Categories
"ethics" #gamergate antifeminism davis aurini lying liars men who really shouldn't be making movies men who should not ever be with women ever misogyny PUA sarkeesian!

Davis Aurini admits he never actually watched any of Anita Sarkeesian’s videos

Davis Aurini: Who's got at least one thumb and no discernable value as a human being?
Davis Aurini: Who’s got at least one thumb and no discernible value as a human being?

Apparently Davis Aurini is capable of sometimes telling the truth.

As you may recall, the bald, semi-Nazi stain on humanity released his version of The Sarkeesian Effect (that was officially not his version of The Sarkeesian Effect) last week to something less than universal acclaim, with one critic describing the “film” as “worse than a dead squirrel in your wall.”

Ok, that was me.

Weirdly, it turns out that Aurini actually agrees with some of my criticisms. While still maintaining that his not-version of The Sarkeesian Effect is a “damn good film,” he admitted on a livestream last night that the section of his film critiquing Anita Sarkeesian’s alleged lies was “crap.”

He then suggested it would have been much better … if he’d actually watched Sarkeesian’s videos.

Yep. He spent a year — and tens of thousands of dollars of other people’s money — ostensibly making a film about Sarkeesian. But somehow he never got around to watching any of her videos.

ETHICS!

You can hear the whole segment on “Bechtloff’s Saturday Night Livestream: Secret Crisis of the Infinity Hour” on Youtube here. (The link should take you to the relevant portion of the livestrean, which starts just short of an hour and twenty minutes in.)

Here are the highlights.

In this first clip, Aurini responds to someone with a question about his attacks on Sarkeesian’s alleged dishonesty.

This clip ends a bit abruptly because Aurini was cut off by Bechtloff before finishing his sentence. Luckily, he went on to elaborate on his point. And threw in in a racial slur while he was at it, because why not?

And here he admits he didn’t bother to watch Sarkeesian’s videos.

It’s about ethics in making an entire film about someone without actually knowing anything about them.

EDITED TO ADD:

We Hunted the Mammoth has obtained this footage of Davis Aurini as a child.

H/T — Thanks to the alert reader who pointed me to the relevant section of the livestream.

 

 

532 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
kale
kale
8 years ago

I used to babysit for a female lawyer who worked herself miserable at what must have been,I wish I was kidding, over 100 hours a week billing about 90. the sexism-at-work stories she had were pretty gnarly.
I wish Better Call Saul were a more women-driven show bc Kim would be a great character through whom to explore that issue *IN A TASTEFUL FEMINIST WAY*

NickNameNick
NickNameNick
8 years ago

with respect, I disagree. I was bullied as a kid. I didnt turn into someone who hurts people, quite the opposite. Maybe some of these guys, like some bullies, had crappy home lifes or even were bullied, but their current actions are absolutely bullying. I have no respect for bullies who try to pretend that their actions are justified because something nerds.

Right, but that happens when you are an emotionally healthy individual – problem is, given human psychology, there’s plenty who never move past it and eventually project that bitterness onto others.

Black , Latino, Native, Indian, Arab, Muslim, Asian & other PoC nerds, female nerds, queer nerds *and even cool kids of these groups* have it harder in the big picture than even picked on, even abused or neglected, white cishet boy nerds could even imagine.

True, and part of the reason for that is due to adolescent egocentrism – but also the fact society enables white and male privilege as well.

White boy nerds often grow up to be CEOs, to be in charge, and to make it harder for everyone else to gain entry into, say, STEM careers. On an individual basis, I hate any form of abuse for any reason, but ai just sick of white & male & cishet feels being priority even when theyre abusive while the rest of us are ignored or put down even more. Sorry but I gotta keep it real. Aside from that, I found your comment quite pleasant and agreeable.

That’s kind of what I mean: plenty of white, male nerds – when they do gain some kind of influence or power – might abuse others even though they may’ve been bullied and should be avoidant of such behavior. Sometimes, it is because they still see themselves as the put-upon nerd and think everyone else – even the well-intentioned and non-hostile – as bullies.

ETA & please dont take my rant personally, it really isnt about you personally. its society.

None take, and I get that.

kale
kale
8 years ago

cool cool. yea a lot of hate group members, as who is troll galt ironically mentioned himself actually, obsess over the fear that the people they oppress will rise up and defeat them with the same retalitory cruel oppression.

