So I found the meme above on a Facebook page called “Feminist Hypocrisy.”
I also found this familiar pic posted there as well.
And this highly edifying discussion underneath it:
Huh. I’m seeing some hypocrisy here, but it doesn’t look much like feminist hypocrisy.
She’s quite a nice looking lady, I’m sure most of these dudes would be pretty excited if they had her attentions. They seem to operate on the idea that women are terrified of being considered unattractive by them.
Jesus fucking Christ, do these guys ever HEAR themselves?
Do you think we could have some of those “Legitimate criticisms” perhaps? And no, being a woman doesn’t count.
“She deserves a golden star”
“And a nice shower”
…
…
So, I guess implying that someone should be the victim of genocide is “legitimate criticism” now.
Yeah, these guys need to step on all the Legos.
Everyone remember this? Anita posted (by my count) 157 harassment messages that she received over the course of one week.
So, using that as a basis, and a really rough estimate that the left-hand pie chart in the OP shows her harassment is only around 1% of the total volume of messages she gets, then that means in one week she would be getting flooded with 15,543 “criticism” messages.
I’m not entirely sure how many tweets celebrity-type figures get, but that seems like a lot to me. More than anyone could ever hope to respond to at any rate. That volume could look like harassment no matter what the content. It’s a gish gallop of epic proportions.
The right-hand pie chart doesn’t really say anything besides “Anita doesn’t respond to critics much.” Well, of course not. She’s basically running an editorial video series, not a series of documentaries. Plus, with the volume of shit she gets served (and must get served if the left-hand pie chart is accurate at all), there would be no point. You can’t have a constructive conversation with 15K tweets.
… Wait, what hypocrisy? Anita’s not involved in the image, past her likeness, so they’re not harassing her. At the same time, they’re not offering legitimate criticism. They’re not contributing to either side of the coin. So… How is it hypocritical? Just looks like being assholes to me. All of the 4, possibly 5 guys.
The antisemitism there makes me want to rage quit the internet. Why are MRAs such fucking shitty people?
Seriously dudebros, you are not humaning correctly -_-
I watched all of the Tropes vs. Women in Video Games videos even though I’m not a video game player so I could see what all the fuss was about. What astonished me most was how *tame* they are. She’s very calm and collected throughout, mostly focuses on particular examples, and she never actually describes video games as a whole as sexist–she’s focusing on the *tropes* that are pervasive examples in a particular medium, in this case video games. There are points where you can disagree, but she’s one random person making a particular type of critique of a huge medium. Even if you disagreed with every single thing she says (and a lot o her criticism is pretty basic, I don’t see how you could disagree with all of it unless you’re part of the problem), there is zero need to feel so threatened by it. Easy proof of how over-the-top obsessed her Gater haters are? Go on the website for The Colbert Report, most videos of guest interviews have none or only a few comments. Anita’s video has 122.
Also, it’s bullshit that Anita doesn’t listen to so-called legitimate criticism. She doesn’t respond *directly*, but she has made changes based on feedback. For example, she stopped using the term “prostituted women” in her videos after someone suggested it was somewhat restrictive. And she’s actually announced a series to examine masculinity in video games, while the Tropes vs. Men in Video Games rebuttal series–shocker!–never materialized.
Holocaust jokes? Keep it classy, boys.
The most telling thing is that none of these people(and I use the term lightly when referring to pro-holocaust dipshits) have ever, watched any of her videos.
Almost all of this “legit criticism” tends to take the form of saying “she’s lying about harassment, and ignoring criticism.” I don’t know what they expect.
I really think a lot of this kind of stuff arises from the unbelivable ignorance of these folks. The fact that antisemitism is a real thing and that the holocaust was a real thing, and not just something going on during call of duty 2, doesn’t even occur to them.
I once worked with a kid who I think exemplifies a lot of these “gamers.” The guy thought he was super smart because of his nerdy hobbies, but fauled a community college U.S. history 101 class, twice. Dude was completely unreceptive to any information that ran contrary to his presumptions, be it an overhyped video game or how “dtf” a conservative Christian 16 year old we worked with was (nut to mention the appropriateness of his interest)
Aftrer all, how could he be wrong? He already knew everything! He spent his whole life playing halo! Haven’t you seen TV? Haven’t you seen the movies? Gamers are always super smart, and one day a virginal “babe” will just fall in their lap because they deserve it for being paragons of virtue!
