By David Futrelle
So I was poking around in the KotakuInAction ubreddit — Reddit’s self-proclaimed “hub for GamerGate” — to see how the regulars were dealing with the news that idiot YouTube megastar PewDiePie was going to donate, and then was not going to donate, a big chunk of money to the Anti-Defamation League.
And within about thirty seconds I stumbled across this huge pile of Nazi shit that a one-day-old Redditor had decided to deposit in the comments.
This is classic Nazi recruitment propaganda. It reinforces a host of already-existing prejudices against an assortment of groups — from blacks to Jews to gay men to women. It tries to make these prejudices seem like rational responses to things members of these groups allegedly do, to change the terms of the debate from, for example, “bigotry against black people” to “black crime.” It offers sympathy towards those with prejudices, portraying them as the real victims.
The purpose of these rhetorical moves? To nudge those who may carry deep within them some or all of these same prejudices — and who may have faced blowback for expressing some of them in the past — towards more explicit and open racism, antisemitism, homophobia and misogyny. In short, it’s an attempt to convert casual bigots into outright Nazis.
I’m not posting this comment here today because it’s typical of KotakuInAction — though there’s certainly an antisemitic undercurrent (and sometimes a not-so-under current) in the discussions of PewDiePie and the ADL. I’m posting it because it’s so clearly an attempt at recruitment — whether it’s the work of one freelance wannabe Nazi-maker, or part of an broader organized effort.
Why might a wannabe Nazi-maker think that the regulars in KotakuInAction would be receptive to such a message?
You will find my answer to that question here.
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Why indeed? What could possibly have made this fellow conclude that his seeds of hate would find fertile ground in the soil of a forum devoted only to gentle debate on the vexed issue of ethics in game journalism? It’s truly inconceivable ho–
(Sarcasm meter explodes)
The PewDiePie thing is a great demonstration of mob mentality. Too many people repeat the “Subscribe to PewDiePie” meme and continue to defend him only because there is a large group of people doing just that.
With the ADL thing, PewDiePie has officially made it clear that he is Nazi scum, and so is a significant portion of his fanbase. I advise anyone else to boycott him, and any advertisers to refuse to advertise with or sponsor him.
A quick google search reveals that, to the surprise of no one, in addition to his racism and antisemitism PewDiePie is also very misogynistic, homophobic, and ableist; and seems to really like rape apologia. He would be right at home on r/MensRights or r/KotakuInAction.
@Naglfar
I think that became quite clear way before, when we found out he was subscribed to just about every single Nazi youtube channel out there, from Stefan Molyneux to Laura Southern. Somebody published the receipts and it was quite damning.
And I must reiterate, it wasn’t just one, it was every single major one out there.
Shocking, the guy who joked about “death to all Jews” decides not to donate to a charity after finding out it’s a Jewish anti-hate group.
PewDiePie works tirelessly to normalize hate speech and bigotry, targeting children.
@Diego
Any chance you’ve got a link to the receipts? I’d be interested to see any other dirt on him.
People ask what motivates hate all the damn time. It’s just that the people who actually study these things come up with different answers than “The targeted group had it coming.”
Notice the Nazi and MRA blending again with that men do hard labor while women eat bonbons at a desk all day nonsense. I always laugh at that talking point. What makes these dudes think men can’t get jobs in offices? I work in an office and we’ve got a pretty much even gender split. From what I can tell, the giant multi-company office park I’m in has a pretty even split. Lots of men sit at a desk!
About that 13 percent thing:
Somebody on another blog was pointing out that declaring ‘those pointing out racism are the real racists’ actually makes perfect sense if the person in question believes the racist stereotypes are literally, completely true, and that everybody else really knows this even if they won’t admit it. Therefore systemic racism doesn’t really exist, they can’t be racist unless they’re actually screaming epithets or beating on someone because they actually do have X friends, and anybody who tries to say otherwise is the one actually trying to do things differently based on race.
It starts from entirely incorrect principles, but there is a certain consistency to it.
Why are all the derogatory terms x’d out except the one that refers to women?
Why are we expected to understand and sympathize with Nazis? Plenty of people have been foreclosed on and sexually assaulted and raised in rough neighborhoods without turning into violent, bigoted creeps.
I care more about the people who are hurt by the slurs than the supervillain origin story of the person yelling them.
Certain people always insist on empathizing with bigots and hatemongers of all types. It always implies that the bigots might, just maybe, have some legitimate and substantive reason for their hate. Hate never needs a (legitimate) reason, and these people either don’t understand that, or are purposely providing a thinly veiled defense to those bigots.
Yet, I never seem to see these people encouraging empathy for the groups that are targeted by bigots, only for the bigots themselves. These people are, at best, useful idiots for the bigots who serve to help normalize it. At worst, they’re fellow travelers who sympathized with the bigots and are purposely trying to normalize it. In either case, they only make things worse.
This is trotted out all the time defend a wide variety of groups, from Trump’s base to homophobes to misogyny. Supposed moderates on the issues especially seem to love this “hate the sin but not the sinner” trope.
This isn’t to say that there’s nothing to gain by understanding other people’s bigotry and its origins, but the people that use this argument aren’t really trying to do that. What they should do is analyze their bigotry and discuss the prejudices it’s based on and how it spreads, not imply that there’s a legitimate reason for how they feel. I’ve seen a fair number of people do this former, but they’re not the same ones that make that argument.
