The We Hunted the Mammoth Pledge Drive continues! If you haven’t already, please consider sending some bucks my way. (And don’t worry that the PayPal page says Man Boobz.) Thanks!
#MetalGate, we hardly knew ye! Despite the earnest effort of a small army of opportunists to stoke the fire – some of them #GamerGaters, others “dark enlightenment” neoreactionarires – the contrived controversy that was #MetalGate has already lost most of its steam. All you need to do is take a look at Topsy to see how quickly the hashtag burned itself out.
This is hardly surprising, given that the alleged controversy was little more than an utterly transparent attempt by ideological hacks to breathe life into the decaying corpse of #GamerGate and to drive traffic to terrible “dark enlightenment” blogs.
So before #MetalGate becomes a fading memory, I’d like to take a moment to highlight the efforts of one notable neoreactionary to turn the faux controversy into a war against “Social Justice Warriors” – and pump up the traffic to his struggling video game blog.
I’m talking, of course, about werewolf impersonator and woman-hating pickup guru Roosh Valizadeh. Roosh was late out of the gates in his attempt to capitalize on #GamerGate by launching his hilariously clueless video game blog Reaxxion. But with #MetalGate he moved more quickly, publishing three rabble-rousing posts on the subject in three days.
I mentioned one of them in my last post. But it’s the two he’s published on Reaxxion that are the real winners.
Yesterday, Reaxxion’s “ethics officer” Sam Roberts – yes, that is a thing – delivered an over-the-top rant warning metalheads that “enemies of metal are upon us.”
These alleged enemies? Social Justice Warriors, the all-purpose boogeyman that strikes terror in the hearts of #GamerGaters, Men’s Rights Activsts and neoreactionary werewolf PUAs alike. Roberts defined SJWs as
far-left weirdos with nothing going on in their life, who try to inject their toxic, tiresome political ideology into every field imaginable. They’ve taken over Atheism, Science Fiction Books, and they were poised to take over video games until #Gamergate started roundly thrashing them. Now, with what’s being called #Metalgate, we’re finding out that they want to take over heavy metal too. …
If these people get their way heavy metal will be neutered to the point where you could play it on a school bus
The horror!
After attacking two critics of metalhead douchebros – one of whom he describes as a “preening sissy” – Roberts ends with this rather comical call-to-arms:
If metalheads don’t want to end up neutralized and pussified, they’ll have to fight back. Gamergate shows the way here: if the media starts pushing a lousy band because its bassist has a vagina, mock them relentlessly. If a magazine starts hassling you like a schoolteacher for using naughty language, boycott them. Spread the word: if you’ve got twitter, use the hashtag #Metalgate. Don’t think [sic] The worst thing you can do is assume that somebody else will do your fighting for you. The enemies of metal have arisen, and it’s time to cut them down like dogs.
Appended to the article we find this embarrassing correction:
Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly identified Kerry King as the frontman for Slayer. He is a guitarist. Reaxxion regrets the error.
Oops. Totally not metal, dude.
Reaxxion followed up this post with one today from irate #GamerGater Steve Alexander, who fantasized about a mythical alliance between gamers and metalheads that will defeat the SJW menace once and for all:
GamerGate is actively uniting liberals with conservatives under the umbrella of freedom of expression. But SJW’s don’t realize this, and have now attacked the metal crowd. They’ll soon find out that all their strategy will accomplish is to unite hardcore gamers and the metal crowd into a righteous mob.
We will learn from each other—gamers will bring their knowledge of leveraging social media and e-mail, and the metal crowd will bring their extreme energy and uninhibited expression. Together, marching in step, some wearing Converse while others wear steel toe boots, we will crush this censorship of our favorite mediums.
Huh. I guess gamers who are also metalheads will wear Converse on one foot and a steel-toed boot on the other?
Let me know how that goes.
Yeah, he definitely haven`t met any passioned metalhead in person, if he thinks they need the advice to not listen to lousy bands. I mean, metalheads are one of the most demanding public when it comes to their music. To my experience, even classical music admirers (not musicians) can`t compete with them.
@leftwingfox
Maybe try some better bands, lol. Metallica is, like, the worst possible metal and irritates the hell out of me. They once decided to tour with an orchestra, because having more than guitar/synth/bass/drums in the music was super original IN THEIR MINDS.
I’d give some recs but all my info was decades out of date and I’d have to think about it really hard, plus if you don’t like metal that’s completely OK and you are under no obligation to try it again or change your mind.
When I was a teen, everyone in my age group either listened to top 20 pop or metal (most of it was tin-bashing). I went with metal, it seemed more interesting. Nowadays, with the wonders of the interwebs, I can listen to lots of things, so metal fell off my personal radar a long time ago. I still love metal for rpgs & writing; not a lot of stuff is better for fast-paced combat scenes!
