I‘m going to do something I’ve never done before and that I likely won’t do ever again. That is, recommend that you watch a video by Thunderf00t. That one, up there.
Because, bless his terrible little heart, he has pulled together a hilarious and informative mini-documentary on what you might call the Unmaking of The Sarkeesian Effect, filled with clips that remind us all just what complete fuckups and hypocrites would-be filmmakers Jordan Owen and Davis Auini really are. Especially Aurini.
The section in which Thunderf00t rips apart Aurini’s claims to be a brilliant bloody editor (who knows all the keyboard shortcuts) is particularly delicious.
Just ignore the bits where he actually goes after Sarkeesian herself; they’re fairly brief, in any case.
If you feel bad about giving Thunderf00t views, you might be able to assuage some of that guilt by giving me money. (How’s that for a segue!) Just another reminder that the We Hunted the Mammoth Pledge Drive is (still) on! Please consider donating through the PayPal button below. Thanks!
Or you could donate money to Ms. Sarkeesian. It’s all good.
Anyway, even before he became embedded in anti-feminist nonsense, I had a really difficult time listening to Thunderf00t – His voice is just extremely condescending. He constantly sounds like he’s talking down his nose at the viewer despite knowing that most of them are probably his loyal patreon supporters.
I can’t listen to 90% of podcasts for that reason. I’m allergic to Smug Nerd Voice, even though I probably have it myself.
@dhag85
Meeeee, too. And it was Owen who was a porn lover who knew the “mediator,” and yet it ends up being Aurini + mediator who try to kick Owen off the project he invented while grabbing all the money and scamming more money out of the mouth-breathing gamergaters while defaming Owen?
Never mind that the dynamic duo took aboard a “mediator” who was a disbarred lawyer with a criminal rap sheet and zero contacts or experience in the film industry other than in low-grade porn because THAT would salvage their project as it oozed into the garbage disposal. Who’s sorry NOW, Anita, hurr durr.
THEN, just when it’s time for the “Springtime for Hitler in Germany” production number, Aurini actually goes full Godwin and makes videos explaining how the Nazis had no plan for exterminating the Jews but that doesn’t make him a Holocaust denier, just an author-historian (with a B.A. at best), who knows everything that people think is true about the Holocaust isn’t.
The latest? Rorschach Romanov has joined the Hate-Aurini pile-on from the libertarian/right but is more interested in ripping out Thunderf00t’s entrails because, uuuuh, they is all manly menz standing up for… uhhhh… stuff, et MeFirstYouLosercetera.
Th-th-th-that’s All, F-f-f-f-folks!
We laugh at people who say ridiculous things here on this blog, all the time. What’s the difference between laughing at NWOslave who says evolution doesn’t real because SUPERDOGS!! and laughing at Kirk Cameron who says evolution doesn’t real because CROCODUCK!! ?
(There are plenty of things that separate we Mammotheers from Thunderf00t, mind.)
Ibis – That is certainly what it started out as, but as Alan pointed out, the dictionary is going to go with the way it is actually used, and the common usage is pretty much what they’ve put in the dictionary. I totally agree, though, that what made the word particularly useful was exactly the element that’s been lost.
“Go ahead! 🙂 You’ll be one of literally a handful of people who’ve seen it. Nobody really cares about which movies you watch.”
Only if they dump it on YouTube or something first. Like I’ll pay to see that…
I have to imagine the statues of Mario, Ash, Samus, and Link he he keeps cutting back to are staring in stone-faced horror.
The fucking skulls! OMG I’m dying of laughter over here.
Re: tfoot and the mountain lion
The really fucking galling thing is that’s a very animal-specific thing. Yes, it works for mountain lions and a few other big cats. But every animal is different, and what scares a mountain lion away could get you eaten by a bear or trampled to death by a water buffalo.
So fuck him, it’s not even a universal way of dealing with animals.
Though Vet was trolling before, I read that comment as saying “this makes me want to see how bad it actually is now”.
But I might be feeling particularly charitable today.
“I read that comment as saying “this makes me want to see how bad it actually is now”.”
Yeah, pretty much. Besides, wasn’t that the documentary that dragged Jack Thompson out of retirement just to say bad things about Sarkeesian, without anybody noticing the irony of trying to get *Jack Thompson* on the side of gamers?
Thompson was right, in a way, about what could be wrought by video games. And the proof is GamerGate itself.