OoglyBoggles
OoglyBoggles
8 years ago

Yeah, damn straight it’s a big accusation, and it’s a true one as well, so far as I and many others are concerned. I’d advise you not to threaten me with a good time, but I can’t imagine having a good time.

Man you sound a bit upset, using threats like that makes you seem unable to argue and instead sounds like lashing out. You’re probably not planning to date anyone here so I don’t see how good time is meant for anythibg useful for you.

There’s a difference between telling someone to kill themselves and actually creating the circumstances which lead to people doing so. Feminists support structural ‘reforms’ which exploit society’s inherent need to protect women at the expense of men. Men live in a world which is hostile towards their needs, and yet, many of them don’t commit suicide; you people, though, seem to think that being told to ‘kill yourself’ is a compelling reason to follow orders, even if you find the people giving these orders to be odious (as an aside, I’m not an MRA, so I don’t know why you’re bringing this up, I’m more of a general anti-feminist). I suppose if someone told you to put your paycheck into a blender, you’d do that too?

So apparently perpetuating suicide and death threats is not contributing to the normalization of abuse and the patriarchal structure that you find awful.

No, I just want for you to stop trying to restructure society so that it’s stacked against men. It’s almost impossible to talk to feminists because of your tendency to straw-man your opposition and the fact that you only hear what you want this to hear.

Cite your source, you’re sounding like my prediction. Where are the people who want thag power structure?

Now now, last time I checked, name calling (i.e. “piece of shit”) wasn’t tolerated in the comments policy. Calm down a little, and people might be more willing to listen to you, instead of assume that you’re all a bunch of children who just want things and government money handed to you.

So you’re against people having mental care to they can have happy lives, which translates into healthier economies becuase people can actually do things at their best without their mental illness hindering their hopes and dreams. Wow.

Veterans are different because they’ve actually EARNED what little assistance they’ve got. Women and feminists tend to support these leftist scrubs who make grand promises of “free,” universal healthcare, apparently unaware that it will be the higher earning MEN that pay for all of that in taxes, thus negating the idea that it’s “free.” That money should go to people who have EARNED it, not to a bunch of parasites who want to go to the hospital on the backs of someone else’s labor.

So basically if you’re a doctor or a professor or anything blue collar running society or someone one makes people happy through comedy or art, please just die because you aren’t my parasite of need.

This is not a way to think your life. You want people with dementia to say “no vet, no help”. Are you even listening to yourself? Honestly listen, you’re advocating for people with mental illness to work hard, while suffering from a mental illness that’ll prevent them from working hard, and then punish them for not working hard enough.

EDIT: Oh dearie this libertarian spiel of “this will totally work guis.” Well then, see you never Galt, I will completely forget this as this experience is as interchangable as the last.

kale
kale
8 years ago

@ Axecaliber – to the libertarian mindset, taxes are forced upon you because if you refuse to pay them, there is no opt-out, you will be sent to jail and if you resist arrest you can be killed. & I seriously dont think they’re 100% wrong on that. but whats the practical solution?

Maybe we should let people, idk, have a post-apocalyptic chaos zone wherein they dont pay taxes, but only in fiction bc in real life thats typically a white power group stealing shit & threatening to kill people and maybe inspiring a bombing or shooting spree.

Or maybe we could do things like
demilitarize the police state
& dismantle capitalism…?

EJ (The Other One)
EJ (The Other One)
8 years ago

cool cool. yea a lot of hate group members, as who is troll galt ironically mentioned himself actually, obsess over the fear that the people they oppress will rise up and defeat them with the same retalitory cruel oppression.

So many times, when I’ve listened to a racist speak, their viewpoint can be summed up as “What if brown people treated us the way we treat them? We can’t allow that!”

kupo
kupo
8 years ago

Right, but that happens when you are an emotionally healthy individual – problem is, given human psychology, there’s plenty who never move past it and eventually project that bitterness onto others.

I’m far from emotionally healthy and have not quite moved on from the bullying and abuse I received as a child, yet I still manage to treat others well and not bully. Some people bully even though they weren’t bullied, too. It’s a poor rationalization for the behavior.

