast misandering properly?
Well, it certainly isn’t the “Return of Kings” that Roosh Douche has in mind!
@brooked: Just please, nobody introduce Beale to Absurd or Graveland. Or NSBM and RAC in general. He would have a field day, and it would be awful. D:
Well, if Vox’s musical output is something to judge his taste by, they might not be to his taste despite shared viewpoints. . .
Ha!
@lowquacks: Is that… Is that real? Is that something Beale has really created and put into the world? That is just… Incredible. Beyond words, even. XD
Completely real. Hard to tell at that resolution, but I believe Vox is the one with the roundish face and proto-Macklemore hair.