"Ethics and Journalistic Integrity"

[marblize]

It's becoming clear that Kern is a total clownshoes-wearing-clown

 

https://archive.today/17km1

[Vainamoinen]

It's becoming clear that Kern is a total clownshoes-wearing-clown

 

https://archive.today/17km1

 

And his circus days are over, he can't even entertain the gaters.

 

They hate this petition as well.

[Deadpan]

Apparently the "silent majority" he is getting together consists of just about 2000 people. Every time they do this kind of big posing to demonstrate their significance it ends up falling flat on its nose and they still haven't managed to figure out why. It's adorable, and gross, as always.

 

In other news I have learned today that TB has a forum account on the Escapist and it's every bit as bad as you'd imagine.

[Vainamoinen]

Let's welcome the Escapist's total gamergatification for now.

 

Let them establish their superior standards of journalistic integrity, I guess we'll have a lot of fun with that attempt.

[Nachimir]

As a friend said, The Escapist is now fascinating not as a source of writing, but as a case study.

[BadHat]

It's time to talk about the real tragedy: this shit has ruined my youtube recommendations forever.

 

 

Elsewhere, TotalBiscuit says things, decreases faith in humanity.

 

 

"Who doesn't want diversity? I can't think of a single person!" *hides gamergate in attic Anne Frank style*

[Argobot]

White men remaining neutral on diversity — because let's be honest, it's always white men — and claiming that this proves anything but how privileged it is to have all media unquestioningly catered to you is rage-inducing.

[Reyturner]

Gamergate isn't against diversity in video games. They're just against being critical of non-diversity in video games. Especially when that anti-non-diversity in video games sentiment comes in the form of diversity in video games. Gamergate is fine with diversity in video games so long as those video games and the people who make them in no way comment on, encourage or promote diversity in video games. 

 

It's so reasonable and logical

 

[Synnah]

It's time to talk about the real tragedy: this shit has ruined my youtube recommendations forever.

 

 

Occasionally Thunderf00t comes up in my YouTube recommendations, and it makes me want to throw my PC out of my window.

 

Elsewhere, TotalBiscuit says things, decreases faith in humanity.

 

This guy has gone from being kind-of-misguided-but-maybe-sort-of-well-meaning-probably to genuinely infuriatingly stupid. It's depressing to me that anyone still pays any attention to what he says.

[CollegeBaby]

Please TB just stop

 

Throwing more stuff into the pile of TB farting from his mouth and getting one step closer to his final form as Shit-Golem Of The Internet. TB cares SO MUCH about the death of trans people that he hits almost every possible derail tactic when someone raises the issue of vulnerable minorities being a systemic issue.

[Vainamoinen]

Please TB just stop

 

Bain's way of having an argument has all the telltale signs of immaturity. This guy is just a kid trying to defend his 'opinion' to the blood. When Sterling practically has him nailed to the wall in this discussion, it's just one step back for Bain before the unfounded attacks begin anew.

Troll - argue - retreat and then self-righteously sum up the discussion in quite a fictional way.

 

John Bain thinks he's living in a shame culture, in which angry white men are made responsible for all bad deeds imaginable and should protest whenever the idea of guilt surfaces. I say he has no idea how this kind of culture would really play out.

 

"Who doesn't want diversity? I can't think of a single person!" *hides gamergate in attic Anne Frank style*

 

Yes, that is exactly it, the central sentence that should make people scratch their heads. Every reaxxion article is essentially based on the idea that

 

while gamergate supporters actually love diversity in their games,

diversity really isn't that appropriate in most game genres,

the target group of those games happens to see their games ruined by it,

the Social Justice Warrior is making a stand for it in a perverted and exaggerated way

— and is generally unfit to ask for diversity in games if he is male and white —

the push for more diversity in games comes from voices outside of gaming fandom,

the video game press is deeply corrupt in supporting and infusing us with this ideology and

developers stop thinking for themselves and yield to their evil influence.

 

Gamergate in a nutshell, for John Bain: "Diversity is OK, just not in our games".

