So a couple of days ago, as you probably have heard, Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn testified at the United Nations about online harassment of women. The two, along with a number of other victims of/experts on online harassment also paid a visit to Google Ideas to share their thoughts on the matter.
This is, in essence, what #GamerGate has achieved over the past year: By launching an unprecedented wave of organized harassment, mostly aimed at women, the Gators have brought about a new awareness of the seriousness of online harassment. And they’ve given the women whose lives and careers they’ve tried most energetically to destroy an influence they never would have had otherwise.
Naturally, Gators have been losing their shit over all this.
And so, as a public service of sorts, I would like to share with you the 13 most ridiculously hyperbolic pronouncements from Gators I have seen thus far in response to Sarkeesian and Quinn’s recent adventures. (On Reddit, anyway; I have not (yet) ventured into the wilds of 8chan or the Twitter hashtag to collect further examples, and I’m not sure I will.) Major props to the folks in the BestOfOutrageCulture subreddit, who have been energetically and hilariously documenting the man-steria, and who found a number of the examples below.
1) “We are literally fighting to save the world from an international alliance targeting the most fundamental human rights.“
In a KotakuInAction post with more than 300 upvotes, someone called frankenmine declares:
Make no mistake, we are literally fighting to save the world from an international alliance targeting the most fundamental human rights. …
The problem is not the UN panel and report itself. The problem was not the Google Ideas meeting. The problem was not the Congressional hearing. …
The mere ability to get access to these platforms shows that McIntosh and his ilk is building up a progressively larger and more influential network fairly quickly. At the rate he’s going, he might be able to infiltrate actually influential organizations, at the corporate and/or governmental levels, fairly soon.
The McIntosh in question is Jonathan McIntosh, Sarkeesian’s video-making partner. Unable to believe that a mere woman could actually be in charge of her own life many GamerGater’s believe that McIntosh is the evil puppetmaster pulling Sarkeesian’s strings.
2) “Now GamerGate has to save the world from authoritarian, women-infantising control freaks?”
In another KotakuInAction post, this one with more than 1600 upvotes, _Mellex_ makes, well, basically the same assertion:
So now GamerGate is being mentioned in the same breath as the United Nations, and apparently KIA is at the forefront of stopping unnecessary government overhaul of internet protocol. What in the actual fuck? …
Ethics in games journalism: That’s what this was all about. And now GamerGate has to save the world from authoritarian, women-infantising control freaks?
These guys do an awful lot of world-saving for dudes whose greatest accomplishments basically consist of being belatedly banned on Twitter for harassing women.
3) “It’s amazing that it falls to gamers to play a key role in this pushback against authoritarianism.”
LEGALIZE-MARINARA gets a hundred upvotes for this comment, made in response to _Mellex_’s post:
It’s amazing that it falls to gamers to play a key role in this pushback against authoritarianism.
Not big upping myself. I ain’t even a gamer, and I’m pretty late to this whole thing, and nor do I think it’s fair that so many politicians have abandoned their responsibilities in this manner. But that’s the reality we’re faced with.
So humble, these guys.
4) “If they win, if they get what they want, they kill free speech. For good. And the foregone conclusion is THX 1138 or Demolition Man.”
Ok, I cheated a little. This is evidently a rant from 8chan, which I found reposted on TheBestOfOutrageCulture subreddit. It’s a bit tl;dr, so I’ve edited a little and bolded the best bits.
Media is a tool. And corporations like to co-opt every single format for one purpose; to sell you sub par shit that you don’t need.
And the biggest threat to that is your ability to have just as big a soapbox to criticize their product as they do to push it.