Certain people always insist on empathizing with bigots and hatemongers of all types. It always implies that the bigots might, just maybe, have some legitimate and substantive reason for their hate. Hate never needs a (legitimate) reason, and these people either don’t understand that, or are purposely providing a thinly veiled defense to those bigots.
Yet, I never seem to see these people encouraging empathy for the groups that are targeted by bigots, only for the bigots themselves. These people are, at best, useful idiots for the bigots who serve to help normalize it. At worst, they’re fellow travelers who sympathized with the bigots and are purposely trying to normalize it. In either case, they only make things worse.
This is trotted out all the time defend a wide variety of groups, from Trump’s base to homophobes to misogyny. Supposed moderates on the issues especially seem to love this “hate the sin but not the sinner” trope.
This isn’t to say that there’s nothing to gain by understanding other people’s bigotry and its origins, but the people that use this argument aren’t really trying to do that. What they should do is analyze their bigotry and discuss the prejudices it’s based on and how it spreads, not imply that there’s a legitimate reason for how they feel. I’ve seen a fair number of people do this former, but they’re not the same ones that make that argument.
This might show up twice. I forgot which email I use for this site.
Nancy, because that specific term is generally seen as not as offensive as the ones I x-ed out. Had the guy used the c-word I’d have x-ed that out.
@WWTH:
Not to mention, who typically does the “second shift”, which contains a fair amount of low-skilled manual labor?
These guys seem to live in an opposites sketch.
So average, everyday, working-class white guys are being scapegoated for nepotism? I’m confused.
But I do know that if a white guy shouts hate speech, he will definitely get back his house and his union job. That’s how the world works.
Mr. PewDiePie — if that is your real name — you can’t rely on good looks and charm to make money if you’re also going to flirt with Nazism.
You may be a PewDiePie — although I’m skeptical of that — but you’re no cutiepie. That’s because Nazism is ugly and repellent, right down to the bone.
“I never knew the names of the guys running the bank that foreclosed our family home, but my dad told me all about them being Jewish”
100% chance these guys are out there voting for the right-wing white fascists who gut banking regulations, unions, and manufacturing jobs. 100% chance they rush to defend authority figures who cover up for abusers.
The only time they remember that they’re also on the receiving end of this mistreatment is when it’s useful for silencing libs. They post this sort of rant of Reddit, then immediately flock to Twitter to make fun of #MeToo without a trace of self-awareness.
People shout slurs not because they’ve been wronged, but because someone else made them feel inadequate. A slur reminds the other person of their place: “I can reduce you to a body part or ethnicity, and there is no equivalent word you can use on me”. It’s the verbal equivalent of a gun, an “equalizer” that restores the power imbalance in the bigot’s favor.
Slurs are tools to enforce the status quo. They’re not therapeutic.
I am a developper in an application that analyze social networks reactions.
While testing the reddit crawler, I actually found r/selfawarewolf and r/kotakuinaction2 (electric boogaloo ? did the first one got banned ?)
Reddit : formerly the frontpage of the internet, now the sewage of the internet. Title shared with 4chan, 8chan, etc …
PewDiePie can’t help himself, can he? I’m hardly the ADL’s biggest fan given their deference to the Israeli government, but for optics alone, just let the donation go through, man. Or maybe take a few minutes to investigate the organizations you donate to before committing yourself? Sheesh, this is what happens when you live at the speed of social media… and you’re a trash human being.
@Ohlmann
I was unaware that there was a KIA2. Sadly, the first one still exists. It’s possible the second one was created during the time when the original was down (the creator took it down, then Reddit resurrected it within hours), or it could exist as a mirror. A quick glance shows that it seems to have a lot of the same posts (word for word) and content as the original.
Reddit is actively a hate site. I used to frequent certain subreddits like r/Metal (aka Shreddit, devoted to metal music), but now I try to avoid the site altogether. I just don’t want to give them clicks and ad revenue with all the toxic stuff on other subreddits.
@Katamount
His refusal to donate to the ADL has nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with that it’s an organization meant to combat antisemitism and his Nazi fans talked him out of the donation. If he hadn’t suggested donating in the first place then pulled out, I would still dislike him (because he’s a Nazi) but this looks even worse.
Katamount – It’s almost like he orchestrated this bumble in order to do something just vaguely nazi-ish and get attention for it.
Here’s an article from Vox from December 2018 which mentions it:
Its hilarious, (but not) to me, how guys like that are always, ALWAYS, whining about the things they can’t say, which he just said.
As a Black woman, I really wish they couldn’t say any of that stuff, because if I had a dime for every time I came across some p.o.s. on the internet spouting those epithets at people like me, I’d be a wealthy woman!
Nah! What they’re mad about is their inability to say such things without consequences, and getting some amount of pushback and sass, not just from the people they’re talking about, but other White people, they believe are supposed to be their allies.
As bad as shit is on the internet, I don’t denigrate it too much, because it gives marginalized people the opportunity to talk back to, and directly address those would love to bully and oppress them with impunity. There are a helluva lot of White men out there having some kind of breakdown, because they are simply not used to all those “inferior creatures” talking back to them.
Being a bully is just no fun anymore, I guess!