A Letter to a Poser

I chose to avoid most of the coverage about #GamerGate because I already knew how the liberal media would spin it. It took little time before the claims of “misogyny” and “sexism” trumped any level of honest reporting. Only a handful of media outlets interviewed GG supporters, and most of those interviews continued to peddle the “all gamers are sexist men” trope.

The death threats against Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and Zoe Quinn continue to receive attention while the numerous threats and doxxing of GG supporters largely goes unmentioned.

What bothers me most, however, are the attacks on gamers in general. It is not that the attacks any different than the usual “they’re basement-dwelling losers” nonsense. It is that I assumed that people were past this kind of invective. I assumed people had seen enough evidence that gaming did not make anyone violent or hateful. I assumed that people had seen enough attacks on gaming to know that most gamers only want to play games. I assumed people had seen enough to know that gamers are people, too.

Instead, I saw people falling back into old habits, lambasting gamers as pasty white, unshaven, unwashed men living in their mom’s basements. I saw people who write for gaming publications calling for bringing back nerd bullying. I saw a geek culture icon attacking the very community that made his so-so film a $1.5 billion success.

Yet none of that prompted a need for a response. After all, these are far-leftists. There is little more that one could expect from them.

One article, however, did necessitate a response. Former NFL player Chris Kluwe took to The Claudron to attack supporters of GamerGate. His invective and ad hominem-filled rant perfectly demonstrates why the anti-GamerGate side has not won despite every attempt to do so. Below is my response to Kluwe’s rant:

Bulletin Board v203

Boy Scouts of America sued — The Boy Scouts of America’s failure to share information about known child molesters led to the sexual abuse of at least 12 Seattle-area boys over three decades, according to a lawsuit filed in King County Superior Court. The nation’s largest youth organisation failed to protect children in its care by deliberately and negligently withholding information from its local chapters about known and suspected child abusers, the civil suit alleges.

Dozens respond to police appeal in Durham child sex abuse case — More than 40 alleged victims of child sex abuse at a detention centre for teenage boys in north-east England have come forward in response to a police appeal, as part of a new investigation into serial abuse at the centre during the 1970s and 80s. Detectives from Durham received the calls within less than a week of asking for victims to come forward, following an investigation by the Guardian revealing that a prison officer at Medomsley detention centre may have abused hundreds of boys during a 17-year spell when he was in charge of the kitchens at the centre.

Ex-city councillor in Saint John, N.B., apologizes for sexually abusing boys — Donnie Snook, a former municipal politician and youth worker in New Brunswick, said Friday he can’t explain why, as a victim of child sex abuse himself, he sexually assaulted and made pornographic images of boys over a 12-year span. Snook addressed provincial court in Saint John at his sentencing hearing, apologizing for the years of “sadness and darkness” he created in the lives of 17 young kids. 

A Dose of (Anrgy Feminist) Stupid v87

It happens every day. In fact, it is pretty hard to avoid it. There are some things that can only be understood with a slap on the forehead. Things so mind-boggling that one wonders how humans managed to evolve thumbs while being this mentally inept. Case in point:

MRAs and feminists arguing at University of Toronto men’s rights event

The video is a wonder to watch. I have dealt with my fair share of angry, shouting feminists, although this is the first time I have ever seen one actually bring a printout to make her argument. If the items from the list sound familiar, that is because the feminist is reading from Lindy West’s snarky rant that she posted on Jezebel.

Here is a friendly note for feminists: if you want men to listen to you, do not start by telling them to “shut the fuck up”.

Not Always Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Originally posted on February 27, 2012

Leo, a reader, sent me an email about a recent Psychology Today article written by Ditta M. Oliker. In the article Bullying in the Female World, Oliker discusses the ways that female aggression plays out:

The words now associated with female aggressive behavior include: excluding, ignoring, teasing, gossiping, secrets, backstabbing, rumor spreading and hostile body language (i.e., eye-rolling and smirking). Most damaging is turning the victim into a social “undesirable”. The behavior and associated anger is hidden, often wrapped in a package seen as somewhat harmless or just a “girl thing”. The covert nature of the aggression leaves the victim with no forum to refute the accusations and, in fact, attempts to defend oneself leads to an escalation of the aggression. [The film The Help] captures a number of these “weapons” as well as a pattern found in the interactions of males; the justification for the use of the same kind of aggression — physical or social — by the “good guy” in response to the original aggression by the “bad guy”.

As Oliker notes, the reasons for female aggression are the same as male aggression: dominance, power, control, improving one’s social status, and jealousy. What is different is how females act out those desires.

A Dose of Stupid v.75

It happens every day. In fact, it is pretty hard to avoid it. There are some things that can only be understood with a slap on the forehead. Things so mind-boggling that one wonders how humans managed to evolve thumbs while being this mentally inept. Case in point:

A CFO of a medical company verbally assaults a Tucson Chick-fil-A drive-thru worker

This is one of those things that makes progressives look really, really bad:

An executive at a medical manufacturing firm lost his job after a YouTube video of him verbally ambushing a young employee at a Tucson Chick-fil-A went viral.