[Gormongous]

Please TB just stop

 

Throwing more stuff into the pile of TB farting from his mouth and getting one step closer to his final form as Shit-Golem Of The Internet. TB cares SO MUCH about the death of trans people that he hits almost every possible derail tactic when someone raises the issue of vulnerable minorities being a systemic issue.

Bain's way of having an argument has all the telltale signs of immaturity. This guy is just a kid trying to defend his 'opinion' to the blood. When Sterling practically has him nailed to the wall in this discussion, it's just one step back for Bain before the unfounded attacks begin anew.

 

John Bain thinks he's living in a shame culture, in which angry white men are made responsible for all bad deeds imaginable and should protest whenever the idea of guilt surfaces. I say he has no idea how this kind of culture would really play out.

 

I love the lengths to which TotalBiscuit goes to explain that he totally understands the article and supports everything said in it, but that it should still be disregarded because its title makes him feel bad that not actively harming trans* people himself isn't good enough. Like the creator of the storify says, nice to know who really matters to TB. It doesn't matter if he even agrees with you, you also have to say it nicely, else he'll do his best to silence you anyway.

 

Also, how fucked is it to condemn online support as slacktivism and to argue for a focus on face-to-face support instead, when it's a group whose members most often express themselves online? How much does anyone want to bet that TB doesn't know a single trans* person in real life and is just writing himself a blank check to ignore the issues they face in favor of... what, well-building in Africa?

 

Well-building in Africa... Fuck me, now that's a cause with absolutely nothing wrong with it.

[Deadpan]

It's always amazing how people who genuinely think talking about stuff online doesn't change anything never stop to consider how that applies to the words they are putting online right this second. Surely if tweeting about an issue is ineffective, then tweeting about how tweeting about it is ineffective must be double-ultra-mega-hyper ineffective to the max, and yet it's still always done with the smug air of "let me show you how it's done you silly."

[Gormongous]

It's always amazing how people who genuinely think talking about stuff online doesn't change anything never stop to consider how that applies to the words they are putting online right this second. Surely if tweeting about an issue is ineffective, then tweeting about how tweeting about it is ineffective must be double-ultra-mega-hyper ineffective to the max, and yet it's still always done with the smug air of "let me show you how it's done you silly."

 

There's a lot of pseudo-nihilism to be found on the internet that isn't actually about the rejection of all religious and moral principles, but just about wiping the rhetorical slate clean in order to champion something without having to deal with history or context. "Everything we say on the internet is pointless; therefore, among these pointless things that we say, here is the one that I still manage to find meaningful." Like everything else TotalBiscuit says, it's classic derailment.

[Nachimir]

TotalBiscuit has done this enough times I feel like I don't need to click on links or engage with his arguments in any way. Internally I regard him as a generic problem, rather than just the latest thing he's said being separate problems.

 

Well-building in Africa... Fuck me, now that's a cause with absolutely nothing wrong with it.

 

Thanks for the interesting read. I know someone who works for an NGO dedicated to clean water in developing countries, and she once told me the most effective thing they can spend money on is strengthening local government and human rights, before even thinking about putting infrastructure in.

[itsamoose]

Bain's way of having an argument has all the telltale signs of immaturity. This guy is just a kid trying to defend his 'opinion' to the blood. When Sterling practically has him nailed to the wall in this discussion, it's just one step back for Bain before the unfounded attacks begin anew.

Troll - argue - retreat and then self-righteously sum up the discussion in quite a fictional way.

 

Otherwise known as the Roger Goodell.  I'm really not surprised he's using these kind of techniques.  In recent years it seems like the way most people with some reputation to protect deal with controversy is to deflect the question, reaffirm their own integrity, then act like the person who asked the question is the asshole for bringing it up.

[Problem Machine]

Extremely disingenuous arguments are also pretty typical of GG at this point. They love, love calling people racists and misogynists on the most flimsy pretexts, not because that's what they actually believe but because they believe it will score them points. Once again, TB's tactics are just a sanitized version of the same shit his awful followers use.

[Merus]

So the guy who crashed his car while supposedly driving to Brianna Wu's house? Is in fact a avant-guard comedian, playing a character.

 

And making actual threats as part of that act, might I add.

