Guest Editorial by Liberal Lunacy Shannon

(Disclaimer: I will not name names in this piece as I don’t know the names of everyone involved and I feel it would be unethical to act as if I did. All opinions expressed herein are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the owner of this site or his staff.)

The past few weeks have been a sad state of affairs. The fractures in GamerGate, (the former hashtag consumer revolt, now hugbox echo-chamber) have become gaping chasms. A girl tied to GamerGate and NotYourShield decided it would be a good idea to kill herself. The effects of this have been far reaching. After the event, many people clinging onto the small amount of fame garnered through the hashtag movement took it upon themselves to use the suicide as a possible platform to gain more attention and notoriety. When these attempts were called out publicly on this website (not even by the owner of said site) a veritable torrent of butthurt began.

After the event in question, I didn’t really react publicly, as I knew my opinions would be unpopular. Seeing as now I’m writing on a site that is unpopular with these people anyway, I will now express them. I find it hard to have sympathy for someone who chooses to commit suicide, especially by jumping in front of a train. Not only did she have no regard for the people she knew personally that would be hurt, as in her friends, family and boyfriend, but she also had no regard for the trauma she most likely caused for the poor train conductor, bystanders who saw the event, EMS, fire and police crews called to the scene, clean up crews that had to clean her remains from the train and tracks and coroners who had to take the rest of her to the morgue. Plus I figure she got what she wanted out of the deal; she’s dead.

Now, in the aftermath of people being called out for their perceived grave standing, they and others who claimed to steadfastly stand for ethics above all else decided to do something I find very unethical. They went after the livelihood of the man who owns this site, not by attacking articles that they found unethical, but by reporting to AdSense an article they knew would be an easy target; an article bringing to light facts about a pedophile. In doing so they showed that they think it is okay to take down stories that are justified in order to get revenge over something that hurt their feelings. Using these tactics and possibly having an exposé about a pedophile deleted, they are indirectly helping said pedophile, because they don’t like the person who owns this site or the people who write for it.

Well, helping a pedophile is the absolute last straw for me. I have tried very hard for a long time to be neutral between the two factions that GamerGate seems to have splintered into. Now that the issue has been pushed and this seems to be the line in the sand that these people have drawn, I know which side I will (figuratively) stand on. I cannot abide directly or indirectly helping someone who would gleefully prey on children. If this is where we are now, where feelings are more important than justice and truth and supersede any modicum of ethical standards on their part, regardless of FEELINGS about the writers or owner of a blog website, we are no better than what we set out to fight against a year and a half ago.

I know I will get plenty of hate for writing this and I am prepared for that. I don’t mind though. I know I will sleep at night with my conscience clear. How many people who ended up aiding a predator can say the same?