You know, the article The Washington Post released earlier today struck me as an attack, at first glance (OK, it is an attack, but bear with me). It compares Donald Trump and his candidacy to GamerGate. Well, actually it flat-out says Trump is the GG of the GOP. Now, the column is riddled with smears and inaccuracies, and I’ll certainly talk about those in a second. But the fundamental premise does seem to have at least a little merit. I see GamerGate as a band of disaffected consumers from all over the spectrum, and that reminds me a lot of Trump’s coalition. There are even some supporters who don’t even care for gaming at all. They just like taking on the moralistic scolds who are trying to take over public life. That’s always been fine with me. I don’t care why you’re here, so long as you’re contributing. Since GamerGate is the biggest (semi) organized movement to ever take on these SJW scumbags, of course it will draw some non-gaming supporters.
Now, how does Trump’s troop of voters remind me of GG? For starters, many Trump fans see him as a rebellion against mainstream politics. A sizable number of them aren’t your traditional Republican voter, either. Hell, some of them might even be disaffected Democrats. The point is, they’re all rallying around something they see as an elevated cause. It’s not about Trump personally, although a lot of people love his showmanship. It’s about what he represents.
The political class in the United States has failed us so miserably that people legitimately hate politicians now. It used to be a joke, but the hatred is now very real. They make all these promises on the campaign trail, only to go to Washington and act in a completely different manner. Not only that, they’re also a bunch of liars. Sometimes, they’re outright criminals. All of this could be overlooked, if things were going well. The people are willing to forgive a lot if the country is running smoothly. It’s not. Think about it…Congress is completely gridlocked and the presidency is a reckless behemouth at this point. The Supreme Court isn’t much better. The citizenry has given up on its institutions and it’s very easy to see why. Absent some big changes within the next decade, we’re headed for much worse times.
That’s the same sorts of issues that have propelled GamerGate, albeit on a smaller scale. We’re dealing with the media, not the ruler of the free world. But, you see overlap all the time. The structures that used to have respect are failing: the old media, gaming journos, even gaming companies. So, while the author of this Washington Post article was completely off base with most of her retelling and rhetoric…
…the underlying theory still has merit. Will Trump end up snatching the nomination and then the presidency? I have no idea, but his candidacy does remind me of GamerGate in those key areas. Let me know what you think down below, while I go grab dinner. Thank you for reading, and I appreciate all the work we’ve had from the various contributors over the last few days. I hope you all have enjoyed it as much as I have.
(cover h/t to @adudeinaplace)
30 comments
Honestly, Trump is the best republican candidate out of all of them in my opinion. And this isn’t just from me admiring his showboating. If it comes down to Bernie and Trump, it’s gonna be a hard one for me to choose between them and it might actually get me to register to vote.
“Trump is the GamerGate of GOP”? I’m taking that as a compliment.
If Trump is the #GamerGate of the GOP, I want out of #GG.
I hate that mother****er.
Bernie Sanders 2016.
I dislike both of them for a variety of reasons, but I think Ralph’s statement on the matter is by and large correct. I know a handful of liberals who have become disgusted with the democratic establishment and progressives, who have found themselves looking at Trump if only because they want to throw a hand grenade at the people they feel have betrayed them and ruined a once noble party.
Funny how the tides have turned twice with every 8 years. Republicans felt let down by Bush and the other money-grubbers in the GOP. Now, Democrats are let down by extremists on their side, perhaps driven mad with power since they have a black leftist in office and they assume he’ll always have their back. Maybe each party should only get 4 years maximum before their supporters grow into a festering zombie hoard poised to destroy the entire country (of course, third parties are also an option, but in spite of the complete failure of the two-party system, it STILL manages to be a complete waste of people’s votes).
On my end, I am voting for a cat come 2016.
It’s about comparisons on what’s fueled both movements, not saying GG is Trump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sFWWCfjP1U
I dislike most politicians all my life anyway because they’re all greedy, selfish and can only ever talk the talk but not walk the walk.
Now they’re also agenda-pushing cowards who simply keep bending over for feminism for PR points, and help them pass laws that completely oppress and discriminate against men.
Trump all the way. He is not ideal of course but he is the one that is anti-PC and anti-SJW. Virtually all the other candidates will just simply bend over for the ultra-left regressive little SJW feminist bastards.
One thing I always look forward to in every snide anti-GG article is that at some point the writer has to say something like “Well, they’ll tell you it’s about ethics in gaming…” as if that was some outlandish concept. But THEIR theory of it being about some grand sexist conspiracy to keep women out of the gaming industry somehow makes perfect sense to them.
