These other forms of privilege beyond identity that are far more substantial like being a well connected person with the power to spin media narratives that favor your interest. You might be the one who decides where the money goes, or who get's hired. In white centered social justice identity comes before power, because the last thing privileged whites want is to do is appear as powerful as they really while mimicking the role of under privileged. You also have proxy victims where people claim the cause of others identities to avoid scrutiny or extend their own influence. Phonies play dirty identity politics sugarcoating bitter pills of injustice with buzzwords and misinterpreting social theories far removed from their relevant context to push self serving agenda.
The narratives centered on white identities don't control for class or race thus is optimized for the benefit of middle to upper class whites already dominating strong positions of influence while claiming identity oppression. These elite favoring white narratives can't be challenged without a free and open discourse on social justice which is impeded by the intimidating power of white media privileging whites who they know attract more sympathy from white audiences. Minority and the poor are ignored or silenced by elites who'd rather fixate on the issues of those within their tight social circles where authentic minority interest wither in obscurity. Only minorities playing the white game will get a voice. This extends well beyond the issues of Gaming or Tech, and is an indictment of intersectionality itself.
This post doesn't explain #GamerGate which is unbelievably complex. Here are some links that will get you started from journalist who aren't restrained by a desire to protect their cronies in the media, their political source of influence, or themselves. You'll find many are from the center or right because they're among the few journalist who haven't been invested in playing up identity politics for years.
#GamerGate An Issue With Two Sides
The Gender Games: Sex, Lies, and Videogames
GamerGate: A Closer Look At The Controversy Sweeping Video Games (6 weeks old.)
Twitter Is Broken 'It stresses conflict over consensus. It rewards trolling instead of reasoned debate. And #GamerGate proves it.' - Slate(Reveals abusive behavior by those in the press)
A video by a black man going under 'EventStatus' was made in response to this post:
This white man's (SJW) explanation for why minorities are "wrong" to support #GamerGate:
How They Are WrongDo you see the problem? I'm sure this video response will explain it.
I feel terrible for these people. Again, like the last group, they fail to see their place in the bigger picture, however the tragedy is multiplied tenfold. They are being manipulating into supporting a system that is rigged against them, and they are being manipulated with catchphrases like "egalitarianism," "meritocracy of ideas," and "equality of thought." I understand that they want to be treated as just another person equal to any other in game culture, but they think the way to achieve this is to support the status quo: a system that is systematically designed to trivialize and rationalize real-life racism and sexism.
There are a lot of privileged white's in the media who've become complacent in speaking for minorities. The same is true for women but minorities have the distinction of being outside of white circles hampering their ability to challenges the narratives put forth. That said the voices of #GamerGate women have also ignored in favor of the 'chosen' establishment victims controlling and dominating coverage in the media.
There's an assumption that progressive politics is some unifying cause from which any privileged person can take for themselves the moral authority that comes with speaking for the disadvantaged rather than empowering those people to speak for themselves. What we get is a privilege filter that decides who and what is permissible to talk about by only allowing minorities to speak if and when they agree with their narrative.
For example:
Who does this black man speak for? The defense of his fellow white gaming journalist who decided putting forth yet another threatened white women were no longer made them appear sufficiently diverse. If he were to step outside their narrative he'd be blackballed like many people before him in a industry dominated by tight social cliques. Diversity isn't worth very much when the price is forced assimilation to myopic social perspectives. Freedom to think and believe different things is the diversity of substance not tokenism. The elite protect these systems of belief to protect their own power. If you're a Arch Bishop in the church you have more to lose from reformation than a lowly priest. Actual equality is dumped because the lowly priest might end up having equal voice. What we get 'some animals are more equal than others'.
The public isn't rising up to wage culture wars, it's actively resisting a unaccountable media elite that has long held them in contempt. It could be said a culture war waged on them through corrupted identity politics detached form social justice that white journalists have long used to impose coercive control over their peers that has now been extended to the general public. These are white people for themselves as compared to gamers who are diverse and have long embraced diversity. Millions of diverse gamers around the world stand up to reject Gaming Journalist for resorting to a campaign of vicious and stereotyping to malign and subdue them.