That’s why they want to take away your ability to say mean things on the internet. It isn’t about poor little Anita. It’s about poor little Pfizer. Anita is a patsy. She’s a tool. Get everyone to rush to the defense of the damsel, take away the right to criticize and now you’ve got people going to jail for saying anything but “Coke is it! Coke is the best! Disney is the greatest! Nike totally doesn’t rely on third world child labor! Apple is an ethical company!” …
SJWs are useful idiots, savvy at narrative with their communications degrees, with social access to trend setting cliques. Those SJWs are the innoculation against those in the media who might break the narrative. They got Patton Oswalt. They got Sarah Silverman. They got Louis CK. They got the video games industry under lockdown. They have everyone in Hollywood except Eli Roth. …
The final result? Draconian control of THE most valuable social tool since Guttenberg. …
Gamers are the only thing holding the line right now, and I’m telling you, we can’t stop. Because if they win, if they get what they want, they kill free speech. For good. And the foregone conclusion is THX 1138 or Demolition Man. Then we all have to live in the subways, or live like them. And we ain’t got the cash to live in the good parts.
Well, someone’s got a vivid — if somewhat derivative — imagination.
5) “Not being a cuck is harassment.”
In a r/KiA comment with more than 900 upvotes, SinisterDexter83 sarcastically suggests that Sarkeesian and her allies are trying to declare everything and the kitchen sink to be a form of harassment.
Asking for evidence of harassment is harassment.
Questioning harassment is harassment.
Criticism is harassment.
Disagreeing with the harassing tactics of radical feminists is harassment.
Holding an opinion that contradicts the dogma of radical feminism is harassment.
Voicing an opinion that contradicts the dogma of radical feminism is harassment.
Holding an opinion that contradicts the dogma of radical feminism without voicing it is an especially sinister, underground form of harassment.
Continuing to have your own opinions after you have been informed of the official radical feminist dogma is harassment.
Not being a cuck is harassment.
He continues on for some time in this manner, but, really, what can beat “not being a cuck is harassment?” It’s Peak #GamerGate.
6) “Corporate enterprise is pushing this brand of feminism to isolate countries and decimate societies for profit.”
More conspiracy-mongering from this r/KiA comment. Sarkeesian and Quinn are puppets of an evil corporate plot to “decimate the public” because apparently decimating customers is a great way to make money?
Google Ideas, a think tank in NY, allowed the harassment to get high profile…
Google changes their monetization and wants more profit…
A new narrative (which is old to us) is put before the UN to spread worldwide.
What people should realize is that we’re seeing the rise of the corporate feminist which is a different type of feminism. This thing was okayed by a think tank to influence rates of growth for corporate enterprise. …
People are focused on fighting SJWs, they missed the bigger story and the article… Corporate enterprise is pushing this brand of feminism to isolate countries and decimate societies for profit. They mislabel gaming to justify cultural imperialism (we’re telling you what to make for our sake) and enact corporate friendly laws that decimate the public.
I’m not quite sure how the evil folks at Google secretly convinced a battalion of angry gamers to send multiple death threats to Anita Sarkeesian over the course of several years, but I’m sure there’s some perfectly reasonable explanation for it.
7) “This is only the beginning. … If this … spirals out of control from here I could see a full blown revolution down the road.”
A comment in KotakuInAction, with more than two dozen upvotes, suggests that if Gamergate and other “free speech” movements like it don’t succeed, the masses might ultimately have to resort to revolution:
More and more it’s becoming evident that movements like Gamergate are necessary. If no one fought for the rights these people are trying to take away we probably would have lost them long ago.
I’m gonna make this prediction, so mark my words.
This is only the beginning. Between the authoritarian right and authoritarian left and whatever group has an agenda to push we’re going to start seeing more and more attacks on our rights.
Privacy and free speech are going to be constantly attacked and they’ll use whatever excuse they can to try and legitimize their cause. Harassment, terrorism, sexism, bigotry, criticism, you name it and they’ll use it to try and take away your rights.
Gamergate will just have been the precursor, eventually I think there’ll be more movements based around fighting for freedom of speech ethics. If this only spirals out of control from here I could see a full blown revolution down the road.
Well, of course you can. Because you clearly have no understanding of history and only a tenuous connection with reality.
