"Donald Trump's campaign really is Gamergate being played out on a national scale"
Damn, but I really wish I'd seen this article back in September when it was first published.
The article was both prescient (in that it predicted a Trump win, for reasons that did indeed play out as described in the article) and, at the same time, was also full of common fucking sense that anyone with two working brain cells to rub together should have understood (which clearly doesn't include many of the commenters under that article). Well, by that I mean anyone with brain cells that weren't already corrupted into utter uselessness by all the various, terrrible -isms and -phobias that permeate both GamerGate and Trump and his Trumpster fire advisors/supporters (which again doesn't include many of the commenters under the article).
I also saw the many similarities between Trump and GamerGate, and I knew that GamerGate, like Trump and his campaign, was a load of horseshit pretty much from the get go, as all the previous posts in this journal on either subject should show. However, I'm not quite as... mild, let's say... in my language, given that I tend to use a whole lot more "fuck"s and "shit"s and "goddamn"s and such when I write about fucking, goddamn shit like Trump (and his Trumpster fires) and/or Irredeemably Toxic Shithole,[1] which is why I appreciate the article. Still, it's the same old shit. Same old goddamn, fucking shit. Donald Trump deserved (and deserves) just as much respect and consideration as GamerGate ever did. Which is to say, just to be crystal clear here, none whatsoever. But, sadly, both got way too much (in that they ever got any, at all, to begin with).
The only real difference between GamerGate and Trump is that there wasn't ever a deadline attached to GamerGate, and most people (those who actually matter, in the long run, at least) eventually wised up to the objective fact that GamerGate was and is total bullshit. With Trump, however, even today (well after the biggest deadline has already passed and it is pretty much too late to do anything to prevent it) there are far, far, FAR too many people out there who still sadly, scarily, insanely, unfortunately, mistakenly, incorrectly, and wrongly believe that Trump somehow isn't a racist, sexist, misogynist, white supremacist, xenophobic, homophobic shitstain on the underwear of humanity, believe that Trump's actual, bona fide, capital-E Evil was "equivalent" to the highly unsubstantiated "evil" that has nebulously surrounded Hillary Clinton for the past 30 years or so (thanks in large part to many of the same people who helped Trump run his GamerGate-like campaign), believe that Trump is indeed a viable President-Elect of the United States of America, believe that Trump will actually keep his promises concerning all the fucked up, offensive, word salad bullshit he spewed over the course of his campaign, and believe that Trump is a populist "man of the people." The sooner that everyone (who matters, in the long run) wises up to the fact that none of these things are true about Trump, similar to how most people have wised up to the fact that GamerGate and that whole "actually, it's about ethics in game journalism" malarkey was fucking bullshit as well, the better off we'll all be, even though it's already too late to prevent him from being POTUS. All that can be done now is to mitigate the inevitable damage as much as possible.
TL;DR version: Donald Trump is, and always has been, GamerGate, writ large.
(EDIT) Also, this. (/EDIT)
[1] - Hmm, though I've been using the phrase "Irredeemably Toxic Shithole" exclusively to refer to GamerGate, it would actually also serve well as an accurate description of Trump and his incoming administration. I think I'll just stick to using it as a stand-in for "GamerGate," though, and not conflate this shit.
The article was both prescient (in that it predicted a Trump win, for reasons that did indeed play out as described in the article) and, at the same time, was also full of common fucking sense that anyone with two working brain cells to rub together should have understood (which clearly doesn't include many of the commenters under that article). Well, by that I mean anyone with brain cells that weren't already corrupted into utter uselessness by all the various, terrrible -isms and -phobias that permeate both GamerGate and Trump and his Trumpster fire advisors/supporters (which again doesn't include many of the commenters under the article).
I also saw the many similarities between Trump and GamerGate, and I knew that GamerGate, like Trump and his campaign, was a load of horseshit pretty much from the get go, as all the previous posts in this journal on either subject should show. However, I'm not quite as... mild, let's say... in my language, given that I tend to use a whole lot more "fuck"s and "shit"s and "goddamn"s and such when I write about fucking, goddamn shit like Trump (and his Trumpster fires) and/or Irredeemably Toxic Shithole,[1] which is why I appreciate the article. Still, it's the same old shit. Same old goddamn, fucking shit. Donald Trump deserved (and deserves) just as much respect and consideration as GamerGate ever did. Which is to say, just to be crystal clear here, none whatsoever. But, sadly, both got way too much (in that they ever got any, at all, to begin with).
The only real difference between GamerGate and Trump is that there wasn't ever a deadline attached to GamerGate, and most people (those who actually matter, in the long run, at least) eventually wised up to the objective fact that GamerGate was and is total bullshit. With Trump, however, even today (well after the biggest deadline has already passed and it is pretty much too late to do anything to prevent it) there are far, far, FAR too many people out there who still sadly, scarily, insanely, unfortunately, mistakenly, incorrectly, and wrongly believe that Trump somehow isn't a racist, sexist, misogynist, white supremacist, xenophobic, homophobic shitstain on the underwear of humanity, believe that Trump's actual, bona fide, capital-E Evil was "equivalent" to the highly unsubstantiated "evil" that has nebulously surrounded Hillary Clinton for the past 30 years or so (thanks in large part to many of the same people who helped Trump run his GamerGate-like campaign), believe that Trump is indeed a viable President-Elect of the United States of America, believe that Trump will actually keep his promises concerning all the fucked up, offensive, word salad bullshit he spewed over the course of his campaign, and believe that Trump is a populist "man of the people." The sooner that everyone (who matters, in the long run) wises up to the fact that none of these things are true about Trump, similar to how most people have wised up to the fact that GamerGate and that whole "actually, it's about ethics in game journalism" malarkey was fucking bullshit as well, the better off we'll all be, even though it's already too late to prevent him from being POTUS. All that can be done now is to mitigate the inevitable damage as much as possible.
TL;DR version: Donald Trump is, and always has been, GamerGate, writ large.
(EDIT) Also, this. (/EDIT)
[1] - Hmm, though I've been using the phrase "Irredeemably Toxic Shithole" exclusively to refer to GamerGate, it would actually also serve well as an accurate description of Trump and his incoming administration. I think I'll just stick to using it as a stand-in for "GamerGate," though, and not conflate this shit.