[Nachimir]

Given how many people involved with GG early on were doing stuff for lulz, it doesn't really set him apart from them does it? Making threats and taking the piss out of GG basically just aligns him with Baph.

[Vainamoinen]

So the guy who crashed his car while supposedly driving to Brianna Wu's house? Is in fact a avant-guard comedian, playing a character.

 

And making actual threats as part of that act, might I add.

 

I never doubted his act, and even now I think that he was really, really good at the trolling.

 

But, yeah, he scared the living hell out of Brianna Wu, and needs to be locked up for some time for that. An apology also hasn't yet surfaced.

 

 

Huh, I just came here after reading the tweet everybody is posting... It's rather sad to see The Escapist become a GamerGate friendly site. Then again, did anybody here even go to site for anything but the video content? I only went there for LRR at first. :\

 

Yeah... seems like there will be a little less video content on the Escapist for now. Short version: their porn stars think they're sick fucks for hiring Brandon Morse.

http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.de/2015/02/were-not-playing-d-with-escapist-ever.html?zx=f4b5d38f805b2d3

(NSFW in the US, probably completely harmless anywhere else)

p.s. I'll say this just once, but this forum has the worst sad smiley imaginable.

[CollegeBaby]

 Yeah... seems like there will be a little less video content on the Escapist for now. Short version: their porn stars think they're sick fucks for hiring Brandon Morse.

http://dndwithpornstars.blogspot.de/2015/02/were-not-playing-d-with-escapist-ever.html?zx=f4b5d38f805b2d3

(NSFW in the US, probably completely harmless anywhere else)

p.s. I'll say this just once, but this forum has the worst sad smiley imaginable.

 

It's good that people are ditching the Escapist for their hiring choices, but I'd be careful not to hold up Zack S as a good example though. He's been known for a pattern of harassment himself.

 

Fail Forward

[Apple Cider]

I am beyond furious at the guy saying threats were just "comedy." No, they are not. But this is why men are not allowed to put down "acting like the bad guys" as satire anymore, not that they were before but this is why. You are indistinguishable from the bad guys and that's probably intended.

[Mawd]

What a complete asshole. You can't act like that and think you're excused because you were trying to pull a laugh out of somewhere.

"Hurr Durr we're awesome boundary pushers; we're really clever amirite? Don't worry punter it's a joke, all for laughs, wait why are you acting so psycho to me? I can't believe you took that seriously. I told you it's a joke."

 

I hope most people can understand and respect what receiving death threats, stalking, and harassment are like enough to not perpetrate that experience. 

Though from what I can tell their comedy comes from already having a marked lack of respect for people in general.

[Vainamoinen]

I'd be careful not to hold up Zack S as a good example though. He's been known for a pattern of harassment himself.

 

Shocking charges, absolutely. I'll look into it.

[CollegeBaby]

"I wanted to make fun of trolls by repeating exactly the same behavior they did. You know... the edgy clever thing where you make fun of a thing by being indistinguishable from the thing. It was TRUE SATIRE but now I am being harassed for realsies and now I truly understand."

 

So sick of dudes who think this is the best thing since comedy was invented. Your intended targets completely missed the point, and you created real harm, so who was your "satire" for?*

 

*extremely rhetorical question

 

Now waiting for the the guy to come out and say "actually all that was ANOTHER layer of satire about how clueless white dudes do shitty things to vulnerable people, and justify it as satire of other people who do shitty things to vulnerable people." Ugh. These kinds of stunts have another horrible long term effect of diminishing the seriousness of organised sociopathic patterns of online harassment. Actual authorities barely understand online harassment as it is, and this isn't helping.

 

On a related note, Zack S has been name searching himself and getting into arguments with people on Twitter who are calling him out for being an asshole. Probably has found this thread as well, which is why I deliberately do not spell his name correctly.

 

 

Shocking charges, absolutely. I'll look into it.

 

I don't believe his personal views are as abhorrent as the people currently being hired by the Escapist, but his behavior online and extreme aggressiveness with people calling him out is gross and has been going on for years. He is very tangential to the themes of this thread though so I don't want to distract from other topics.