I basically started listening to metal after playing Guitar Hero III. No regrets!
This one should do nicely:
Metal is one of the music genres that not only do I not listen to, but could not even define in any meaningful way. I did see one of the music videos Christopher Lee appeared in, but that’s about it. From what I’ve read in the music section of the local free weekly, there are quite a few genres that are evidently popular about which the same is true. It’s good to hear that metalheads* are generally too sensible to be taken in by the Gaters.
@Friday Jones: Ha! That would be a good one, especially in a drawing that has Vivian in her original sweater nearby.
@Falconer: Vivian does need a new shirt. I used to love purple and lime green together, but now it’s been wrecked forever for me. I need to repaint my old room.
@thebewilderness: I love the idea of Vivian in a Joan Jett shirt! I might have to draw her with her metal friend, who I am tempted to either put in a Sonata Arctica shirt (even though Cannibal Corpse would OBVIOUSLY be more manly. /sarcasm) or perhaps a Dethklok shirt. I like Dethklok. I also like Megadeth, who were far more charming in concert than Slayer. Decisions decisions.
I’m currently trawling google for reference material.
wait…Sci-Fi? Say what?
@LadyMarchHare:
My best guess? Vox Day hasn’t been doing so well, and has been exposed as a douchenozzle. Thus, SJWs rule over all of Science Fiction with an iron fist, crushing all resistance.
I’m actually glad this happened, because it cause me to find In The Moment.
“The Fighter” is a seriously amazing song. O_O
And also very misandry. 😉
Sorry for the O/T but I found something that deserves to be mocked here. If there is a way to send tips to David directly, please let me know.
Milo has written a review of Dragon Age: Inquisition for Breitbart.
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/12/15/Review-Dragon-Age-Inquisition
If the #Gits really, really want to split metal down left/right lines… They can have Dave Mustaine and the “White power metal” (why is that even a thing, ugh) bands and we’ll keep everything else. Deal?
(Otherwise known as “The way it’s been for decades.”)
“GamerGate is actively uniting liberals with conservatives under the umbrella of freedom of expression”
Oh please. GamerGate has zero problems using threats of violence and doxing to silence people that they disagree with. They have done nothing but attack free speech, and the claim that they are defending freedom of expression runs counter to reality.
Also, they are not “oppressed” or “censored” when people have different opinions than them. Disagreement is something that commonly happens in free societies, and if they actually supported freedom of expression, they would understand this.
Wow. For all the gamergits’ issues with games media, one would think they would take issue with the practice of giving every AAA game a high score no matter how terrible the game is, just because it’s a AAA game.
2-3 out of 5 underpants for every category, yet a total score of 8.8. Wow, how daringly low.
Of course the hypothetical vagina-having musician plays bass, the instrument that is culturally thought of as being superfluous and taking absolutely no skill to play. Eye fucking roll. I’m a female musician, and this shit makes me livid. >:(
David, you owe me a new screen now!
Robert – same here. I didn’t even know Christopher Lee had appeared in videos.
Yes, all those bands with filthy, vagina-having bassists like Sonic Youth, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins…
I had no idea we’d taken over Science Fiction Books, which judging from the random capitalization, seems to be a bookstore that exclusively carries sci-fi. That’s cool. But next, can we take over Half Price Books? There’s one down the road from me an I’d love to be able to get an “SJW Evil Overlord” discount.
I just want to say that I love the image of a schoolbus full of children becoming overwhelmed by the power of a metal song being played, crashing the bus, climbing out and dancing around it, headbanging like wild beasts, rapturously worshipping their new god of the night, their new god of death. Oh, hell yeah. Somebody make this video.
What music video was Christopher Lee in?
@ sparky – I’d settle for a SJW Evil Henchperson discount.
@ Tulgey Logger – sounds like the last school bus ride of the year, every year, back when I rode the school bus. (it was the 80’s. what can i say?)
Gaters are so cartoonishly incompetent. They have a whole breadth of white supremacists and shitheads to draw from in the scene, all the way up to people like Varg Vikernes and Faust. Instead, they go after… Jello Biafra. Yeah. Like Jello fucking Biafra would ever want to touch a reactionary mob with a hundred-foot pole.
Just to point out…I’m a metalhead, and a gamer, and a supporter of SJWs. And I’ve been all of those damn near my whole life.
“Lousy”, herein, defined as “contains vaginas”.
I’m most confused as to why anyone would use “SJWs” without irony. It’s only really a subset of reactionaries among those categories that are anti-social justice warriors. (anti [social justice] warriors)