FrickleFrackle
FrickleFrackle
8 years ago

Being bullied=/=becoming a bully. If anything, I’d hope you would have greater empathy, and realize that making others feel like you did when you were bullied accomplishes nothing good.

kale
kale
8 years ago

just in case anyone needs to know this:

mental illness =\= immoral decisions, opinions, actions. Not all irrational thoughts or behaviors mean there is an illness.

It CAN be an influence like a four legged creature can be a platypus. but actually mentally ill people are far more likely to be victims of abuse than perpatrators.

people can also do immoral without evidence of abuse or bullying in their history, and without presenting with symptoms of mental illness.

this has been an eeeevil SJW Feminasti PSA

Axecalibur
Axecalibur
8 years ago

@Kale
Oh, I’m very well aware of the mindset, unfortunately. Of course, they’re not 100% wrong. 90% wrong, perhaps? 85% on the low end 😉

Furrealz tho, the solution to police brutality is to address police brutality. AnCap utopia daydreams don’t help anyone
And (addressing those people) no, you can’t opt out. When I can opt out of breathing your car exhaust, giving me cancer 30 years down the line, you can opt out of paying taxes for my Medicare, thx much

post-apocalyptic chaos zone

There are no rules in the Thunderdome 🙂

I tend not to be comfortable with ‘dismantle capitalism’ talk. And this is coming from a socialist myself. It’s just, cutting off the heads of the bourgeoise oppressors (figuratively in your case, I’m sure), has historically not ended well…

katz
8 years ago

I’m in there, and all the points I’ve made are moving about in your brain like billiards after having been knocked askew by the cue ball of reason.

Okay, that was worth keeping him around for. Not quite the horse of Aryan reason, but quality.

comment image

Also, that wasn’t a weird metaphor, it was a simile.

It’s a metaphor, dumbass. Similes use “like” or “as.”

History Nerd
History Nerd
8 years ago

Arguing with Objectivist or deontological Libertarians is pointless. They would oppose some welfare spending program even if you could prove with certitude that it will produce the best possible outcome for everyone (and probably refuse to accept the proof anyway). If they’re willing to talk empiricism and outcomes then maybe you can get somewhere, but probably not.

NickNameNick
NickNameNick
8 years ago

@Kupo:

I’m far from emotionally healthy and have not quite moved on from the bullying and abuse I received as a child, yet I still manage to treat others well and not bully.

Fair point, perhaps I wasn’t using the right phrasing.

What I mean is someone who, when experiencing such, learns from it and uses it in positive or beneficial ways – as opposed to someone who does not and instead cause misery, in order to feel better about themselves about it and not realize the hypocrisy of such actions.

I used “emotionally healthy” and “moved on” because it does not have one stewing in bitterness over the experience, but being able to overcome the bitterness (to some degree or another) and lead to self-improvement.

Some people bully even though they weren’t bullied, too. It’s a poor rationalization for the behavior.

Um, okay – never denied that nor would I if that were brought up. Wasn’t part of my original point either, which had to do with why many GGers self-victimize despite being bullies themselves.

It’s a poor rationalization for the behavior.

Not trying to rationalize anything, I just wanted to point out that people who bully can use self-victimizing – even if they have been bullied themselves and should know better. They’re bullies, but a good deal obviously don’t see it that way and thus downplay it or perhaps try justifying it as otherwise.

@FrickleFrackle:

Being bullied=/=becoming a bully.

Never said that. Not once. Here’s what I said:

“You’re right, it’s very much a high school mentality – I’d only differ in that the mentality for many [GGers] come from the perspective of the put-upon nerd, not the bully.”

“[P]lenty of white, male nerds – when they do gain some kind of influence or power – might abuse others even though they may’ve been bullied and should be avoidant of such behavior. Sometimes, it is because they still see themselves as the put-upon nerd and think everyone else – even the well-intentioned and non-hostile – as bullies.”

Basically: it is possible for some of those who have been bullied, perhaps remaining bitter over the experience and not learning from it, to become bullies themselves.

Hope I don’t need to repeat that.

If anything, I’d hope you would have greater empathy, and realize that making others feel like you did when you were bullied accomplishes nothing good.

Um, yeah, which I also said (in fact I quoted it above)…and you apparently didn’t see…

Be nice if that were always the case – but, unfortunately, it’s not. Some people do not learn from their experiences and make lives harder for others, whatever reason they choose to excuse their inexcusable behavior. Humans are mostly irrational beings and, as such, hypocritical behavior occurs.

