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With interest in their pet cause waning, #GamerGaters have been casting about for something that might give their little movement an infusion of energy and new supporters. They got a temporary boost a month ago from the ridiculous concoction that was #ShirtStorm, but that didn’t last.

And now, as you may have heard, they’re trying again with yet another contrived controvery called #MetalGate.

On Friday, a writer for Death Metal Underground warned fellow metalheads that “the same people who intruded into the gaming industry despite a striking lack of actual contributions” have now decided to take over the world of heavy metal music.

His proof of this Social Justice Warrior invasion? A Spin article mentioning – and celebrating – what it described as a recent “increase in conversations about racism, politics, and feminism” amongst metalheads. And a 2006 Washington Post article suggesting that metal was getting more “socially conscious.”

No, seriously. His entire argument relied on an 8-year-old newspaper article and a single sentence in Spin.

But apparently that’s all it takes to create a #Gate these days. #GamerGaters, desperate for some sort of continuing cultural relevance, are hanging onto the new hashtag with the grim determination of, well, I was going to say this guy

… but the dog is pretty adorable, and he seems to be really enjoying himself.

But, anyway, #MetalGate is now a thing.

GamerGate celebrities Mundane Matt and Sargon of Akkad have already posted YouTube videos on the subject; bumbling Sarkeesian Effect co-creator Jordan Owen has weighed in with a nearly hour-long lecture on the subject in which, among other things, he explains at length why he is not comparable to Beavis or Butthead. (Well, obviously; Butthead is a lot less obtuse than Owen.) Fortunately, he’s not in a bathtub this time.

Roosh’s Return of Kings blog – a kind of bellwether of manosphere opportunism – has posted its own guide to the alleged controversy, prophesying that

The SJWs will likely try the same excessive tactics with metalgate that they used on gamergate and shirtgate, and they will get the same negative reaction from the masses. The harder the SJWs push, the more Average Joe is repulsed by them. Their unfounded optimism and willful naivety will be the death of them.

[For even more ridiculous reactions on Roosh’s video game blog Reaxxion, see this post of mine.]

Over on Twitter, meanwhile, outraged metalhead #Gamergaters and neoreactionary Manosphereians and other easily outraged asshats are busily posting tweets about the evils of SJW influence in metal; the Tweeters include some names that will be familiar to long-time readers of this blog:

Oh lovely, now #metalgate is a thing – guess being one of the most accepting groups of people on the planet isnt enough for some people — TotalBiscuit (@Totalbiscuit) December 13, 2014

I would like to see all kinds of groups standing up in solidarity with GG, daring the SJWs to do anything about it. #gamergate #metalgate — Fidelbogen – gab.ai/Fidelbogen (@fidelbogen) December 14, 2014

#MetalGate #GamerGate aren't about metal, games, fem-supremists want to kill any semblance of conventional masculinity in society that's all — Rollo Tomassi (@RationalMale) December 14, 2014

https://twitter.com/Reyeko_/status/543918108944367616

https://twitter.com/runsonmagic/status/543803519837671425

https://twitter.com/voxday/status/543733247122100225

Some other, er, highlights from the discussion.

(CONTENT WARNING: Slurs galore.)

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https://twitter.com/beantownborn/status/543639435179745281

#MetalGate

Troll/10. You retards can't touch metal, we aren't afraid to call a cunt a cunt. Cunts.

. — PewpSchute (@ThePewpschute) December 13, 2014

https://twitter.com/CactusTheLynx/status/544059034676895744

So long as you're not a cunt metal heads will like you. If you're a cunt you'll get called out for being a cunt. Don't be a cunt #MetalGate — Emily Galiette (@TheGrlThatDates) December 13, 2014

https://twitter.com/genophilia/status/544165045123694592

https://twitter.com/SiliconNooB/status/543697727251427328

The desperation could not be more obvious. Sorry, fellas, but this one isn’t going to take off.

Hell, even #GamerGate’s most famous hanger-on is dubious, asking

https://twitter.com/Nero/status/543858111304699904

If you can’t even convince Milo to believe – or pretend to believe – your bullshit, well, you’re kind of screwed.

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