8) “When the lunatic horde comes knocking, we stand up, stand strong, arms linked and spirits high, voices joined in harmony, millions of different pitches mingling into a rising crescendo of unity and strength.”
In an r/KiA comment with more than a dozen upvotes, Ferlion123 gets all inspirational:
Where do we go from here?
We go to our families and we go to our friends. We go on with our jobs and our lives. And when the lunatic horde comes knocking, we stand up, stand strong, arms linked and spirits high, voices joined in harmony, millions of different pitches mingling into a rising crescendo of unity and strength.
We will go on with our lives until the call comes, and when it does we will stand before the tide upon our shores and before our fires will they disperse. We will stand before any rush and we will not break or fall.
What we do is EXACTLY what we’ve been doing. We stand on our own legs, allies at our side, and we finish this fight.
Is this plagiarized from somewhere? I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure Ferlion123 means it all quite sincerely.
9) “Now we are the only things that stand between them and world domination.”
In an r/KiA comment with 70 upvotes, Neo_Techni seems to have a hard time telling the difference between anime and reality.
It started with censorship, and the censors won. It was inevitable that they’d get drunk on that power and try to censor the world. Now we are the only things that stand between them and world domination.
It’d make a great anime so long as funimation doesn’t get to touch 1984 it up
No, I’m not quite sure just what that last, er, “sentence” is supposed to mean either.
10) “I can imagine SJWs one day coming up with a reason to defend diseases from being cured.”
In response to a comment in which someone called deathonwingz suggests, at least half seriously, that “I get the feeling this won’t be over until we’ve cured cancer, stopped world hunger, colonized mars and done many other things,” commenter FiveThou writes
Now you say that, but I can imagine SJWs one day coming up with a reason to defend diseases from being cured. “Viruses are living things that share our planet. How dare you be so cruel to them.” “Don’t go to see the doctor – he’s only going to AIDS-shame you.”
11) “You weren’t necessarily sent to the gulags for criticizing Brezhnev, but you never worked again.”
Tigers_ suggests that the power of Sarkeesian et al is comparable to that of the Soviet authorities in the era of Brezhnev. I suppose we should give him half a point for not going with a full-blown Stalin comparison.
I’ve been wanting to find a way to address these issues in an entertaining and accessible fashion for a few years now. Real life issues hold me back, but there’s also the incessant fear of something like that destroying any hopes I have at a career of my chosing for engaging. It’s not like there isn’t a massive risk. You weren’t necessarily sent to the gulags for criticizing Brezhnev, but you never worked again.
12) “Think feminism doesn’t kill people? Fucking yes it does, Srebrinca was possible because of feminist mindset.”
Xyluz85, meanwhile, gets no points for reining in rhetorical excess with this comment, not specifically referencing Sarkeesian but made in the wake of her UN visit.
It’s not about the fear that they can win this, it’s more about how big the damage will be when the time comes feminism goes away. And it get’s more horrifing by the day. I learn more and more about this mindset, and what it does to people. Think feminism doesn’t kill people? Fucking yes it does, Srebrinca was possible because of feminist mindset, Haiti women-only food pretty sure killed some people, lynchmobs killing innocent people surley happend.
I think I’ll just end this post here.
Oh, wait, I almost forgot TREASON.
13) “Don’t listen to the leftist lies: both Zoe and Anita (assuming she is a citizen of the United States) have committed a felony by explicitly and directly lobbying foreign governments for the abolition of Net Neutrality and the “licensing” of internet content providers.
HonorableJudgeHolden provided “evidence” for this assertion in the form of a meme-enhanced “info”graphic.
This is the only Reddit comment or post I’ve quoted here, in this Gamer’s Dozen, that #GamerGaters considered too ridiculous to upvote.
If you want to see what Sarkeesian and Quinn actually said at the UN, here’s a video of their testimony, courtesy of Laughing Witch.
