To the "progressive" social justice warriors, especially video game journalists, the word "gamergate" has become pretty much the equivalent of "nazism", or pretty much like "communism" to the ultra-conservative Americans. That latter comparison seems to be even more apt, given how ridiculous the fear of communism was in the United States especially in the 50's and 60's. People often would use the word to attack their opponents and people they didn't like, accusing them of being communists.
It seems that "gamergate" has become this for progressive social justice warrior journalists. Whenever members of the gaming community express an opinion that the journalist disagrees with, the journalist can simply add the word "gamergate" to their refutation to immediately belittle and dismiss said opinion, and get an enormous echo chamber of other social justice warriors to support them. It's like a magic word; just add it to your article disagreeing with those gamers, and you automatically get support, and have completely destroyed their arguments. A bit like the word "communism" in the United States in the 60's.
As an example, consider this article: GamerGaters Are Mad About Localization Because They Don’t Understand It
What's the story? Some fans of the Fire Emblem game series are upset about the sometimes radical changes that have been made by the translation of the game Fire Emblem Fates, where many parts of the dialogue has been quite radically changed (with some parts even having been completely cut out), and the game even censored to some extent (with some mini-games removed). The argument is that this goes beyond simple localization.
Absolutely nothing of this is related in any way to gamergate. Not to what it actually is (ie. a consumer revolt against corruption in gaming journalism), nor even to what SJW's think it is (ie. some kind of conspiracy to attack women in gaming). It doesn't even matter what your stance about gamergate is; this protest has absolutely nothing to do with either interpretation of the movement. It's simply some fans of the game series being upset about botchy localization and even censorship of a particular game.
But a journalist disagreeing with them just has to add the word "gamergate" to his article, and even start the article with a full-on tirade against gamergate, and now magically he gets tons of support.
Just read the comment section. There are hundreds and hundreds of comments; maybe even over a thousand. And almost every single one of them supports the writer. It's an amazing echo chamber. From those several hundreds of comments I have found only two that disagreed with the article (on either point; ie. what gamergate actually is, or whether they went too far with the localization of the game). One could even say that it's a group wank.
And that just because the word "gamergate" was used. If the writer had been honest and simply approached the subject in a more neutral and fair manner, I'm sure that there would be maybe ten comments to the article. And those ten comments would probably be actually discussing the subject, rather than group-wanking on gamergate hatred.
"Gamergate" is the magic word for progressive journalists to garner the attention that they seek, it seems. Social justice warriors just love it, and will shove it everywhere they can.
It seems that "gamergate" has become this for progressive social justice warrior journalists. Whenever members of the gaming community express an opinion that the journalist disagrees with, the journalist can simply add the word "gamergate" to their refutation to immediately belittle and dismiss said opinion, and get an enormous echo chamber of other social justice warriors to support them. It's like a magic word; just add it to your article disagreeing with those gamers, and you automatically get support, and have completely destroyed their arguments. A bit like the word "communism" in the United States in the 60's.
As an example, consider this article: GamerGaters Are Mad About Localization Because They Don’t Understand It
What's the story? Some fans of the Fire Emblem game series are upset about the sometimes radical changes that have been made by the translation of the game Fire Emblem Fates, where many parts of the dialogue has been quite radically changed (with some parts even having been completely cut out), and the game even censored to some extent (with some mini-games removed). The argument is that this goes beyond simple localization.
Absolutely nothing of this is related in any way to gamergate. Not to what it actually is (ie. a consumer revolt against corruption in gaming journalism), nor even to what SJW's think it is (ie. some kind of conspiracy to attack women in gaming). It doesn't even matter what your stance about gamergate is; this protest has absolutely nothing to do with either interpretation of the movement. It's simply some fans of the game series being upset about botchy localization and even censorship of a particular game.
But a journalist disagreeing with them just has to add the word "gamergate" to his article, and even start the article with a full-on tirade against gamergate, and now magically he gets tons of support.
Just read the comment section. There are hundreds and hundreds of comments; maybe even over a thousand. And almost every single one of them supports the writer. It's an amazing echo chamber. From those several hundreds of comments I have found only two that disagreed with the article (on either point; ie. what gamergate actually is, or whether they went too far with the localization of the game). One could even say that it's a group wank.
And that just because the word "gamergate" was used. If the writer had been honest and simply approached the subject in a more neutral and fair manner, I'm sure that there would be maybe ten comments to the article. And those ten comments would probably be actually discussing the subject, rather than group-wanking on gamergate hatred.
"Gamergate" is the magic word for progressive journalists to garner the attention that they seek, it seems. Social justice warriors just love it, and will shove it everywhere they can.
As someone who follows Gamergate, I would disagree with the idea that Gamergate is just about ethical journalism. It would be more accurate to say that Gamergate is against the enforcement of political ideology by 'progressives' (or more accurately known as regressives, as their stances and tactics aren't really progressive), unethical journalism by lying to smear detractors and promote friends/causes is just a symptom, just as altering/censoring content to appeal to your personal and political values is also a symptom.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, however, that regardless of what you think gamergate is, it has nothing to do with the subject of that article (which is about people complaining about the localization of a video game), and the term 'gamergate', and the attack against it, is used in the article spuriously for cheap shot, and "social justice" points. It's highly disingenuous and cheap, and definitely not in accordance to high journalistic standards.
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