Anti-#GamerGate, Myth or Reality

As some of you may know, I recently experienced the most bizarre online interaction (interactions really).

I posted a (slightly hyperbolic I agree) tweet questioning the practice of recent linkage of real life information as a way to oppose people in GamerGate. This was done by a well known individual very opposed to the group. As I am an honest person, I tagged this individual in my tweet, so they could refute, discuss. Constructive criticism is key in our ability to grow, this is something you learn quite well when you get older.

What happened next was puzzling. This person never replied to me, but instead RT my tweet, and suddenly, a swarm of aggression came to my notifications. Some have since pointed out that certain responders were known trolls, but, to be frank, it was really impossible to discern them from the others.

In a second, I was characterized as a harasser of women and minorities, a sea-lion, an overall despicable individual…

Whoever is following me for enough time, know that I am none of that. I am an observer of this strange social online phenomenon called GamerGate, sad that it exists because of the degree of misunderstanding it generates. I wrote on that in the past, no need to go back to this.

I have been calling people to find their consciousness, always condemning abuses and dehumanization (and resulting despicable actions). I have wondered many times if I should disclose more personal information regarding my RL, but I always refused for two reasons: one is that I don’t want to play the CV card (I want people to feel free when addressing me, especially the younger ones) and I certainly don’t want too much of my life known in this current tense environment.



Let’s go back to what happened. After this altercation, I found myself going on lengthy justifications, regarding my intent and the reason for my tweet. I was upset, my limbic system was taking the best of me.

It was obvious that many in GamerGate must have faced such nasty dogpiling, such misrepresentation of themselves, such disingenuity. The other “side” was real despite what was said, this was my newfound conviction.

Since then, I thought more.

What I witnessed was not a side, a coordinated movement coming after me. It was a small community of people fascinated by the individual I called out with my tweet. They were not directed by an idea, but by a passion, the one that they had to protect this person, no matter why. I was intruding in a smaller sphere of comfort, a truth built of unstable ground. I was a grain of sand in a system that was running but not really built.

This was obvious when I was explained that no matter what I said, I had to be the enemy, representative of an aggressor, that my inherent evil was the sole reason of my intervention.

Asking to examine people’s consciousness was met with the most surprising answers: “what our Hero does is fine, because our cause is just. Because our cause is just, we can do no wrong. Because our cause is just, we should not avoid any mean to achieve our goal.”

My deepest fear was confirmed. People lost their humanity in the fight; let the idea of grandeur, of acting for a better-good, blind them to the core.

They no longer understood that wrong is wrong, no matter why. I often say that revenge wrong doesn’t make it right. A cause is noble not just because of what it is, of its roots, but also because of the actions it induces, because it elevates people to be better. Not worse.

If not, then it is nothing but a self-justified travesty of what it fights. If it can not lead to a better behavior, to not resorting to the same actions you despise so much from what you oppose, then it may not be as good as you think, at least not in its current form.

Not being able to accept having your acts questioned and resorting to violence (verbal or physical) to mute such questioning may be proof that the question was a good one, that it was maybe just here to help you reflect on what you are becoming.

I sincerely believe that these people came after me from a right place, have their hearts filled with passion and are inherently good people. But they were misguided in their actions. They did not even ask me why? They did not even try to understand my position, to know who I was, what my past history was. They judged and attacked me because I touched the fragile door of their Echo-Chamber, threatening to let escape the echo telling them how righteous they were.

In all fairness, they have witnessed true abuse, they have seen lives endangered and know that the evil lurks somewhere. This likely explains part of their reaction. But it does not justify everything.



I suspect that this other “side” is in fact composed of many of these small islands of Hero and their followers. I suspect that the commonality of response felt by the people in GamerGate is related to such recurring behavior. It is not a movement; it does not have a real goal. It is people with a same goal reacting similarly. The nuance is subtle but it exists.



At the end of this, I wish that everyone would pause, breathe, take some time to analyze their pattern of reaction and wonder if there would not be a better tone, a better way to interact with the others and transmit their message.

This is really what I was trying to say. The answers I got proved me right.



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