GUEST EDITORIAL by @masterninja
So this got me to write something in my own time and the first piece i put on the internet since 2011 i think! Congratulations! i write this because recently a discussion among those who support #gamergate has grown increasingly hostile. From my perspective a group that thinks #gamergate should be about ethics only versus people who think ethics as well as SJW’s are an issue we should tackle. Personally i am in group number 2 but i will explain my reasons for that in a bit!
First however, let me introduce myself a bit more I’m @masterninja on Twitter and i supported #GamerGate since day one. I even used the Quinnspiracy tag a few times and the first time was August 25th..
https://twitter.com/masterninja/status/503846393682075648
I have seen a lot of people from those first days leave or even disappear entirely and i see around us a lot of people who stuck it out just like I did! Then there are the legions that joined us as time passed by! It would be insulting to think that I know everyone’s reasons for doing either of these things, but there’s one thing that binds us: we showed up all the same. I don’t know what takes more courage, those few people that stuck it out those first few days or the legions who knowingly jumped in when they knew they were going to be libeled and slandered. Every single one of you has my respect and I’m grateful to stand with you!
Anyway lets get to the point! Is #GamerGate ethics only? Can we even be ethics only? Should people involved in #GamerGate be ethics only? My answer is no to the first 2 questions and my answer to the 3rd question is that it should be up to you! From what I have seen people have started to try and force others to take an ethics only position which is simply not gonna work.
Was #GamerGate about ethics only? From my experience from the first few days yes but then the “narrative” started up and every discussion with a journalist was like pulling teeth, talking as if me and many others were just “angry white neckbeards” and therefore easily dismissed. I think we all know what happened then #NotYourShield was created and personally I started to realize this was bigger then just ethics in games journalism.
This is why there’s no separating it. #GamerGate was for me the thing that opened my eyes to what a SJW even was. I never had people deny my existence before or called me a racist/rapist etc just so they could attempt to silence and dehumanize me to the point of quitting. Sure they failed but to me and I think many others like me, this became an important part for our motivations to continue.
This does not mean I deny the many victories we had on the ethics front…which in my opinion is just as important. But for all the battles we won on that front, Nathan Grayson to this day has not faced any consequences. Countless journalists who ran hitpieces on us have done so without consequences. So the idea that being ethics-only is gonna fix a system exploited by ideologues makes you more optimistic then i am.
If your personal stake in this however is ethics-only, then you have every right to stick to that. But don’t try and force the rest of us to limit ourselves, because this went beyond ethics only way back on the 3rd of September 2014 with the creation of #NotYourShield! So if your focus was ethics-only this whole time that is fine and you have every right to it. But the anti-SJW thing has been part of my struggle since way back when they first denied my existence…
We have formed an alliance that has lasted almost 11 months now. We are effective when we all work together, so if or when you consider your part of the fight done, then that’s your call. Just don’t force the rest of us to take a side in a discussion that shouldn’t even need to exist as both sides have worked together all this time.
So these are my views. I hope we can move on, or at least get a good discussion going in the comments so we can at least decrease the hostility growing between both camps.