This is a serious, and at the same time tounge-in-cheek question:
What rights are they protecting?
Almost every one of those quotes talk about GGers “protecting your / our rights”.
Are these the same “rights” that are referenced when the right uses the military to justify trying to silence you, as in “I fought for your right to say that thing that offends me, so don’t say it!”
Privacy and free speech are going to be constantly attacked and they’ll use whatever excuse they can to try and legitimize their cause.
—
like the privacy that is violated when you post people’s addresses? When you stalk their non-public email accounts?
Because identifying an aid need and focusing on it = literally knocking the food out of men’s mouths, mocking them while they starve to death, and peeing on their corpses.
Am I gamergating right?
They are the kind of libertarians who think that “privacy” means “protection from government surveillance” and nothing else
Ironically, this means it is they, and not feminists, who are useful idiots for corporate interests.
A mostly serious answer:
The “right to free speech.” The right to “not be censored.” That’s what some of them THINK they are protecting, and I have no doubt that some of them do truly think that. Of course, that’s deeply flawed, but that is what some of them do seriously think is going on.
For some others, that’s what it is claimed to be about, but that’s either a cover (if they consciously know it’s nonsense) or denial (if they don’t). Either way, consciously or not, the “right” they are actually trying to protect is the “right” of straight white men to say and do whatever they want without real consequence, to be the main group of people constantly and overwhelmingly represented as “normal” or “regular”, etc.
More and more people are waking up to the fact that that’s NOT a right at all, and certainly not something that should be fought for or protected, and they can’t deal with the idea of all that privilege beginning to crumble away.
I think the age of anonymous internet activity has enabled the cruel cliquey behaviors we used leave behind us in high school to “live on” now forever for adults who choose it.
They’re fighting for the right to not hear opinions or criticisms that they don’t like.
But aren’t they trying to censor all the feminist critiques? You can’t pick and choose with that kind of thing, you just can’t. Either everyone is allowed say things you don’t like about video games or no one can say anything ever at all.
@David
Yeah, I understand. For me, it’d be difficult to word and you’re right: if #GamerGate hadn’t happened who knows if these women would have gained the same amount of influence. Anita has some following, but probably would not have made it to UN prominence. I just needed to comment since it bugged me a little; thanks for taking the time to respond. 🙂
Well, no, and many of those harassed do have that evidence. It’s just that, for whatever weird reason, it is never “good enough” or part of some convoluted conspiracy to those asking it in bad faith.
It is when the person not only proves it themselves, but when that harassment is quite clear from any number of comments sections or Twitter replies.
Except most of that “criticism” isn’t really criticism.
Um, what?
I have absolutely no idea what you’e talking about.
I think you’re just making shit up, at this point.
That…doesn’t make sense.
Now that’s just incomprehensible…
Oh, fuck off and die!
Which is why all their talk of “free speech” is total horseshit.
It’s just code for “allowing sentiments I find agreeable and thus should be immune from any and all criticism.”
Okay, obligatory rant from someone who actually knows the difference: unless a government official in their official role was involved in literally legally prohibiting you from publishing your opinion ANYWHERE AT ALL, you haven’t been “censored”. Unless there is an actual government bureau involved in removing naughty words from your rants, or blacking out parts of images, you haven’t been “censored”. Unless you have to submit your works and words to the government for approval prior to publication, you haven’t been “censored”.
Censorship is an official process whereby a government office scrutinises published words, images and video in order to hold them to an official standard of morality. Nowhere along the lines have #gamergate ever been actually censored.
What they’re actually getting all up in arms about is “censure” – the act of being rebuked. People have said they’re not the centre of the universe. People have said they aren’t behaving well. People are publicly disapproving of their actions. They’ve been told off, and they don’t like it. Which goes to show just how infantile their priorities are.
brooked @ 2.54pm
Or, indeed, some vague understanding of the notion of ethics.
