1621

I think most people would agree that nut cases exist on the right side of things and that ultra-PC crap is terrible shit.

1622

Aszurom is just your typical neutral liberal(!!!) who thinks Nick Denton is using his Weird Twitter troll army to use Alinskyite tactics against the Brave Real American Heroes of GamerGate. Or, well, he thinks it’s an open question. Obviously there’s no “hard data” about whether that’s happening or not, so there’s no way to know. Ergo, per the standard operating procedures, you must give credence to batshit insane and entirely implausible conspiracy theories. That’s how smart people work, right?

1623

Theres already things we can’t say in public that are only moderate opinions, and that IS WRONG… It seems the bigots are winning.

LOL did someone yell at you for saying something offensive? Let me get the world’s smallest violin, for truly you are the Jesus of our modern age.

1624

If certain things are becoming unacceptable to say in public, that means things are changing.

1625

Guy inside Gawker said Denton does indeed have a 30-man ICE team tasked with GG combat. ICE = Identify, Compartmentalize, Engage. Same source was dropping some other internal info as well. Well, as much as you can believe what you read in IRC and Tox.

Gawker’s entire organisation doesn’t have 300 employees. So more than 10% of its global workforce is dedicated to GG?

1626

Here’s a nickel, kid, go read literally any history book written, ever, since the beginning of time.

1627

NONE DARE CALL IT CONSPIRACY.

Is there any crazy, stupid claim that is too crazy and stupid for the GG community to not believe?

1628

I was uh… I was joking when I posted that. It was in response to what Aszurom had posted. Sorry, I thought it was kind of obvious. :)

1629

Does it bother you that no one’s actually bothering to respond to you any more? Well, beyond asking if it bothers you that no one’s responding to you any more, that is.

1630

Quite frankly, I’ve lost track of who’s on what side…or even what the sides actually are. One minute I think someone is making a case FOR the legitimacy of GG, then the next he gets attacked by someone claiming to be one as well. Same goes for the other extreme.

This has become fascinating.

1631

I assume you mean that in an academic sense. As in, “this 945th example of cell mitosis is as fascinating as the 258th, shown in Table 34.”

Watching GG implode is gratifying, but that happened a few weeks back. This is just internecine warfare amongst the various warlords, and I find it quite dull.

I’m still reading the damned thread though. It’s like a soap opera that’s past its prime: the actors are all old an unattractive and the new “twists” are just eye-rolling. You know you should stop watching, but what the hell else are you going to watch while eating your mac & cheese? A documentary that might educate you and make you a better person? Please.

1632

I meant it in a “I can’t take my eyes off this car wreck even though I know I should!” way.

1633

Yes it has. And no, there is no legitimate side.

The only legitimate things are:

  1. Women take a bunch of bullshit online and it needs to stop.

  2. Games journalism isn’t. Also it needs to try harder to be better.

  3. Personal attacks are now par, apparently, and while universally rejected have proven to be the pivotal items for weeks.

So, yeah, we agreed before that gamergate is really just watching a bonfire at this point.

And all the “conspiracy talk” is purely joking. Some people didn’t notice we were joking.

1634

The reign of terror has begun and the guillotine is working overtime.

1635

Another excellent blog post by Ken White of Popehat:

For years, I’ve been criticizing the trope that the American Right (for want of a better term) is victimized by the mean rhetoric of the American Left (ditto). I ridiculed a rightie blogger when he said that accusations of racism are inherently tyrannical and silencing, I dissented when Clint Eastwood complained he should be able to tell ethnic jokes without being criticized, and I scoffed when Kirk Cameron said that he should be able to say homosexuality destroys civilizations without people being mean to him about it. I’ve discussed how both the “Left” and the “Right” have stretched the term “bullying” beyond recognition.

It’s time for me to confess: I’m not entirely sure what some conservatives are up to.

…

Whatever the answer, it’s a misstep. If conservatives have fallen prey to the speech-victim ethos, it’s a failure of character; if they think they are teaching a lesson, they are too optimistic about their audience. As I said recently in the context of “GamerGate,” when you use rhetorical tropes and techniques, you normalize them, so they can be more easily used against you.

Bullshit should be identified as such. Complete lack of proportion should be commented upon. True threats should be reported and their makers stomped. Genuine harassment should be called out. But “we can’t endure the unique rhetorical meanness of the other team” does not convey “our ideas are right and we deserve to lead.” Instead, it insidiously promotes the very worst and most un-American of ideas: that we have a right not to be offended, that we have a right not to be ridiculed or disagreed with, and that speech might be as bad as action, and therefore a proper subject for regulation.

1636

The whole thing long ago left the realm of seriousness and has turned into a kind of an ARG, with “ICE teams” and “harassment patrols” and “false flag operations”. It’s just a game now, to the extent that it ever wasn’t.

1637

I was pleased to read Ken’s call out of Dennis Prager in that piece. That guy’s been playing fast and loose with the definitions of things for a while now. And when anyone questions those definitions, he screams “I’m being victimized” at the top of his lungs.

1638

Aszurom’s posting behaviour sounds hypomanic. The chains of epiphanies, the endless tl;dring, the conversations with himself, the quasi-messianism. Either it will bleed into full psychosis or at some point the other foot will drop and he will leave the forum for months/years while he goes into a depression.

1639

…or he’ll be fine and everyone will continue to ignore the childishly insulting posts of folks like you two.

1640

I find myself fascinated with this thread as well and I’m not sure why. Maybe because between GamerGate and the MRA/PUA fallout from the Eliot Rodger shooting earlier in the year I’ve learned (a white guy in my 50’s who is surrounded by females in my life) that I had not realized the degree of shit that women have to put up with – online or in their daily lives. Because I asked around and nearly all of those women in my life have dealt with this on some level.

So increased awareness of just that alone has helped this one random person on the internet to become more enlightened and determined to help in the ways that I am able to.