I wasn't sure about this letter to the editor, despite it being very well written and the fact that I love when "Jeff gets real." I am one of those "both sides" assholes who like to point out that there has been some extreme terribleness coming from both directions. Plus, Giant Bomb being called out to say something felt to me like those who constantly call out Muslims to say something against ISIS to prove they are "good Muslims" or some crap. I didn't see what difference it would make.
The comments made by @vinny in this thread have changed my mind. This may sound cliched, but I love Vinny. I have read hundreds of comments about this whole situation over the last month, but he put things in a way that really helped me to understand the situation. GamerGate is crap. You may agree with what it is saying, but it was literally founded on gossip and scandal, not on a quest for journalistic integrity. The accusations from the very beginning against Zoe Quin read like something from TMZ. That is the foundation of GamerGate: a personal issue that no one should be concerned with. From there, some Frankenstein idea of ethics emerged, but the ground was tainted from the beginning. "You can't build something off a pile of corpses" is exactly right. Now, ISIS and GG are NOWHERE in the same league and I would never suggest that, but if members of ISIS were to come out and say "nah, that the people decapitating heads in my ISIS are crazy, but us over here actually want to talk about our problems with America," my suggestion to them would be just to start a whole new group completely divorced from the crazy people.
GamerGate is like some blob from a horror movie. It has no head, no body, or really know driving force. It just kind of flops about, destroying things. To those of you pointing out how the aggression and death threats from the anti-GG is being overlooked, THAT is the difference. They are human beings who are scared and have coherent points who are super scared of this blob tumbling towards them. Now, I'm not saying aggressive threats should be excused, but GG has been so formless and toxic that there isn't much to do to fight against it. Some one claiming to be from GG could attack some one else at any time for any reason and then just scream "ETHICS!"
I may be biased. I love Zoe Quinn and am still flabbergasted on how she ended up as patient zero for this whole thing. Still, I have a lot of problems with the way the progressive criticism has been conducted on gaming sites for the last year. I don't think it is corrupt, but rather very human. The critics (rightfully) point out that they can't be silenced because you don't want to read it, see it, or agree with it, but then they turn around doing the same things, acting like criticism and their perspective is infallible. Plus, there is problematic group think that I see in both ideologies.
But guess what? One side is writing editorials, making videos, and speaking in public. They may be aggressive and rough and perhaps even hyperbolic, but at least they are being constructive. The blob known as GamerGate just screams on twitter and sends death threats to people. I haven't even seen a well constructed article from that side even on a tumblr.
This whole thing is a mess and GG people do not deserve harassment, but your cause is too mutated and vindictive to be effective. Cut yourself free and escape the blob is what I say.
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