To quote myself:
http://i.imgur.com/vFIEYty.jpg
The world in their brains must be so fun, with those supervillains, and they are the team saving the world, and it grows increasingly harder…. For some people who are eager to prove videogames is serious business and they are grown, smart adults, they sure sound a lot like 7 yos who had too much sugar.
Except they ARE adults, and their little game has real life consequences for those villains. As freezepeach destroying as it sounds, it’s more than time for them to suffer real life consequences too.
Wait. What? In what universe? Everything I’ve seen or even heard of by that xenophobic torture fetishist is so rabidly sexist (and even more racist) I’m shocked he hasn’t been booted out of Hollywood yet. Hell, his latest “Film” is about a bunch of scary brown people eating “SJWs.” As far as I’m concerned, #GamerGate is welcome to have him.
Still in the entertaining fictional universe inside their minds, Sarkeesian made it to UN, so it really sounds like it’s near the boss level, right? I mean, there is even a black american president, so it’s close. When will the matriarchal socialist dictatorship begin? When will we put men as slaves in the scented candles and bonbons factory? Please make it fast, fuhrer Sarkeesian, if you can hear me.
Megpie,
I’ve seen freeze peachers, when this is pointed out counter by saying that the principles of the 1st amendment should be held by private entities and therefore it doesn’t matter that Twitter or a blog or whatever is not the government.
It makes me wonder if these people have held a job for more than a couple of days. Try threatening to rape and kill your boss or your clients at work and see how receptive they are to freeze peach arguments when they fire your dumb ass.
I think the 1984 thing is referring to the Prison School dub which made fun of GG.
I’ve yet to read the UN report; I remain a bit cagey on it due to the UN’s mixed record (which is expected considering the many competing interests). However the GamerGaters miss a very, very big issue.
Back when GamerGate first smeared itself across the internet like chip feces, I recall several people noting that the GamerGaters were the kind of people so obnoxious that they’d be the kind of people that others would point at to justify inappropriate crackdowns and regulations.
So if the UN really is out to destroy freedom and the internet and so on? The GamerGaters won’t stop it, they’re the perfect example people can trot out to show why there needs to be invasive regulation.
Really these people research new ways to loose.
>>It isn’t about poor little Anita. It’s about poor little Pfizer. Anita is a patsy. She’s a tool. Get everyone to rush to the defense of the damsel, take away the right to criticize and now you’ve got people going to jail for saying anything but “Coke is it! Coke is the best! ”
I thought these guys were fighting “cultural Marxism”, which always seemed to me like a nonsense phrase, like “economic surrealism” or something. Well, apparently that wasn’t nonsensical enough, because now the enemy is CORPORATE CULTURAL MARXISM!!!
(Sigh). Sure. Why not?
“It’d make a great anime so long as funimation doesn’t get to touch 1984 it up”
This is, uh, coherent enough. Funimation is the main importer of anime in the United States and they have a long history of re-dubbing series for more American tastes, often totally changing plot points and characters. (Most famously, they made a pair of lesbians in Sailor Moon into sisters.) Why exactly he is so concerned that Funimation would wreck an anime version of the upcoming war is where I can no long help him.
It really is hard to read that as anything other than these GGers joining the lunatic horde; they have met the lunatic horde, and it is them. Seriously: “millions of different pitches mingling into a rising crescendo of unity and strength”? Why not just say,
Seriously, are these nitwits trying to ruin The Black Parade for me?
“It’d make a great anime so long as funimation doesn’t get to touch 1984 it up”
This is, uh, coherent enough. Funimation is the main importer of anime in the United States and they have a long history of re-dubbing series for more American tastes, often totally changing plot points and characters. (Most famously, they made a pair of lesbians in Sailor Moon into sisters.) Why exactly he is so concerned that Funimation would wreck an anime version of the upcoming war is where I can no long help him.
Actually I think thats 4kids Entertainment you’re thinking about at least in regards to the Sailor moon editing.