Imagine white supremacist promising to sustain a campaign of hate mongering against blacks in the media until blacks submitted to their dominance without question. That's essentially what the gaming press and wider media by extension has done to gamers. It's far worse than Fox News attacks on Occupy Wall Street. Imagine if the bankers constructed the entire narrative? Would they really allow the public to openly question their integrity? Of course not, and for the similar reasons you don't trust the press to judge fairly critics of the press.
You should be aware of Jack Thompsonwho liberals strongly opposed and was inundated with rape and death threats that didn't garner him much sympathy but I digress...I find it odd how this reversal of values takes place simply by changing the motive behind it but oppression regardless of it's excuse is the same animal. The rise of McCarthyism was also fueled by fear over identity and ideology. Such fanaticism does not liberate us and is readily abused by the powerful to become more powerful.
The Black man who created the #NotYourShield hashtag which is in support of #GamerGate was harassed out of his job.
#NotYourShield was created to counter a media narrative that #GamerGate was a movement of Cis White Males that elevated the voices of women, minorities & LBGTBlack men are now living in fear of white progressives who will penalize them for disagreeing with whatever narrative on social justice they put forth. I'm one of those black men and I'm fearful of making this post despite being a life long liberal who sees social justice as a means of liberation for my beleaguered people. The consensus of around simplistic narratives that make progressive whites feel good and noble isn't one that's inviting to those with opposing views of any kind. Too often the first response is to shame, ban or block. This isn't inclusive, it's exclusive.
Here are the women of #GamerGate being interviewed on Huffington Post Live:
We have unapologetic racist demanding "violent backlash" against ghetto black men being put forth as heroes of progressive values like Leigh Alexander who was featured in a prior DailyKos post on the issue. I take that as a threat of genocidal racial violence when as a black man living in a white majority country where unarmed black men gunned down by whites causes whites to rally around their shooters. This women said "Can I start it?".
I found this profound critique of intersectional feminsm as it relates to #GamerGate: Harassment, Abuse, and Apologism: Sanitizing Abuse in Social Justice Spheres
You see, because our communitys basic standards function on a mixture of middle-class privilege and basic overviews of oppression, social justice rhetoric can be easily exploited by individuals who secretly have ulterior motives for entering activist spheres. You can be an abuser, manipulator, and exploiter behind closed doors: but if you regurgitate the right words, we will think you are a good person by default. If you work Really Hard(tm) to bring activism into your life, we will immediately give you the benefit of the doubt. And we accept this as an unquestioning, uncritical fact. Because, after all, why would anyone who seems so compassionate want to hurt people?I strongly recommend reading the entire post.
Here is another post I think is worthy to understand the mentality of those coopting the struggles of others to empower themselves. Of herself she's said "I suffered through over a decade of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of my caretakers." :
More on her background:
I had no involvement in GamerGate or NotYourShield until I was attacked by their opposition. I avoid identity politics the same way I avoid other sources of faceless drama. This wasn't always the case. Up until a few years ago I worked as a community advocate and inclusion facilitator for the type of worthy causes Social Justice types gush over. I began with high ambitions but in reality no one involved really wanted to change anything. They wanted to fuss over victims, not stop people from being hurt. By the time the Warrior Class of Social Justice enthusiast targeted me for harassment I had already made my resolution; if I could live my life well and take care of myself and the people I care about, it would do more good in the world than empty words and promises. I quit my job and moved on.
In fact, a great many of them originated in the Gamer community. They are white, middle class, cisgender men who project this stereotype back onto the community. In doing so they distract from the fact that they do not share or understanding the experiences of women or marginalized people and have absolutely no right to claim they represent them.These problems are magnified when media under the control of these sorts of people is used to malign any dissent thrown their way from the public. Minorities are apart of that public. I feel as progressives we must embrace pluralism in ideology as well as identity. Those seeking hegemonic control of the social justice narrative end up establishing the very systems of oppression they were meant to dismantle:They are spoiled and privileged to such an extent that (much in the same way disadvantaged people fetishize money or success) they fantasize about and fetishize oppression and hardship. Oppression is SJW bling.