Adam Smith, formerly Chief Financial Officer at Vante, stepped down after the video — which Smith shot and uploaded himself —caused embarrassment to the company. […] In the video, which runs 2 minutes, 21 seconds, Smith enters the drive-thru, explaining that he’s ordered a free cup of water. Once the employee hands him his cup, he lambastes her employer, calling Chick-fil-A “a hateful corporation” and “a horrible corporation with horrible values” that “gives money to hate groups.”

Yes, of course. You think the restaurant chain is a “hateful corporation”, so you go to a drive-thru and yell at someone making minimum wage with no power in the company. Because that is really going to make a difference.

And if was not clear that Smith set out to look like the stereotypical, elitist, progressive douchebag:

In Smith’s video, the employee at the drive-through window, taken aback, tells Smith that she’s uncomfortable being filmed. Smith does not back off.

“I don’t know how you live with yourself and work here,” Smith says to the employee, before calling himself “totally heterosexual” and saying there’s “not a gay in me” and “I just can’t stand the hate.” He also says he’s “I’m a nice guy, by the way.”

After he’s done talking to her, he says he thinks he “just did something really good” and “I feel purposeful.”

Unfortunately for Smith, many people, including his employer, did not agree. The medical company Vante fired Smith:

Roger Vogel, Chairman, President and CEO of Vante, said the decision for Smith to step down was mutual. Vogel said he was “shocked” by the video, which he first discovered when people emailed him a link.

“We obviously found it very disturbing,” Vogel said. “We respect everybody’s ability to share their opinions in the public square and we have a very diverse workforce with a diverse set of opinions. We expect employees to behave in a professional manner that’s commensurate with their positions, and discuss their opinions in a civil fashion. … We thought what he did was inappropriate.”

I do not know that firing Smith was the best decision. Technically, he is allowed to be as much of a douche as he wants to. However, I can understand Vogel position. The media quickly cited where Smith worked, and that could result in people thinking that Vante shares Smith’s sentiments.

One must the irony of that.

Bulletin Board v167

Aversion to Therapy: Why Won’t Men Get Help? — Twenty years ago, Bob Smith’s wife questioned his commitment as a father. She demanded he see a psychiatrist. Smith (not his real name) grudgingly obliged. He went. Once. “The idea of paying some guy $300 an hour to massage your issues,” says Smith, a Los Angeles-area attorney in his early 60s, “is ridiculous.” In fact, the psychiatrist Smith talked to found plenty of issues to massage. His 45-minute assessment suggested that Smith was toting a veritable luggage store full of psychological baggage that needed unpacking.

The Boy Scouts of America kept secret sex abuse files hidden for decades — For decades, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) kept secret files of accused pedophiles, a process meant to identify and ban molesters from working with children. But, an ABC15 Investigation found that didn’t always happen. The BSA tracked thousands of allegations from around the country, involving scout masters molesting boy scouts. But our investigation discovered, few cases were reported to authorities.

Central Africa: Invisible Victims – Sexual Violence Against Men in the Great Lakes — According to recent studies, 48 women are raped every hour in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the country has been ranked as the second most dangerous to be a woman in the world. Gender-based violence in the region has become widespread and there has been a proliferation of non-governmental organisations and donor efforts to aid the plight of female victims. Much less attention is being paid, however, to male victims of rape. Like women, men are also targeted and suffer sexual violence.

Emaciated, 85-pound teenage boy found in burning Deerfield Beach home — When Broward Sheriff’s Office investigators found the emaciated 14-year-old boy, he weighed 85 pounds. He had also overdosed on cocaine, marijuana and a cocktail of other drugs. His father, Darin MacDannald, 47, was charged with cruelty toward a child and infliction of physical/mental injury. The Deerfield Beach man was being held on a $7,500 bond Thursday in Broward County jail.

A Dose of Stupid v.66

It happens every day. In fact, it is pretty hard to avoid it. There are some things that can only be understood with a slap on the forehead. Things so mind-boggling that one wonders how humans managed to evolve thumbs while being this mentally inept. Case in point:

The best way to stop bullying is by being a bully yourself?

When the National High School Journalism Conference invited Dan Savage to speak to students, they expected a speech about bullying. Technically they got that, although in the way they intended:

As many as 100 high school students walked out of a national journalism conference after an anti-bullying speaker began cursing, attacked the Bible and reportedly called those who refused to listen to his rant “pansy assed.”

The speaker was Dan Savage, founder of the “It Gets Better” project, an anti-bullying campaign […]  was supposed to be delivering a speech about anti-bullying at the National High School Journalism Conference sponsored by the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association. But it turned into an episode of Christian-bashing.