To clarify, just in case: I am not equating irrationality with emotion or rational with pure dispassion – that’s nonsense. Emotions are, in fact, a component within logic and without it there would be no point in discussing ethics. When I say humans are irrational, it is to also say we do not function like a computer or mechanical tool nor should we.

Anarchonist
8 years ago

I’m kind of glad I missed the Randian on this thread. I have many less-than-savoury things to say about people who think an admirable person is someone who “was born without the ability to consider others”.

Re: bullies

I personally know at least one dude who was bullied as a kid and who then turned into a misogynistic, hateful bully himself. Every time someone calls him out on his behavior, it will ultimately devolve into a sob fest for how difficult his life was and how his self-esteem was damaged and blah blah. As someone who was severely bullied myself throughout my childhood and teen years and ultimately hopefully learned a degree of empathy for people in disadvantaged positions (not to mention a hypersensitivity to signs of bullying), that person is amongst my least favorite people in the world.

Yes, it is possible for someone who has been bullied to become an asshole later in life. They really only need to absorb the morals their bullies taught them, that pushing others around in order to get what you want works. The bullies born of a disadvantaged position are both the saddest and most despicable examples of their kind. That’s part of why society taking a stance against bullying is so imperative: Not just on behalf of the bullied person, but also to prevent these attitudes from flourishing and creating more bullies.

Aside from that, these kind of bullies are probably in the minority. #GamerGate, as most meninist “movements”, likely mostly consisted of traditional, run-of-the-mill white cishet male bullies who like to shit on people lower on the social ladder. If they weren’t, they would not have chosen primarily women and minorities as their targets.

@Axecalibur

Sorry, but I might have missed the part where kale used “dismantling the capitalist system” as short-hand for “cutting off the heads of the bourgeoise oppressors”, figuratively or no. Not attempting to antagonize or anything, I quite agree with your sentiment regarding a violent overthrow* versus a radical, but non-violent change of system, but I don’t see “dismantling the capitalist system” as a bad thing in and of itself. The only actual drawback in dismantling capitalism would come to capitalists who can no longer use other people as a means to their Randian end. Active anger towards an unfair system who benefits a few at the expense of the many =/= murderous hate towards privileged individuals**.

*Particularly since those who subscribe to violent retribution as part of their ideology likely have some leftover patriarchal and imperialist attitudes in them, and such people will generally not be trustworthy in being part of establishing a new system free of outdated belief systems.

**Though I can certainly understand people who occasionally express the latter as well, in all areas of oppression. Privileged people (like me) can be so block-headed, you just want to smack them upside the head sometimes.

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

@Galt

PLEASE call in to the Majority Report and debate libertarianism with Sam Seder. He has a way of making you weirdos say the most amazing things. Walter Block once called into the show and ended up saying that under libertarianism people would go to war every time someone steals a wallet. Sounds like fucking paradise to me. 🙂

mockingbird
mockingbird
8 years ago

@wwth –

Being a citizen of a democracy comes with a price tag. You are free to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and buy an island to go Galt on. As long as you’re using the infrastructure and services provided by the government, you’re being a hypocrite whining about having to pay taxes. It’s one thing to debate the level of taxation vs. what level of services/benefits we should have. It’s quite another to think you should get to live in a modern society and not to have pay into at all. Nobody is more of an entitled mooch than a Randroid.

A-fucking-men.

@Axecalibur –

People are taxed on property (yes, money is property in itself). Property isn’t real. It’s a set of rules society (the people as represented by the state) thought up to make our lives more ordered. If you procure a thing in accordance with the rules, society allows you exclusive right to its use, in accordance with further rules. Exclusive right means, among other things, that if someone violates your exclusive right, burly agents of the state will beat the thief with sticks and get your property back

But…but…aren’t we all our own personal kingdoms?
*looks at moat*
*looks at drawbridge*
*looks at various instruments of siege warfare*
Ohhh….wait, wait, wait – that’s right – even kingdoms need subjects and not everyone can be royalty.

@Various Randroids – Like it or not, you’re part of a society.
Being a part of a society – any society – requires adhering to rules, caring (or at least pretending to care) about other members of that society.
Or, to put it in terms that you might understand, it’s basic enlightened self interest to work to ensure that you’re not surrounded by uneducated, hungry, angry people.

