Opinions expressed belong to the author, and do not represent the United States Army, DOD, or any governmental body.

Joshua Wise is an Active Duty soldier in the US Army who when not jumping from helicopters and shouting at Privates, plays and writes about the games he's been playing for nearly twenty years.

On May 26, 2015, well-known GamerGate critic Ian Miles Cheong issued an apology to gamers for his behavior and vicious slandering of them. Personally, I didn’t accept the apology at face value, agreeing more with Mundane Matt that we should wait to see what happens next. I’m a trust but verify kind of guy and so I withheld accepting or outright denying the apology. I think it’s been long enough now, and he’s learned plenty when SJWs went into full attack mode on him and GamerGate acting with much more grace in regards to his apology and defense afterwards.

Examining the Tweets after the fact leads me to conclude he’s legit. I say this because it’s more about what he isn’t saying than what he is. First off, he’s not a GamerGater, and that’s fine because he isn’t pretending to be. I think he’s just become disillusioned with the people in his tent, but not necessarily the tent itself. In other words, he’s still an SJW, but to the larger group he’s the wrong kind of SJW, and that’s an even bigger crime.

It’s the same reason why, in Atlas Shrugged, John Galt hates Dr. Stadler. He’s the worst of them all because he knew better.

Going back to what he isn’t saying, Ian seems to have hit a switch and turned off making everything political. His tweets read like a dude who just likes to play games and gets excited over the same meaningless stuff like any other gamer.

It's one thing to criticize The Witcher 3 for its lack of racial diversity, but the moment you start calling the devs racists, I'm out. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 4, 2015

FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. FALLOUT 4. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 2, 2015

I must say, he sounds more like us than them now: that is, to say, a rational human being. Ian has come a long way from “who cares about games journalism” to actually disclosing potential conflicts of interest while simultaneously reminding us how stupid people like McIntosh are.

Just posting a disclosure that I backed A Bard's Tale IV at the $20 tier. (I think it's worth backing.) pic.twitter.com/9U1sTYxqOf — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 2, 2015

Contrary to what McIntosh might have you believe, playing video games isn't going to turn you into a stuntman with no regard for safety. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 9, 2015

A Rat Escaping A Sunken Ship

A lot of people are saying Ian jumped ship to save face when the remainder of the gaming press goes down in flames, and this is the most legitimate of claims, but I must disagree. If this was his intent, he would have joined us outright. Ian left his last tent but he didn’t enter ours, but don’t bother telling his last tent that. Like I said in a previous article, look at the group response anyone receives if they step out of line.

Apparently it's not possible to hold an opinion in opposition to censorship without being accused of going "full GG." — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) June 20, 2015

I think he just got swept into the purely emotional responses of his side, and finally noticed there was no truth to anything they were saying. He always seemed to be half-in even when he was openly against gamers, and is genuinely not in line with the philosophy of them vs. us and the end justifying the means. Regardless of what you think you know about him, he’s been consistent against censorship even against people and games he doesn’t like.

Reality is inconvenient. It is nasty, brutish and ugly. Art depicts life, embraces it, and challenges us to explore it. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 31, 2015

To cover all bases though, let’s say the the rat escaping the sunken ship analogy is true. So what? Who cares if he still believes in private all of the things the SJWs espouse? As long as his professional identity as the editor and chief of a gaming website is not corrupted, and he’s telling everyone what he’s backing on Kickstarter, I don’t give a front flipping fuck what he actually thinks in private. Isn’t separating his politics from games exactly what we want?

Not Too Far Gone

I’m a firm believer in the idea people can and do change. Not fast and certainly not overnight, but I believe it happens, and I believe it happens often. I’m also a firm believer that some people are too far gone. I’ve been hoping for a turn around, or at least some semblance of sanity from people I used to follow, but so far no such luck from the likes of MovieBob or Extra Creditz.

Ian Miles Cheong was on the bottom of the list of people I thought would see reason, due to the severity of his previous comments. Reading much of his previous Tweets I’ve managed to find archived leads me to assume much of what he had said was screencapped without context, so we’re just as guilty as lumping him into a box and SJWs are to us.

With much reflection on whether or not I’m accepting the apology, enough time has passed and he’s demonstrated through his actions and words he’s sincere.

I can’t speak for the rest of the staff of Reaxxion, but I do speak for me. Apology accepted and welcome back.

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