GG+Fem · @GGfeminist
20th Oct 2014 from TwitLonger
Twitlonger about #GamerGate and destruction of Identity, also about @PixieJenni
Before I jump in, two notes.
First, there will be many hyperbolic analogies here. If this is bothersome, please feel free to move along or read with that skepticism in mind. No, GamerGate is not comparable in either impact or scope to those other groups discussed, though I believe the methods and ramifications of generalizing said groups has comparable ramifications for this issue.
Second, as for the Jennie bit, that's at the end.
Ever since its inception, GamerGate has had a severe "image problem". Our nonabusive majority has been overlooked, our women mocked or simply disbelieved out of existence along with virtually anyone who does not fit a very narrow, negative portrait of the most unflattering "gamer" stereotype. This method of combating GamerGate has thus far proved ineffectual at quelling or even diminishing its member base, though such tactics have, in estimation and not evidence, driven many out of speaking on the group's behalf lest they be labeled with the same demonization. Far more importantly, by defining the group as a "hate movement" all responsibility to engage or consider opinions is unwarranted for antiGG. When one writes an article about the KKK, one rarely feels the need to speak to said group for their point of view. This method of delegitimizing a voice is very old, and caries a deeply shameful legacy.
Cora Alexa Døving, senior scientist at the Norwegian Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities, has attempted to define such methods in a manner that would encompass American racism (Civil Rights Movement), pre-WW2 anti-Semitism (European Judism), and modern Islamophobia (Islam in western societies). She suggests that the predominant concerns shared by all these forms of bigotry are "imagined threats of minority growth and domination, threats to traditional institutions and customs, skepticism of integration, threats to secularism, fears of sexual crimes, fears of misogyny, fears based on historical cultural inferiority, hostility to modern Western Enlightenment values, etc." The main methodology in all cases is one of narrowing all identity to a preordained and indisputably heinous series of traits, be they violent, misogynist, racist, abusive, etc. By ignoring all peaceful, accepting Muslims, for instance, and focusing inordinately on a small and universally loathsome minority (terrorists, ISIS, etc), the complete group can be derided and their opinions discarded. This method has been used to prey on mosques once attended by an eventual bomber, where the innocent, vast majority of attendees are subsequently stripped of their universal rights to privacy and their places of congregation wiretapped. (4chan, 8chan, take note).
What's more, those same communities have their leaders, and those in power who do not actively pursue the abandonment of due process, derided and slandered as "enablers", regardless of how vehemently they condemn isolated acts of aggression. Nothing better illustrates this than the profoundly infamous "Willie Horton" political ads from 1988, where Michael Dukakis was painted as a "rape enabler" for his relatively lax stance on prison passes. Those commercials, and other "rotating door policy" attacks, not only destroyed political careers but also profoundly damaged the prison system in the United States as more and more politicians of all sides raced to be "tougher than the opponent" on prisons and more generally crime. (Escapist, etc, take note)
All these tactics are born of fear, and they are the most untenable aspect of both GamerGate, and any disagreement where legitimate discourse need by vital. They must end if we are to deescalate the rising climate of anger in gaming. If we do not talk to each other, if we do not reach each other as equals with human value, we will have no resolution, no compromise, no reconstruction of the massive collapse in trust and camaraderie that used to define this community. What we will have is destruction; a war of attrition that will leave ALL of us, both sides, broken.
Good luck out there, and always seek the good in this, even at risk of emotional exposure.
ggfemnist
An aside concerning Jennie and why I will no longer be following her:
I will no longer be following Pixie Jennie. Jennie, for a month you have been one of by favorite neutrals. Critical, but never dehumanizing, and always willing to engage. I have unfailingly defended what I considered our mutual, basic, respect against the criticisms of my own GG comrades, many of whom considered you a "shill". What's more I have repeatedly recommended you as a "smart, sharp" person to follow for GG members looking for a good neutral voice. But recently your tweets and writing have been troubling. Earlier today you broke what I consider the most fundamental rule of being "neutral" as opposed to "anti" when you lumped all GamerGate into responsibility for the acts of trolls, claiming we have been "making women scared".
I'm scared Jennie, and not of myself. I'm scared of those who would destroy my career and personal life due to the fact that I am proGG, because that in and of itself is a damnable offense. And since you seem to currently share that view, I am scared of you. Scared, tired, deeply disappointed, and done with you for the time being. Shame on you.