Or, you know, you could always give this another go.
Societies consisting solely of little fiefdoms have a history of turning out just peachy!

mockingbird
mockingbird
8 years ago

Oh, and @Various Randroids – If you’re young (and the overwhelming majority of you that I’ve met have been just so, so fucking young and entitled) and unattached please, please advertise as loudly as possible (again, not usually a problem for you!) that your favorite book is Atlas Shrugged or whatthefuckever.

It helps other people on the dating scene steer clear of you.

http://fi.somethingawful.com/is/img12/1165/smokey-only-you.gif
Only you can prevent awful, tedious-ass dinners!

Alan Robertshaw
Alan Robertshaw
8 years ago

@ axecalibur

There are no rules in the Thunderdome

“Two men enter; one man leaves”, and unlike Fight Club you’re allowed to talk about it.

He, I’ve just realised the irony that that film depicts the ideal society that objectivists crave and it’s run by a black lady.

Victorious Parasol
Victorious Parasol
8 years ago

It never fails to amaze me when a troll comes swaggering in, convinced that the arguments that sounded so cool in their echo chamber make us yawn. Don’t we know we’re supposed to have our minds COMPLETELY BLOWN by the Logic(tm) and Reason(tm) they’re laying down? How dare we flick away the Logic(tm) and Reason(tm) with things like facts and personal experiences? Not to mention the rather tidy analyses provided by some of the regulars. Hmph. It’s almost as if they are working with a different version of reality that bears little resemblance to our actual reality.

Once You Go Galt, You Can't Default
Once You Go Galt, You Can't Default
8 years ago

@Katz

I was talking about MY simile, not his. He was talking about metaphors, but the line he quoted was MINE, and it was distinctly a simile.

@Imaginary Petal

I am not going to go talk to some liberal, smart-ass, self-loathing, incorrigible, New York roach. Sam Seder is a sophist, and if he’d argue in good faith and stick to one line of reasoning, he’d get his ass kicked.

@mockingbrid

Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” is NOT my favorite book, but it has exerted its indelible effects upon me and my political development. I’m not interested in relationships with western women anyway, but I’m pretty sure that at least a few of the women in this comment section want me. They like the challenge I pose to them and their leftist-echo chamber.

Viscaria
Viscaria
8 years ago

Cw rape and spousal abuse and violence

This was on the previous page, but

I’d advise you not to threaten me with a good time, but I can’t imagine having a good time with a budding Lorena Bobbitt like yourself.

It’s both inappropriate and nonsensical to compare feminists that you don’t like to Lorena Bobbitt. Bobbitt didn’t castrate her husband in a fit of anti-male pique. She was reacting to years of spousal abuse and rape. If you want to accuse your ideological opponents of being such terrible misandrists that we will inevitably be violent towards men, choose a different person to compare us to.

chippywillbethere
chippywillbethere
8 years ago

@Galt

Please use some sort of facts/evidence/sources to back up your claims because all you are saying is anecdotal.

Viscaria
Viscaria
8 years ago

@katz

Not quite the horse of Aryan reason, but quality.

GOOD TIMES.

Luzbelitx
8 years ago

but I’m pretty sure that at least a few of the women in this comment section want me. They like the challenge I pose to them and their leftist-echo chamber.

Yeah, the challenge of playing with a chew toy and discarding it when it’s all used up is so irresistible you guyz!

Anyone else read this and thought of PUAs who read rejection and hostile behavior from women as “they totally want me”?

Edit to add: I’ve been enjoying the chewfest, but I also noticed the troll dropped all pretension of arguments and is getting into “ewwww” territory.

Anyone want to bet on the approaching meltdown?

Imaginary Petal
Imaginary Petal
8 years ago

@Galt

Sam Seder is from Boston. How dare you call him a New York roach. :p

Seriously though, that’s a really bad excuse. You refuse to debate your ideas with someone, just because they don’t already agree with you. I’m sure you’d “kick his ass” if you just used the same awesome arguments you’ve presented here.

Oh wait, you haven’t presented any arguments. You’ve just thrown a mantrum. My bad. :/

Just to make sure you’re being consistent though – you definitely definitely haven’t ever used a road, right?

1 10 11 12 13 14 22