I love that my rants are at least semi-relavent here, by the way.
Unfortunately, while I’d buy that this stuff get’s perpetuated through ignorance, I’d still say it’s fueled by out-and-out bigots. “Robert Brandt,” for instance, lists “Might makes Right” as a favorite book and is into White Power as a topic.
@suffrajitsu – This is an excellent analysis of what the series is saying and, particularly, the way is should be seen. When I watched my reaction was simple…
There’s a few specifics where she might be reaching but, overall, nothing she’s saying is untrue.
No rational person could be upset by any of her points. And that is, of course, why GamerGate exists.
^ The bottom line is that while these gits say that they want video games to be viewed and appreciated a serious medium, they want it to be THEIR medium with only THEIR opinions counting.
It’s pretty clear that these people have remained faaaaar away from academia if they think that Anita’s criticism is out of line.
Shit, I didn’t even see that was a holocaust joke until it was pointed out. These people really are terrible human beings.
@proxieme, so when they are exposed to academic environments, what they do is start crafting conspiracy theories about how the idea of critical examination of fictional sources comes from Marxist spies from the 1910s.
It’s absurd how much people will purposefully misinterpret her point – one of the worst claims being that her logic is “no different” from that of Jack Thompson.
Uh, actually, it’s very different. I’ve never heard Sarkeesian once say certain games should be banned or that simply playing a game leads to criminals behavior or any of the nonsense Thompson said – she analyzing fictional tropes and how they can be implicitly sexist, which in turn generally enforce backwards societal attitudes that need to be dealt with. I’m not sure how that’s any different from how a number of people review films or novels or television shows though I’m sure it’s “for reasons.”
Again, the stuff in the OP makes me wonder: why do GamerGaters, as well as free speech absolutists, expect me to find any legitimacy in their position when they actively participate in this kind of shit. As a Jew – how the fuck am I suppose to just find it “acceptable”? Maybe it’s because I lived in a very Christian neighborhood for a portion of my life and had to deal with a lot of back-handed and passive-aggressive anti-Semitism despite supposedly also being “white”, but I can’t tolerate that shit as being “quirky” or “eccentric” or whatever phrase ignorant people use to excuse the shitty behavior of terrible people.
I don’t know if you know, but that three fingers symbol on the picture in the Facebook comments is a fascist symbol. It became popular in Europe after a lot of countries banned Nazi salutes. For example, a Ukrainian fascist group named Svoboda uses it as their logo on flags.
Cavoyo,
Because of course it is. I should have known. These people really are giant pieces of shit. And these are probably the same people who call feminists “feminazis” without a trace of irony.
Unrelated: today’s SMBC comic features an awesome summary of the MRA “withholding sex” argument. http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3661
‘Seriously dudebros, you are not humaning correctly -_-‘
I love this phrase too much!
Well, these fucknuggets literally consider shit like “I WILL RAPE U 2 DEATH & EAT UR HEART U WH*REC*NT HH88” to be “Legitimate criticism” but will usually (not always) admit that the school shooting threat in Utah was “Harassment,” so the left chart is technically accurate if you translate the labels.
Not only does it involve a Holocaust joke, it’s being directed at someone of Armenian descent. I can even, but I see no point. It’s synergistic horrible. It’s the kind of thing said by someone who deserves to be beaten to death with a power drill.
What I love* about the anti-Semitic attacks on Sarkeesian is the fact that she’s not Jewish but Armenian, a group that has more than its fair share of stereotypes that they could be using. As can be seen, for instance, in the view reported by George Orwell (I think), that you should “trust a snake before a Jew, and a Jew before a Greek, but never, ever trust an Armenian.” So much material, and they’re just not using it!
Gamergaters: failing so hard, they can’t even do racism right.
*Find hilarious, because I have a very dark sense of humor.
Note: there is a certain element of sarcasm in this post.
Just taking a moment to notice that these dudes are posting under their real names.