Evidently they view the social and political struggles common to marginalized communities as something more 'authentic' and 'worthy' than their own sheltered existence. Oppression is commodified for consumption while the oppressed are infantalized and silenced so they do not expose these privileged people as the role-playing frauds they really are.
There was also a black gaming journalist who spoke out about how he was treated in these Gaming Media circles:
My week in interacting with the angriest
of consumer revolts
From my experience and conversations with others, the unspoken rule of being a black game journalist was like that archaic thought of how children should be in society: Seen and not heard. If you are going to be in that space the general expectation is that you keep your head down, shut up, and go with the flow; I was never good at doing any of those things. Of interesting note, none of these behaviors were ever present when I would speak with a developer; In fact they were pleasantly surprised and almost always welcoming to my point of view or insight. I would almost universally receive this negative treatment when dealing with other game journalists, or the general game enthusiast.On the diversity of #GamerGate:
he narrative against Gamergate has been that they are nothing but a bunch of angry white men on the internet that hate women and minorities; I have found that to be outright false, in my experience. In fact, I have spoken to and interacted with an even split of men AND women gamers, other minorities, transgender individuals, those of varied sexual preferences , and more.How he felt about the supporters:
I can't speak of everyones experience in dealing with members of Gamergate, but the majority of what I have personally seen and experienced is that they are passionate people, they're incredibly smart and savvy consumers, they are ridiculous levels of inviting and inclusive, and almost anyone that shows up is welcomed with open arms. My experience has been pretty much the direct OPPOSITE of the narrative that has been pushed about these people.The media is a powerful weapon indeed as can succinctly be expressed by two quotes from Malcolm X:
We must tread very careful with demagoguery. I'm strangely privileged in being able to speak on the black perspective because the mess we've made of identity politics allows few to challenge the group thinks of dominant whites and that certainly excludes the often maligned white male. I am not privileged in having a platform much larger than this on which to speak. I plead for understanding while knowing there are many hostile to dissent who will seek to silence me or dismiss my this as trivial because more prominent figures in white social justice have raised the alarm. This isn't anything new. As a black man I'm under no illusions as who holds the power in this country.
If you want to understand more about why these people have dedicated themselves to the cause of #GamerGate you can read this:
#GamerGate An Issue With Two Sides
The freedom to dissent isn't something I take lightly regardless of my politics. Oppressors rely on that kind of power and in their unscrupulous hands it can and will be abused. I've seen it done too much. If we can't be critical of our own media and demand they be held accountable by adherence to journalistic ethics just like the kind we demand for Fox News then we'd end up handing our power over to unaccountable unelected people who can abuse anyone who dares challenge them using their 'megaphone' as Leigh Alexander put it. The 5th estate is emergent but if we are to trust it then it too must be bound by these principals. In this particular instance the credibility and integrity of social justice itself depends on it.
Understandable Contempt for the right wing aside, if it was not for that pluralism within the media then all these diverse people may have been silenced. We need to make sure in the future the people can count on progressive voices to stand by them instead of letting those in the media seeking to avoid criticism cynically exploit our progressive politics for their own ends.
This commodified and weaponized social justice being wielded in defense of privileged figures in the media seeking to protect their influence is not the real deal. It's a hustle. We would not go to General Motors to be the sole voice on a consumer uprising against their company nor should we rely on solely on Gaming Journalist and their cronies for perspective on those questioning their ethics.
Diversionary tactics such as a focus on the threats of trolls which goes both ways with a prominent centrist GamerGate supporter receiving threats that went ignored by media carefully crafting a biased narrative. Focusing on these threats is akin to fixating on the Looters in Ferguson. #GamerGate is a leaderless consumer uprising that does not control the entire internet. They've been made scapegoats by those who want them silenced.
Power to the People...
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