But in a weird way they’re kind of right. GG has moved on from being about ethics in gaming journalism simply because gamers won that battle almost immediately, when the games press collectively decided to throw their rattles out of their strollers the moment they were called out.
But not it has moved on to become a full-blown war for cultural sanity. Caused entirely by the authoritarian left VOLTRON-ing itself into this giant, lumbering beast of Social Justice (and no, I’m not talking just about Randi Harper) that has but one goal: use the entire force of the mainstream liberal media to force the radical leftist agenda onto the entire culture and crush anyone who would dare question or oppose it.
This is what a silly spat about video games journalism has become. And believe me, not for a moment is it the gamers’ fault.
I’ve always advocated for GamerGate to extend beyond video games and video games journalism, because it has developed into one of the best movements against this authoritarian SJW/feminism bullshit.
Even Christina Hoff Sommers herself said that she is glad a movement such as GG has finally come along, as it is actually strong enough to withstand the force that is modern feminism and effectively lash back at them.
Movements like GamerGate do not come along often. Let’s make the most of it.
“One thing I always look forward to in every snide anti-GG article is
that at some point the writer has to say something like “Well, they’ll
tell you it’s about ethics in gaming…” as if that was some outlandish
concept.”
Don’t forget that anti-GG articles ALWAYS describe the movement as being against women in gaming. Hell, if you’re unfamiliar with the author and/or site in question, such a statement is pretty much all you need to look for to tell if the article is pro or anti. This is in spite of the fact that GG has been proven several times to be in favor of women and, if anything, their “progressive” side is the one setting women and minorities back the most.
From these 2 Gallup polls, you can see mistrust in the government is rising and trust in the media is declining:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/5392/trust-government.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/185927/americans-trust-media-remains-historical-low.aspx
These institutions have went beyond just letting the average American down. They have betrayed the trust of the average American.
Trump seems far removed from the average American, especially in terms of money, name recognition, connections, etc. But he has a charisma not seen in American politics in a long time. He also talks about subjects that most politicians shy away from or play overly politically correct. For example, I just watched him saying he would ban ALL Muslims from entering America. If he really means this or not, we’ll see. But he certainly said it: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2015/12/07/trump_total_and_complete_shutdown_of_muslims_entering_united_states.html
If he is “the GamerGate of Republican politics” I would say somewhat. He is very politically incorrect. His popularity and his rhetoric certainly comes from years of people knowing something is wrong (with American politics or the media) and is fighting against it. He is less concerned about corruption from what I’ve seen, but will have open disputes with media organizations he feels have mistreated him. He uses Twitter like a scalpel against his opponents, but AFAIK hasn’t used archived Tweets from his rivals against them as many GG supporters have.
This sort of comparison could go on for a while, but Trump has lit the fire under the establishment. And that establishment hates him as much as game “journalists” and the media hates “gators.”
I like how the Washington Post shameless repeats the lie about GamerGate, again pretending that they name doesn’t refer to a fucking scandal in the game industry between a slutty, talentless hack of a dev and several members of the press. I mean, for fucks sake, the sheer name IMPLIES a scandal based off of the “watergate” reference in its name. And it just repeats the same SJW talking point bullshit about it “reacting to gains”… what gains? Seriously, the narrative is that women are underrepresented/not present/fleeing the industry, so what gains is it supposedly reacting to? They can’t have it both ways. They want people to put politics and the “politically correct” view (especially in the Hugo’s) above uncensored art and even just the sheer value of entertainment and respect for the consumer, which gaming revolves ENTIRELY around. I still remember the meltdown that one studio had when they went bankrupt even after they had Leigh Alexander do “PR” for them and how shamelessly disrespectful they were to gamers.
behemouth ?_?
On the other hand, Trump said he wants to censor the internet. So. Fuck him.
I obviously don’t agree with him there.
He wants to censor radical extremism, like, you know, SJW’s. Speech is anything but free and even the chans will censor something they don’t agree with.
Still not a good thing. “I may detest what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
I was being tongue in cheek. Organizing terror attacks on the internet is beyond the bounds of free speech.
Well I guess we need to get those uniforms made. Milo is apparently Red Skull…so much for my plans of writing novels, time to fall on my back up plan Super Villain. Now seriously, how stupid are these idiots in the media, have they even looked at who the Anti’s support?! PEDOPHILES! And all manner of scam artists and actual abusers. Good fucking lord, are they that dense!? I mean seriously, next thing you’ll tell me that they’re saying we have secret training camps all over where we train people to “harass” women in online games.
