OK, I’m about to do a stream at 4PM with Nora, Black Face Kermit, an most likely Candy Jam. We’re gonna show the hilariously bad Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 for fun. It won’t be on YouTube, though, so check back here for the link. But before I go setup for Ralph Mystery Theater Over 9000, let’s talk about a fucking crazy headline that I saw this morning. It somehow tied GamerGate in with the #CecilTheLion business. I understand that both these stories flourished on the Internet and Twitter in particular, but that’s about as far as the similarities go.
For one thing, I’ve never called for any anti-gamers to be brutally murdered. I haven’t leaked their addresses and terrorized their family. Now, I’ve even criticized the dentist myself, but I didn’t spend days and days running his shit down. I sent out a tweet or two and moved on. But read what noted shithead and Vox hack Max Fisher had to say:
Web users uncovered Palmer’s personal information, including about his family, and published it online. They went after his business, a private dental practice, posting thousands of negative reviews on Yelp and other sites. The practice has since shut down. Users also went after professional websites that host his profile, leading the sites to remove his information. On Twitter and on his practice’s public Facebook page, people made threats of physical violence.This should look familiar: It is the same set of tactics that has been used in online harassment campaigns such as the “Gamergate” movement that targeted women in technology, or the seemingly endless online harassment conducted against female journalists. It is a growing trend of internet mob justice, one that often bleeds into real-world harassment with real-world consequences.