So I just had a case of the reverse mansplain: Some guy didn’t get what I was talking about, so I explained it, and then he got all huffy about HOW DARE I SUGGEST THAT HE DIDN’T KNOW SOMETHING.
That sort of thing happens far too often, unfortunately. People coin words to help with discussions of complicated subjects that the general public has little understanding of. Then sooner or later the general public gets a hold of those words and use them in a way that reflects their misunderstanding. Correction is ultimately futile. And thus, a useful word is lost or diluted via stupidity. And in the case of social issues, words sometimes become corrupted via enemy action.
But really, it doesn’t even need to be a particularly complicated subject. Take the word “factoid” for example. Originally it meant “something which is generally regarded as a fact, but is actually someone’s educated but unproven (or even disproven) guess”. Once the word entered common use, it became a synonym for “trivia”. Probably because a lot of trivia questions had factoid answers.
Wow… Aurini is so much like my old boss. Ick 🙁
Addenum: I should have mentioned that I was responding to the subject of “mansplain” being redefined. And clarified that while it’s particularly bad in cases when difficult or complicated subjects get messed up due to public co-opting of words, it’s not the only time when that happens.
Oh, I don’t think the natural evolution of language is as dire as all that. Words become more widely used as their meaning shifts to something people find useful. I was rather charmed by the evolution of the word “meme,” for instance.
Speaking of videos, we found the MRA theme song today!
https://youtu.be/zi8ShAosqzI
The ultimate irony of Tfoots descent into an anti-feminist crank is that he is EXACTLY as ignorant of feminism as all those creationists he targeted were of evolution.
Yeah, I’m not watching that unless you pay me.
Starting at $10,000. I have bills to pay.
I’m so embarrassed by my past fondness for Thunderf00t. I was so thrown when he came out against the clearly articulated harassment policies for conferences (that just seems so basic and uncontroversial?) I’m just glad I will never encounter him in person, because I am categorically against having my legs bitten, and apparently asking before you bite someone’s leg ruins the fun.
While I did enjoy TF showing how Professor Skull has no idea whatsoever how to mix audio for films, I was put off by TF’s claim that he could edit a full length documentary in a week or two.
It’s true that Aurini doesn’t even remotely know what he’s doing, but LF mistakenly seems to think editing documentaries is easier that editing narrative films. In fact it’s often harder. There aren’t “relatively few cuts” and the editor isn’t merely picking out the good bits, they’re creating an overall narrative structure. Sure he could cut each separate interview segment lickety split but to make a watchable full length doc out of them all takes both technical skill, artistry and time. Unlike Youtube videos, docs go through numerous edits and are extremely challenging to make.
… I have the oddest feeling that I’ve missed something, and that I have absolutely no interest in learning what it is that I have missed.
@Falconer
Basically, you’re missing this conversation between TF and other people (paraphrased):
TF: Conferences don’t need harassment policies.
Others: Why not?
TF: Because I’m an adult and I do whatever I want. I don’t need your permission to have fun! (posting picture of himself nibbling a woman’s leg)
Others: Our permission? No, you need to ask the woman’s permission before nibbling her leg.
TF: PARTY POOPERS!!
Others: Wat.
TF: THOUGHT POLICE!!
Others: Wat.
TF: FEMINISM POISONS EVERYTHING RAWRRGLE
Not nearly as bad as I made it sound, really, Falconer. When he was at FTB he posted some long thing about how terrible sexual harassment policies are, and as proof he included a photo of him fake biting a woman on the leg at a conference, which he claimed (wrongly) wouldn’t have been permitted if a sexual harassment policy had been in place. Everyone seemed to be having a great time in the photo, for what that’s worth. But anyway people tried to tell him that fooling around would still be permitted as long as everybody had given consent, and he was like “I don’t want to have to SIGN FORMS IN TRIPLICATE just to have fun!!1!”
If there’s a link to it that still exists, I don’t know where it is :-/
Falconer pretty much summed up my thoughts about Tf00t perfectly.
“I used to enjoy his Why Do People Laugh At Creationists videos, but most of that was done before he soiled the bed at FreeThoughtBlogs.
I’m glad to see he’s put out something watchable again, but the digs at Sarkeesian squash any brief hope I had that he was turning around.”
I didn’t realize Aruni was from my neck of the woods (Airdrie/Calgary). That’s saddening, but not exactly surprising for ‘Berta.
Sorry David, I am not watching a thunderf00t video for free. Maybe for good beer, but it has to be some really good beer.