On my last point, they do know they dont have to use voice chat ja? I never do because I don’t need to hear what they say.
You seem to be falling into the trap that many Gamergaters have likewise been drawn into. That is, believing that the media has been duped into supporting the SJW cause because they are stupid or ignorant. Actually, they are both, but that’s not why they support cultural authoritarianism. It’s because they are SJWs first and journalists second.
Many of us have failed to grasp that, even those who SHOULD know better (talking to you, Sargon of Akkad), so we have fooled ourselves into thinking that we’ve won some victory in the name of ethics. We haven’t won shit. Media is just as unethical as they’ve ever been, they’re just as eager to ruin the industry in pursuit of their social justice agenda and they still don’t give a damn about gamers, seeing us ideological enemies. The only thing Gamergate has really accomplished is we’ve forced them to employ a lot more secrecy when it comes to ignoring legitimate ethical concerns.
As an example, has it stopped egregious media offenders like Gamasutra or Kotaku, from continuing to mischaracterize Gamergate supporters as sexist, misogynist trolls who spend all their free time sending death threats to women, while attempting to make all of gaming “male gender pure”? No, because they still aren’t reporting the news, they’re manufacturing it to serve their progressive agenda.
The media rot we’ve drawn so much attention to is a symptom of the disease, not it’s cause. Progressivism and far left authoritarianism is the disease and the reason our own media have turned against us.
This falls right in line with the SJW strategy of infiltration, corruption and eventual control, of every industry or group they set their sights on. It’s happened many times before and it’s happening now with gaming. They took a while to notice how much influence games have on modern society, but once they became aware, we became a target for assimilation by the SJW hive mind. The fact that gaming “journalists” now disclose when they get a free review copy of a game is meaningless, when compared to the damage they do every day by openly promoting the SJW agenda and quietly facilitating the progressive overthrow of gamers.
We’ve basically gone three rounds and raised our hands in victory. Meanwhile, the next nine rounds are looming and our opponent is seething. This isn’t the way to win.
I read the original article and it was hilarious: “we’re not trying to police speech or do any of the awful shit we’re accused of but here’s how we need to BEAT THEM DOWN FOR GOOD!”
Look I know some of you may not like Trump the way I do but vote for the guy anyway, this guy will be a fucking wrecking ball when it comes to demolishing SJW retardation in this country.
PS Hey Ralph Nick Coleman’s tweet was funny, don’t be so fucking sensitive.
Dude wants to take shots at me and my significant other out of nowhere and I don’t really find that shit funny. Honestly that was the part that pissed me off, dragging other people into his lame comedy. Plus he tagged me in with a loser he KNOWS I hate. So he can fuck off for now, possibly forever.
You’re sounding like Jeb right now man, just saying.
Fair enough though although personally I love being tagged in with my twitter adversaries. Then again all of them but Movieblob have already blocked me so it’s not like it matters. I can’t wait till my twitter gets banned again and I get to restart with a new sandpaper condom per my own personal rules of engagement.
Another day another article using GamerGate as the boogeyman. The media idiots don’t seem to realise that they are the ones who keep the movement alive. I guess the cultural authoritarians still can’t accept the fact that they lost that battle miserably and continually throw mud at GG with the same success of pissing against the wind.
Many say that GG is dead, but it lives on controversy. Whenever an issue like the DOAX3 fiasco comes up the watchdog is awaken to point out injustice. More and more I’m seeing the consumer base in gaming forums and comment sections waking up to the agenda – people are now correctly using the “SJW” term and are starting too see what is the core of the problem.
Basically,
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/09/27/cold-anger/
What I don’t understand is why gamergate is being dragged into national politics. 95% of those tuned into political stuff will have no idea what gamergate even is(except the odd freakshow such as the canadian prime minister). So this article written by a WaPo author about politics has no political audience in mind. It is just another excuse for no talent faux ‘journalists’ to take another stab at gamergate.
They see Gamergate as a legitimate threat to their ultra left wing supremacy. Poisoning the well by maligning the name among those outside of gaming, ensures that if they hear it used again, it will bring with it an automatic negative reaction, and thereby be more receptive to the message they are trying to get across. It’s Propaganda 101.
Least Donald Trump is saying things that need to be said. We don’t even have that option in the UK anymore cause of our weak assed politicians and the MSM constantly smearing UKIP or anyone who speaks off message.