Ok, I need to get this off my chest. I've tried to stay out of all this, but fuck it, I might as well add my two cents (for whatever that's actually worth).
Aliengmr and Zeconte, keep up the good work. You two are doing a good job refuting the debunked talking points as they're brought up; however, come on, Zeconte - her name is Sarkeesian, you're better than that. Hell, it's pretty much spelled how it sounds. It's ok, you can write it out - she's not the Devil or fucking Lord Voldemort. She's just a person. (Since forum posts are notoriously bad at conveying gentle sarcasm, let me be clear that that last comment was delivered with tongue firmly in cheek. Of course, I don't think that Zeconte thinks of Ms. Sarkeesian as Lord Voldemort, but my underlying point stands - if we're going to discuss these topics in a forthright and mature manner, we should afford people a modicum of simple courtesy).
Zontar, what narrative do you think #GamerGate is controlling? In fact, what does this whole movement hope to gain, potentially or otherwise? A stronger emphasis on journalistic ethics and accountability in the gaming press? Based on what? The online screed of an ex-boyfriend with an obvious axe to grind who used the loudest bull horn known to humanity to trumpet the alleged indiscretions of his former paramour (a move widely considered one of the douchiest things an ex can do - at least in polite society)? Where are the journalistic ethics there? That's about as click-baity as things come on the ol' Interwebs, and yet you wonder why gaming websites with any shred of integrity avoided this 'story' like the plague? I'll tell you why - because they were showing Journalistic Integrity. They could have jumped on that pony right from the beginning and rode it straight to Click Nirvana, but they said no. Why? Because any responsible member of the press knows that acting on such an obviously biased and agenda-laden situation could only turn out badly.
This was an obviously private matter that Gjoni made public. What was the games press supposed to do? Confirm the details of Ms. Quinn's alleged affairs with her and then publish every salacious detail (or lack thereof, because who in their right mind would corroborate such a thing) for everyone's titilation, like TMZ? Is that really what #GamerGate is about? Because honestly, at this point I can't see how this shakes out any other way. One can't preach 'journalistic ethics' off a platform founded on the self-serving and largely uncorroborated tirade of someone trying to get back at their ex, and certainly not after gleefully hitching the movement's wagons to the shoddy and now thoroughly debunked 'reporting' that Ms. Sarkeesian didn't contact the authorities regarding the harassment she received.
Can #GamerGate recover from its image problem? No because the very start is, as someone else pointed out, the root of a poisoned tree. Without Gjoni's initial attempt at slut-shaming, #GamerGate doesn't exist. Had it been around prior to Gjoni's post, say as a result of the Doritoes/Mountain Dew promotion, I might have been able to believe that the movement simply got co-opted by a cadre of agitators that harassed Ms. Quinn and Ms. Sarkeesian, but not when the origins are already so apparent. Frankly, given the rampant speculation amongst the #GamerGate crowd regarding Ms. Quinn's motives in all this, I feel comfortable offering my own: I think Gjoni played the #GamerGate crowd like a fiddle. He knew a tale of woe about infidelity on Quinn's part would be like catnip to the vocal anti-feminist minority that seems to run under the surface of the gaming community like a riptide current; he knew they would latch on and lash out and capitalized on that fact to get revenge against Quinn. And the GG crowd seemed to follow the script perfectly, right down to switching over to the idealistic cover of 'journalistic ethics' advocacy when association with the anti-Quinn origins started to prove too toxic to maintain the movement's credibility.
Shit, who am I kidding? This isn't even a movement. A movement has goals, organization, leaders, and polices itself for elements that would subvert those goals. #GamerGate is just that - a hashtag and little else. Oh sure, some of the gaming press sites have made a great show of implementing new measures to ensure greater accountability and adherence to journalistic ethics, but that's all it is - a show. In the end, this will be like every other so-called Twitter scandal: a tempest in a teacup.
Aliengmr and Zeconte, keep up the good work. You two are doing a good job refuting the debunked talking points as they're brought up; however, come on, Zeconte - her name is Sarkeesian, you're better than that. Hell, it's pretty much spelled how it sounds. It's ok, you can write it out - she's not the Devil or fucking Lord Voldemort. She's just a person. (Since forum posts are notoriously bad at conveying gentle sarcasm, let me be clear that that last comment was delivered with tongue firmly in cheek. Of course, I don't think that Zeconte thinks of Ms. Sarkeesian as Lord Voldemort, but my underlying point stands - if we're going to discuss these topics in a forthright and mature manner, we should afford people a modicum of simple courtesy).
Zontar, what narrative do you think #GamerGate is controlling? In fact, what does this whole movement hope to gain, potentially or otherwise? A stronger emphasis on journalistic ethics and accountability in the gaming press? Based on what? The online screed of an ex-boyfriend with an obvious axe to grind who used the loudest bull horn known to humanity to trumpet the alleged indiscretions of his former paramour (a move widely considered one of the douchiest things an ex can do - at least in polite society)? Where are the journalistic ethics there? That's about as click-baity as things come on the ol' Interwebs, and yet you wonder why gaming websites with any shred of integrity avoided this 'story' like the plague? I'll tell you why - because they were showing Journalistic Integrity. They could have jumped on that pony right from the beginning and rode it straight to Click Nirvana, but they said no. Why? Because any responsible member of the press knows that acting on such an obviously biased and agenda-laden situation could only turn out badly.
This was an obviously private matter that Gjoni made public. What was the games press supposed to do? Confirm the details of Ms. Quinn's alleged affairs with her and then publish every salacious detail (or lack thereof, because who in their right mind would corroborate such a thing) for everyone's titilation, like TMZ? Is that really what #GamerGate is about? Because honestly, at this point I can't see how this shakes out any other way. One can't preach 'journalistic ethics' off a platform founded on the self-serving and largely uncorroborated tirade of someone trying to get back at their ex, and certainly not after gleefully hitching the movement's wagons to the shoddy and now thoroughly debunked 'reporting' that Ms. Sarkeesian didn't contact the authorities regarding the harassment she received.
Can #GamerGate recover from its image problem? No because the very start is, as someone else pointed out, the root of a poisoned tree. Without Gjoni's initial attempt at slut-shaming, #GamerGate doesn't exist. Had it been around prior to Gjoni's post, say as a result of the Doritoes/Mountain Dew promotion, I might have been able to believe that the movement simply got co-opted by a cadre of agitators that harassed Ms. Quinn and Ms. Sarkeesian, but not when the origins are already so apparent. Frankly, given the rampant speculation amongst the #GamerGate crowd regarding Ms. Quinn's motives in all this, I feel comfortable offering my own: I think Gjoni played the #GamerGate crowd like a fiddle. He knew a tale of woe about infidelity on Quinn's part would be like catnip to the vocal anti-feminist minority that seems to run under the surface of the gaming community like a riptide current; he knew they would latch on and lash out and capitalized on that fact to get revenge against Quinn. And the GG crowd seemed to follow the script perfectly, right down to switching over to the idealistic cover of 'journalistic ethics' advocacy when association with the anti-Quinn origins started to prove too toxic to maintain the movement's credibility.
Shit, who am I kidding? This isn't even a movement. A movement has goals, organization, leaders, and polices itself for elements that would subvert those goals. #GamerGate is just that - a hashtag and little else. Oh sure, some of the gaming press sites have made a great show of implementing new measures to ensure greater accountability and adherence to journalistic ethics, but that's all it is - a show. In the end, this will be like every other so-called Twitter scandal: a tempest in a teacup.
